A Song Dedicated to St. Joseph to Honor Him in the Year of St. Joseph, 2021
Pic: Public Domain, St. Joseph's Holy Oil per St. Andre Bessette of Quebec's dedication to St. Joseph
This song was first written in the year 2000 - inspired by the Holy Spirit - when I was on a Manresa Retreat, which I did for 30+ years with Group # 7, usually during the weekend of Valentine's Day.
I had always wanted to dedicate a song to St. Joseph.
Even though the Manresa retreats are silent, I would bring my guitar and privately play in one of the two little prayer rooms - one with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and one with St. Joseph - on the grounds in front of
the beautiful main retreat lodging building near to the Mississippi River Road.
It was in the St. Joseph prayer room where this song got started and was completed on St. Joseph's Day, March 19, 2000.
The song was first published on my first CD, "The Promised Rainbow: The Covenant For Life," dedicated to now St. Pope John Paul II The Great.
On December 8, 2020, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis has dedicated this year, 2021, as the Year of St. Joseph.
As noted in Vatican News (https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-12/pope-francis-proclaims-year-of-st-joseph.html):
"In a new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.
The Letter marks the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To celebrate the anniversary, Pope Francis has proclaimed a special “Year of St Joseph,” beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2020 and extending to the same feast in 2021.
The Holy Father wrote Patris corde against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, he says, has helped us see more clearly the importance of “ordinary” people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, they resemble Saint Joseph, “the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who nonetheless played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation."
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Year of St. Joseph Song
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKw12jHOcas&ab_channel=KeithJohnPaulHorcasitas
Dedicated to St. Joseph
by
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, MHA
March 19, 2000
Who could have ever dreamed to be
Our Lord Savior's dad on earth
The angel reassured you that the Holy Spirit
Had blessed Mary and the world with New Birth
(Mt. 1: 18 – 25)
Who could have ever dreamed to flee
From Herod to Egypt with the King of Kings
The angel also guided you to Nazareth
To fulfill all that the Prophets did sing
(Mt. 2: 13 – 23)
Chorus:
Faithful husband partner, chaste and true
Mary’s companion, a carpenter too
Faithful father, Jesus grew
By following your example in what to do
(Mt. 1, 2; Lk. 1, 2)
Who could have ever dreamed at Passover to see
The Son of David in Jerusalem and starting to preach
He wasn’t lost in the Temple but obeyed Our Father’s Call
As He would later do with the Cross to teach
Lk. 2: 41 – 52)
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