{"id":2668,"date":"2007-03-10T04:20:12","date_gmt":"2007-03-10T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2007\/03\/the-novena-to-saint-joseph\/"},"modified":"2007-03-10T04:20:12","modified_gmt":"2007-03-10T04:20:12","slug":"the-novena-to-saint-joseph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2007\/03\/the-novena-to-saint-joseph\/","title":{"rendered":"The Novena to Saint Joseph"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"San%20Jose.jpg\"<\/a>
\nThere are Catholics, belonging to a certain theological “caste”, who sniff condescendingly at novenas and other expressions of popular devotion. They forget, perhaps, the words of Our Lord in the Gospel: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones” (Mt 11:25).
\nPope Benedict XVI addressed the place of popular devotions with the clergy of Rome on February 22nd:
\nPopular piety is one of our strengths because it consists of prayers deeply rooted in people’s hearts. These prayers even move the hearts of people who are somewhat cut off from the life of the Church and who have no special understanding of faith. All that is required is to “illuminate” these actions and “purify” this tradition so that it may become part of the life of the Church today.
\n<\/strong><\/em>
\nSeveral years ago my father gave me a wonderful old prayer book that has been handed down from generation to generation in the family. The Treasury of the Sacred Heart Abridged from the Larger Work, With Epistles and Gospels for All Sundays and Festivals of the Year <\/em>was published by Charles Eason, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin in 1860. It contains, among other precious texts, a popular Novena to Saint Joseph, which Novena begins today.
\n\"Dad%20cameo.JPG\"<\/a>
\nThe section On Novenas<\/em> is preceded by a very wise pastoral introduction. Again, this was published in 1860! Here is the text of the introduction:
\n“By a Novena, is meant a devotion of nine days in honour of some mystery of our Redemption, to obtain a particular request: or in honour of the Blessed Virgin, or any of the Saints; to beg their intercession in obtaining a favour from God.
\nIt may be made of any prayer according to each person’s devotion, and is certainly a holy practice, which has often been found successful in obtaining favours from God. Those who perform it with the conditions necessary for prayer; in particular with a lively hope of having their request granted, and perfect resignation, should it be refused, may be assured that Christ, who has said ask and you shall receive<\/em>, will grant them some grace or blessing as the fruit of their prayer, though, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, he may refuse the particular favour which they implore.
\n‘If,” says Saint Augustine, ‘he seems deaf to their cries, it is only to grant their main desire, by doing what is more expedient to them.’ God alone knows what is good for us: how often is the refusal of our requests a far greater favour than would be the grant of them!'”
\nThe Novena to Saint Joseph<\/em> begins today. Addressing Saint Joseph, my 147 year old Irish prayer book says: “Thou art the most hidden, though the greatest saint.” “Go to Joseph,” then. You will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n


\nNOVENA PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH FOR PRIESTS
\nO glorious Saint Joseph,
\nwho, on the word of the angel
\nspeaking to you in the night,
\nput fear aside to take your Virgin Bride into your home,
\nshow yourself today the advocate and protector of priests.
\nProtector of the Infant Christ,
\ndefend them against every attack of the enemy,
\npreserve them from the dangers that surround them
\non every side.
\nRemember Herod’s threats against the Child,
\nthe anguish of the flight into Egypt by night,
\nand the hardships of your exile.
\nStand by the accused;
\nstretch out your hand to those who have fallen;
\ncomfort the fearful;
\nforsake not the weak;
\nand visit the lonely.
\nLet all priests know that in you
\nGod has given them a model
\nof faith in the night, obedience in adversity,
\nchastity in tenderness, and hope in uncertainty.
\nYou are the terror of demons
\nand the healer of those wounded in spiritual combat.
\nCome to the defence of every priest in need;
\novercome evil with good.
\nWhere there are curses, put blessings,
\nwhere harm has been done, do good.
\nLet there be joy for the priests of the Church,
\nand peace for all under your gracious protection.
\nAmen.
\nPRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH FOR A PARTICULAR PRIEST
\nSaint Joseph,
\nI present to you this day
\nFather N., priest of Jesus Christ,
\nand beg you to be to him
\nadvocate and defender,
\ncounselor and friend.
\nOpen your heart to him
\nas you opened your home to the Virgin Mother
\nin her hour of need.
\nProtect his holy priesthood
\nas you protected the life of the Infant Christ
\nthreatened by cruel Herod.
\nIn darkness bring him light;
\nin weakness, strength,
\nand in fear the peace that passes understanding.
\nFor the sake of the tender love that bound you
\nto the Virgin Mary and the Infant Christ,
\nbe for him, Saint Joseph, a constant intercessor
\nand a shield against every danger of body, mind, and soul
\nso that, in spite of his weaknesses and sins,
\nhis priesthood may bring glory to Christ
\nand serve to increase the beauty of holiness
\nin his bride the Church.
\nAmen.
\nA PRIEST’S PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH
\nSaint Joseph,
\nI take you this day as my advocate and defender,
\nmy counselor and my friend.
\nOpen your heart to me
\nas you opened your home to the Virgin Mother
\nin her hour of need.
\nProtect my holy priesthood
\nas you protected the life of the Infant Christ
\nthreatened by cruel Herod.
\nIn darkness bring me light;
\nin weakness, strength,
\nand in fear the peace that passes understanding.
\nFor the sake of the tender love that bound you
\nto the Virgin Mary and the Infant Christ,
\nbe for me, Saint Joseph, a constant intercessor
\nand a shield against every danger of body, mind, and soul
\nso that, in spite of my weaknesses and sins,
\nmy priesthood may bring glory to Christ
\nand serve to increase the beauty of holiness
\nin his bride the Church.
\nAmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are Catholics, belonging to a certain theological “caste”, who sniff condescendingly at novenas and other expressions of popular devotion. They forget, perhaps, the words of Our Lord in the Gospel: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope-benedict-xvi","category-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-H2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}