Novena to St. Joseph
*NOVENA PRAYER
(prayer to be said at the end of each day's devotion)
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child,
greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who
love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you
and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in
you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon
your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend
myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your
intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to
abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the
Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and
perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my
model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of
Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of
Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful
intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the
graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly
the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
(Mention your request).
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel
confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard
before the throne of God. Amen.
MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever
Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had
recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining
relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and
humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the
Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.
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First Day
FOSTER-FATHER OF JESUS
Saint
Joseph, you were privileged to share in the mystery of the Incarnation
as the foster-father of Jesus. Mary alone was directly connected with
the fulfillment of the mystery, in that she gave her consent to
Christ's conception and allowed the Holy Spirit to form the sacred
humanity of Jesus from her blood. You had a part in this mystery in an
indirect manner, by fulfilling the condition necessary for the
Incarnation -- the protection of Mary's virginity before and during
your married life with her. You made the virginal marriage possible,
and this was a part of God's plan, foreseen, willed, and decreed from
all eternity.
In
a more direct manner you shared in the support, upbringing, and
protection of the Divine Child as His foster-father. For this purpose
the Heavenly Father gave you a genuine heart of a father -- a heart
full of love and self-sacrifice. With the toil of your hands you were
obliged to offer protection to the Divine Child, to procure for Him
food, clothing, and a home. You were truly the saint of the holy
childhood of Jesus -- the living created providence which watched over
the Christ-Child.
When
Herod sought the Child to put Him to death, the Heavenly Father sent
an angel but only as a messenger, giving orders for the flight; the
rest He left entirely in your hands. It was that fatherly love which
was the only refuge that received and protected the Divine Child. Your
fatherly love carried Him through the desert into Egypt until all
enemies were removed. Then on your arms the Child returned to Nazareth
to be nourished and provided for during many years by the labor of
your hands. Whatever a human son owes to a human father for all the
benefits of his up-bringing and support, Jesus owed to you, because
you were to Him a foster-father, teacher, and protector.
You
served the Divine Child with a singular love. God gave you a heart
filled with heavenly, supernatural love -- a love far deeper and more
powerful than any natural father's love could be.
You
served the Divine Child with great unselfishness, without any regard
to self-interest, but not without sacrifices. You did not toil for
yourself, but you seemed to be an instrument intended for the benefit
of others, to be put aside as soon as it had done its word, for you
disappeared from the scene once the childhood of Jesus had passed.
You
were the shadow of the Heavenly Father not only as the earthly
representative of the authority of the Father, but also by means of
your fatherhood -- which only appeared to be natural -- you were to
hide for a while the divinity of Jesus. What a wonderfully sublime and
divine vocation was yours -- the loving Child which you carried in
your arms, and loved and served so faithfully, had God in Heaven as
Father and was Himself God!
Yours
is a very special rank among the saints of the Kingdom of God, because
you were so much a part of the very life of the Word of God made Man.
In your house at Nazareth and under your care the redemption of
mankind was prepared. What you accomplished, you did for us. You are
not only a powerful and great saint in the Kingdom of God, but a
benefactor of the whole of Christendom and mankind. Your rank in the
Kingdom of God, surpassing far in dignity and honor of all the angels,
deserves our very special veneration, love, and gratitude.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of having been chosen by God to
be the foster-father of His Divine Son. As a token of your own
gratitude to God for this your greatest privilege, obtain for me the
grace of a very devoted love for Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior.
Help me to serve Him with some of the self-sacrificing love and
devotion which you had while on this earth with Him. Grant that
through your intercession with Jesus, your foster-Son, I may reach the
degree of holiness God has destined for me, and save my soul.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Second Day
VIRGINAL HUSBAND OF MARY
Saint
Joseph, I honor you as the true husband of Mary. Scripture says:
"Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and of her was born
Jesus who is called Christ" (Matt. 1:16). Your marriage to Mary
was a sacred contract by which you and Mary gave yourselves to each
other. Mary really belonged to you with all she was and had. You had a
right to her love and obedience; and no other person so won her
esteem, obedience, and love.
You
were also the protector and witness of Mary's virginity. By your
marriage you gave to each other your virginity, and also the mutual
right over it -- a right to safeguard the other's virtue. This mutual
virginity also belonged to the divine plan of the Incarnation, for God
sent His angel to assure you that motherhood and virginity in Mary
could be united.
