Virgo Potens

PRAYER to OBTAIN a CONVERSION O GLORIOUS PATRIARCH St. Joseph, who merited to be called “just’ by the Holy Ghost, I urgently recommend to thee the soul of [Name], which Jesus redeemed at the price of His Precious Blood. Thou knowest how deplorable is the state and how unhappy the life of those who have banished this loving Savior from their hearts, and how greatly they are exposed to the danger of losing Him eternally. Permit not, I beseech thee, that a soul so dear to me should continue any longer in its evil ways; preserve it from the danger that threatens it; touch the heart of this prodigal child and conduct him back to the bosom of the fondest of fathers. Abandon him not, I implore thee, till thou hast opened to him the gates of the heavenly city, where he will praise and bless thee throughout eternity for the happiness which he will owe to thy powerful intercession. Amen. Favorite Prayers to Saint Joseph (1997)

2 of 2 Month of St. Joseph ~ March 13th And now I seem to stand in spirit at the judgment seat and hear the sound of the last great trumpet calling all to judgment. The tribunal is already set. The Judge appears, and after casting a withering glance of wrath upon the wicked, He turns to the elect with looks of loving welcome, and speaks to them the words, “I was hungry and you gave Me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink . . . naked and you covered Me.” And then, full of wonder, the just will answer, saying—“Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and fed Thee, thirsty and gave Thee to drink ?” And the King will say to them—“Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren you did it to Me.” But one there is among that mighty throng to whom Christ can say, literally, “I was hungry and you gave Me to eat,” etc. It is His great foster-father, St. Joseph ; and the saint, so far from being astonished, will say to his former foster-Son, the present Judge—“Thou hast not forgotten how when Thou wert hungry I sought out food for Thee ; how under the glowing sun of Egypt, or out in the burning desert, when Thine Infant Lips were parched with thirst, I sought for water to assuage it; how often, as we lay to rest beneath the open sky, I placed my garment over Thee, to give Thee warmth and shelter in the chilly dews of night.” In this wise will St. Joseph answer Christ his Judge. Application.— Let us imitate St. Joseph by being charitable towards the poor and needy, recognising in them the Person of Our Lord, and remembering that what we do for them He will take as done for Himself. Affections and Resolutions.— Obtain for me, O glorious Saint, to understand more and more thy supereminent sanctity, and the power and glory thou enjoyest in Heaven. ~ Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J., St. Joseph, A Novena of Meditations and Prayers (1926)

1 of 2 Month of the St. Joseph ~ March 13th 2nd Point — St. Joseph laboured in the immediate service of the Holy Family. Consideration.— When men have done all that in them lies for God, they can, after all, only call themselves unprofitable servants. This can be asserted even of the greatest saints. Yet, one there was who need not acknowledge before God his uselessness. For he was important, even necessary, for the accomplishment of God’s designs on earth. By his labours St. Joseph prevented the Infant Saviour from dying of hunger, from perishing of cold. He succoured the Man-God in all His necessities, so that in a certain sense it may be said that, without his assistance, Christ could not have spent as He did the earlier years of His life on earth. (continued below)

Invocation Grant us, dear Joseph, to run life’s pathway in innocent fashion: May we forever be safe under Thy blest patronage. (Roman Missal) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fac nos innócuam Ioseph, decúrrere vitam, Sitque tuo semper tuta patrocínio. (ex Missali Romano) An indulgence of 300 days. A plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, for the devout recitation of this invocation every day throughout a month. (S. C. Ind., March 18, 1882; S. P. Ap., May 13, 1933). (The Raccolta, 1943)

Invocation Grant us, dear Joseph, to run life’s pathway in innocent fashion: May we forever be safe under Thy blest patronage. (Roman Missal) Fac nos innócuam Ioseph, decúrrere vitam, Sitque tuo semper tuta patrocínio. (ex Missali Romano) An indulgence of 300 days. A plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, for the devout recitation of this invocation every day throughout a month. (S. C. Ind., March 18, 1882; S. P. Ap., May 13, 1933). (The Raccolta, 1943)

