THE BOOK OF JOSEPH ON AMAZON

 

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♔ The Birth of Christ - A Masterpiece of Love! ♔ - by Servant of God Sister Lucia of Fatima

We recall the Birth of Jesus Christ, God made man. This is a masterpiece of love! God descends from Heaven to the earth, to save His poor creatures. Yes, He came from Heaven; He became man, embracing the humble existence of His creation! He, who is eternal God as the Father, equal to the Father in power, wisdom, and love! Born as a man, but is eternal as God!

He came into the world and was made man and was manifested as Light, Light that shines in the darkness: Present among us today as then, but now his humanity is veiled; is present in His Word and by His Works, in the Eucharist and in the Sacraments, the Church and in the person of each of our brothers and sisters. For those who follow Christ, find in Him the Light and Life.

This is how the Birth of Jesus Christ took place: «Joseph, leaving the city of Nazareth, in Galilee, went to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his wife, who was with child. And, while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

In the same region, there were shepherds (...) The Angel of the Lord appeared to them and said to them: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people; this day, in the city of David, a Savior was born for you, who is Christ the Lord”» (Lk 2, 4-12).

St. Luke then refers to the shepherds, who saw and heard what was said to them and they believed and praised God. In the same way, we should also revive our faith in the revelation which God gives us here; we must believe and say: «My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You».

And, like Our Lady, we must keep all these truths in our hearts, with faith, hope and love.

♔ HOLY FATHER FRANCIS' PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILY - 28 OCT 2013 ♔

Jesus, Mary and Joseph
to you, Holy Family of Nazareth,
today we turn our gaze
with admiration and confidence;
in you we contemplate
the beauty of communion in true love;
to you we commend our families,
so that in them marvels of grace be renewed.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
alluring school of the Gospel:
teach us to imitate your virtues
with a wise spiritual discipline,
grant us a clear vision
that recognizes the work of Providence
in the daily realities of life.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
faithful custodian of the mystery of salvation:
help us to regain an appreciation for silence,
make our families cenacles of prayer
and transform them into little domestic Churches,
renew the desire for sanctity,
sustain the noble toil of work, of education,
of listening, of mutual understanding and of forgiveness.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
reawaken in our society the consciousness
of the sacred and inviolable character of the family,
an inestimable and irreplaceable good.
May every family be a place where goodness and peace are welcomed for children and for the elderly,
for those who are sick and alone,
for those who are poor and needy.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
we pray to you with confidence,
we entrust ourselves to you with joy.

The Holy Espousals of Mary and Joseph

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St. Luke 1:27 The Virgin was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David.

Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Gardens, 5 July 2010: The espousals between Joseph and Mary are an episode of great importance. Joseph was of the royal line of David and, in virtue of his marriage to Mary, would confer on the Son of the Virgin - on God's Son - the legal tile of "Son of David," thus fulfilling the prophecies. The espousals of Joseph and Mary are, because of this, a human event, but determinant in the history of humanity's salvation, in the realization of the promises of God; because of this, it also has a supernatural connotation, which the two protagonists accept with humility and trust.

Venerable Maria de Agreda:  The Most High spoke to the heart of the high priest, inspiring him to place into the hands of each one of the young men a dry stick, with the command that each ask his Majesty with a lively faith, to single out the one whom He had chosen as the spouse of Mary. While they were thus engaged in prayer the staff which Joseph held was seen to blossom and at the same time a dove of purest white and resplendent with admirable light, was seen to descend and rest upon the head of the saint... And the priest espoused Mary to the most chaste and holy of men, Saint Joseph.

St Josemaria Escriva: You don't have to wait to be old or lifeless to practice the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love; and the strength and gaiety of youth is no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary, when he learned of the mystery of her divine motherhood, when he lived in her company, respecting the integrity God wished to give the world as one more sign that he had come to share the life of his creatures. Anyone who cannot understand a love like that knows very little of true love and is a complete stranger to the Christian meaning of chastity.

St Albert the Great: Here is the name of Joseph which deserves the homage of virtue, because Mary was espoused to the just Joseph, but not united to him in concupiscence.  Reflect on the vow of virginity of both these spouses, for it is stated that the angel was sent by God to a virgin espoused to a man named Joseph.  And this is said because she was found to be with child before they were united.  Since therefore she had been espoused before this was revealed to her that is since she had been entrusted to his care, up to the time when, because of her physical condition, she was found to be with child, this union would not have continued unless, by mutual consent, they had already made a vow of virginity.

