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January 21 - January 27, 2021
the reality is that we are all going to have miserable moments in life. This world is a valley of tears, and everyone is going to suffer. There is no way around it. Whether it’s financial problems, marital hardships, psychological struggles, difficulties in relationships, the death of loved ones, or a thousand other woes, we will all experience misery in life. It’s good to have someone we can turn to for comfort and solace in such times.
God wants you to rest in St. Joseph’s fatherhood. Saint Joseph will never abandon you. No matter what your experience of fatherhood has been, St. Joseph will always be there for you. He is your spiritual dad, and he loves you. He will never hurt you. He would give his life for you a million times over.
When life has you down, run to your spiritual father. Pour out your heart to him. Tell him your troubles. He is the most loving of fathers. He is always available for you, always attentive, always understanding.
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 hatre...
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If you or a loved one receive a healing, don’t forget that you are still going to suffer in life.
Saint Joseph will help you be abandoned to Divine Providence.
Like St. Joseph, let us live each day according to the dispositions of providence, doing whatever God suggests.3
When St. Joseph slumbers, he speaks to God! It doesn’t matter if his mind and body are at rest. Saint Joseph’s spirit is always at attention and ready to protect, defend, and fight for Jesus, Mary, and souls.
Saint Joseph is a quiet man, but he is not a timid man.
In times of fear, oppression, mortal danger, and extreme temptation, run to your spiritual father. He will fight for you. The Terror of Demons is ready to slay dragons for you!
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
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.
Renew your consecration frequently.
With the exception of our loving Mother, St. Joseph stands above all the saints.1 — St. Maximilian Kolbe
Mary is in a different category altogether. In the Kingdom of God, Mary is the most elevated of all creatures, but St. Joseph outranks all the other saints. Please keep this distinction in mind as you make your way through the rest of the book. At times, it will seem as though saints, blesseds, and popes are claiming that St. Joseph is holier than Mary in their statements. Just remember — he isn’t.
Jesus and Mary themselves were born of women. Jesus can’t possibly be stating that St. John the Baptist is greater than the Son of God and his Immaculate Mother!
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.
the dignity of St. Joseph is so great that it can be considered higher than that of the angels, even the highest choirs of angels?
Mary was not an unwed mother when she conceived the Savior of the world in her womb. She was married to St. Joseph. The Incarnation took place within the context of St. Joseph’s marriage to Mary.
Saint Joseph, after Mary, is the greatest saint and the most dear to Jesus.
It wasn’t until St. Augustine’s preaching in the fourth century that St. Joseph’s fatherhood of Jesus was clearly explained by the Church. In one of his sermons, St. Augustine states that St. Joseph, though not the biological father of Jesus, is nonetheless a real father to Jesus because he exercised a fatherhood toward Jesus that was authoritative, affectionate, and faithful.
Through Baptism, you became a child of God and a member of God’s family. Jesus is your Lord, Savior, and brother. The Son of God became your brother for a very specific reason: He wants you to share in his filial relationship with the Heavenly Father.
If Jesus is your brother, his parents become your parents. Not physically, of course, but spiritually. Specifically, Jesus’ mother becomes your mother. Jesus’ father becomes your father. If Mary is your mother, and Jesus is your brother, St. Joseph has to be your father. Any man married to your mother is your father.
Saint Joseph’s fatherhood was more than a legal guardianship. His paternal relationship with Jesus was personal, authoritative, affectionate, moral, and loving.
Jesus needed St. Joseph as a father because the human nature of Jesus required it. When the Son of God became incarnate, he placed himself under the anthropological (human) requirements of needing a human father to love, feed, educate, shelter, clothe, and protect him. Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is not a pure spiritual being. He is the God-Man. He has a divine nature and a human nature.
When the Son of God humbled himself and took on human nature, he placed himself under the laws of human growth and development.
Let those who think that the Church pays too much attention to Mary give heed to the fact that Our Blessed Lord himself gave ten times as much of his life to her as he gave to his apostles.
could give priority to doing the Heavenly Father’s will. For love of Jesus, St. Joseph was more than willing to step out of the picture and appear to be of no importance.
There has never been a time in history when God’s people have needed St. Joseph more. Why? Simply put, the majority of men no longer know or understand what it means to be a gentleman, let alone what it means to be a good father.
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.
In Catholic devotion, those who love St. Joseph will sometimes pray the Holy Cloak Novena (see here). Novenas are normally nine days long, but the Holy Cloak Novena consists of 30 days of prayer in honor of the 30 years St. Joseph lived with Jesus. The Holy Cloak Novena is considered one of the most efficacious novenas in the treasury of the Church.
The story related in the Old Testament is true and is a prefiguration of a much greater Joseph who would bring his Son, the Bread from Heaven, to safety in Egypt. Saint Joseph safeguarded a food capable of saving the entire world!
Today, there is a worldwide spiritual and moral famine on the earth. Souls are dying because of a lack of spiritual nourishment. Hearts are broken; marriages are ruined; lives are destroyed; children are murdered in the womb; and truth and common sense are in short supply.
The physical demands of his mission make the probability of him being an old man practically zero.
As Mother Angelica said, “Old men don’t walk to Egypt!”
A woman’s love always determines the way a man loves: she is the silent educator of his virile powers.
Saint Joseph is the most Marian of all saints.
Saint Joseph is the model for total consecration to Mary.
Saint Joseph is the first human person to have been totally consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He is the prototype, blueprint, and model for how to live a life of total consecration to Mary.
Be another Joseph for Mary.
What St. Joseph teaches his children is that the Virgin Mary is the Holy Grail!
The Luminous Mysteries were actually founded in 1957 by St. George Preca of Malta, but St. John Paul II offered them to the universal Church to help us call to mind important truths of Christianity that are under attack today.
O Joseph, virgin father of Jesus, most pure spouse of the Virgin Mary, pray for us daily to the same Jesus, the Son of God that, armed with the weapons of his grace, we may fight as we ought during life, and be crowned by him at the moment of our death. Amen.
Like the Father eternally begets a Son without physical union with another person, St. Joseph fathers a Son without physical union with Mary.
a person needs to live in perfect accord with the Divine Will and, in the face of all sorts of events, whether advantageous or adverse, give God and others their due.
just as St. Peter humbled himself before the Lord and said, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man,” and as the ruler confessed who sent word to the Lord, “I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof, for I have considered myself not even worthy to come to thee,” or as St. Elizabeth said to the Most Blessed Virgin, “And how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” In like manner did the just man Joseph humble himself and fear to enter into a union with such exalted holiness.
Saint Joseph’s love, faith, humility, justice, and reverence are so great that at no time did he suspect Mary of being unfaithful.
Nor did he consider it a possibility that another man had forced himself upon his wife. He was absolutely positive that Mary belonged to God, and God would take care of her. He trusted God and he trusted Mary.
Saint Joseph loved Mary immensely, and it would have been torturous for him to contemplate distancing himself from her, but he loved God first.