2 of 2 Month of St. Joseph ~ March 12th 2nd. Yet there still remains a higher dignity conferred upon St. Joseph. He was to be the guardian and superior of Him who rules the world. For well-nigh thirty years the Word Incarnate, at Whose Name each knee shall bend, in heaven, on earth, and in hell, was Himself subject to the loving sway of His great foster-father, St. Joseph. How great, think you, was the sanctity of one selected from eternity to guide and govern the Man-God; chosen to instruct Him in His tender years, to preserve Him amid the perils of a foreign land, to procure for Him the necessary clothes and food and shelter, to watch over Him with loving, constant care, amid the many sorrows that the fact of His becoming Man exposed Him to. Application.— We read in the Book of Esther how regal honours were decreed to Mardochai for discovering and revealing a plot against King Assuerus, and thereby saving the king’s life. And if Mardochai was rewarded for his loyalty by receiving royal honours, how much more does St. Joseph merit this reward ? Affections and Resolutions.— I now begin, O glorious Saint, to understand in some degree the greatness and the splendour of thy reign in Heaven. Watch over and protect me from thy throne above. ~ Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J., St. Joseph, A Novena of Meditations and Prayers (1926)

1 of 2 Month of the St. Joseph ~ March 12th St. Joseph’s Supereminent Sanctity (ll) 1st Prelude — Behold St. Joseph, with Jesus and Mary, occupied in his daily avocations in the holy house of Nazareth. 2nd Prelude — Ask for grace to understand the sources of St. Joseph’s supereminent sanctity. Again, St. Joseph is the greatest of the saints of God because : 1st Point — He was the Guardian and Superior of the Holy Family Consideration.— 1st. St. Joseph was the divinely appointed guardian of Mary. One of the chief reasons why he was wedded to Our Blessed Lady was that he might be the faithful guardian of her virginity. How exquisite must have been the holiness and piety of him who was thus from all eternity marked out to watch over and protect the Immaculate Virgin herself. (continued below)

❀•°❀°•❀•°❀°•❀ The Internal Discourse of Christ to a Faithful Soul Imitation of Christ ~ Book III, Chapter 1 DISCIPLE I WILL hear what the Lord God will speak in me. (Ps. 84:9). Blessed is that soul which heareth the Lord speaking within her (Prov. 8:34), and from His mouth receiveth the word of comfort. Blessed ears which receive the veins of the divine whisper and take no notice of the whis­per of the world. Blessed ears indeed, which hearken to truth itself teaching within and not to the voice which soundeth without. Blessed eyes which are shut to outward things and attentive to the interior. (Matt. 13:16). Blessed they who penetrate into internal things and endeavor to prepare themselves more and more by daily exercises to the attainment of heavenly secrets. Blessed they who seek to be wholly intent on God, and who rid themselves of every worldly impediment. Mind these things, O my soul, and shut the doors of thy sensuality, that thou mayest hear what the Lord thy God speaks within thee. CHRIST 2. Thus saith thy Beloved, I am thy salvation, thy peace, and thy life. (Ps. 34:3). Abide in Me and thou shalt find peace. Let alone all transitory things and seek things eternal. What are all temporal things but deceit? And what will all things created avail thee if thou be forsaken by thy Creator? Cast off then all earthly things and make thy­self agreeable to thy Creator and faithful to Him, that so thou mayest attain to true happiness. ~ Thomas á Kempis, The Imitation of Christ. Translated by the Right Rev. Richard Challoner, D.D. ❀•°❀°•❀•°❀°•❀

