See St. Joseph as model of 'new man,' Pope urges audience

December 20, 2010

At his Angelus audience on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the example set by St. Joseph, who “announced the prodigies of the Lord, bearing witness to Mary's virginity and to God's gratuitous action, and protecting the earthly life of the Messiah.”

When he first learned that Mary was pregnant, St. Joseph was troubled, the Pope said. But an angel reassured him about Mary, and “now his eyes see in her the work of God.”

In St. Joseph, the Pope said, the believing world can see the “emergence of the new man, who looks with trust and courage to the future, who does not follow his own plans but entrusts himself entirely to the infinite mercy of the One Who fulfils the prophecies, the One Who opens the time of salvation". The Pope invoked the protection of St. Joseph on all pastors, reminding his audience that St. Joseph is the patron of the universal Church.

 

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Further information:

• St. Joseph, Legal Father of Jesus and "New Man" (VIS)