Following the activities framed within the Year of Saint Joseph, convened by Pope Francis with the apostolic letter Patris Corde, where the Holy Father reminds us of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church and, therefore, declared that the year 2021 be dedicated to him.

This is how the Magdala team in Israel took on the task of setting to music the prayer that the Pontiff wrote at the end of his apostolic letter.

The information portal Vatican News, in the presentation of the apostolic letter, commented that it is a prayer that, for more than forty years, the Holy Father recites daily to the husband of Mary “taken from a French devotional book from the 19th century, from the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary.” This is a prayer that “expresses devotion and trust” to the putative Father of Jesus, but it is also “a certain challenge,” explains the Pope, because it ends with the words: “May it not be said that I have invoked you in vain; show me that your goodness is as great as your power.”

The music was performed by the Spaniards Luis Meseguer Mira (composer) and Cristina Messanet (performer).

“The greatness of Saint Joseph lies in the fact that he was the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus. As such, ‘he entered into the service of the entire economy of the Incarnation,’ as Saint John Chrysostom says,” affirms the Holy Father in his apostolic letter.

This Lent, Fr. Juan María Solana, LC, director of Magdala, is leading a virtual pilgrimage through the Holy Land under the motto: “Pilgrims in Faith. Walking through the Holy Land under the hand of Abraham.” He comments that he was excited about the project of these young people who wanted to gift Magdala with the interpretation of the Pope’s prayer in a beautiful song that simply expresses the feelings of the Holy Father and the Church in their trust in Saint Joseph. Father Juan María invites everyone to “make this song and prayer, as the Pope teaches us, to pray for the entire Church and for the whole world.”