2 of 2 Month of St. Joseph ~ March 11th 1st, By making an Act of Faith : “My God, I believe Thou art here present within me.” 2nd, By uniting to this, short acts of love towards God as present within you : “My God, who art really present within me, I love Thee with my whole heart and soul.” 3rd, And lastly, by sometimes offering up to God within us the action we are occupied in. “My God, I offer this action to Thee. I do it all for love of Thee.” Affections and Resolutions.— St. Joseph, Patron of interior life, teach me how to walk in the presence of God, by sometimes turning to Him in my daily occupations, in acts of faith and love and generous oblation of myself, and of my work to Him whose eye is ever fixed upon me. Colloquy with St. Joseph. Spiritual Reading.— “Imitation of Christ” Book III., Chapter 1. ~ Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J., St. Joseph, A Novena of Meditations and Prayers (1926)

1 of 2 Month of the St. Joseph ~ March 11th Application.—For us, too, if we endeavour to cultivate it, the practice of the presence of God will be a source of sanctity and peace. Spiritual writers are agreed that to walk habitually in the presence of God is a most powerful means of sanctification. “Walk before me and be perfect,” said God to Abraham of old. “Seek our Lord and be confirmed; seek His face continually,” is the admonition of the Psalmist. As the sponge in the midst of the sea is entirely surrounded by water, and penetrated by it to its very centre, so, too, are we completely plunged in and surrounded by the infinite ocean oi God’s greatness, so that, speaking of God, St. Paul assures us that “In Him we live, move, and have our being.” How, then, are we to practise this exercise of the presence of God ? (continued below)

NOVENA to ST. JOSEPH Feast, March 19th O Glorious St. Joseph! faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to thee do we raise our hearts and hands, to implore thy powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special favour we now implore [here mention it]. (Then say the following Versicle and Response seven times in honour of the seven joys and sorrows of St. Joseph.) ℣ O Glorious St. Joseph ! through the love thou bearest to Jesus Christ, and for the glory of His Name. ℟ Hear our prayers and obtain our petitions. Let us pray. O Glorious St. Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, and charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the Divine will. Be my guide, father, and model through life, that I may merit to die, as Thou didst, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Amen. Prayers and Devotions (1959)

PRAYER in a DIFFICULT PROBLEM O GLORIOUS St. Joseph, thou who hast power to render possible even things which are considered impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under thy particular protection, that it may end happily. (Name your request.) O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is in thee. Let it not be said that we would invoke thee in vain; and since thou art so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that thy goodness equals thy power. Amen. St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us. Favorite Prayers to Saint Joseph (1997)

2 of 2 Month of St. Joseph ~ March 10th Now, no one, save the Virgin Mother, ever approached more nearly to Jesus Christ, the source and fountain of all sanctity, than did St. Joseph, and consequently no one save Our Blessed Lady can have shared more fully in the sanctity of God Himself. What floods of grace were poured into his soul owing to his being constantly in the company of Jesus Christ ! He bore the Infant Saviour in his arms into Egypt; for years they worked together in the little workshop at Nazareth, they prayed and talked and took their meals together, they were in each other’s company almost incessantly for well-nigh thirty years. What a marvellously sanctifying effect upon St. Joseph had this close union with the Saviour ! No tongue of man can tell the wonders that this constant presence of Jesus wrought within the soul of Joseph. ~ Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J., St. Joseph, A Novena of Meditations and Prayers (1926)

St. Joseph, modèle parfait de la vie intérieure, priez pour nous. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ St. Joseph, perfect model of the interior life, pray for us. 1 of 2 Month of the St. Joseph ~ March 10th [St. Joseph is the greatest of the saints of God because :] 2nd Point — St. Joseph was the Companion of Jesus Consideration.— But greater far than Maiy’s influence on Joseph was that exercised by One of whose holiness even Mary’s was but the faintest shadow. If St. Joseph derived wonderful sanctity from his converse with the Virgin, how much more so from his perpetual and close connection with Our Blessed Lord Himself. St. Thomas has beautifully shown that the nearer anything approaches its source, the more fully it partakes of the properties of that source: thus the light that is nearest to the sun is the most dazzling; the heat that is nearest to the fire is most ardent; the water that is nearest to the fountain is the purest. (continued below)