This
union of marriage not only brought you into daily familiar association
with Mary, the loveliest of God's creatures, but also enabled you to
share with her a mutual exchange of spiritual goods. And Mary found
her edification in your calm, humble, and deep virtue, purity, and
sanctity. What a great honor comes to you from this close union with
her whom the Son of God calls Mother and whom He declared the Queen of
heaven and earth! Whatever Mary had belonged by right to you also, and
this included her Son, even though He had been given to her by God in
a wonderful way. Jesus belonged to you as His legal father. Your
marriage was the way which God chose to have Jesus introduced into the
world, a great divine mystery from which all benefits have come to us.
God
the Son confided the guardianship and the support of His Immaculate
Mother to your care. Mary's life was that of the Mother of the Savior,
who did not come upon earth to enjoy honors and pleasures, but to
redeem the world by hard work, suffering, and the cross. You were the
faithful companion, support, and comforter of the Mother of Sorrows.
How loyal you were to her in poverty, journeying, work, and pain. Your
love for Mary was based upon your esteem for her as Mother of God.
After God and the Divine Child, you loved no one as much as her. Mary
responded to this love. She submitted to your guidance with
naturalness and easy grace and childlike confidence. The Holy Spirit
Himself was the bond of the great love which united your hearts.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the virginal husband
of Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the
grace to love Jesus with all my heart, as you did, and
love Mary with some of the tenderness and loyalty with which
you loved her.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Third Day
MAN CHOSEN BY THE BLESSED TRINITY
Saint
Joseph, you were the man chosen by God the Father. He selected you to
be His representative on earth, hence He granted you all the graces
and blessings you needed to be His worthy representative.
You
were the man chosen by God the Son. Desirous of a worthy
foster-father, He added
His
own riches and gifts, and above all, His love. The true measure of
your sanctity is to be judged by your imitation of Jesus. You were
entirely consecrated to Jesus, working always near Him, offering Him
your virtues, your work, your sufferings, your very life. Jesus lived
in you perfectly so that you were transformed into Him. In this lies
your special glory, and the keynote of your sanctity. Hence, after
Mary, you are the holiest of the saints.
You
were chosen by the Holy Spirit. He is the mutual Love of the Father
and the Son – the heart of the Holy Trinity. In His wisdom He draws
forth all creatures from nothing, guides them to their end in showing
them their destiny and giving them the means to reach it.
Every
vocation and every fulfillment of a vocation proceeds from the Holy
Spirit. As a foster-father of Jesus and head of the Holy Family, you
had an exalted and most responsible vocation -- to open the way for
the redemption of the world and to prepare for it by the education and
guidance of the youth of the God-Man. In this work you cooperated as
the instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the guide; you
obeyed and carried out the works. How perfectly you obeyed the
guidance of the God of Love!
The
words of the Old Testament which Pharaoh spoke concerning Joseph of
Egypt can well be applied to you: "Can we find such another man,
that is full of the spirit of God, or a wise man like to him?"
(Gen. 41:38). No less is your share in the divine work of God than was
that of Egypt. You now reign with your foster-Son and see reflected in
the mirror of God's Wisdom the Divine Will and what is of benefit to
our souls.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for having made you the man specially chosen by
Him. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace
to imitate your virtues so that I too may be pleasing to the Heart of
God. Help me to give myself entirely to His service and to the
accomplishment of His Holy Will, that one day I may reach heaven and
be eternally united to God as you are.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Fourth Day
FAITHFUL SERVANT
Saint
Joseph, you lived for one purpose -- to be the personal servant of
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Your noble birth and ancestry, the
graces and gifts, so generously poured out on you by God -- all this
was yours to serve our Lord better. Every thought, word, and action of
yours was a homage to the love and glory of the Incarnate Word. You
fulfilled most faithfully the role of a good and faithful servant who
cared for the House of God.
How
perfect was your obedience! Your position in the Holy Family obliged
you to command, but besides being the foster-father of Jesus, you were
also His disciple. For almost thirty years, you watched the God-Man
display a simple and prompt obedience, and you grew to love and
practice it very perfectly yourself. Without exception you submitted
to God, to the civil rulers, and to the voice of your conscience.
