Albert A. Lings

O Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I, N. N., in sight of the whole celestial court, choose you this day for my patrons and protectors. I offer, and solemnly consecrate to you in this association, my body and soul, all I have and all I am. I promise to live as a [pg 098] good Christian, that I may die the death of the predestined. What happiness for me to pass one day from the arms of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph on earth, to the arms of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in heaven, for all eternity. This is my hope. Amen.

[pg 099]

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We can easily imagine that the foster-father of the Infant Jesus must have been a great man in the eyes of God. His duties were very important; they called for such a self-sacrificing character. We wish to imitate his virtues this month; we wish to praise almighty God for all the distinctions which He has showered upon St. Joseph; we want to belong to St. Joseph, to be associated with him in heaven, and even now while we are still on earth, for prayer associates us here with those whom we address above. The saints hear our prayers by God's favor, and they reply at once. We need many things, and so we are going to pray to St. Joseph, especially during this month, for whatever we want. Go confidently and make out a list of your necessities, write them down, and look over them occasionally to see whether your petitions have been granted.

St. Joseph is all-powerful before God; whatever we ask of him we are sure to obtain; this has been the experience of many good Christians; it will also be your experience if you sincerely try it.

St. Joseph sanctified labor, poverty, and privations, by bearing them with patience, humility, and resignation to the will of God. We have many trials in life to endure, we have need of these virtues; let us look to it that we acquire them for our own spiritual comfort. Let us bear with patience all these trials; patience makes things bearable, for without this virtue we would sink in despair.

The feast of St. Joseph is celebrated on the nineteenth of March, and for this reason the month of March is dedicated to honor, venerate, and pray to this great friend of God. The Church has in various ways encouraged this devotion. Her devout children have taken it up, so that we find the month of March as much dedicated to St. Joseph as the month of May to the Blessed Virgin. Catholics hold St. Joseph in high veneration, [pg 100] and deservedly so, as we will see in the following meditations on his life. They have great confidence in his power before God, they know that he is a great saint, and a great favorite with the Almighty. Many examples of virtue has this loved saint given to us: his love of poverty, his assiduous labors, his resignation to the will of God in the most trying circumstances, are practical virtues, which we may endeavor to acquire for our own spiritual as well as temporal welfare. The affairs of human life are such, that we often find ourselves having to sustain hard trials, in which we need precisely those same virtues which made him a great saint.

Let us then enter upon this month with great joy, and continue to honor this saint, that we may love him, and become particularly devoted to him. Let us pray especially for our eternal salvation, in which he is greatly interested being the patron of a happy death, and then we will be sharers, after this life, in the same glory which he enjoys in heaven.