Forty Days with Saint Joseph A Preparation Guide for Consecration to Saint Joseph 1 Why a Consecration to Saint Joseph? On December 8, 2021, Pope Francis announced that the upcoming year would be dedicated to Saint Joseph, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. The Holy Father said the aim of our reflection on Saint Joseph this year is “to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal”.1 During the celebration of Baptism, the minister, godparents, and the gathered Christian community implore the intercession of Saint Joseph along with Holy Mary, Mother of God during the Litany of the Saints. From the very beginnings of our Christian life, the Church recognizes that Saint Joseph has a special role in supporting us as we follow Jesus. The purpose of this consecration to Saint Joseph is to reaffirm our commitment to living out the divine consecration we received at our Baptism. We renew the request made to Saint Joseph in the Rite of Baptism for his spiritual support as we live out our Baptismal promises. Throughout his earthly life, Saint Joseph dedicated himself to Jesus and his redemptive mission. Our consecration to Saint Joseph is a way of asking him to teach us how to dedicate ourselves more wholeheartedly to Jesus and his mission in the world today. We cannot persevere in the Christian life and our Christian mission alone. We need the support of a community, including the heavenly Communion of Saints. Our consecration to Saint Joseph is a way of deepening our relationship with him, inviting him to accompany us in our Christian journey, and allowing him to lead us closer to the child he protected and raised, Christ Jesus. We have many needs and concerns right now. We unite our voices together over the next 40 days, trusting that Saint Joseph will indeed intercede for us as we consecrate our lives to him. Through our union in prayer over these special days, we pray to grow deeper as a Christian community. May our consecration to Saint Joseph lead to many abundant graces for each of us! 1 Patris Corde #7. 2 Practical Details: In order to prepare for your consecration to Saint Joseph, please read the daily reflection and pray one of the prayers below of your own choosing. If you miss a day, simply read the missed reflection the next day. Acts of prayer/charity are suggested for each day, but you can be creative and apply the suggestions to your own situation. Obviously, some suggestions might need to be modified because of COVID-19 restrictions. Prayers to Saint Joseph: Please pray one of these prayers after reading the daily meditation. Prayer to Saint Joseph (by Saint Teresa of Calcutta): O Glorious St. Joseph, we most humbly beg of you, by the love and care you had for Jesus and Mary, to take our affairs, spiritual and temporal, into your hands. Direct them to the greater glory of God, and obtain for us the grace to do His holy Will. Amen. Prayer to Saint Joseph (by Saint John XXIII, 1961): O Saint Joseph, Protector of the Universal Church. Be always our protector. May your interior spirit of peace, of silence, of good work, and of prayer, enliven us always to serve the Holy Church. Bring us joy in union with your Blessed Spouse, our dearest Immaculate Mother, in the tender love of Jesus, the glorious and immortal, King of all ages and peoples. Amen. A Prayer to Saint Joseph (prayed daily by Pope Francis): Glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph, whose power makes the impossible possible, come to my aid in these times of anguish and difficulty. Take under your protection the serious and troubling situations that I commend to you, that they may have a happy outcome. My beloved father, all my trust is in you. Let it not be said that I invoked you in vain, and since you can do everything with Jesus and Mary, show me that your goodness is as great as your power. Amen. 3 A Prayer to Saint Joseph (by Saint John XXIII, 1959): O glorious Saint Joseph, you veiled your incomparable regal dignity as guardian of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary under the appearance of a humble carpenter and sustained their lives with your work. Protect with loving power the children who entrust themselves to you. You know the anguish and the sufferings of workers because you experienced them yourself during your life, with Jesus and his Mother at your side. Do not permit workers, oppressed by many worries, to forget the reason for which God created them. Do not let seeds of doubt enslave their immortal souls. Remember all workers, that they might not just work, rejoice, and suffer, but might have Jesus with Mary his Mother and ours beside them to sustain them, to wipe away their sweat, and to assist them in their fatigue. Teach them to do their work, as You have done, embracing it as a path to sanctification. Amen. Prayer for a Happy Death (by St. Alphonsus Ligouri): Saint Joseph, by that assistance which Jesus and Mary gave you at death, I beg of you to protect me in a special way, at the hour of my death, so that dying, assisted by you, in the company of Jesus and Mary, I may go to thank you in heaven, and in your company, to sing God's Praises for all Eternity. So I Hope. So may it be. Amen. Patron of the dying, pray for us. Prayer: To you, O blessed Joseph (by Pope Leo XXIII) To you, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our afflictions, and having implored the help of your most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke your patronage also. Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities. O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be kind to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness. As once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your aid, we may be able to live piously, to die in holiness, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen. 4 A Prayer to Saint Joseph Before Mass (prayed daily by Saint John Paul II): O happy man, Saint Joseph, to you it was given to see and hear the God whom many kings longed to see but did not see, and longed to hear but did not hear. Not only that, but you were privileged even to bear God in your hands, to kiss him, to dress him, and to watch over him. Pray for us, Saint Joseph. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray. O God, who has given us a royal priesthood: You found Blessed Joseph worthy to hold your only Son, born of the Virgin Mary, reverently in his hands and to carry him. Enable us, too, to serve at your holy altar with pure hearts and innocent lives, so that today we may receive worthily the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, and may be found worthy of an everlasting reward in the world to come. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. San José con el Niño dormido (detail) by Francisco Camilo 5 Daily Meditations: Day 1: The gospel of Matthew traces Joseph’s family roots back to Abraham (Matthew 1:1). God asked Abraham to leave behind everything that was known and familiar to him and set out on a journey into the unknown. God did not reveal the ultimate destination of the journey to Abraham. Yet, Abraham still stepped forward in faith and trusted that God would show him what to do at each crucial point along the way. Joseph demonstrated similar faith during his life. While not knowing all the details of God’s plan for his future, he still stepped forward in faith to do what he understood God was asking of him in each particular moment. We can easily be frustrated when our future is uncertain. The faith of Abraham and Joseph teach us to take the next step in our journey, trusting that God will take care of us along the way. Pray today for the grace to trust in God’s plan for your future, especially in areas of your life that currently involve much uncertainty. Day 2: Saint Joseph was a man of silence. The gospels record none of his words, showing us that listening and acting are oftentimes more important than speaking. Throughout his life, Saint Joseph listened attentively to God’s direction. Not just the special inspirations he received, but also the words of Sacred Scripture proclaimed at the local synagogue. After listening, Joseph did not procrastinate. He acted on what he had heard. Spend 10 minutes today in silence. For example: read the Bible at home, reflect in a quiet church, or go about your normal routine with radio, TV, and music turned off.