IN the story of Cain and Abel, when God asks Cain to account for his brother’s life, Cain infamously replies, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
St Joseph is God’s answer to Cain’s question, Pope Francis said at his weekly general audience on November 24.
“With his life, Joseph seems to want to tell us that we are always called to feel that we are our brothers and sisters’ keepers, the guardians of those who are close to us, of those whom the Lord entrusts to us through many circumstances of life,” he said.
“A society such as ours, which has been defined as “liquid”, as it seems not to have consistency… I will correct the philosopher who coined this definition and say – more than liquid, gaseous, a properly gaseous society.
“This liquid, gaseous society finds in the story of Joseph a very clear indication of the importance of human bonds.
“Indeed, the Gospel tells us the genealogy of Jesus, not only for a theological reason, but also to remind each one of us that our lives are made up of bonds that precede and accompany us.
“The Son of God chose to come into the world by way of such bonds, the way of history – he did not come down into the world by magic, no.
“He took the historic route we all take.”
Pope Francis assured the faithful of St Joseph’s powerful intercession as a guardian.
In earthly life, St Joseph was the guardian of Jesus and Mary and in eternal life, he is the guardian of the Church, “for the Church is the continuation of the Body of Christ in history”, he said.
By references to Jesus as “son of Joseph” and “the carpenter’s son” in the Gospels, we learn the centrality of St Joseph to salvation history, he said.
“Everyone can find in St Joseph, the man who goes unnoticed, the man of daily presence, of discreet and hidden presence, an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of difficulty,” he said.
“He reminds us that all those who are seemingly hidden or in the ‘second row’ are unparalleled protagonists in the history of salvation.
“The world needs these men and women – men and women in the second row, but who support the development of our life, of every one of us, and who with prayer, and by their example, with their teaching, sustain us on the path of life.”
Pope Francis last week began a cycle of catechesis on St Joseph as the Year of St Joseph comes to an end on December 8.
