Monday, February 15, 2021

St. Joseph as Spiritual Father

 


 

Today, I began reading Consecration to St. Joseph by Fr. Donald Calloway with the intention of making the consecration on St. Joseph's feast day of March 19th (if you feel like you've missed your chance, don't worry. You can start on March 30th and make the consecration on Mary 1, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker).

Day 1 spoke about how St. Joseph can help us "become a faithful, loving, and trusting companion of Jesus and Mary", a role he filled as the husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus. Just as he was chosen by God to fill the role of earthly father of Jesus, he can also fill the role of a spiritual father in our lives. 

When I first considered making a consecration to St. Joseph for the Year of St. Joseph, I felt a little uncomfortable. After all, God is our heavenly Father. Do we need another one? Isn't God enough? Of course, yes, God is always enough. But that doesn't mean we can't have other role models, saints that show us how to become closer to God and help lead us to God. St. Joseph is in a unique position to do just that, especially given that God the Father trusted him to care for His own son. As Fr. Calloway states, "he protected the Holy Family; he will protect us, too, if we entrust ourselves to his paternal heart and his spiritual care."

 At the end of each day's readings, those making the consecration are asked to pray Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit) and the Litany of St. Joseph. Both of these are beautiful prayers which are provided in the book. I've linked to online versions in case you would like to pray them without the book.

 


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