When
God sent an angel to tell you to care for Mary, you obeyed in spite of
the mystery which surrounded her motherhood. When you were told to
flee into Egypt under painful conditions, you obeyed without the
slightest word of complaint. When God advised you in a dream to return
to Nazareth, you obeyed. In every situation your obedience was as
simple as your faith, as humble as your heart, as prompt as your love.
It neglected nothing; it took in every command.
You
had the virtue of perfect devotedness, which marks a good servant.
Every moment of your life was consecrated to the service of our Lord:
sleep, rest, work, pain. Faithful to your duties, you sacrificed
everything unselfishly, even cheerfully. You would have sacrificed
even the happiness of being with Mary. The rest and quiet of Nazareth
was sacrificed at the call of duty. Your entire life was one generous
giving, even to the point of being ready to die in proof of your love
for Jesus and Mary. With true unselfish devotedness you worked without
praise or reward.
But
God wanted you to be in a certain sense a cooperator in the Redemption
of the world.
He
confided to you the care of nourishing and defending the Divine Child.
He wanted you to be poor and to suffer because He destined you to be
the foster-father of His Son, who came into the world to save men by
His sufferings and death, and you were to share in His suffering. In
all of these important tasks, the Heavenly Father always found you a
faithful servant!
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being God's faithful
servant. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the
grace to be a faithful servant of God as you were. Help me to share,
as you did, the perfect obedience of Jesus, who came not to do His
Will, but the Will of His Father; to trust in the Providence of God,
knowing that if I do His Will, He will provide for all my needs of
soul and body; to be calm in my trials and to leave it to our Lord to
free me from them when it pleases Him to do so. And help me to imitate
your generosity, for there can be no greater reward here on earth than
the joy and honor of being a faithful servant of God.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Fifth Day
PATRON OF THE CHURCH
Saint
Joseph, God has appointed you patron of the Catholic Church because
you were the head of the Holy Family, the starting-point of the
Church. You were the father, protector, guide and support of the Holy
Family. For that reason you belong in a particular way to the Church,
which was the purpose of the Holy Family's existence.
I
believe that the Church is the family of God on earth. Its government
is represented in priestly authority which consists above all in its
power over the true Body of Christ, really present in the Blessed
Sacrament of the Altar, thus continuing Christ's life in the Church.
From
this power, too, comes authority over the Mystical Body of Christ, the
members of the Church -- the power to teach and govern souls, to
reconcile them with God, to bless them, and to pray for them.
You
have a special relationship to the priesthood because you possessed a
wonderful power over our Savior Himself. Your life and office were of
a priestly function and are especially connected with the Blessed
Sacrament. To some extent you were the means of bringing the Redeemer
to us -- as it is the priest's function to bring Him to us in the Mass
-- for you reared Jesus, supported, nourished, protected and sheltered
Him. You were prefigured by the patriarch Joseph, who kept supplies of
wheat for his people. But how much greater than he were you! Joseph of
old gave the Egyptians mere bread for their bodies. You nourished, and
with the most tender care, preserved for the Church Him who is the
Bread of Heaven and who gives eternal life in Holy Communion.
God
has appointed you patron of the Church because the glorious title of
patriarch also falls by special right to you. The patriarchs were the
heads of families of the Chosen People, and theirs was the honor to
prepare for the Savior's incarnation. You belonged to this line of
patriarchs, for you were one of the last descendants of the family of
David and one of the nearest forebears of Christ according to the
flesh. As husband of Mary, the Mother of God, and as the foster-father
of the Savior, you were directly connected with Christ. Your vocation
was especially concerned with the Person of Jesus; your entire
activity centered about Him. You are, therefore, the closing of the
Old Testament and the beginning of the New, which took its rise with
the Holy Family of Nazareth. Because the New Testament surpasses the
Old in every respect, you are the patriarch of patriarchs, the most
venerable, exalted, and amiable of all the patriarchs.
