There is nothing more powerful than the intercession of a in heaven
whose time has come. Never before has the help of the
patron-protector St. Joseph been so essential, as in this hour of the
Church. In a time of ever-increasing spiritual battle and faced with
the spread of impurity and the attempts by radical feminism to
undermine the family and the dignity of fatherhood, we need to go to
Joseph.
It has always been the plan of God to overcome the mighty by means of
the small and humble. Thus Joseph most just, most chaste, most
prudent, most strong, most obedient and most faithful to grace,
protects the Church, the family of God as he once protected and
headed the Holy Family.
History records the powerful intercession of St. Joseph at a very
painful moment in the Church's history. In the early fifteenth
century the Church was plunged into a grave crisis with the Great
Schism in the east and heresy widespread in the West, not to mention
three Popes claiming the See of Peter at the same time. At the
Ecumenical Council of Constance in 1416, the Chancellor of the
University of Paris stood up and proposed devotion to St. Joseph to
those earnestly seeking to heal the deep wounds afflicting the
Church. Canon Sheehan records that Gerson "argued that St. Joseph was
the guardian of Christ, and he whom Christ obeyed on earth still
retains an authority of affection over Christ in heaven; and thus his
wishes, like the wishes of Mary, are commands, and his intercession
is all-powerful." These words, says Canon Sheehan, were received as
the words of one who had a mission from heaven, and, as devotion to
St. Joseph spread in the Church, the troubles of the Church, one by
one, disappeared. In less than a year, perfect peace was restored.
The role of St. Joseph is no less essential for the family of God
today, in both the lay and religious calling. In particular, St.
Joseph illuminates both marriage and the monastic life as a vocation
combining prayer and work, befitting a priestly household. As St.
Peter writes, 'Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ' (1 Pet 2:5). Both
family life and monastic life flourish through stability, by sinking
their roots in one place, under one roof; both require a lifestyle
which grows through dependence on one another; both are nourished
through faithfulness to small duties, hidden sacrifices and loving
kindness. Both are based on labour, where work is the expression of
love for neighbour - that is, those closest to us. Both are routine:
marriage and monastic life relive the hiddenness of Nazareth, repeat
the same activities and gestures day in and day out. However, in
God's plan, foresight and faithfulness to small things out of love
for God and neighbour, release all the graces needed to belong to Him
and each other. These sentiments are summed up in what the Rule of
Benedict refers to as "Ora et Labora": Pray and Labour.
Let us pray: "St. Joseph, by the power of the Holy Spirit you were
constituted the most powerful protector in the holy Church, were set
as the holy steward over all Christian households and religious
communities in the Church. Take my heart also under your care as the
least of God's dwellings, so that this house might become a guardian
of peace, a temple of God and a tabernacle for our Lord Jesus Christ
in the midst of men. Keep me pure and hold afar from me all
intrusive pleasure, so that no stain remain clinging to my soul, and
so that you, St. Joseph, might find in me a cause for joy. Amen.
This article appeared in the May 5, 1995 issue of "The Irish Family",
P.O. Box 7, G.P.O., Mullingar. Co. Westmeath, IRELAND.
