Devotion to St. Joseph and Trusting in God

 

Why should people consider being more devoted to St. Joseph in the first place? My initial reasoning for the faithful fostering a deeper devotion to St. Joseph stems from the fact that he was chosen by God to care for both the Virgin Mary and the Divine Child Jesus, and he succeeded.

The scope of St. Joseph’s mission from Our Lord is somewhat mind-boggling if one were to think about everything that transpired. Jesus chose Mary as His mother and chose St. Joseph to be his foster father. St. Joseph protected both Our Lord and Our Lady from the dangers that were around them. Take the flight into Egypt for example, King Herod set out to eliminate any male infants that posed a threat to his kingdom. Being told to take Mary as his wife and fly into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) in order to keep Jesus safe and doing exactly that without second guessing. His docility to the grace of God was almost unparalleled.

St. Joseph in his own right shows that he is a man of deep prayer and St. Joseph would have been an example to Jesus on what true masculinity is. If St. Joseph was good enough for Jesus then he is good enough for the faithful. He can aid us on the path to purity and he will lead us on toward both Jesus and Our Lady. Leaving your country of origin and moving into a culture that is vastly different from your own is no easy task (Matthew 1:21) Despite the perceived difficulty God’s will was done and the life of Jesus was spared from the wrath of King Herod.

There was certainly a high risk involved with trusting in the angle that appeared to him in a dream, his trust in God was at such a high level that he was able to take the information he received from the angle and then take the next best course of action. St. Joseph’s level of holiness was truly on another level. Most of us do not come across messages from God being dictated to us in a dream. The dreams of a vast number of people are not to be trusted. I’ve personally found that my own dreams come to be no more than a confusing mess, but this is not so with St. Joseph.

St. Joseph being the foster father of Jesus holds a special place within His Sacred Heart and I would certainly say that St. Joseph should hold a special place within the hearts of Catholics in general. St. Joseph Terror of Demons happens to be one of the patrons of the Knights of the Holy Eucharist, and he can easily become a patron saint of other Catholics as well and this certainly holds true for husbands and fathers as well as men in general. All we have to do is reach out. St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!

The article was written by: Br. Athanasius Mary of the Knights of the Holy Eucharist