St. Francis de Sales: How exalted in the virtue of virginity must Joseph have been who was destined by the Eternal Father to be the companion in virginity of Mary! Both had made a vow to preserve virginity for their entire lives, and it was the Will of God to join them in the bond of a holy marriage.

Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 18 March 2009: Joseph teaches us that it is possible to love without possessing. In contemplating Joseph, all men and women can, by God’s grace, come to experience healing from their emotional wounds, if only they embrace the plan that God has begun to bring about in those close to him, just as Joseph entered into the work of redemption through Mary and as a result of what God had already done in her.

St. Bernardino of Siena:  St Joseph was the living image of his Virgin Spouse; they resembled each other like two pearls.

Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos: In the Liturgy, Mary is celebrated as "united to Joseph, the just man, by a bond of marital and virginal love." There are really two kinds of love here, both of which together represent the mystery of the Church -virgin and spouse - as symbolized in the marriage of Mary and Joseph. “Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people,” the Covenant which is a communion of love between God and human beings.

St. Jerome: That God was born of a virgin we believe because we read it.  That Mary consummated marriage after her childbirth we do not believe because we do not read it.  Nor do we say this in order to condemn marriage, for virginity is itself a fruit of marriage, but because there is no license to draw rash conclusions about holy men.  For if we wish to take the mere possibility into consideration, we can contend that Joseph had several wives because Abraham and Jacob had several wives and that from these wives, the ‘brethren of the Lord’ were born, a fiction which most people invent with not so much pious as presumptuous audacity.  You say that Mary did not remain a virgin; even more do I claim that Joseph was virginal through Mary, in order that from a virginal marriage a virginal son might be born.  For if the charge of fornication does not fall on this holy man, and if it is not written that he had another wife, and if he was more of a protector than a husband of Mary, whom he was thought to have as his wife, it remains to assert that he who merited to be called the father of the Lord remained virginal with her.

Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries:  There are special reasons why Blessed Joseph should be explicitly named Patron of the Church and why the Church should in turn expect much from his patronage and guardianship.  For he, indeed, was the husband of Mary and the father, as was supposed, of Jesus Christ.  From this arises all his dignity, grace, holiness, and glory.  The dignity of the Mother of God is certainly so sublime that nothing can surpass it; but none the less, since the bond of marriage existed between Joseph and the Blessed Virgin, there can be no doubt that, more than any other person, he approached that supereminent dignity by which the Mother of God is raised far above all created natures.  For marriage is the closest possible union and relationship whereby each spouse mutually participates in the goods of the other.  Consequently, if God gave Joseph as a spouse to the Virgin he assuredly gave him not only as a companion in life, a witness of her virginity, and the guardian of her honor, but also as a sharer in her exalted dignity by reason of the conjugal tie itself.

The Praises of St. Joseph

 

In the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

O Holy Patriarch Joseph, ever blessed by thy soul, which was adorned with all the virtues and gifts of the Holy Ghost. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

 

O holy Patriarch Joseph, ever blessed be thine intellect, which was full of the most sublime knowledge of God and was enlightened with revelations.

Glory be to ...

O holy Patriarch Joseph, ever blessed be thy will, which all inflamed with love for Jesus and Mary and always perfectly conformable to the Divine Will.

Glory be to ...

O Holy Patriarch Joseph, ever blessed be thine eyes, to which it was granted to look continually upon Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O Holy Patriarch Joseph, ever blessed be thine ears, which merited to hear the sweet words of Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O Dear St. Joseph, ever blessed be thy tongue, which continually praised God and with profound humility and reverence conversed with Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O Chaste St. Joseph, ever blessed be thy most pure and loving heart, with which thou didst ardently love Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O Holy Joseph, ever blessed be thy thoughts, words and actions, each and all of which ever tended to the service of Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O Holy Patriarch Joseph, ever blessed be all the moments of thy life, which thou didst spend in the service of Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O my Protector St. Joseph, ever blessed be that moment of thy life in which thou didst most sweetly die in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O Glorious St. Joseph, ever blessed be that moment in which thou didst enter into the eternal joys of Heaven.

Glory be to ...

O Happy St. Joseph, ever blessed in eternity be every moment in which, until now, in union with all the Saints of Heaven, thou hast enjoyed the incomprehensible bliss of union with God, with Jesus and Mary.

Glory be to ...

O my Dear Protector! Be ever blessed by  me and by all creatures, for all eternity, with all the blessings which the Most Holy Trinity bestowed upon thee and with all the benedictions given thee by Jesus and Mary and by the whole Church.

