This year is the Year of St. Joseph. For many years, I have been saying the following daily consecration prayer to St. Joseph.
Dearest St. Joseph, I consecrate myself to your service. I give myself to you, that you may always be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me a great purity of heart, a fervent love of the interior life, and the spirit of prayer.
After your example may I do all my actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the Divine Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And you, blessed St. Joseph, pray for me, that I may share in the peace and joy of your holy death. Amen.
In the next six weeks, we are going to explore several themes based on this beautiful prayer:
- the meaning of consecration to St. Joseph
- St. Joseph and purity of heart
- St. Joseph and the interior life
- St. Joseph and the spirit of prayer
- St. Joseph the Worker
- St. Joseph as Patron of the Dying.
The audio presentations of these themes are going to be posted to my blog fatheranthonyho.ca during Lent.
Father Donald Calloway wrote that to be consecrated to St. Joseph “basically means that you acknowledge that he is your spiritual father, and you want to be like him. To show it, you entrust yourself entirely into his paternal care so that he can help you acquire his virtues and become holy.”
St. Joseph is our spiritual father. Regarding the fatherhood of St. Joseph, Pope Benedict XVI said, “To be a father means above all to be at the service of life and growth. Saint Joseph, in this sense, gave proof of great devotion.”
According to St. Pope Paul VI, the fatherhood of St. Joseph is expressed concretely “in his having made his life a service, a sacrifice to the mystery of the Incarnation and to the redemptive mission connected with it; in having used the legal authority which was his over the Holy Family in order to make a total gift of self, of his life and work; in having turned his human vocation to domestic love into a superhuman oblation of self, an oblation of his heart and all his abilities into love placed at the service of the Messiah growing up in his house.”
An author wrote, “St. Joseph is the perfect father. He loves us first with a fully committed, present, and affirming gaze, which says, ‘I see you; you’ve got what it takes, you’re created for greatness.’ Then he leads by example. He shows us how to have faith in the face of all difficulties, even if it means personal sacrifice. He enables us for greatness, and he shows us how to live it out.”
Sister Mary Martha Chambon (1841-1907) was a mystic of the Holy Wounds. Our Lord told her: “You must call St. Joseph your father, for I have given him the title and the goodness of a Father.”
St. Joseph is our protector. In the Litany of St. Joseph, he is invoked as “Protector of the Holy Church.”
St. Joseph recommended Sister Chambon the following daily invocation: “Glorious St. Joseph, protect us and protect the Holy Church!”
Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste (1832-1869) had a strong devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Joseph, and St. Mary Magdalene. In 1868 Jean-Joseph wrote a letter to Blessed Pope Pius IX asking him to proclaim St. Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church. He told the Pope that he had made a promise to God to offer his life as a sacrifice to bring about the patronage of St. Joseph for the entire Church.
Pius IX said, “We have received more than 500 letters requesting that we declare St. Joseph patron of the Church, but Father Lataste is the only one who offered his life.”
Blessed Jean-Joseph died in 1869 at the age of 36. One year later, on Dec. 8, 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed St. Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church.
大聖若瑟是父親和保衛者
今年是大聖若瑟年。多年來，我每天都誦唸下列的奉獻給大聖若瑟禱文。
最敬愛的大聖若瑟，我奉獻自己為你服務。我把自己交給你，讓你時常作為我的父親，我的保衛者，我救恩之路的嚮導。求你為我獲得一顆純潔的心，一份對內修生活的熱愛和祈禱的精神。
效法你的榜樣，讓我所有的行為都偕同耶穌聖心和瑪利亞無玷聖心為愈顯主榮。大聖若瑟，請為我祈禱，使我能夠分享你聖死的平安與喜樂。亞孟。
在這六個星期，我們會跟據這美麗禱文來探討幾項主題：1.奉獻給大聖若瑟的意思， 2.大聖若瑟和純潔的心， 3.大聖若瑟和內修生活， 4.大聖若瑟和祈禱的精神， 5.聖若瑟勞工， 6.大聖若瑟為臨終者的主保。
在這四旬期中，我將會把有關這些主題的語音訊息放在我的網誌www.fatheranthonyho.ca中。
Donald Calloway神父寫道，奉獻給大聖若瑟『基本上是說，你明認他是你靈性的父親，你願意相似他。為表達這意願，你把自己全部交托給他那父親的關懷中，由此他能幫助你得到他的德行並成聖。』
聖若瑟是我們靈性上的父親。有關聖若瑟父親的身份，教宗本篤十六世說：『作為一位父親，最主要是為生命和成長而服務。從這個意義上說，聖若瑟夫證明了他的忠誠。』
根據教宗聖保祿六世，聖若瑟的父親身份是確實地表達『於他以生命作服務和犧牲與降身的奧蹟和相關的救贖使命；於在履行他聖家中律法上的權力時，他使自身、生命和工作成為一份完全的獻禮；他把人類家庭愛的使命轉化成超然的自身和心靈的祭獻，並把他愛的一切能力放諸於為在他屋內成長的默西亞服務。』
一位作者寫道：『聖若瑟是一位完美的父親。他愛我們，首先是以一個完全堅定的、臨在的和肯定的目光，這目光說「我看見你，你做得到的，你是為偉大而受造的」』然後他以表樣來帶領我們。他指示給我們在面對種種困難時怎樣保持信心，甚至於要作個人的犧牲。他讓我們可以成為偉大的，他指示我們怎樣做到。』
Mary Martha Chambon （1841-1907）修女，她是聖傷的神視者。吾主告訴她：『你要稱聖若瑟為你的父親，因為我已給他父親的名銜和善良。』
聖若—瑟是我們的保衛者。在聖若瑟禱文中，他被稱為『聖教之保障。』
聖若瑟向Chambon修女推薦如下每天的呼求：『光榮的聖若瑟，請保護我們和保護聖教會！』
真福 Jean-Joseph Lataste（1832-1869）他熱心敬禮路德聖母，聖若瑟和聖瑪利亞、瑪達肋納。在1868年她寫了一封信給教宗真福庇約九世，請求他宣稱大聖若瑟為普世教會的主保。他告訴教宗他向天主承諾他獻出他的生命作犧牲，使大聖若瑟成為整個教會的主保。
庇約九世說：『我們有多於五百封信，請求宣稱大聖若瑟為教會的主保，但Lataste神父是唯一獻出生命的。』
真福Jean-Joseph死於1869年，亨年36歲。一年後，1870年十二月八日教宗真福庇約九世頒令大聖若瑟為普世教會主保。