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A Sinner's Prayer to St. Joseph Homily Sunday, March 19, 2006, 2nd Sunday of Lent, Feast of St. Joseph, Patron of St. Joseph Parish Detroit at St. Joseph Parish, Detroit
While the small boat of our own lives ventures out on the stormy seas of history, we stop from time to time to remember the Patron and Protector of the Catholic Church, St. Joseph, who is also the patron of this parish, and whose memory we joyfully celebrate today. How loving and wise is God’s Providence to have given us St. Joseph! Joseph was a father, Joseph was a husband, Joseph was a worker, and to his care the Eternal Father entrusted the Virgin Mary and Jesus the Messiah. Pope Leo XIII[1] states,
But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her honor, but also, by virtue of the conjugal tie, a participator in her sublime dignity.
Let us, dear brothers and sisters, and let all sinners, turn to St. Joseph. Do you need a protector? Turn to St. Joseph. Are you a husband and Father? Imitate and learn from St. Joseph, and ask him for help, and he will help you love as a man should love. Do you need to be guarded from temptations? Flee to St. Joseph, who is the terror of demons and mighty protector of the Church. Do you need assistance in hard times? Go to St. Joseph. Do bitterness, discouragement or despair knock at your door? Ask St. Joseph to pick you up. For St. Joseph sees not only Jesus Christ and Mary as the family entrusted to him; now in heaven he sees the entire mystical body of Christ as his adopted family. “It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ.”[2] This is why his intercession is so powerful with God. I know from personal experience and countless stories of friends, parishioners, and even some of you present, how powerful his intercession is. He is quiet, but, boy, does he get stuff done! Therefore I invite all to pray to St. Joseph, I invite sinners, I invite the poor in spirit, I invite those intimidated by the enterprise of pursuing holiness; I invite the weak, the fallen, the suffering, the abandoned; I invite the great and the small, the wealthy and the impoverished, the strong and the frail; I invite especially men and husband and fathers, to pray to St. Joseph with words like these:
To you, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of your most holy spouse, the Virgin Mary, 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 to graciously look upon us, contrite sinners, who are the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood. 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 from sin, from sickness, from misery and from affliction. You are to us all father, model and protector. Therefore, o most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness. And, as once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church, the Church militant, 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 a pious life, to die a holy death, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.[3] |