Through
Mary, the Church received Christ, and therefore the Church is indebted
to her. But the Church owes her debt of gratitude and veneration to
you also, for you were the chosen one who enabled Christ to enter into
the world according to the laws of order and fitness. It was by you
that the patriarchs and the prophets and the faithful reaped the fruit
of God's promise. Alone among them all, you saw with your own eyes and
possessed the Redeemer promised to the rest of men.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the Patron of the
Church. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the
grace to live always as a worthy member of this Church, so that
through it I may save my soul. Bless the priests, the religious, and
the laity of the Catholic Church, that they may ever grow in God's
love and faithfulness in His service. Protect the Church from the
evils of our day and from the persecution of her enemies. Through your
powerful intercession may the church successfully accomplish its
mission in this world -- the glory of God and the salvation of souls!
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Sixth Day
PATRON OF FAMILIES
Saint
Joseph, I venerate you as the gentle head of the Holy Family. The Holy
Family was the scene of your life's work in its origin, in its
guidance, in its protection, in your labor for Jesus and Mary, and
even in your death in their arms. You lived, moved, and acted in the
loving company of Jesus and Mary. The inspired writer describes your
life at Nazareth in only a few words: "And (Jesus) went down with
them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" (Luke, 2:51).
Yet these words tell of your high vocation here on earth, and the
abundance of graces which filled your soul during those years spent in
Nazareth.
Your
family life at Nazareth was all radiant with the light of divine
charity. There was an intimate union of heart and mind among the
members of your Holy Family. There could not have been a closer bond
than that uniting you to Jesus, your foster-Son and to Mary, your most
loving wife. Jesus chose to fulfill toward you, His foster-father, all
the duties of a faithful son, showing you every mark of honor and
affection due to a parent. And Mary showed you all the signs of
respect and love of a devoted wife. You responded to this love and
veneration from Jesus and Mary with
feelings of deepest love and respect. You had for Jesus a true
fatherly love, enkindled and kept aglow in your heart by the Holy
Spirit. And you could not cease to admire the workings of grace in
Mary's soul, and this admiration caused the holy love which you had
consecrated to her on the day of your wedding grow stronger every day.
God
has made you a heavenly patron of family life because you sanctified
yourself as head of the Holy Family and thus by your beautiful example
sanctified family life. How peacefully and happily the Holy Family
rested under the care of your fatherly rule, even in the midst of
trials. You were the protector, counselor, and consolation of the Holy
Family in every need. And just as you were the model of piety, so you
gave us by your zeal, your earnestness and devout trust in God's
providence, and especially by your love, the example of labor
according to the Will of God. You cherished all the experiences common
to family life and the sacred memories of the life, sufferings, and
joys in the company of Jesus and Mary. Therefore the family is dear to
you as the work of God, and it is of the highest importance in your
eyes to promote the honor of God and the well-being of man. In your
loving fatherliness and unfailing intercession you are the patron and
intercessor of families, and you deserve a place in every home.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of living in the Holy Family
and being its head. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain
God's blessing upon my own family. Make our home the kingdom of Jesus
and Mary -- a kingdom of peace, of joy, and love.
I
also pray for all Christian families. Your help is needed in our day
when God's enemy has directed his attack against the family in order
to desecrate and destroy it. In the face of these evils, as patron of
families, be pleased to help; and as of old, you arose to save the
Child and His Mother, so today arise to protect the sanctity of the
home. Make our homes sanctuaries of prayer, of love, of patient
sacrifice, and of work. May they be modeled after your own at
Nazareth. Remain with us with Jesus and Mary, so that by your help we
may obey the commandments of God and of the Church; receive the holy
sacraments of God and of the Church; live a life of prayer; and foster
religious instruction in our homes. Grant that we may be reunited in
God's Kingdom and eternally live in the company of the Holy Family in
heaven.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Seventh Day
PATRON OF WORKERS
Saint
Joseph, you devoted your time at Nazareth to the work of a carpenter.
It was the Will of God that you and your foster-Son should spend your
days together in manual labor. What a beautiful example you set for
the working classes!
It
was especially for the poor, who compose the greater part of mankind,
that Jesus came upon earth, for in the synagogue of Nazareth, He read
the words of Isaiah and referred them to Himself:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has
anointed Me to bring good news to the poor..." (Luke 4:18). It
was God's Will that you should be occupied with work common to poor
people, that in this way Jesus Himself might ennoble it by inheriting
it from you, His foster-father, and by freely embracing it. Thus our
Lord teaches us that for the humbler class of workmen, He has in store
His richest graces, provided they live content in the place God's
Providence has assigned them, and remain poor in spirit for He said,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven" (Matt. 5:3).
