Total Consecration to St Joseph and the Holy Family?

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Melchior said:
My friend was understating things when he said Joseph was “pretty cool”.

I left out the part of the conversation where we talked about he was the Patron Saint of the Dying, Carpenters, Young Men, and the Patron Saint of Canada. And that he truly is a role model for all men to aspire to be. He was born with original sin, yet was charged with raising the child Jesus from infant to at least his teenaged years if I’m not mistaken. He taught Christ the family trade, which Jesus likely took over after Joseph’s death. Being a carpenter was hard work back then (still is now), and I would argue that it was necessary for him to do that, as it built up his physical strength to go through what he did on Calvary. Joseph taught him that.

That’s why he’s “pretty cool”.

Him being the Patron Saint of Canada is interesting, because it falls during Lent so us Canadians get it as a Solemnity (my parish’s feast day is also during Lent, so I get TWO Solemnities during Lent!).

My hometown’s parish is Holy Family, and my Confirmation name is Joseph. Overall; I like the guy a lot.

I agree with you jmj, not enough attention is put on St. Joseph.
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Thanks for that.

Almost tempted to start a thread on St Joseph lol
 
TimothyH said:
Good. What a good patron to pray to! If every father in the world were like Joseph, what a world we would be. 😉

-Tim-
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Indeed and everyone can learn something from jospeh, whether it be courage, fidelity, chastity, obedience, patience etc…

St Joseph really has been downplayed throughout history, not deliberately, but perhaps obscured by the BVM, but it really is time for the people of God to rekindle a greater devotion to St Joseph.

For example I didn’t know until recently that they are some theologians who believe that St Joseph was also assumed into heaven, its high time we had more ‘Josephian’ (if you can call it that) dogmas. Paying honour only increases the honour we pay to Mary and she shouldn’t be seen as obscuring St Joseph.
 
jmj1984 said:
For example I didn’t know until recently that they are some theologians who believe that St Joseph was also assumed into heaven, its high time we had more ‘Josephian’ (if you can call it that) dogmas. Paying honour only increases the honour we pay to Mary and she shouldn’t be seen as obscuring St Joseph.
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I heard that once in a sermon and was shocked!
 
I Googled St. Joseph and Marian spirituality, and I was referred back to CAF:

The Importance of St. Joseph in Marian Spirituality

That is a VERY nice painting!

And also, I found this book: True Devotion to St. Joseph and the Church: The Doctrinal Basis and Practice of Total Consecration Through St. Joseph and the Church

Finally, I found this thesis which explores Marian spirituality in the Montfortian (is that a word? :confused:) tradition and St. Joseph’s role in it: To Jesus, Through Mary, In the Spirit of St. Joseph

And oh yes, I have made a Total Consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary using St. Louis de Montfort’s tradition four years ago, which with time grew to include St. Joseph. I guess devotion to St Joseph kinda grows naturally to those living the Total Consecration 😛
 
TimothyH said:
We owe Joseph our love above that which we owe to the Holy Father. We owe our love to Jesus, then Mary, then Joseph, then the Holy Father.

Joseph is above all the patriarch’s, above Abraham and above King David, because Jospeh was chosen by God to have authority over God. While God was an infant and a child, Joseph had authority over him and was placed in a position of responsibility for him, to protect him and raise him and teach him. Joseph had more authority than King David because Joseph had authority over Jesus Christ - God. Joseph had more wisdom than Solomon because he used his wisdom, given to him by God, to raise Jesus Christ - God - as a faithful Jew and obedient Son to his Mother.

God tells Joseph to go to Egypt. Joseph doesn’t say, “But Jesus is the Son of God. Why do I have to go?” He goes. He obeys, trusting, not knowing what God has in store for him, but trusting.

I can get “Joseph is a pretty cool guy” at any Evangelical Church. Joseph is the forgotten saint, the protector of God, that’s what he is. Strong, responsible, chaste, obedient - more men should have devotion to St. Joseph and try to emulate him, and make novena’s to him, and then we might be able to fight some of the garbage with which society is attacking men today.

josemariaescriva.info/article/have-a-great-devotion-to-st-joseph

-Tim-
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AMEN!!!:highprayer:
 
eddadonkey said:
I Googled St. Joseph and Marian spirituality, and I was referred back to CAF:

The Importance of St. Joseph in Marian Spirituality

That is a VERY nice painting!

And also, I found this book: True Devotion to St. Joseph and the Church: The Doctrinal Basis and Practice of Total Consecration Through St. Joseph and the Church

Finally, I found this thesis which explores Marian spirituality in the Montfortian (is that a word? :confused:) tradition and St. Joseph’s role in it: To Jesus, Through Mary, In the Spirit of St. Joseph

And oh yes, I have made a Total Consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary using St. Louis de Montfort’s tradition four years ago, which with time grew to include St. Joseph. I guess devotion to St Joseph kinda grows naturally to those living the Total Consecration 😛
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Thanks!

