Let us go to Joseph!

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that by St Joseph's intercession

your Church may constantly watch over the unfolding of the mysteries

of human salvation, whose beginnings you entrusted to his faithful care.

 (Collect ~ today's Liturgy) 

FEAST of ST JOSEPH 

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Protector of the Divine Infant and Mary

Patron of the Universal Church

March 19

"Words cannot express the perfection of his adoration. If Saint John leaped in the womb at the approach of Mary, what feelings must have coursed through Joseph during those six months when he had at his side and under his very eyes the hidden God! If the father of Origen used to kiss his child during the night and adore the Holy Spirit living within Him, can we doubt that Joseph must often have adored Jesus hidden in the pure tabernacle of Mary?

How fervent that adoration must have been: My Lord and my God, behold your servant! No one can describe the adoration of this noble soul. He saw nothing, yet he believed; his faith had to pierce the virginal veil of Mary.

So likewise with you! Under the veil of the Sacred Species your faith must see our Lord. Ask St. Joseph for his Lively, constant faith." ~ St. Peter Julian Eymard

   

“He [St. Joseph] nourished with the greatest solicitude

Him whom the faithful were one day to receive

as the Bread of Life on their homeward journey.”   ~ Pope Pius IX

"We have close to us as much as Joseph had at Nazareth; we have our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but our poor eyes fail to see Him. Let us once become interior souls and we shall immediately see. In no better way can we enter into the Heart of our Lord than through Saint Joseph. Jesus and Mary are eager to pay the debts which they owe him for his devoted care of them, and their greatest pleasure is to fulfill his least desire. Let him, then, lead you by hand into the interior sanctuary of Jesus Eucharistic." ~ St. Peter Julian Eymard

"St Joseph, 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."  From Fifth Day of Novena to St Joseph; www.ewtn.com

 

 

"When Egypt was laid waste by the great famine, Pharaoh told his people,

Ite ad Joseph! - Go to Joseph! (Genesis 41:55)

So if we are in trouble, let us listen to the word of the Lord
and take Pharaoh's advice; let us go to Joseph if we wish to be consoled." 
 ~ St Alphonsus de Ligouri

 

 

St Joseph, ora pro nobis!