Go to Joe!

Today is May 1st, feast of St. Joseph the Worker and opening to the Month of Mary! So many Graces! Let us together ‘Ite Ad Joseph!’ This traditional Latin prayer of the Church exhorts us today with a potent cry: “Go to Joseph!”

Now is the time of St. Joseph! He is the Protector of the Holy Church and the Terror of Demons, and we need him now more than ever. He wants to make himself available to us in this time. “Where sin abounds, Grace abounds all the more” (Romans 5:20). Papa Joe is the guardian of the one who is full of Grace – our Blessed Mother – and he is our guardian too. Our quiet, humble spiritual father will not let us down. His silence is his strength, and he is here, he is with us, he is guiding us. I am currently making my Consecration to St. Joseph, as offered by Fr. Donald Calloway. What a gift it has been to my faith! His presence is a rich consolation, a sturdy pillar of fatherhood, direction, and intercession.

Over the last 100 years, there has been a surge of increasing teaching about and devotion to this great saint. He is making his presence more known, and saints have been pointing the way to him as a powerful aid and father. Let us look to him and call upon him for timely help, in all the little and big moments of our lives.

There are so many incredible stories contained in this book, Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father. Fr. Calloway pours out miracle upon miracle, story upon story of the graces and gifts of our Papa Joe:

• I am enthralled to learn that the holy wedding ring – the “Santo Anello” – St. Joseph gave to Mary, is in safekeeping, and can be seen in a special reliquary in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia, Italy! Pilgrimage? Yes please!
• St. Joseph’s Oratory was constructed by St. Andre Bessette and completed in 1967 in Montreal, Canada. It stands as the world’s largest shrine dedicated to St. Joseph.
• The home of the Holy Family in Nazareth was literally carried by angels across land and sea to Loreto, Italy, in 1295, and there it remains, able to be visited by pilgrims.
• In 1878, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in response to a novena prayed by the Sisters of Loretto for financial aid to build a staircase to their choir loft, St. Joseph himself showed up and built a miraculous spiral staircase! Read more of that story here.
• Little known fun fact: St. Therese the Little Flower was miraculously cured as a baby through the intercession of St. Joseph! Her mother, St. Zelie Martin, knelt at the feet of St. Joseph, imploring a miraculous healing for her daughter, should God will it. Little Therese was cured that day.
• It can also be said that St. Joseph was the founder of the first Perpetual Adoration Chapel, as head of his household in Nazareth, where the Christ Child was adored every moment of every day. This loving, providing father and his wife were in constant adoration before their Baby, the Savior of all souls.
• Since the 15th Century, January 23rd has historically been celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Spouses! Best kept secret! Let us pray for this marvelous feast to be placed on the universal liturgical calendar! May the most holy matrimony of Mary & Joseph heal our marriages, families, and our world, especially as we enter the final battle over marriage and family.

Let us open our hearts to this dear father. As we follow Jesus and become one with Him, His mother becomes our mother, and his father becomes our father. Papa Joe is the pillar and protector of our families. Let us call upon him for conversions and healings. He so wants to help us in our daily lives to grow in faith, hope, and love, in virtue and holiness and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He witnessed first-hand the beauty of the Holy Spirit in his beloved bride, whom he affectionately called, “my dove!”

The Holy Family is embracing our families, our homes, our world. St. Joseph appeared at Fatima on October 13, 1917, the day the sun danced. He held the Christ Child in his strong arms, and together they blessed the world! He also appeared in Knock, Ireland in 1879, beside the Blessed Mother and St. John the Beloved Disciple. St. Joseph is making his presence known. He is ours and we are his; we belong to his trustworthy care, to his heart united with the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, our safe shelter and refuge. He wants us to lean on him, to rely on him, to ask for his help with full confidence in his swift and powerful assistance. ‘Ite ad Joseph!’

“Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.”
~ St. Thomas Aquinas

Memorare to St. Joseph
Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who implored your help and sought your intercession were left unassisted. Full of confidence in your power I fly unto you and beg your protection.
Despise not O Guardian of the Redeemer my humble supplication,
but in your bounty, hear and answer me.
Amen.

Copyright 2020, Marian West