St. Joseph

Read more about the article Meditations for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Meditations for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

A Chaplet of Reparation

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a meditative prayer to God Our Father. Contemplating the suffering of Jesus with compassion is a way to enter into His suffering and offer reparation for our sins and the sins of the whole world. These meditations can be used at each decade.

I.  Before the Last Supper, Jesus said His goodbye to His Mother.  They both knew it was their final embrace before His death.  How much Jesus suffered knowing He could do nothing to lessen Her sorrow.

II. At the Last Supper, Jesus gave His own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity to His Apostles.  In spite of the love he received and in spite of the warnings of his fate, Judas still chose to betray Jesus.  How much Jesus suffered from the coldness of Judas’s heart.

III. Jesus, the King of the Universe, is brought before Pontius Pilate who treats Him as a curiosity, an amusement.  Without compassion Pontius Pilate orders the scourging of a man he knows is innocent.  How much Jesus suffered for the indifference of Pontius Pilate.

IV. Simon of Cyrene stood before Jesus, saw His blood-stained cloak, the sweat and blood pouring down the face of Jesus, His cheeks covered by the spittle of the crowd — and felt no pity.  He had to be forced to help carry the cross.  How much Jesus suffered from the contempt of those for whom He was dying.

V. The Romans nailed His wrists at the point where so many nerves come together that even morphine cannot kill the pain.  He suffered the humiliation of the world gloating over His naked, tortured body as He convulsed in agony.

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A Chaplet of Reparation – Praying with the Saints

I. Saint Joseph suffered the loss of the child Jesus for three days.  In sorrow he searched for Him without consolation and offered up his suffering to join it with the suffering of abandonment Jesus would feel in the garden of Gethsemane when all of His disciples ran away.  We too offer up the times we felt abandoned by family and friends in reparation for the times we too abandoned or neglected God.  We ask Saint Joseph to intercede for us so that Our Lord will give us the grace of constancy and perseverance in times of trial.

II. Saint Maria Goretti was devoted to chastity and resisted her rapist because she did not want him to commit a sin.  She suffered 14 stab wounds and joined her suffering to Jesus’s suffering in the scourging.  We too offer up the times when others have offended our chastity whether in word or deed in reparation for the times we were unchaste in our thoughts, in our words, or in our deeds.  We ask Saint Maria Goretti to intercede for us so Our Lord will give us the grace of purity of heart.

III. Saint Venantius suffered torture and attempted execution five times by the Roman authorities, but his Guardian Angel intervened.  During one of his tortures, his teeth were smashed and his jaw was broken.  He offered up his suffering to join it to the buffets, slaps, and punches Jesus suffered at the hands of the Pharisees and the Roman soldiers.  We too offer up the times we have been unjustly treated in reparation for the times we have been unjust to others. We ask Saint Venantius to intercede for us so Our Lord will give us the grace of humility and fortitude.

IV. Saint Agnes refused to give up her virginity and was dragged naked through the streets of Rome.  She offered up her suffering to join it to Jesus’s suffering as He stumbled, fell, and was pushed and dragged on the road to Calvary. We too have suffered persecution in trying to follow Christ and we offer up our suffering in reparation for all the times we took the easy way out and all the compromises we have made when we should have stayed firm.  We ask Saint Agnes to intercede for us that Our Lord will give us the wisdom to understand the path that is pleasing to Him and the courage to make correct choices.

V. Saint Peter suffered crucifixion upside down.  He offered it up to join it to Jesus’s suffering on the cross and in reparation for his own betrayal.  We too offer up all of our sufferings in reparation for the times we neglected the most vulnerable – the unborn, the poor, the elderly — because we failed to see Christ in them.  We ask Saint Peter to obtain for us the grace to forgive ourselves for all the sins we have confessed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Continue ReadingMeditations for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
Read more about the article Blessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer

Blessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer

Today is one of my favorite Sundays in the Liturgical Year – Gaudete Sunday.  The priest wears the beautiful pink vestments and we light the pink Advent candle.  This is the day we focus on rejoicing that Jesus’s coming is near.  The music is always beautiful, but today so was the silence.

