In Imitation of St. Joseph

Holy Mother Church devotes the entire month of March to St. Joseph. The Church encourages us to be devoted to St. Joseph because he was a model in the practice of all the virtues. Pope Leo XIII says of devotion to this glorious saint, “It greatly behooves Christians, while honoring the Virgin Mother of God, constantly to invoke with deep piety and confidence her most chaste spouse, Saint Joseph. We have a well-grounded conviction that such is the special desire of the Blessed Virgin herself." 

Throughout the Gospels it is St. Joseph's actions that exemplify his dedication to God through his service to Christ and Mary, following God's will in all things.  Our Lady told St. Bridget of Sweden, 

"St. Joseph was so reserved and careful in his speech that not one word ever issued from his mouth that was not good and holy, nor did he ever indulge in unnecessary or less than charitable conversation. He was most patient and diligent in bearing fatigue; he practiced extreme poverty; he was most meek in bearing injuries; he was strong and constant against my enemies; he was the faithful witness of the wonders of Heaven, being dead to the flesh and the world, living only for God and for Heavenly goods, which were the only things he desired. He was perfectly conformed to the Divine Will and so resigned to the dispositions of Heaven that he ever repeated ‘May the Will of God ever be done in me!’…” 

We would do well to look to St. Joseph as a model of how to perfectly follow God's will in our lives and ask St. Joseph to pray for us. 

Conformity to the Will of God 

Great St. Joseph, to whose will the Savior subjected Himself, obtain for me the grace to subject myself in all things to the will of God. Through the merits you obtained when in the darkness of night you obeyed the angel's commands, ask for me this grace, that nothing may detain me from fulfilling the will of God with perfect conformity. In the stable of Bethlehem, on the flight to Egypt, you recommended yourself and those dear to you to divine Providence. Ask for me this same grace to conform myself to the will of God in discouragement and despondency, in health and sickness, in happiness and misfortune, in success and failure so that nothing may disturb the tranquility of my soul in obediently following the way of God for me. Amen.

God bless!

+JMJ+