Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father

by Donald H. Calloway

First, we need the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph to help us protect marriage and the family. Marriage and the family have always been under attack, but in modern times, the threats have reached extraordinary heights.

The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and the family.4

Second, the entire world needs to be re-evangelized, including the vast majority of baptized Christians. Saint Joseph was the first missionary. Today, he desires again to bring Jesus to the nations.

What exactly is consecration to St. Joseph? In other words, what does it mean for a person to be consecrated to St. Joseph? Well, it basically means that you acknowledge that he is your spiritual father, and you want to be like him. To show it, you entrust yourself entirely to his paternal care so that he can

lovingly help you acquire his virtues and become holy. Total consecration to St. Joseph means you make a formal act of filial entrustment to your spiritual father so that he can take care of your spiritual well-being and lead you to God. The person who consecrates himself to St. Joseph wants to be as close to their spiritual father as possible, to the point of resembling him in virtue and holiness. Saint Joseph, in turn, will give those consecrated to him his loving attention, protection, and guidance.

Mary is your spiritual mother, and St. Joseph is your spiritual father. The spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph is extremely important for your spiritual growth. Total consecration to Mary is not diminished by total consecration to St. Joseph. Mary wants you to consecrate

yourself to St. Joseph! Everything you have given to Jesus and Mary can also be given to St. Joseph. Be at peace. The Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph are one.

The family — the foundation of society — is under attack. The family of God — the Catholic Church — is also undergoing vicious assaults from the world, the flesh, the devil, and some of her own children. We need St. Joseph to protect

How I love to call St. Joseph the Patriarch of Christians and of God’s elect! How could we not give him this venerable title ... he, above all, who played such a large part in the mysteries of our spiritual regeneration?1 — Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

All of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. — 1 Thess 5:5

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. — Eph 5:8-9

I wish to extend a particular word of encouragement to fathers so that they may take St. Joseph as their model. He who kept watch over the Son of Man is able to teach them the deepest meaning of their own fatherhood.3 — Pope Benedict XVI

There has never been a man more in love with a woman than St. Joseph was in love with Mary. What dignity and holiness were required of St. Joseph to be the husband of Mary! In her feminine Heart, Mary knew that she was secure in the manhood of St. Joseph. He was her knight and warrior. Every wife desires such a husband — a gentleman, a protector, and a good father.

Saint Joseph was the spouse of Mary. In the same way, each father sees himself entrusted with the mystery of womanhood through his own wife. Dear fathers, like St. Joseph, respect and love your spouse; and by your love and your wise presence, lead your children to God.2 — Pope Benedict XVI

Many men have forgotten this today, but St. Joseph will help them remember. He will help men be holy and chivalrous again. All men discover in St. Joseph a model of strength, fidelity, heroism, and virtue. If men — husbands, fathers, priests, and bishops — follow the example of St. Joseph, families will be loving and secure, husbands will be holy, priests will be dragon-slayers, and bishops will again be shepherds of souls and pillars of truth.

Real men are true gentlemen, at the service of others. Real men love. Real men protect women and children against any and all threats. Real men are willing to die for their wives and children. Holy priests and bishops are willing to suffer and die for the souls entrusted to their care. Priests and bishops of this caliber are not afraid of ridicule, slander, poverty, or imprisonment. Men like St. Joseph are willing to fight for what they love, what is good, true, and beautiful. May the Church and families once again be filled with such men!

It was necessary that divine Providence should commit her [Mary] to the charge and guardianship of a man absolutely pure.1 — St. Francis de Sales

Chastity is a virtue. A very important virtue. To be chaste is to have self-mastery, to be in control of your passions and sexuality. Contrary to what many people think, a person who exercises chastity is not repressing or rejecting the beauty of human sexuality. On the contrary, chastity preserves the human heart and body for authentic self-giving. All people, no matter their vocation in life, are called to chastity. Chastity is the virtue that prevents us from being slaves to our passions and acting like irrational animals.

Modern man has become blinded by impurity. The world encourages premarital relations, cohabitation, contraception, and many other immoral practices. Chastity is a forgotten virtue today. Even married couples live with the idea that they are free to do whatever they desire with the body of their spouse. However, this is not true. Chastity is required in marriage as well, in order for couples to truly love one another, to retain their dignity and respect for each other.

