The first quarter of the Year of St. Joseph is already over. The special year announced by Pope Francis will conclude on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. Faithful around the world have responded to the invitation of the Pope to develop special devotion to St. Joseph through special prayers and Consecration to St. Jospeh. Sunday Examiner joins the readers in walking with the Saint through this special year of devotion to
St. Joseph.
Over the centuries, the Church has developed a strong devotion to Mary the mother of Jesus as the Mother of God. But Joseph, the head of the Holy Family of Nazareth, is often overlooked, except for the season of Advent and Christmas.
There are numerous saints in the Church who had a very special devotion to St. Joseph and have given valuable guidelines for nurturing our personal relationship with this special saint. Do you want to achieve greater heights in spiritual life? Many Christians have consecrated themselves to the Virgin Mary to be more closely united to Jesus. The essence of Marian consecration is to help you become “another Mary” for Jesus, a faithful, loving and trusting companion for the brothers and sisters of Jesus today. Consecration to St. Joseph does something similar. Our love and devotion to St. Joseph must lead us to be a nurturing parent, a caring and loving husband, a providing father and leader.
According to Father Donald Calloway of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, when we consecrate ourselves to Joseph, “we acknowledge that he is our spiritual father and we want to be like him. To show it, we entrust ourself entirely to his paternal care so that he can lovingly help us acquire his virtues and become holy… St. Joseph, in turn, will give those consecrated to him his loving attention, protection and guidance.”
Consecration to St. Joseph will help you become “another Joseph” for Jesus and Mary—for the family of Jesus. That is, entrusting yourself entirely to St. Joseph helps you become a faithful, loving and trusting companion for the people of God! The first persons to entrust themselves to the care of Joseph were Mary and Jesus!
And so we give ourselves to their care, just like Jesus did when he was growing up. He lived under their roof, he was under their care. Entrusting ourselves to St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood will help us grow in virtue and closer to Christ.
Now is the time of St. Joseph! We stand in need of him to help us return to the love of Jesus and to living a life of virtue. We live in a time when the family and human life is under attack.
The family of God—the Catholic Church—is also undergoing vicious assaults from the world, the devil. He protected the Holy Family; he will protect us too as we entrust ourselves to his paternal heart and his spiritual care.
