SAINT OF THE DAY

TUESDAY, 19 MARCH, 2024

SAINT JOSEPH

FOSTER FATHER OF THE REDEEMER - CHASTE SPOUSE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

In the 'Mystical City of God', Ven. Mary of Agreda is given the following description of St. Joseph by the Blessed Virgin Mary. "The holy child Joseph was born most beautiful and perfect of body and caused in his parents and in his relations an extraordinary delight, something like that caused by the birth of Saint John the Baptist, though the cause of it was more hidden. The Lord hastened in him the use of his reason, perfecting it in his third year, endowing it with infused science and augmenting his soul with new graces and virtues. From that time the child began to know God by faith, and also by natural reasoning and science, as the cause and Author of all things. He eagerly listened and understood profoundly all that was taught him in regard to God and his works. At this premature age he already practiced the highest kinds of prayer and contemplation and eagerly engaged in the exercise of the virtues proper to his youth; so that, at the time when others come to the use of reason. at the age of seven years or more, Saint Joseph was already a perfect man in the use of it and in holiness. He was of a kind disposition, loving, affable, growing in virtue and perfection and advancing toward his espousal with most holy Mary by an altogether irreproachable life.

For the confirmation and increase of his good qualities was then added the intercession of the blessed Lady; for as soon as She was informed that the Lord wished Her to enter the married state with him, She earnestly besought the Lord to sanctify Saint Joseph and inspire him with most chaste thoughts and desires in conformity with her own. The Lord listened to her prayer and permitted Her to see what great effects his right hand wrought in the mind and spirit of the patriarch Saint Joseph. They were so copious, that they cannot be described in human words. He infused into his soul the most perfect habits of all the virtues and gifts. He balanced anew all his faculties and filled him with grace, confirming it in an admirable manner. In the virtue and perfection of chastity the holy spouse was elevated higher than the seraphim; for the purity, which they possessed without body, Saint Joseph possessed in his earthly body and in mortal flesh; never did an image of the impurities of the animal and sensible nature engage, even for one moment, any of his faculties. This freedom from all such imaginations and his angelic simplicity fitted him for the companionship and presence of the most Pure among all creatures, and without this excellence he would not have been worthy of so great a dignity and rare excellence.

Also in the other virtues, he was wonderfully distinguished, especially in charity; for he dwelt at the fountainhead of that living water, which flows on to eternal life (John 4, 14); he was in close proximity to that sphere of fire and was consumed without resistance. The best that can be said of the charity of our saint is that his love of God was really the cause of his mortal sickness and of his death. The manner of his death was a privilege of his singular love, for his sweet sighs of love surpassed and finally put an end to those of his sickness, being far more powerful. As the objects of his love, Christ and his Mother, were present with him always and as both of Them were more closely bound to him than to any of the woman-born, his most pure and faithful heart was unavoidably consumed by the loving effects of such a close union. Blessed be the Author of such great wonders and blessed be the most fortunate of mortals, Saint Joseph, who so worthily corresponded to their love. He deserves to be known and extolled by all the generations of men and all nations, since the Lord has wrought such things with no other man and to none has He shown such love.

IN VIRTUE OF THESE SPECIAL PRIVILEGES THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT JOSEPH IS MOST POWERFUL:

1. For attaining the virtue of purity and overcoming the sensual inclinations of the flesh;
2. For procuring powerful help to escape sin and return to the friendship of God;
3. For increasing the love and devotion to most holy Mary;
4. For securing the grace of a happy death and protection against the demons in that hour;
5. For inspiring the demons with terror at the mere mention of his name by his clients;
6. For gaining health of body and assistance in all kinds of difficulties;
7. For securing issue of children in families.

(Excerpted from the 'Mystical City of God', the English translation of this work has the imprimatur of the former Archbishop of Santa Fe)

St. Joseph is invoked as patron for many causes. He is the patron of the Universal Church. He is the patron of the dying because Jesus and Mary were at his death-bed. Many religious orders and communities are placed under his patronage.

ST. FAUSTINA, ST. JOSEPH AND THE MEMORARE TO OUR LADY

This practice was recommended by St. Joseph himself to St. Faustina. It was in July 1937. She was at her congregation's rest home because she was quite ill. In her Diary (1203) she recorded that “St. Joseph urged me to have a constant devotion to him. He himself told me to recite three prayers (the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be) and the Memorare once every day. He looked at me with great kindness and gave me to know how much he is supporting this work (of mercy). He has promised me this special help and protection. I recite the requested prayers every day and feel his special protection.”

PATRON: Against doubt; against hesitation; bursars; cabinetmakers; carpenters; confectioners; craftsmen; emigrants; engineers; expectant mothers; families; fathers; happy death; holy death; house hunters; immigrants; interior souls; laborers; people in doubt; pioneers; protection of the Church; travelers; unborn children Universal Church; Vatican II; wheelwrights; workers; working people.

SYMBOLS: Bible; branch; carpenter's square; carpenter's tools; chalice; cross; hand tools; infant Jesus; ladder; lamb; lily; monstrance; old man holding a lily and a carpenter's tool such as a square; old man holding the infant Jesus; plane; rod.

CONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH

O dearest St. Joseph, I consecrate myself to thy honor and give myself to thee, that thou mayest always be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me a great purity of heart and a fervent love of the interior life. After thine example, may I do all my actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the Divine Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary! And do thou, O Blessed St. Joseph, pray for me that I may share in the peace and joy of thy holy death. Amen.