Growing up, there was always a separation between the Offertory Song in which people brought up the gifts of bread and wine and the collection money (for the support of the parish), and the prayers we spoke during the Preparation of the Gifts.  In recent years, the Offertory Song continues until the priest has completed all the Preparatory prayers in silence without our participation.  Blurring things together has caused us to miss so much of what is happening and has deprived us of the moments of silence we need to truly reflect.  Today though, the music stopped and then the priest was heard saying, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.”  When we responded, “Blessed Be God Forever,” I was filled with the joy that this Sunday brings and I finally understood joy on a deeper level.

So many in our world seek happiness.  It is not wrong to be happy with our accomplishments, but when we only seek happiness in a secular way, it quickly becomes a pursuit of acquiring things and advancing our own goals and status.  Without God at the center, we only seek temporal happiness and forget to seek joy.  Joy is the state of rejoicing in the love of God.  When we stop to praise Him in spite of the vicissitudes of life, He reveals to our souls even greater depths of the love He has for us.  Thus we can experience joy even when we are not experiencing human happiness.

King David spent much time in silent contemplation and composed many Psalms praising God. He understood the connection between giving praise to God and receiving the gift of joy in return.  The Blessed Virgin Mary offered her beautiful canticle of praise, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices” (Lk 1:46) when she visited Elizabeth.  After months of silence Zachariah’s first words were “Blessed be The Lord.” (Lk 1:68)

This Advent we still have the opportunity for moments of silence, moments of prayer, and moments of praise.  We have time to make room in our hearts and invite Him in.  Thirty years ago I composed an Advent Prayer that I would like to share with you now.  May we all have a Blessed Christmas.

A Prayer to The Holy Family

Most Holy St. Joseph, my protector and guide, watch over me with the love and faithfulness you showed toward Jesus and Mary.  May I follow your example in humility and total submission to God’s will.  Teach me more and more each day to be obedient to the Will of God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God and my mother too, watch over me with your gentle care and teach me to walk in the way of holiness through charity, chastity (according to my state), obedience, and love for God’s Will.  Teach me to praise Him through all situations and to see His loving hands molding me as I endure difficulties.  Teach me to love as you love and trust as you trust.

My Beloved Jesus, who  humbled yourself to walk among us, may my contemplation of your great sacrifice cause me to love you more.  May your goodness and mercy teach me to forgive others.  Grant that I may always be as faithful to you as your Virgin Parents were.  And when I willfully lose my way through sin, hesitate not to run to me and bring me back to your fold.  My Shepherd of Goodness and Mercy, look not upon my sins, but upon my weakness and wretchedness.  Have compassion on me O God and teach me to be obedient to your patient instruction.

Holy Family, I desire to live as you lived at Nazareth – simply, humbly, and ever mindful of what is pleasing to God.  Teach me to serve God as you served Him and worry not about the problems of the day, but put my cares in our Loving Father’s hands so that I never lose my focus on Him and never cease praising Him.  Holy Family, intercede for me and bring me the graces I need to so that this prayer will come to pass.  Amen.

Continue ReadingBlessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer
Read more about the article Finding Jesus

Finding Jesus

Many parents have experienced the momentary loss of a child in a public place.  The utter terror turns to complete relief when the child is found.  I can only imagine the anxiety that Mary and Joseph felt when they lost Jesus, not for a few minutes, but for three days.

This experience was a foreshadowing of Jesus’s death and three day entombment before His resurrection.  For St. Joseph it was a deeply mystical experience.  From the time they brought Him to the temple when He was eight days old, Joseph and Mary knew very clearly what the scriptures had foretold of the suffering Jesus would endure to redeem the world.  Both St. Joseph and Blessed Mother carried this sorrow in their hearts.  For St. Joseph, though, he was profoundly grieved that he would not be there to comfort his beloved spouse or his Jesus when the time came.  During this time of sorrow and searching, St. Joseph suffered what Mary would experience at the foot of the cross and the tomb.   He not only offered up his suffering to God, but also comforted Mary in Her sorrow during their search.

