St. Joseph

Affirms St. Thomas Aquinas that “there are three things that God could not have made more sublime than what they are: the humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of the chosen ones, and the incomparable Mother of God, of whom it is said that God could not have made a superior mother. You can increase one fourth thing, in lieu of St. Joseph. God could not have made a more sublime father than the adoptive Father of the Man-God".

To which St. Bernard adds: "Since everything what belongs to the wife also belongs to the husband, we can surmise that Joseph can distribute as he seems fit the rich treasures of grace that God entrusted to Mary, his chaste Wife".

"Additionally, in the course of the years spent in Nazaret, Jesus tenderly overwhelmed the heart of St. Joseph with love as no created father ever felt nor will it feel, ' not only - as Fr. Huguet- says so that Joseph could love him like a Son, but so that he could love all the men like all his children, then, in the same way who all we are children of Mary, therefore we are also of St. Joseph (...) and after the devotion to the Most Holy Virgin, nothing is more pleasant to God nor more beneficial for our souls that the devotion to the patriarch Saint, St. Joseph’".

"Having granted to St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi - one of the most glorious Saints daughters of Our Lady of the Scapular - to contemplate in ecstasies the glory of St. Joseph, exclaimed: 'Joseph, united as you are to Jesus and Mary, is as a shining star that protects the souls that under Mary’s banner battle for life".

"When St. Therese of Lisieux founded the first monastery of the Reformation of the Carmel, our Lord said to her: 'I wish that it is dedicated to St. Joseph, and that it takes his name. This saint will keep one of the doors and the Most Holy Virgin the other and I will be between you' ".

"Again, was St. Therese in a simple church of the Dominican Priests, when she felt that somebody placed on her shoulders a most beautiful robe. For a few fleeting moments, she did not see who put it there, but shortly after recognized the Most Holy Virgin and her blessed husband St. Joseph. The saint experienced in her heart a great joy. Mary spoke and while St. Therese listened to that celestial voice, she had the impression to be holding the hand of the Virgin. 'I am so happy that you have consecrated it to St. Joseph [ to its first convent of the Carmelite reform] that you can request anything you want for your convent, with the absolute certainty that you will receive it'. Both Holy Spouses placed then in the hands of St.Therese a precious stone of great value and left the Saint filled with the purest joy and the most ardent desire of entirely being consumed by the power of the divine love.-

"One day, upon leaving their monastery, two Carmelite monks found a venerable elder that advanced in their direction. He stepped between both of them and asked them where they were from. The elder replied that they were Carmelites.

-Father- asked then the stranger- why are you, the Carmelites, so devoted to St. Joseph?

The monk gave several reasons, emphasizing that mainly St. Therese had had that devotion and she had engrained it to those that followed her. When the father finished speaking, the stranger said: -

-'Listen to me and have the same devotion to St. Joseph than St. Therese had; whatever you request from him, you will obtain'.

And saying this, the stranger disappeared ".

I cannot recall of anything that I asked of St. Joseph, said St. Therese to me, that St. Joseph did not do.

It is frightening the many Graces that God has granted me through the intercession of this Fortunate Saint.

I am yet to know someone who is truly devoted to St. Joseph who is not filled with virtues, because he rewards the souls that are entrusted to him.

I only request for the love of God whoever does not believe it, and will soon find out by experience the great benefit that is gained by entrusting ourselves to this glorious Patriarch and to have devotion to him.

PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH FROM ST. THERESE

Glorious Patriarch St., Joseph, whose power knows to make impossible things possible, come to my aid in this moment of anguish and difficulty. Take under your protection the serious and difficult situations that I entrust to you, so that they come to a happy solution. My beloved Father, all my trust is placed in You. Do not allow to be said that I have invoked you in vain since you can do everything before Jesus and Mary, show me that your kindness is as great as your power. Amen.

PRAYER TO REQUEST A GOOD DEATH

Powerful patron of human lineage, shelter of sinners, safe refuge of souls, effective aid of the afflicted, pleasant consolation of the homeless, glorious St. Joseph, the last moment of my life has inevitably to arrive; perhaps my soul will agonize terribly distressed with the representation of my bad life and my many faults; the passage to eternity will be extremely hard; the demon, my enemy, will try to terribly fight me with all the power of hell, so that I lose God eternally; my forces in the natural thing have to be null: I will not have any human help; from now on, then, I invoke you, my fathe; in your sponsorship I take refuge; assist me at that critical moment so that I do not lack in the faith, the hope and in the charity; when you died, your Son and my God, your Wife and my Lady, drove away the demons so that they did not dare to fight your spirit. For these favors and for those which in life they did to you, I request that you drive away these enemies, so that I may end my life peacefully, loving Jesus, Mary and you, St. Joseph. Let it be.

Jesus, Joseph and Mary, I give you my heart and soul.

Jesus, Joseph and Mary, assist me in the last agony.

Jesus, Joseph and Mary, receive my soul upon my death.

DEVOTION IN HONOR OF THE SORROWS AND JOYS OF ST. JOSEPH

INTRODUCTION:

Throughout St. Joseph’s life, he was a continuing act of the most difficult and dark faith and obedience in circumstances that God put to him. He is truly "the faithful and trustworthy administrator who the Lord placed in charge of his family" (Lc 12, 42). From immemorial time, the Church has come to venerate and invoke him as the continuation in her mission that one day had towards its Founder and Mother. During the darkest nights, the example of St. Joseph is an unshakeable stimulus for the acceptance without reserves of the will of God. In order to promote that veneration and imitation and to ask for his aid, we present below the ever present Exercise of the seven Joys and Sorrows.

By the sign of the Holy Cross, our Lord, liberate us from our enemies. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. - Act of contrition.

Offer

Glorious Patriarch St. Joseph, effective consolation of the afflicted and safe refuge of the dying; please accept the homage of this Exercise that I am going to say in memory of your seven sorrows and joys. And just as in your happy death, Jesus Christ and his mother Mary so lovingly and tenderly consoled You, please also assist me at that critical moment, so that, not lacking in faith, hope, and charity, makes me worthy, by the merits of the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and your patronage, of the attainment of eternal life, and therefore of your company in Heaven. Amen.

First sorrow and joy

Husband of Mary, glorious St. Joseph, what affliction and distress in your heart in the perplexity in which you were placed without knowing if you had to leave or not your wife! But how great was your joy when the angel revealed to you the great mystery of the Incarnation!

For this sorrow and this joy we request that you now console our heart and in our last sorrows, with the joy of a right life and a saintly death, similar to yours, assisted by Jesus and Mary.