JOSEPHITE SPIRITUALITY  SEEDS. Monthly publication of the International Josephite-Marellian Center. December 2025

1.   Welcoming

2. Opening Prayer

3. Theme of the Month:

Like the Saints Joseph, let us be attentive to the needs of the poor and marginalized

“Therefore, I encourage you to continue to live and work in the Church and in the world with the simple and essential virtues of the Spouse of the Virgin Mary: humility, which attracts the benevolence of the Father; intimacy with the Lord, which sanctifies all Christian work; silence and hiddenness, united with zeal and industriousness in favor of the Lord’s will, in the spirit of that happy synthesis that Marello left you as a motto and program: «Be Carthusians at home and apostles outside the home»”.

(Address of Pope Francis to participants in the General Chapter of the Oblates of St. Joseph, August 31, 2018)

Addressing the participants of the General Chapter of the Oblates of St. Joseph on August 31, 2018, Pope Francis exhorted and motivated the Josephite-Marellian Family “with the perspective of serving Jesus in the Church, and among the brothers and sisters, with particular attention to young people and the most humble”. He also urged them to seek inspiration in the words of the Founder, St. Joseph Marello. Let us listen to the Pope:

“Rich in the laborious simplicity of Saint Joseph, you are called to be witnesses in the world of a unique message, of consoling good news: namely, that God uses everyone, preferring the smallest and most humanly deprived, to establish and grow his Kingdom. May the prospect of serving Jesus in the Church and in your brothers and sisters, with particular attention to young people and the most humble, may always motivate your life and your joy.

“May the words of your Holy Founder, which are always very  relevant today, inspire you in this: «Poor Josephites of the Hospice for the Sick, minor priests, you are nothing and you do not occupy any of those positions considered for the future, and yet the Lord even uses you for the good of souls. Say also: “Servi inutiles sumus” [“we are useless servants”], but go forward, performing the part that the divine will, through those who represent it, entrusts to you day after day; and that men may also “videant opera vestra bona et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui in coelis est” [“see your good works and give glory to your Father  who is in heaven”]» (Epistolary, Letter 241).

“Therefore, I encourage you to continue to live and work in the Church and in the world with the simple and essential virtues of the Spouse of the Virgin Mary: humility, which attracts the benevolence of the Father; intimacy with the Lord, which sanctifies all Christian work; silence and hiddenness, united with zeal and industriousness in favor of the Lord’s will, in the spirit of that happy synthesis that Marello left you as a motto and program: «Be Carthusians at home and apostles outside the home».

“This teaching, always alive in your spirit, calls all of you, dear brothers, to maintain in religious houses an atmosphere of recollection and prayer, favored by silence and by opportune community gatherings. The spirit of family strengthens the union of the communities and of the entire Congregation.”

(Address of Pope Francis to participants in the General Chapter of the Oblates of St. Joseph. 08/31/2018)

Father José Antônio Bertolin, Oblate of St. Joseph, on June 12,  2009, on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Heroic Virtues of St. Joseph Marello by Pope Paul VI, published the book “St. Joseph Marello, an exemplary and edifying life” and highlighted, quoting St. Joseph Marello himself, that “the works of the Saints, which the centuries have respected, have always been marked by the seal of simplicity”. Let us look at one of the most admirable and simple characteristics of St. Joseph Marello recorded in the book and which can help us to live well the Marellian Year (November 25, 2025 to November 25, 2026): his concrete love for the poor.

The book records that Father Giovanni Battista Cortona recalls  that his charity towards the poor was so manifest that… Sometimes he would help them by also depriving himself of his breakfast. Let us listen to Father Bertolin:

“His heart sensitive to the needs of the poor and marginalized, was an admirable virtue. This is proven when the boy Marello once saw an old beggar being ridiculed by his classmates and energetically defended this poor old man. He consoled him and took him to his house and gave him food and clothes.

“His love for the poor is further proven by a passage he wrote in  his notebook which says: ‘I know a boy, a good boy, who every Saturday takes his wine to a sick old man, and, on holidays, sets aside for him what he has a little extra on the table. I know another who, instead of having a lot at breakfast, asks his mother for a coin a day and so on Sunday, with that week’s savings, an old man can have a little meat on his table.’

“Those who knew him know that he was so charitable towards the poor that, sometimes, to help them, he would deprive himself of his breakfast. Therefore, the boy he referred to in the notebook was real, not fictitious; it was himself. Fr. Giovanni Battista Cortona recalls that his charity towards the poor was so evident that he sometimes helped them, even depriving himself of his breakfast. Therefore, the boy mentioned in his notebook wanted to indicate that it really was him.”

(Saint Joseph Marello, an exemplary and edifying life. Father José Antônio Bertolin, Oblate of Saint Joseph)

4. Reflection and Sharing

Share on the words of Pope Francis and Father José Antônio Bertolin, OSJ, contained in this edition of “Josephite Spirituality Seeds”.

5. Commitment of the Month

Inspired by the example of Saint Joseph Marello and, as a  concrete gesture for Holy Christmas, discern with the Parish Community or Religious House how we can improve our efforts in favor of the needs of the poor and marginalized.

6. Final Prayer.