Feast Days for the Radically Reverent ~ St. Joseph
St. Joseph’s Day is not a Feast Day I grew up celebrating. For all of the many ethnic and cultural backgrounds that inform my lineage, two that don’t — Italian and Polish — make up the largest communities of celebrants for this day. But I DID grow up knowing that in order to sell a home quickly and easily, a statue of St. Joe needed to be buried in the front yard. Right side up, unless the sale was going slow, in which case turning him upside down would do the trick.
I also learned about St. Joseph’s Feast Day from family members in East Texas who got it from friends and relatives in New Orleans, who no doubt picked it up from the waves of Sicilian immigrants who poured into that port town. Sacred things travel along the routes that people do.
I started celebrating the Feast Day of St. Joseph when I was in my early twenties. I had always appreciated the way that Joseph stood by and trusted Mary even though theirs was not a conventional relationship. I always liked the fact that Jesus was a carpenter — a man who knew how to use his hands — and that he had inherited this skill from his father. There is a soft spot in my heart for St. Joseph.
His Feast Day falls right in the middle of Lent, and some people call it a festive fast — the fasting associated with Lent is not broken, but the celebration happens anyway. I love that tension. Joy and discipline, side by side.
So what are we actually celebrating?
First and foremost, St. Joseph is a father. And it strikes me that it is deeply appropriate that he is venerated during Lent — a time of penitence in the liturgical year — because for so many of us there is anger, sadness, grief and regret woven around fathers and father wounds. Whether your relationship with your father is close, complicated, estranged, or something you’re still sorting out, St. Joseph is a saint who can help, support, and bless that place in your heart.
St. Joseph is also the patron saint of work, jobs, and job-finding. He is seen as the ideal provider for his family, and so he blesses and supports those who wish to provide well — for themselves and for the ones they love. If you are looking for a better job, a higher-paying job, or even a job, period — St. Joseph is a good saint to work with.
Most of all, St. Joseph is the strong, supportive, loving father figure who has your back no matter what. Whatever the odds, he is there to help you navigate them.
Areas to especially consider as you make your petition:
- Healing old father wounds
- Restoring or deepening relationships between fathers and children
- Gaining a new, better, or improved job
- Selling real estate quickly and easily
- Supporting teen mothers
- Improving your relationship to the Divine Masculine
As always, those who wish to add extra magic to their celebrations may order the custom candle for the season: St. Joseph. Find it here.
What are Feast Days for the Radically Reverent?
Born into a family full of many devoted Catholic practitioners, Feast Days are one of the aspects of folk tradition that I love best. There are hundreds of Feast Days – in fact, according to official Catholic calendars every single day is a feast day – and that alone is a though worth pondering – what would happen if you treated every day as a feast day?
Years ago in my own practice I began creating altars and honoring ceremonies on Feast Days that have deep personal significance to me and inviting my community of soulful seekers to join in the process of honoring by sending in their own prayer requests, blessing ways, petitions, and thanks givings.
The results are always stunning. They remind me again and again that the act of blessing is transformative and also deeply universal — every year individuals from all over the world and many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds identifying as Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and followers of various alternative spiritual paths come together in blessing. It is a profound time always and one felt deeply by all participants.
These Feast Days can be found on various calendars but we celebrate them together with one thing in common – radical reverence; this is reverence that goes right down to the root of things in plain speech and in direct, heart-felt actions.
Feast Days for the Radically Reverent are open to all people who would like to come together to celebrate, request, and bless. They are 100% free of charge and always will be.