That was all very helpful 🙂
 
I’m sorry… but this just sounds wrong. Consecration to Saint Joseph? Brilliant. More people should and in fact all men are called to be Josephs of this age for Our Lady. However… applying the Monfortian Total Consecration to Saint Joseph?

That just wont work.
 
Laudate_Dominum said:
I’m sorry… but this just sounds wrong. Consecration to Saint Joseph? Brilliant. More people should and in fact all men are called to be Josephs of this age for Our Lady. However… applying the Monfortian Total Consecration to Saint Joseph?

That just wont work.
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St Jospeh AND the Holy Family

I said it followed the method, not the entire system and of course one can consecrate ones self to Our Lady as well. Would you care to share why you think its wrong or are you just going to say that?
 
jmj1984 said:
St Jospeh AND the Holy Family

I said it followed the method, not the entire system and of course one can consecrate ones self to Our Lady as well. Would you care to share why you think its wrong or are you just going to say that?
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If it’s simply following the method (12 days preparation to cast off the world), etc., then there’s no problem. However it implies that the end of this total consecration is the same as that proposed by Saint Louis regarding total consecration to Jesus through Mary.
DeMontfort’s Total Consecration is different. This consecration has the characters of a vow: because it is a most solemn and eternal dedication. It is more than an ordinary promise - which is not binding under penalty of sin; but it is less demanding that the solemn vows, which one would make to become a professed religious. Still, the effect of this consecration, properly made, is irrevocable. Once a person understands the nature of this consecration, he understands that he is entirely abrogating any of his natural spiritual rights to dictate where the merits of his good actions might be applied. A person who makes this consecration, may fast and pray for any intention he would like; but he has absolutely no assurance that merits of his fasts and prayers will be applied for that intention. In fact, he can almost be certain that Our Lady may often see a greater spiritual need elsewhere; she may freely use these merits for anything that she desires. He can not, in fact, even offer up prayers and fasts for himself. He entirely abrogates possession of himself; he completely gives away ownership of his own body and his soul, all of his material possessions, and even the right to to dispose of the values of any of his good actions.
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Saint Joseph simply couldn’t do the above. Only Our Lady by virtue of being Mediatrix of All Graces can.
 
Laudate_Dominum said:
If it’s simply following the method (12 days preparation to cast off the world), etc., then there’s no problem. However it implies that the end of this total consecration is the same as that proposed by Saint Louis regarding total consecration to Jesus through Mary.

Saint Joseph simply couldn’t do the above. Only Our Lady by virtue of being Mediatrix of All Graces can.
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You are of course forgetting the ‘And the Holy Family’ part, it is more a consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary AND St Joseph, than just to St Joseph. The consecration is as follows '*O Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, I adore Thee profoundly in the Bosom and splendors of thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal Bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, and in the arms of St Joseph, Thy Virginal Father.
Code: 
   I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated thyself, taking the form of a slave in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary and Joseph in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through them. But alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not dare come by myself before Thy most holy and august majesty. It is on this account that I have first recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy mother whom Thou hast given me for a Mediatrix with Thee.

   Oh most tender and sweet Mother; I love thee with my whole soul and my whole strength. I leave in thy pure hands all that I possess and shall possess, my heart, my soul, my merits, my acts, thoughts and desires; even my defects and my sins. All is thine and always will be thine, my most dear Mother. Do thou love Jesus on my behalf, intercede for me. But alas! Oh dear Mother my heart is filled with sorrow because I have promised many times to belong to thee at every moment and yet I have been far from being faithful; my sins and my defects prevent me from fulfilling my consecration to Jesus through thee at every moment as I wish; and I see with great grief that the pitiful obstacle of my self-love has prevented that my treasure, which thou art, might bear fruits of holiness in me and for my brethren; as well as this my selfishness has caused God not to receive all the glory he should have received from me.

   Moreover, most dear Mother, there is something that fills me with great sorrow: the fact of not being able to love thee as thou deserve.

   For all these reasons, dear Mother, I beseech thee to direct my heart and my mind to consecrate myself this day to thy most chaste spouse St. Joseph; thou belong to me, but thou also belong to him, and in his hands I want to place thee, most dear Mother, so that I might love thee through him; console thee through him; repair the offences against thy Immaculate Heart through him; so that once I am living in his arms he may offer on my behalf all that I have given to thee, and all that I have not been able to give thee. The result being that the union of thy Immaculate Heart with the most Sacred Heart inside my soul might find its true Protector, and its best Companion, the Upholder given to thee and to Jesus by God the Father Himself; that Thou might again show that tremendous love for Jesus by loving Thy most chaste spouse St. Joseph, in thy little wretched and weak slave of love.