The
kind of work to which you devoted your time in the workshop of
Nazareth offered you many occasions of practicing humility. You were
privileged to see each day the example of humility which Jesus
practiced -- a virtue most pleasing to Him. He chose for His earthly
surroundings not the courts of princes nor the halls of the learned,
but a little workshop of Nazareth. Here you shared for many years the
humble and hidden toiling of the God-Man. What a touching example for
the worker of today!
While
your hands were occupied with manual work, your mind was turned to God
in prayer. From the Divine Master, who worked along with you, you
learned to work in the presence of God in the spirit of prayer, for as
He worked He adored His Father and recommended the welfare of the
world to Him, Jesus also instructed you in the wonderful truths of
grace and virtue, for you were in close contact with Him who said of
Himself, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life."
As
you were working at your trade, you were reminded of the greatness and
majesty of God, who, as a most wise Architect, formed this vast
universe with wonderful skill and limitless power.
The
light of divine faith that filled your mind, did not grow dim when you
saw Jesus working as a carpenter. You firmly believed that the saintly
Youth working beside you was truly God's own Son.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to work side by
side with Jesus in the carpenter shop of Nazareth. As a token of your
own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to respect the dignity
of labor and ever to be content with the position in life, however
lowly, in which it may please Divine Providence to place me. Teach me
to work for God and with God in the spirit of humility and prayer, as
you did, so that I may offer my toil in union with the sacrifice of
Jesus in the Mass as a reparation for my sins, and gain rich merit for
heaven.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Eighth Day
FRIEND IN SUFFERING
Saint
Joseph, your share of suffering was very great because of your close
union with the Divine Savior. All the mysteries of His life were more
or less mysteries of suffering.
Poverty
pressed upon you, and the cross of labor followed you everywhere. Nor
were you spared domestic crosses, owing to misunderstandings in regard
to the holiest and most cherished of all beings, Jesus and Mary, who
were all to you. Keen must have been the suffering caused by the
uncertainty regarding Mary's virginity; by the bestowal of the name of
Jesus, which pointed to future misfortune. Deeply painful must have
been the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the disappearance
of Jesus at the Paschal feast. To these sufferings were surely added
interior sorrow at the sight of the sins of your own people.
You
bore all this suffering in a truly Christ-like manner, and in this you
are our example. No sound of complaint or impatience escaped you --
you were, indeed, the silent saint! You submitted to all in the spirit
of faith, humility, confidence, and love. You cheerfully bore all in
union with and for the Savior and His Mother, knowing well that true
love is a crucified love. But God never forsook you in your trials.
The trials, too, disappeared and were changed at last into consolation
and joy.
It
seems that God had purposely intended your life to be filled with
suffering as well as consolation to keep before my eyes the truth that
my life on earth is but a succession of joys and sorrows, and that I
must gratefully accept whatever God sends me, and during the time of
consolation prepare for suffering. Teach me to bear my cross in the
spirit of faith, of confidence, and of gratitude toward God. In a
happy eternity, I shall thank God fervently for the sufferings which
He deigned to send me during my pilgrimage on earth, and which after
your example I endured with patience and heartfelt love for Jesus and
Mary.
You
were truly the martyr of the hidden life. This was God's Will, for the
holier a person is, the more he is tried for the love and glory of
God. If suffering is the flowering of God's grace in a soul and the
triumph of the soul's love for God, being the greatest of saints after
Mary, you suffered more than any of the martyrs.
Because
you have experienced the sufferings of this valley of tears, you are
most kind and sympathetic toward those in need. Down through the ages
souls have turned to you in distress and have always found you a
faithful friend in suffering. You have graciously heard their prayers
in their needs even though it demanded a miracle. Having been so
intimately united with Jesus and Mary in life, your intercession with
Them is most powerful.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to suffer for
Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me
the grace to bear my suffering patiently for love of Jesus and Mary.
Grant that I may unite the sufferings, works and disappointments of
life with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass, and share like you in
Mary's spirit of sacrifice.
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*NOVENA PRAYER
Ninth Day
PATRON OF A HAPPY DEATH
Saint
Joseph, how fitting it was that at the hour of your death Jesus should
stand at your bedside with Mary, the sweetness and hope of all
mankind. You gave your entire life to the service of Jesus and Mary;
at death you enjoyed the consolation of dying in Their loving arms.