Glory be to ...

O Thrice Holy Joseph, blessed in soul and body, in life and death, on earth and in Heaven. Obtain for me, a poor sinner, a share in thy blessings, the grace to imitate thee ardently, and to love and faithfully serve Jesus, Mary, and thyself, and especially the happiness to die in thy holy arms. 

In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

Ite Ad Ioseph

A Reflection on St Joseph

Painting  at the Church of St Joseph, Nazareth. (Built on the spot of St Joseph's Shop)

 

A Reflection on St. Joseph

 

Of all the great patriarchs who walked this earth and of all the men who most selflessly served their Lord, there is no man more humble, more just and more closely united with Christ, than St. Joseph of Nazareth. In Joseph, Jesus not only found the most noble of fathers, but a true friend who willingly abandoned himself to the Divine Will of God, receiving all the sufferings and graces that came with it. St. Joseph’s mission was apparent as he was to be the Virgin-Father of the Redeemer and the Chaste Spouse of Holy Mary. 

St. Joseph, by taking on the role of father and husband in this earthly trinity, was to become a role model and intercessor for all mankind. He shows us how to humble ourselves – making our hearts more receptive to the graces which God wishes to send us. Only when we do this can we allow Him to enter since our prides and arrogances act as locked doors to our inmost being. The Lord is constantly knocking in the hopes that we may allow Him entry into our humble abode (Revelation 3:20), however unlike St. Joseph who willingly opened wide the door to his heart, many of us continue to place obstacles behind our own doors and reinforce our locks. We refuse to open our hearts to God’s Will, instead selfishly clinging to our own. Because St. Joseph denied himself, therefore allowing the Lord to enter his heart, he had the strength to carry the crosses which were given to him through his earthly life. 

St. Joseph accepts life’s heavy crosses and difficulties which in time becomes a means of sanctification. In the Gospel of St. Mark (8:34), Jesus addresses the crowd with an invitation to those who wish to be His followers. Without forcing or demanding that they follow Him, Christ respects the gift of free will bestowed upon mankind. He advises the people that if they wish to be with Him, they must first deny themselves, and then willingly take up their figurative crosses. Only after they have committed themselves in this way will they be ready to become His true followers and true friends. Before Jesus was even born, St. Joseph had already denied himself and had his own cross to bear. However, shortly after wedding the Blessed Virgin, his became an even heavier cross as is shown to us in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. 

How fitting it must be that St. Joseph be known as “St. Joseph the Worker” and “St. Joseph the Carpenter”, given that his only Son would one day work the redemption of the world by the wood of the Cross. When Our Lord was born into this world, St. Joseph lovingly fashioned a cradle for him out of wood. The Holy Family was supported by the labor of St. Joseph with Jesus later working by his side. There is no doubt that St. Joseph and Our Lord both had deep respect and love for the work they performed. A piece of wood was not just so, as it would carved and whittled into something beautiful, sometimes becoming a part of something great. St. Joseph appreciated the wood with which they worked as it contributed not only to the roof over their heads, but the food on their table, which would in turn nourish them. The wood which was once a means of support for the Holy Family would later have a part in the redemptive plan as Jesus embraced His wooden cross on the road to Calvary, only to spill His blood upon it for the salvation of souls.

St. Joseph, who would be there to kiss the delicate fingers of the Child Jesus who would sit atop his workbench as he worked, who would be there to teach his Son in the ways of God and manhood, would be absent from the latter years of His life. Not to witness the public ministry of Jesus, nor to kiss His bruises at the crucifixion, St. Joseph would have to accept the honor of being made the Patron of a Happy Death, by departing from this world, while in the arms of his beloveds: Jesus and Mary.

Just as St. Joseph whittled and carved wood with his hands to support his family, so too did God shape and mold Joseph into a likeness of His own image not only for his role as Head of the Holy Family, but for his role as intercessor for us today. The Heavenly Father deigned to choose Joseph specifically to be His reflection on earth – to live as the Virgin-Father of the Redeemer by loving and nurturing the Son of God, greater than any natural father would. In return, Our Lord most certainly loves and honors St. Joseph and still recognizes him as a father, granting his holy petitions and desires. Our Lord has not forgotten His most faithful guardian and has raised him to be with Him in the splendor of the Heavenly Father’s house, crowning him with the glory of eternal life! (St. John 14:2-3, St. James 1:12)        

 

+ Benedicamus Domino!

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