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

by Donald H. Calloway

Our spiritual father teaches us that we should not act hastily or harshly when we encounter perplexing situations. We are to take everything to prayer, and wait on the Lord for guidance and light.

The Gift of Knowledge enables the soul to evaluate created things at their worth — in their relation to God.

The Gift of Understanding helps us to grasp the meaning of the truths of our holy religion. By faith we know them, but by understanding we learn to appreciate and relish them.

Counsel applies the principles furnished by knowledge and understanding to the innumerable concrete cases that confront us in the course of our daily duty

Counsel is supernatural common sense,

The Gift of Fortitude strengthens the soul against natural fear and supports us in the performance of duty.

The Gift of Piety begets in our hearts a filial affection for God as our most loving Father.

The Gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread nothing so much as to offend him by sin.

The Gift of Wisdom embodies all the other gifts, as charity embraces all the other virtues. Wisdom is the most perfect of the gifts.

Because St. Joseph was associated with Mary in her glorious privileges, he also had to suffer like her and his heart too was pierced by seven swords.

St. Joseph asked the Franciscans to honor his Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys on the Seven Sundays leading up to his feast on March 19.

the Seven Sundays Devotion to St. Joseph

His sorrow did not come from suspecting Mary had been unfaithful; he never doubted Mary’s love, fidelity, and holiness. Rather, his suffering came from knowing that he was not worthy to be the husband of so holy a woman; nor did he consider himself worthy to be the father of a heavenly Child.

Men, by nature, are providers. If a man is unable to provide as much or as well for the ones he loves as he wishes, he dies inside. Saint Joseph died daily.

The hearts of a husband and wife are one. What is of concern to one is of concern to the other.

Saint Joseph’s wife is the New Eve, and God was going to use her Heart as a spiritual womb. She would have to undergo spiritual birth pangs in order for humanity to be reborn in Christ.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph make it possible for us to be children of God.

God has given you a mission as a Christian. Your mission will require sacrifice, sorrow, and suffering. You will experience your own Calvary.

You are going to suffer in life. Saint Joseph can’t prevent all of your suffering, but he can prepare you for it and console you when you are in the midst of sorrow and pain. He offers a father’s love and protection.

If St. Joseph lived with Jesus for 30 years, his vocation was one of perpetual adoration.

Fetal microchimerism is the scientific term that describes a process in which living cells of a child remain in the body of a mother after her pregnancy has ended.

Saint Joseph’s wife is a living tabernacle, a walking monstrance, a veiled temple.

she is never without the divine presence. God lives in her body!

St. Joseph instructed Sr. Mary Ephrem that God wants St. Joseph to be honored on the First Wednesday of every month, especially by the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary and the reception of Holy Communion.

Fathers must come to me, small one, to learn obedience to authority: to the Church always, as the mouthpiece of God, to the laws of the country in which they live, insofar as these do not go against God and their neighbor.

Let fathers also imitate my great purity of life and the deep respect I held for my Immaculate Spouse. Let them be an example to their children and fellow men, never willfully doing anything that would cause scandal among God’s people. Fatherhood is from God, and it must take once again its rightful place among men.”

I desire souls to come to my heart that they may learn true union with the Divine Will.

the head of the family must be loved, obeyed, and respected, and in return be a true father and protector to those under his care.

Our Lady’s Heart will triumph when the restoration of the family, and God’s rightful place in it, takes place. None of this will happen until St. Joseph’s fatherhood is fully recognized by the Church. Now is the time of St. Joseph!

Let us allow ourselves to be filled with St Joseph’s silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither recollection nor listening to God’s voice, we are in such deep need of it.

They have the courage to work. They don’t have the courage to do nothing.

The sleep of St. Joseph can teach modern man important lessons about life. One of the most important lessons it teaches us is that it is okay to rest.

You are not wasting time when you rest. Sleep is pleasing to God. God will speak to you and refresh your soul when you sleep.

Why is Wednesday set aside for St. Joseph? Well, Wednesday is the halfway point between Sunday (the day of the Lord) and Saturday (the day set aside to honor Mary).

Blessed Anna Maria Taigi was so devoted to St. Joseph that she attended Mass every Wednesday in his honor and fasted on bread and water the entire day.

Saint Joseph is so neglected in the spiritual life that he longs to assist those who pour out their hearts to him.

He needs work

Saint Joseph also has his own month dedicated to him: March.

Renewing your consecration to St. Joseph, praying the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary more frequently, or making a pilgrimage to a local shrine dedicated to St. Joseph are all ways that you can remember St. Joseph during his month in a special way.

Another aspect of devotion to St. Joseph of which many people seem to be unaware is that St. Joseph is not only the Patron of the Dying; he is also a tremendous intercessor for those who have died and are in purgatory.

She founded a religious community dedicated to this purpose, the Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory, and placed it under the patronage of St. Joseph.

Well, according to God’s plan, it was fitting that St. Joseph already be deceased so that Jesus could entrust his mother to St. John — and also entrust St. John (symbolizing all souls) to his mother.

Jesus wants his disciples to have a filial relationship with St. Joseph as well as Mary, but the recognition of St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood would have needed to wait until the Church was mature enough to begin to understand it.

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But, when the Spirit comes he will lead you into all truth."

If St. Joseph were alive during the public ministry of Jesus, it would have been confusing for people to hear Jesus speak about his desire to take them to his Father. In order to avoid obscuring the primacy of the Heavenly Father, Joseph had to die before the public ministry of Jesus began.

While it’s certainly probable that St. Joseph’s body was placed in a tomb, to date, we have no idea where the tomb of St. Joseph is located. Not one person in all of Christianity has ever claimed to know where the body of St. Joseph was placed after death.

It’s more probable that Joseph’s body is not lying incorrupt in a tomb on earth somewhere. Rather, it is more probable that his body is in heaven with Jesus and Mary.

There are no relics of Mary’s body on earth — we have only pieces of her veil, sash, or other fragments of her garments

Likewise, there are no bodily relics of St. Joseph on earth — we have only pieces of his garments or other items associated with him; for example, his staff

We may piously believe, but not assert, that the Most Holy Son of God crowned his foster-father with the same privilege which he gave his mother; that as he assumed her into heaven bodily and glorious in soul, so also on the day when he [Jesus] arose he took Joseph up with him in the glory of the Resurrection.

In modern times, a saintly pope, John XXIII, has asserted that St. Joseph was assumed bodily into heaven.

If Jeremiah had the privilege of being sanctified before birth, if St. John the Baptist received the same grace in preparation for his service as precursor of the Messiah, are we not to believe that the one who served as the father of the Savior, and husband of the Queen of virgins, was treated with equal love and mercy?