Prayer to St. Joseph for Purity O GUARDIAN of virgins and holy father, St. Joseph, to whose faithful keeping were entrusted Christ Jesus, Innocence itself, and Mary, Virgin of virgins, I pray and beseech thee, by these dear pledges, Jesus and Mary, that being preserved from all uncleanness, I may with spotless mind, pure heart and chaste body, ever serve Jesus and Mary most chastely all the days of my life. Amen. Favorite Prayers to Saint Joseph (1997)

Month of the St. Joseph ~ March 9th 1st Point — St. Joseph was the Spouse of Mary. (continued) Application.—What, then, must have been the effect of Mary’s constant bodily presence on the soul of Joseph ! He dwelt with her, talked with her familiarly, ate at the same table with her, above all, he prayed with her. What flames of divine love must have consumed his heart, as he saw before him, not her sculptured image, but her living priesence. What faith, and hope, and purity, and profound humility must not her constant presence have inspired him with ! Affections and Resolutions.— O glorious saint ! obtain that I, too, like you, may grow in sanctity and every virtue from the contemplation of my Mother Mary. ~ Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J., St. Joseph, A Novena of Meditations and Prayers (1926)

Prayer to Obtain a Special Favor O BLESSED Saint Joseph, tenderhearted father, faithful guardian of Jesus, chaste spouse of the Mother of God, we pray and beseech thee to offer to God the Father His divine Son, bathed in blood on the Cross for sinners, and through the thrice-holy Name of Jesus, obtain for us from the Eternal Father the favor we implore. (Name your request.) Appease the Divine anger so justly inflamed by our crimes, beg of Jesus mercy for your children.  Amid the splendors of eternity, forget not the sorrows of those who suffer, those who pray, those who weep; stay the Almighty arm which smites us, that by thy prayers and those of thy most holy spouse, the Heart of Jesus may be moved to pity and to pardon. Amen.  St. Joseph, pray for us. ~ Favorite Prayers to Saint Joseph (1997)

2 of 2 Month of St. Joseph ~ March 8th A good wife loves her husband tenderly. To him belongs the first place in her thoughts, her greatest desire is for his welfare. Now, Mary was the best of spouses, she loved St. Joseph with a love exceeding far her love for anyone except Our Lord Himself. How constantly, then, must she not have prayed for him, how many graces must she not have obtained for him, how much merit must she not have won for him. And we all know something of the power of Mary’s prayer, and that those she loves cannot but make vast strides in holiness of life. 2nd. Yet even stronger still was the power of her example and society. The mere sight of anyone we highly esteem powerfully incites us to imitate his example. What an effect, then, had the dazzling example of Our Blessed Lady on St. Joseph ! 3rd. Not merely the visible presence of the saints but even the sight of their images exposed for veneration in our churches, urges us to holiness of life. Of all the pictures and statues that the Church erects before our eyes, there are none that so urge us to devotion as the pictures and statues of Our Blessed Lady. How many a sinner has been rescued from a life of sin and brought back to God and to repentance while kneeling at the foot of Mary’s altar ! How many a cold or tepid heart has summoned up courage to rise to better things while gazing on her image ! The pictured holiness of Mary has been strength to the weak, fire to the cold of heart, consolation to the sorrowful, power of resistance to the tempted. ~ Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J., St. Joseph, A Novena of Meditations and Prayers (1926)

1 of 2 Month of the St. Joseph ~ March 8th St. Joseph’s Supereminent Sanctity 1st Prelude — Behold St. Joseph, with Jesus and Mary, occupied in his daily avocations in the holy house of Nazareth. 2nd Prelude — Ask for grace to understand the sources of St. Joseph’s supereminent sanctity. St. Joseph is the greatest of the saints of God because : 1st Point — St. Joseph was the Spouse of Mary. Consideration.— St. Joseph was the Spouse of Mary, her true and real husband, a position which proclaims him to be that fortunate man whose lot the Wise Man asserts to be the most enviable. “Happy is the husband of a good wife.” St. Matthew expressly calls St. Joseph the husband of Mary. “Joseph, her husband, being a just man” (Matt. i. 19). (continued below)