The wisdom of consecrating ourselves daily to St Joseph
After Jesus and Mary within the Christian faith surely comes St Joseph. His powerful intercession before God’s throne is indisputable. I came to realise this from a catechesis Pope Francis made on Wednesday 16 February 2022 when he said: Jesus, Mary and Joseph are in a sense the primordial nucleus of the Church. Jesus is Man and God; Maria, the first disciple and the Mother; and Joseph, the guardian.
Once I read that if you want to change your life, try consecrating yourself to St. Joseph and let him lead you back to God. That thought was awesome and gave me hope! It is without the shadow of a doubt that I need to let the Holy Spirit change my life as He marvelously worked in the life of the Glorious Patriarch and Patron of the Church, St Joseph! Thus, I want to consecrate myself to St Joseph because I want to grow in his virtues. Being a priest I realize that I need to grow in his spiritual fatherhood. My brother priest Fr Donald Calloway, who commenced a worldwide movement of devotion to St Joseph with his outstanding book Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, is truly amazing. Fr Colloway said it so well when he wrote regarding St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood: We need the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph to help us protect marriage and the family. Marriage and the family have always been under attack, but in modern times, the threats have reached extraordinary heights … To combat and overcome Satan’s deceptions, the Church needs St. Joseph. His example and protection are the only way out of the confusing mess we are in.
Moreover, St Joseph is an excellent helper to help us draw closer to Jesus. In fact, as I read in an online source entitled Consecration to St. Joseph, total consecration to St. Joseph means you make a formal act of filial entrustment to your spiritual father so that he can take care of your spiritual well-being and lead you to God. The person who consecrates himself to St. Joseph wants to be as close to their spiritual father as possible, to the point of resembling him in virtue and holiness. Saint Joseph, in turn, will give those consecrated to him his undivided attention, protection, and guidance.
From what I have shared with you so far I have been strongly convinced to consecrate myself to St Joseph as I deem it necessary to have my life changed as well as let St Joseph lead me back to God. Finally, St Joseph, after Jesus and Mary, is the most practical saint of all. It was St Teresa of Avila who claimed this when she said: It would seem that God has only granted the other saints power to help us in one kind of necessity; but experience shows that St. Joseph can help in every kind of need.
Here is the consecration to St Joseph, which I humbly suggest that we start our day with, which helps you and me in our following of Jesus daily:
O Glorious Patriarch and Patron of the Church! O Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God! O Guardian and Virginal Father of the Word Incarnate! In the presence of Jesus and Mary, I choose you this day to be my father, my guardian, and my protector. O great St. Joseph, whom God has made the Head of the Holy Family, accept me, I beseech you, though utterly unworthy, to be a member of your “Holy House.” Present me to your Immaculate Spouse; ask her also to adopt me as her child. With her, pray that I may constantly think of Jesus, and serve him faithfully to the end of my life. O Terror of Demons, increase in me virtue, protect me from the evil one, and help me not to offend God in any way. O my Spiritual Father, I hereby consecrate myself to you. In faithful imitation of Jesus and Mary, I place myself and all my concerns under your care and protection. To you, after Jesus and Mary, I consecrate my body and soul, with all their faculties, my spiritual growth, my home, and all my affairs and undertakings. Forsake me not, but adopt me as a servant and child of the Holy Family. Watch over me at all times, but especially at the hour of my death. Console and strengthen me with the presence of Jesus and Mary so that, with you, I may praise and adore the Holy Trinity for all eternity. Amen.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