You accepted death in the spirit of loving submission to the Will of
God, and this acceptance crowned your hidden life of virtue. Yours was
a merciful judgment, for your foster-Son, for whom you had cared so
lovingly, was your Judge, and Mary was your advocate. The verdict of
the Judge was a word of encouragement to wait for His coming to Limbo,
where He would shower you with the choicest fruits of the Redemption,
and an embrace of grateful affection before you breathed forth your
soul into eternity.
You
looked into eternity and to your everlasting reward with confidence.
If our Savior blessed the shepherds, the Magi, Simeon, John the
Baptist, and others, because they greeted His presence with devoted
hearts for a brief passing hour, how much more did He bless you who
have sanctified yourself for so many years in His company and that of
His Mother? If Jesus regards every corporal and spiritual work of
mercy, performed in behalf of our fellow men our of love for Him, as
done to Himself, and promises heaven as a reward, what must have been
the extent of His gratitude to you who in the truest sense of the word
have received Him, given Him shelter, clothed, nourished, and consoled
Him at the sacrifice of your strength and rest, and even your life,
with a love which surpassed the love of all fathers.
God
really and personally made Himself your debtor. Our Divine Savior paid
that debt of gratitude by granting you many graces in your lifetime,
especially the grace of growing in love, which is the best and most
perfect of all gifts. Thus at the end of your life your heart became
filled with love, the fervor and longing of which your frail body
could not resist. Your soul followed the triumphant impulse of your
love and winged its flight from earth to bear the prophets and
patriarchs in Limbo the glad tidings of the advent of the Redeemer.
Saint
Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to die in the
arms of Jesus and
Mary.
As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace of a
happy death. Help me to spend each day in preparation for death. May
I, too, accept death in the spirit
of
resignation to God's Holy Will, and die, as you did, in the arms of
Jesus, strengthened
by
Holy Viaticum, and in the arms of Mary, with her rosary in my hand and
her name on my lips!
*NOVENA PRAYER
Novena
to St. Joseph
In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with youl
O
Saint Joseph, my patron and my advocate, to you do I have recourse
that you may obtain for me that grace for which I humbly pray. It may
well be that the disappointments and the bitterness in my life may be
the just punishment for my sins. But even If I should have to
recognize my own guilt, need I lose hope in obtaining the help of the
Lord? ‘Oh no,’ would be the answer of your devoted client, Saint
Theresa, ‘indeed, nor all you poor sinners. No matter how great your
needs, turn to the powerful help of Saint Joseph. Go to Saint Joseph
with sincere confidence and rest assured that your pleas will be
heard.’
Following
the teaching of Saint Theresa, therefore, I present myself before your
glorious throne, 0 Holy Saint Joseph and beg for your powerful
intercession in my present tribulations.
Bring
my petitions before the throne of God, that by your power and mercy I
may obtain that which of myself I would not be worthy to receive. And
grant that having obtained the favorable answer to my petition, I may
return to your altar and there fulfill my devotion of praise end
thanksgiving for your Intercession.
Remember O most merciful foster father of the Lord Jesus,
that no one who has ever had recourse to you was left unaided.
Countless are the graces and favors which you have obtained in
answer to the prayers addressed to you.
The sick, the oppressed, those who suffer injustice, the
betrayed, the abandoned, in short, all who have had recourse to your
protection were aided in their afflictions. O Holy Saint Joseph, do not leave me to be the only one to be
deprived of your help. Show
yourself kindly and generously even to me, so that my prayers of
thanksgiving for your mercy may rebound for the greater glory of God.
O Saint Joseph, head of the Holy Family, I venerate you
from the profoundest depth of my heart.
To the afflicted who have appealed to you before me, you have
granted comfort and peace. Console
even my own poor afflicted soul.
You know all my needs, Saint Joseph, even before I set them
before you in prayers. O
powerful Saint Joseph, you know how important this petition is for me.
I place all my hope in your intercession.
Grant me the answer to the favor for which I so desperately
pray and I pledge myself to spread your devotion everywhere and to
support, within the limits of my abilities, those charities which, in
your name, aid the afflicted and the dying throughout the world.
Saint Joseph, consoler of the afflicted, have mercy on my
Sorrow. Amen.
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