When they find Him, He says to His Mother, “How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49) Although Mary did not anticipate this answer, She kept it in Her heart.  Through prayer and meditation over time She came to understand the purpose of Her suffering in this way.  Our Blessed Mother understands what it is like to suffer the loss of Jesus and has compassion for sinners who have lost their way.  Sometimes people move so far from the path of light that they grope in the darkness and end up searching in all the wrong places.  So many of Her confused children turn to worldly things to fill that aching void that only God can fill.  Some pursue power, money, prestige, sex, or drugs all in the attempt to fill that void.  Our Mother of Mercy continually prays for these children, always loving them and never giving up on them.  She never judges, only invites everyone to come to Her Son.  Just as She joyously embraced Our Lord when She found Him in the temple, She joyously embraces us when we choose to follow Jesus.  When we pray the Rosary and meditate on the life of Christ, it is Her hand that we hold.  She offers us Her hand today to guide us through these troubling times.  Don’t let go.  She knows the path to Jesus and will lead us to Him.

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Read more about the article Blessed Are The Meek

Blessed Are The Meek

…for they shall inherit the earth.  How many times have we read this passage and thought, “Well I am not going to be a doormat.  Meekness is definitely not in my future.”  We forget that words change over time and the modern definition, “overly submissive or compliant,” is vastly different than the original meaning when it was translated from Latin into English: “gentle, kind; humbly patient” (dictionary.com).  We have beautiful examples of true meekness in both the Old and New Testaments: Moses and St. Joseph.

When we first meet Moses in the book of Exodus, he is living as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He comes across an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and kills him.  While he is defending the weak, he certainly did not choose the meekest response —  but we are only at the beginning.  When Pharaoh finds out, Moses flees to Midian and stays there, marrying Zipporah and tending her father’s flocks.  The many years of quiet solitude with the Lord allow Moses to nurture his prayer life and transform his soul into the best version of himself.  When God speaks to him from the burning bush, he is ready – after a little convincing.

Moses shows great courage and trust in God when he faces Pharaoh repeatedly and then leads the Israelites across the Red Sea.  Through all the trials in the desert and the complaints of the wanderers, he is patient.  When his father-in-law, Jethro, meets him in the desert (Ex 18), Moses is gracious and humbly listens to and follows his advice.

Time and again Moses demonstrates his compassion for his people.  When the Israelites make a golden calf (Ex 32:7), God tells Moses that He will destroy them and make a new nation from Moses.  Moses asks for mercy and God grants it.  Numbers 12:3 tells us: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth,” yet, this does not stop his sister Miriam from putting him down and speaking against him.  God afflicts her with leprosy for her arrogance and Moses, instead of gloating, chooses forgiveness and asks God to restore her.  When they reach the Promised Land, the Israelites refuse to enter it because the current inhabitants look intimidating.  They complain against Moses – I guess Miriam’s lesson was lost on them – and God tells Moses He will destroy them and make a new nation from Moses.  Again, Moses asks for mercy and God grants it.  Moses could take the easy way out, but chooses to rise above hurt feelings and anger.

St. Joseph also could have given in to his hurt feelings when he finds out Mary is pregnant.  He could have had her stoned, yet he chooses to say nothing and divorce her quietly.  Had he gone through with the divorce without stating a reason, the community would have turned against him; his reputation as an unjust man would have made his life extremely difficult, yet he chooses to be merciful to Mary.  These are the actions of a man with exceptional courage and gentleness.

Time and again Joseph is visited in dreams by angels: take Mary as your wife, flee to Egypt, return to Judea.  In each decision to obey there is suffering, yet the gentle Joseph remains steadfast.  Traipsing through Bethlehem exhausted, famished, and parched, he perseveres until he finds shelter for Mary and Jesus.  In the middle of the night he immediately takes his family to Egypt, displaying absolute trust and a willingness to endure any suffering to keep Jesus safe.  This willingness to be self-sacrificing is the heroic virtue that saved the life of the Christ child.

St. Joseph has no recorded words in scripture but his actions speak volumes. He is a model of courage, strength, faithfulness, perseverance, mercy, and trust, but it is his gentleness that draws the Christ child to desire to be held in his arms.  It is next to his gentle heart that Jesus sleeps in peace.

During the Year of St. Joseph, we can receive a plenary indulgence for our ourselves or someone who has died.  See the Vatican website for more information.

Continue ReadingBlessed Are The Meek

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