The cover of “Ite ad Joseph” (Ares Edizioni)
by Riccardo Spera
«A father who takes care of us just as he took care of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. A father of a human and moral greatness that moves. A father who has not been afraid to make the divine project concretely announced in a dream from the angel … »: thus describes St. Joseph Antida Pozzi, the elderly catechist of the Milanese diocese, who on the 80 -year -old threshold felt the duty to publish a small book to say his thanks to the holy carpenter of Nazareth of which the party resorts on March 19, to make all the same confidence in him, because he will not be disappointed, putative of Jesus faces everything with faith, “a granite faith”, always “trusts God and puts himself at work”. The volume, preferred by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the CEI, contains the history, the devotions of St. Joseph with the comments of the saints and the catechesis of the popes – including all those of Francesco – dedicated to him. The author entitled him Ite to Joseph (Edizioni Ares, pp. 174, Euro 14) and explains it as follows: «Ite to Joseph,” Go to Giuseppe “: they were the words with which the Pharaoh (Gn 41.55) ordered the Egyptians, afflicted by the famine, to turn to Giuseppe, viceroy of Egypt and son of the patriarch Jacob. “Go to Giuseppe” are the words with which the Church, from her beginnings, after having addressed pleading to the Virgin Mary, addresses Joseph, the bridegroom of the Mother of God and the earthly father of Jesus, son of God. “Ite ad joseph” are the words that are dedicated to him dedicated to him. Ite ad joseph, is father of tenderness: he will help us! Ite ad joseph », he is a man of hope: he will not disappoint us! Ite to Joseph, to give glory to God ». A short but fiery volume that induces Cardinal Zuppi to write in a preface: «I thank the sensitivity and pen of Antida for the sharing with the readers of his profound devotion for St. Joseph, helping to find the words for the prayers of intercession. It offers us a small compendium to deepen, with punctual references and the meditations of Pope Francis, the meaning of his figure. He wanted to be a tribute, humble and devoted, to help many, as the author explains, who
“They have lost the true meaning of life, the anguished, the tributes, the discouraged, those in solitude, in despair, in desolation, in the crying, in need, in despair, those who no longer know how to solve the thousand problems of every day, those who can no longer take it to bring their cross, those who are without work, homeless, who has lost faith, who is not at peace with themselves, who cannot find their own dignity. lost, who is deprived of personal freedom, those who are slave to sex, drugs, power, selfishness, who is a slave to himself, who feels abandoned or oppressed, who is sick, who is dying, who has lost all hope (…). Giuseppe is the man who protects and everyone experiences the fragility of our life, which we often remove, we think is alien to our condition while in reality it is always part of it. We all need protection and when this is not there we feel abandoned and valueless. Giuseppe puts himself in service. His greatness is precisely this: making others great, Mary and Jesus with his concrete love. He takes Mary with him, holds her from Herod’s violence, becomes a foreigner in Egypt.
How important it is to be protected in the many adversities of life, in one’s spiritual and human journey and how much it is possible for all of us to help others just as St. Joseph who was designed for Mary and Jesus. Listening to and putting into practice the Word of God did not settle for not hurting, but he chose more about love, making his own what he was not his. It is the secret of love he does not have and for this reason he loves and feels loved. These pages help us to trust in its sweet and strong protection and symbolically learning to put us, just like Pope Francis, under his protection the many requests for special help because the humble and silent saint of Nazareth interceda for us. Ite ad joseph to meet Jesus and to learn to protect his younger brothers and our Mother Church, to whom we are entrusted, but also that it is entrusted to us and that we can take, like Giovanni, in the house of our heart ».
