Fr. Clement Machado: Turn to Saint Joseph, Great Protector of Family Life

"Dear friends, the day we have forgotten St. Joseph is the day where we're deprived of the great protector of family life.  Ever since we've neglected St. Joseph, ever since our children do not have statues-images of St. Joseph, ever since the typical Catholic family has neglected seeking on a regular frequent basis recourse to St. Joseph--ever since that day has occured, our Catholic families, home life, marriages have become ever increasingly assaulted by the powers of the flesh, the world, and the devil himself.

 

"We need to turn back to St. Joseph!  Bring back devotion to St. Joseph, dearest brethren!  Turn your children and grandchildren, friends and family to this most glorious protector!  After all, if God Himself in His eternal providence had deigned to grant such a protector to His only begotten Son, and the Blessed Mother was given a defender as well as helpmate--can you not imagine in God's divine providence where St. Joseph should be in the hearts and minds and homes of His faithful? "

~ Fr. Clement Machado ~

 

 

A Priest's Tribute to St. Joseph, Patron of Family Life

From the Mail is pleased to have among its readers an ancient Dominican in New York, and this venerable religious sent a note on St. Joseph, which FTM considers worth sharing...

"I am the youngest of ten children in an Irish immigrant family.  Of the six who survived childhood, there are three religious and three married. 

"I remember, well over 80 years ago, my holy mother obtaining fresh, new (every year) St. Joseph cords from the Homeless Child Home on Staten Island.  We wore these blessed cords around our waist every day.  My mother had a great devotion to St. Joseph.  She saw two of her boys survive World War I, and one crossed the ocean in 20 round-trips with the Navy.  Her husband was a firefighter for 45 years, without ever suffering an injury.  She saw two sons become priests, and one daughter a nun, and two sons become Knights of St. Gregory.  My mother dropped dead as she was making the stations of the Cross at the ninth station, Jesus falls the third time.  She has 100 priests at her funeral...

"I urge all to have devotion to St. Joseph, Patron of Family Life, Patron of Working People, Patron of a Happy Death, Patron of the Universal Church.  He proved it in our family."

~  From The Wanderer, May 6, 1993 issue; From the Mail column excerpt ~

St. Teresa of Avila: Advantages of Devotion to Saint Joseph

"I took for my advocate and lord the glorious Saint Joseph and commended myself earnestly to him; and I found that this my father and lord delivered me both from this trouble and also from other and greater troubles concerning my honor and the loss of my soul, and that he gave me greater blessings than I could ask of him. I do not remember even now that I have ever asked anything of him which he has failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favors which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint, and at the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul. To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succor us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succors us in them all and that the Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject to him on earth (for, being His guardian and being called His father, he could command Him) just so in Heaven He still does all that he asks. This has also been the experience of other persons whom I have advised to commend themselves to him; and even to-day there are many who have great devotion to him through having newly experienced this truth."

"I wish I could persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint, for I have great experience of the blessings which he can obtain from God. I have never known anyone to be truly devoted to him and render him particular services who did not notably advance in virtue, for he gives very real help to souls who commend themselves to him. For some years now, I think, I have made some request of him every year on his festival and I have always had it granted. If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good."

"I only beg, for the love of God, that anyone who does not believe me will put what I say to the test, and he will see by experience what great advantages come from his commending himself to this glorious patriarch and having devotion to him. Those who practice prayer should have a special affection for him always. I do not know how anyone can think of the Queen of the Angels, during the time that she suffered so much with the Child Jesus, without giving thanks to Saint Joseph for the way he helped them. If anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious saint as his master and he will not go astray."

~ St. Teresa of  Avila; excerpt from The Autobiography of St. Teresa ~

(Printed words on video are easier to read in full screen mode)

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and patron of departing souls and of the universal church, pray for us!

Special Privileges of St. Joseph and His Powerful Intercession

"...I have been informed concerning certain other privileges conferred upon Saint Joseph by the Most High on account of his great holiness, which are especially important to those who ask his intercession in a proper manner. In virtue of these special privileges the intercession of Saint Joseph is most powerful: first, for attaining the virtue of purity and overcoming the sensual inclinations of the flesh; secondly, for procuring powerful help to escape sin and return to the friendship of God; thirdly, for increasing the love and devotion to most holy Mary; fourthly, for securing the grace of a happy death and protection against the demons in that hour; fifthly, for inspiring the demons with terror at the mere mention of his name by his clients; sixthly, for gaining health of body and assistance in all kinds of difficulties; seventhly, for securing issue of children in families. These and many other favors God confers upon those who properly and with good disposition seek the intercession of the spouse of our Queen, Saint Joseph. I beseech all the faithful children of the Church to be very devout to him and they will experience these favors in reality, if they dispose themselves as they should in order to receive and merit them."

~ Venerable Mary of Agreda; excerpt from The Mystical City of God ~

Prayer to Saint Joseph the Worker

St. Josemaria Escriva: "Have a great devotion to St. Joseph."

"Love Saint Joseph a lot. Love him with all your soul, because he, together with Jesus, is the person who has most loved our Blessed Lady and been closest to God. He is the person who has most loved God, after our Mother."

"He deserves your affection, and it will do you good to get to know him, because he is the Master of the interior life, and has great power before the Lord and before the Mother of God."

~ St. Josemaria Escriva; excerpt from The Forge, 554 ~ 

St. Teresa of Avila: Prayers to Saint Joseph

“Would that I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious Saint [St. Joseph], for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone who was truly devoted to him and honored him by particular services who did not advance greatly in virtue: for he helps in a special way those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his feast, and I have always received it. If the petition was in any way amiss, he rectified it for my greater good . . .

" I ask for the love of God that he who does not believe me will make the trial for himself—then he will find out by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being devoted to him.”

~ St. Teresa of Avila ~