Saint Joseph is the first Christian gentleman; next to Jesus, he is the greatest example of masculine chastity. He was married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and he treated her with respect, dignity, and reverence. If men today were more like St. Joseph — protectors and defenders of beauty, instead of users and abusers of the feminine mystery — what a different world this would be.

You should always strive to defend the person and name of Jesus Christ against all blasphemy, insult, and sacrilege. You must defend the Church, as well as her teachings and Sacraments, from all attacks, heresies, and falsehoods. To defend the Church is to defend Christ. You must resemble your spiritual father, always willing to sacrifice yourself for love of truth. Like St. Joseph, you, too, can bring many souls to Jesus.

Holy Mass is not about the priest, the people, or the choir. It’s about returning love for love and giving God his due. Yes, priests should preach well, liturgical music should be sacred and inspiring, and it’s always pleasant to see familiar faces at Mass. Yet even if you find the priest less than edifying, the music a distraction, and the congregation spiritually dead, you need to remember it’s not about them — it’s about you acting justly and lovingly toward God. There is no greater way to tell God “I love you,” give thanks to God, and worship him than through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving.”

If men reverence their wives as holy temples, families will be renewed, dragons will be slain, and the evils of our age that attack the dignity of the human person will be overcome. The imitation of St. Joseph will spread a revolution of holiness over the earth.

Everyone needs to trust God and obey the natural law as well. The person who defends marriage as an institution between one man and one woman is obeying the natural law. Protecting children in the womb by voting for candidates who are uncompromisingly pro-life is also a sign of being obedient to the natural law. Resisting the nonsense of gender ideology is another way of obeying the natural law. If you are mocked, ridiculed, and made to suffer for your trust and obedience to divine and natural law, you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Today, it is not easy to be faithful to Jesus. The world does not want you to trust Jesus, hope in his promises, or love him. If you live according to the teachings of Jesus, you will be ridiculed and mocked by the world, and maybe even by your family and friends. Should you endure exile and isolation out of love for Jesus, he is worth it. Should you suffer financial loss out of love for the truth, God will reward you. If you are belittled, spoken ill of, and calumniated because of your stance against abortion, homosexual “marriage,” and contraception, your reward will be great in heaven.

Saint Joseph wants to be in your home and present in your family life. Even if you move, he wants to go with you. Speaking of moving, let me quickly say something about a practice that concerns me: There is no need for you to bury a statue of St. Joseph to sell your house. Burying a statue of St. Joseph in an effort to sell a home is a modern phenomenon. Saint Teresa of Avila and St. André Bessette never buried statues of St. Joseph. Statues, unlike medals, are not made to be buried. Statues represent a person, and are meant to be venerated above ground, not buried in the ground. Place a statue of St. Joseph inside your home and pray to St. Joseph frequently for your domestic needs, including the selling of your home. Do not bury a statue of St. Joseph in your yard.

Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, my spiritual father, and beg your protection. O foster father of the Redeemer, despise not my petitions, but in your goodness hear and answer me. Amen.

Modern man has distanced himself from God and attempted to redefine what it means to be a family. As a result, divorce rates are at an all-time high; the majority of married couples use contraception; abortion is legal; and it is socially acceptable for children to be raised by two dads and/or two moms. The family stands on the edge of a great precipice.

Various programs backed by very powerful resources nowadays seem to aim at the breakdown of the family. At times it appears that concerted efforts are being made to present as “normal” and attractive, and even to glamourize, situations which are in fact “irregular.” Indeed, they contradict “the truth and love” which should inspire and guide relationships between men and women, thus causing tensions and divisions in families, with grave consequences particularly for children. The moral conscience becomes darkened; what is true, good, and beautiful is deformed; and freedom is replaced by what is actually enslavement.2 — St. John Paul II

If discouragement overwhelms you, think of the faith of Joseph; if anxiety has its grip on you, think of the hope of Joseph; if exasperation or hatred seizes you, think of the love of Joseph, who was the first man to set eyes on the human face of God in the person of the Infant conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Let us praise and thank Christ for having drawn so close to us, and for giving us Joseph as an example and model of love.3 — Pope Benedict XVI

The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death. In the litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: “From a sudden and unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord,” to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us “at the hour of our death” in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death.3 — Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Church invokes St. Joseph as her Patron and Protector through her unshakable trust that he to whom Christ willed to confide the care and protection of his own frail human childhood, will continue from heaven to perform his protective task in order to guide and defend the Mystical Body of Christ himself, which is always weak, always under attack, always in a state of peril.1 — St. Pope Paul VI

The Church is being assaulted by those outside it (Satan and the world) and by those inside it (many of her own children). Sadly, the Church also has to be protected from heterodox and spiritually weak priests and bishops.

