The Catholic Weekly 29 March 2020

15 29, March, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au ST. JOSEPH is the patron saint of retired Pope Benedict XVI - Joseph Ratzinger - but Pope Francis’ devotion to the hus- band of Mary and guardian of Jesus is clear as well. In fact, at the beginning of his pontificate in 2013, Pope Francis confirmed a directive that Pope Benedict had made, but which had not gone into effect, to include the name of St Joseph permanently in the eucharistic prayers used at most Masses in the Latin rite. Pope Francis formally in- augurated his papacy on St Joseph’s feast day, 19 March, and he has a spikenard, the flower used as a symbol of St Joseph, on his coat-of-arms. And he has popularised statues of St. Joseph sleeping - or, better, dreaming - men- tioning on many occasions how he places particularly dif- ficult prayer requests under the statue. Meeting families in the Philippines in January 2015, he told them, “I have great love for St Joseph because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table I have an image of St Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the church.” The thing is, he said, sleep and dreams are very impor- tant in the few mentions of St Joseph in the Gospel. An an- gel comes to him in a dream to tell him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife; later, an angel comes to him in a dream to tell him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the baby Jesus, because Herod wants to kill the child. The Italian website Vatican Insider reported that Pope Francis had told one of his aides about the statue early on. “You know,” he reportedly said, “you have to be patient with these carpenters: They tell you they’ll have a piece of HUMANITARIANS CARING for displaced Syrians in and outside their country are call- ing for an end to Syria’s bru- tal civil war as it enters its 10th year. The magnitude of displacement, death and de- struction in Syria marks one of the world’s worst humanitari- an crises right now, the Unit- ed Nations and human rights groups have said. Henrietta Fore, executive director of the UN children’s agency, made an impassioned appeal for peace, saying it “has never been more pressing,” in a statement issued in the Jor- danian capital, Amman. “More than 9,000 children have been killed and injured in the conflict, while close to 5,000 have been recruited into the fighting,” she said. “Nearly 1,000 education and medical facilities” have also been attacked and de- stroyed ... while “more than 2.8 million children are out of school,” the statement said. “Stop hitting schools and hospitals. Stop killing and maiming children,” UNICEF urged, saying the agency needs access to reach those requiring humanitarian assis- tance. Juliette Toma, the UNICEF Middle East and North Af- rican regional communica- tions chief based in Amman, told Catholic News Service: “There have been nine long brutal years for the children of Syria. It’s not only for the chil- dren who are inside Syria. This crisis has had serious ripple effects on the countries neigh- bouring Syria and beyond. More than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 mil- lion people have been driven from their homes - displaced internally and abroad by the conflict, while 80 per cent of the population lives beneath the poverty line, according to the UN. Half the country lies in ruins. Every 10 hours for the last six years, a child has been killed in Syria, a statistic that “is pretty staggering,” Toma said. Meanwhile, Father Ema- nuel Youkhana, a priest, or Facing a difficult problem, the pope leaves it with a carpenter ¾ ¾ Cindy Wooden ¾ ¾ Dale Gavlak St Joseph’s number one fan furniture finished in a couple of weeks and it ends up taking amonth even. But they get the job done and they do it well! You just need to be patient.” Amid Italy’s nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Pope Francis spoke about the im- portance of St Joseph on 18 March: “In life, in work, in family, in joy and in sorrow, he always looked for and loved the Lord, earning the praise Scripture offers of be- ing a just and wise man. Al- ways invoke him, especially in difficult times, and entrust your lives to this great saint.” Pope Francis also invited Pope Francis shows the sleeping posture of a statue of St. Joseph he keeps on his desk during a meet- ing with families in Manila, Philippines, in 2015. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING A Free Syrian Army fighter mourns at the grave of his father who was killed in 2013. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/KHALIL ASHAWI, REUTERS Catholics, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pan- demic, to put their families “under the loving gaze of St Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family and of our families.” The next morning, preach- ing during his livestreamed Mass, the pope said God chose “a just man, a man of faith” to raise his son on earth. As a carpenter, the pope said, St Joseph must have been very precise. “He was able to adjust an angle of wood by millimetres; he knew how to do it. He was able to trim a millimetre off the surface of a piece of wood. Right? He was precise. But he also was able to enter into the mystery that he could not control,” the mystery of God’s plan for his life and, especial- ly, the mystery of his son, who was both human and God. When Pope Francis for- mally inaugurated his papacy in 2013, he told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square that “St Jo- seph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak, but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love.” St Joseph responded to God’s call to be the guardian and protector of his son “by being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not sim- ply his own,” he said. - CNS More than 9,000 children have been killed and injured in the conflict, while close to 5,000 have been recruited into the fighting.” Henrietta Fore, executive director of the UN children’s agency I have great love for St. Joseph because he is a man of silence and strength.” Pope Francis ‘Children are the victims’ archimandrite, of the Assyr- ian Church of the East, runs Christian Aid Program North- ern Iraq. CAPNI helps Syrian Chris- tians and Kurds who escaped to northern Iraq due to the re- cent Turkish military invasion in northeastern Syria, as well as Iraqi Christians and Yazidis uprooted by Islamic State mil- itants. “Many of the people who managed to flee to northern Iraq (from northeastern Syria) are hosted in Bardarash camp (near Dahuk), but there are hundreds of families outside of the camps. “So, CAPNI is providing a nonfood distribution to these people, including bedding, kerosene heaters, and kero- sene, especially during these bitter winter months,” Fr Youkhana told CNS by phone from northern Iraq. “None of them returned to Syria,” following Turkey’s mili- tary offensive in the region last October, he said. He said CAPNI was focused on reaching remote commu- nities that are hosting the Syri- an refugees. “We are targeting these people for two reasons: They are within our capacity and secondly, they are not reached by the UN agencies, because the UN and international non- governmental organisations are focused on the camp,” Fr Youkhana said Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, the last rebel strong- hold where some 3 million people are trapped, has been the Syrian government’s latest target. - CNS Missing confession? Go to God, urges Pope PEOPLE WHO cannot get to confession because of the coronavirus lockdown or an- other serious reason can go to God directly, be specific about their sins, request par- don and experience God’s loving forgiveness, Pope Fran- cis said. “This is the right time, the opportune moment. An act of contrition done well, and our souls will become white like the snow,” the pope said on 20 March. Pope Francis began the Mass by praying again for doctors, especially in north- A woman lights a candle on her balcony as faithful across Italy pray for people suffering from COVID-19. PHOTO: CNS/YARA NARDI, REUTERS ern Italy, where the COVID-19 pandemic still is infecting thousands and leading to the deaths of hundreds each day. The pope said if people tell him they cannot leave the house, his response would be, “Do what the Catechism (of the Catholic Church) says. “It is very clear: If you can- not find a priest to confess to, speak directly with God, your father, and tell him the truth. “Make an act of contrition, the pope said, and promise God, ‘I will go to confession afterward, but forgive me now.’” - CNS WORLD