I would like to propose a new title for St. Joseph in his Litany: “Icon of Fatherhood.” Allow me to explain why this title, and why now.
Our world is in the midst of a great turning. An unseen battle rages, and the speed of degradation visible all around us has increased exponentially.
I would posit the breakdown of fatherhood goes hand in hand with the breakdown of society. Sociological data affirms the importance of fathers on family dynamics and what happens when they are missing. To name only a few of the effects of an absence of one’s father:
- Emotional and behavioral problems
- Lower quality education
- Financial instability
- Greater criminal activity
- Teen pregnancy
- Divorce
- Greater health risks
We also know how important fathers are to passing on the Faith. When fathers regularly attend church, their children are more likely to do the same. A Swiss study revealed that if a father attends church regularly, even if the mother does not, about 44% of their children will become regular churchgoers. Conversely, if the father does not attend and the mother does, only about 2% of children become regular attendees.
As chaos ensues, this famous beginning stanza of William Butler Yeat’s poem entitled “The Second Coming” comes to mind. It is a description of the coming of the anti-Christ.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned . . .
But hope is not to be extinguished. Borrowing a line from the great St. Augustine, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.”
One divine insertion into this fallen world happened at the beginning of the 20th century in Fatima when our Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children, warning and prophesying what was to come.
One of the last living visionaries of Fatima, Sister Lucia, in a letter to Cardinal Caffarra, wrote that the final battle between the Lord and Satan will be over marriage and the family. We are in the era of Fatima.
Let’s look back to October 13th, 1917, when the miracle of the sun was witnessed by over 70,000 people. One bit of information that often gets overlooked in this apparition was St. Joseph’s appearance holding the child Jesus. Why was St. Joseph there, and why was he holding the child Jesus?
If we look at the final battle between good and evil over the family and marriage, we know that the key to winning that battle is to bring proper order to the institution.
Enter St. Joseph: Icon of Fatherhood.
He was at the apparition holding the child Jesus almost as if to assure us that he would be there as things unraveled. As the sun was hurled toward the earth, St. Joseph calmly held the child Jesus. And as his times come upon us, he will calmly direct men back to their proper places in the hierarchy of family.
The triumph of the Immaculate Heart, which is the reign of the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart, speaks of an era of peace. In City of God, St. Augustine states, Tranquillitas Ordinis, which loosely translated means “peace through order.” What is needed first and foremost is a hierarchy with the father at the head—from this comes peace and order in the family. St. Joseph, Icon of Fatherhood . . . pray for us.
Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
The enemy knew that to lash out against fatherhood was a surefire way to strike at the heart of God and His blueprint for humanity. Imagine at the beginning of time when the plan of God’s mercy was disclosed, and a third of the angels fell. The Almighty and Immortal God would humble Himself before His bumbling creatures, and they would elicit mercy which seemed to juxtapose itself against justice.
The Trinitarian life would be imaged in the family. God would choose the father to be an icon of Himself. He would humble Himself, pour Himself out in blinding humility. This was all too much to take in for this rogue angel band. They would target the head, emasculate him, blur deeply his identity, until he was a whimpering image of what was, and what was meant to be. Enter now Joseph, Icon of Fatherhood.
These are St. Joseph’s times now. He is a part of the unveiling of the divine plan revealed at Fatima. The final battle over marriage and the family is to be fought by the Terror of Demons, the Pillar of Families, the Icon of Fatherhood. He holds the grace and blueprint for men to take their place as servant leaders of their domestic churches. He will help them understand their identity as fathers. He will show how essential their leadership is to having peace in our homes and in the world.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse. (Mal. 4:6)
Before we are tempted to give in to despair, or to the Anti-Christ, meet St. Joseph. He will show in his silence and humility how to defend you. He is a part of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the ordering of humanity to the will of God, and the exultation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
So, St. Joseph, Icon of Fatherhood . . . pray for us.
Image from Meisterdrucke