   Oh my dear Father St. Joseph! To thee do I turn, this most glorious day, asking thee to take this thy child, a poor sinner, under the protection of thy most chaste heart, receive this day from my heart the greatest treasure I have ever received in my life; the Immaculate Heart of thy beloved spouse the Blessed Virgin Mary; God gave her to thee and imitating Him I do likewise. Take her. Love Her on my behalf.

   Thy sacred bond of marriage with Mary from its essence imparts a community of gifts between both of you. I have been consecrated to Mary, and all that is mine is hers, but yours also. Together with her I give myself completely to thee, I belong to thee, for that reason, in the presence of all the heavenly court, I, n..... humbly request from that paternal charity that thou hast for Jesus and for this thy child, to accept this my immense desire.

     I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of myself and of all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greatest glory of God and the greatest joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in time and in eternity.

     Receive, Oh Virgin Father, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of and in union with that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to Mary and to thee, in homage to the power which this thy Holy Family has over this poor sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee and thy Immaculate Spouse. I declare that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.

    Oh Faithful Mary and Joseph, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of thy Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by Thy intercession, example and protection in the bosom of thy most Holy Family, to the fullness of the age of our elder Brother Jesus Christ, on earth and of His glory in Heaven. Amen.*'
As its via the Blessed Virgin Mary I can see no conflict between total consecration to our lady and to St Joseph and the Holy Family.
 
Good for you! My family did the same a few years back. It’s beautiful.

I love St. Joseph. He’s one of the saints who, in my opinion, is given so little credit. He is one of the highest saints in all of heaven. I’m sure he had very little sin, as he was a just man. He’s my very favorite saint.
 
Just to say to those of you who wondered that this consecration has been very spiritually rewarding, St Mary and St Joseph have seen fit to deliver me from some very deeply rooted sinful habits and generally increase my faith, hope and charity. I am and will (with Gods grace and their most powerful intercession) be eternally thankful to them and sing their praises both now in this world and forever in the next!
I encourage anyone to make this consecration and may we all one day being lead by them to Christ’s Most Sacred Heart adore and sing his praises forever!
 
jmj1984 said:
Just to say to those of you who wondered that this consecration has been very spiritually rewarding, St Mary and St Joseph have seen fit to deliver me from some very deeply rooted sinful habits and generally increase my faith, hope and charity. I am and will (with Gods grace and their most powerful intercession) be eternally thankful to them and sing their praises both now in this world and forever in the next!
I encourage anyone to make this consecration and may we all one day being lead by them to Christ’s Most Sacred Heart adore and sing his praises forever!
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JMJ, I just want to mention that I’ve noticed the fruits of your consecration. I’m happy for you brother. 🙂
 
Each year, for the past forty or so years, a certain parish hosts a special “Family Mass”.
dedicated to the Holy Family in our archdiocese. People travel from far distances to attend with their families. Included after Mass is a Holy Hour with various prayers and hymns. The priest gives each family a Blessing at the altar rail.
We then make this Consecration to the Holy Family:

Dear JESUS, we consecrate ourselves to You, our trials and joys, that our home, like Yours may ever be the shrine of peace, purity,love and faith. Protect and bless all of us, both present and absent, and be merciful to those departed.

HOLY MARY, LOVING Mother OF JESUS AND Our MOTHER, pray to JESUS for our family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the new born, the schools of the young and their vocations.

St. JOSEPH, HOLY GUARDIAN OF JESUS AND MARY, assist us by your prayers in all our necessities. Watch over our home, at the pillow of the sick and dying, so that we may all be united to JESUS with MARY and YOU for all eternity Amen
 
thomas_jd said:
Each year, for the past forty or so years, a certain parish hosts a special “Family Mass”.
dedicated to the Holy Family in our archdiocese. People travel from far distances to attend with their families. Included after Mass is a Holy Hour with various prayers and hymns. The priest gives each family a Blessing at the altar rail.
We then make this Consecration to the Holy Family:

Dear JESUS, we consecrate ourselves to You, our trials and joys, that our home, like Yours may ever be the shrine of peace, purity,love and faith. Protect and bless all of us, both present and absent, and be merciful to those departed.

HOLY MARY, LOVING Mother OF JESUS AND Our MOTHER, pray to JESUS for our family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the new born, the schools of the young and their vocations.

St. JOSEPH, HOLY GUARDIAN OF JESUS AND MARY, assist us by your prayers in all our necessities. Watch over our home, at the pillow of the sick and dying, so that we may all be united to JESUS with MARY and YOU for all eternity Amen
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😃

That’s great

I would still urge everyone to do a total consecration to St Joseph and the Holy family though, but a public event honoring the Holy Family like that is great!
 
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