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In families, miracles are often hidden in every day life: the lesson of Jan Dobraczyński

The shadow of the Father in the gaze of a mother

 The shadow of the Father in the gaze of a mother  ING-043
22 October 2021
Reading Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, at a certain point, we come upon the quotation of a novel on the life of Saint Joseph, “The Shadow of the Father” by Polish author Jan Dobraczyński. When the Apostolic Letter was issued on 8 December 2020, I was finishing reading the book for the first time. I had just discovered this volume, published in 1977 and reprinted in Italian more than 20 times. It was curious that the Pope had quoted it in one of his magisterial texts. From that moment, in less than a year, I read it another two times. In fact, there is something extraordinary in the book, a message that reaches my heart unrelentingly and questions me as a woman, wife and mother. Indeed, “The Shadow of the Father” is not just the story of a fatherhood, but even more, it is the story of a great love, the one between Joseph ...

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