Well, on June 29, 1972, St. Pope Paul VI made the claim that “the smoke of Satan has entered the Church.” He was right. The Church is in a mess. The smoke of Satan has infiltrated even the highest levels of the Church. The only way to clear away the smoke and make the Church beautiful again is to repent and return to order. There is no other way.

Jesus never promised that everyone in the Church would be holy. The weeds and the wheat grow together. The Church in her essence is holy because she is the bride of Christ, but there are many individual members of the Church who are not holy, marring the beauty of the bride of Christ by their sinful and criminal actions. In God’s time, the weeds and the wheat will ...

For the rest of your life, love, trust, and honor St. Joseph. Go to him in times of plenty, in times of poverty, in good times and in bad. He will be your guardian, your strength, and your certainty of not being lost. If you become weary, go to Joseph. If you become anxious, go to Joseph. When you are alone, mourning, or tempted, run to St. Joseph! He will never be far from you. He will hear your voice and be your quick defense. A fearless warrior, your spiritual father will rush to your side and protect you.

Never forget what you have learned in these days of preparation. Renew your consecration frequently. Strive to please the loving heart of your spiritual father. Avoid sin and live as a faithful member of the Church. Should scandals persist, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph. They will never disappoint you. They will never abandon you. They will always love you and be with you.

With the exception of our loving Mother, St. Joseph stands above all the saints.1 — St. Maximilian Kolbe

Saint Gregory Nazianzen considered St. Joseph to be so holy that he called him the most luminous of all the saints. He wrote: The Almighty has concentrated in St. Joseph, as in a Sun of unrivalled luster, the combined light and splendor of all the other saints.2 Saint Gregory Nazianzen’s statement is

So, my friends, reason certainly demands that in the kingdom of Christ not only Christ and the Blessed Virgin be worthy of high esteem, but also all the saints and especially this blessed man, Joseph, the father of Christ and spouse of the most holy Virgin, be held in highest honor by Christ himself as his father and by the most holy Virgin as her husband.4 — St. Lawrence of Brindisi

Rejoice, devout servants of St. Joseph, for you are close to paradise; the ladder leading up to it has but three rungs, Jesus, Mary, Joseph.6 — St. Leonard of Port Maurice

Who is not aware that, after the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph is, of all the saints, the one who is the dearest to God?7 — St. Alphonsus Liguori The exalted status given to St. Joseph by

Doctors of the Church has led to a particular way of describing the love and reve...

But my experience is that St. Joseph helps us in them all; also that the Lord wishes to teach us that, as he was himself subject on earth to St. Joseph, so in heaven he now does all that Joseph asks. This has also been the experience of other persons whom I have advised to commend themselves to the saint. I only request, for the love of God, whoever will not believe me will test the truth of what I say, for he will see by experience how great a blessing it is to recommend oneself to this glorious patriarch and to be devoted to him.8

There are many saints to whom God has given the power to assist us in the necessities of life, but the power given to St. Joseph is unlimited: It extends to all our needs, and all those who invoke him with confidence are sure to be heard.9

All the saints in glory assuredly merit honor

and particular respect, but it is evident that, next to the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph possesses a just title to a more sweet, more intimate and penetrating place in our hearts, belonging to him alone.14 — St. Pope John XXIII

Saint Joseph, after Mary, is the greatest saint and the most dear to Jesus.15...

The divine nature of Jesus did not need anything from St. Joseph, but the human nature of Jesus did require the fatherhood of St. Joseph. When

Contraception, pornography, abortion, gender confusion, moral depravity, empty churches, morally corrupt clergy, and cultural chaos are only a few of the fruits of a society that lacks real men and fathers. Jesus wants to draw our attention to the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph in order to right these wrongs and bring order back to the Church and the world.