"The boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem and his parents did not know it"  (Luke 2:43).  How great was the pain of St. Joseph when Jesus was lost in the temple!  Joseph was accustomed to the enjoyment of the sweet presence of his beloved Savior.  What then must have been his sorrow when he was deprived of it for three days.  Without knowing whether he should evermore find Jesus, and most painful of all, without knowing why he had lost Him.  How great, on the other hand, ws Joseph's joy when he…

How much St. Joseph must have suffered on the journey into Egypt in seeing the sufferings of Jesus and Mary!  Their food must have been a piece of hard bread.  They could have slept only in some poor hut, or in the open air.  Joseph was indeed conformed in all things to the will of the Eternal Father, but his tender and loving heart could not but feel pain in seeing the Son of God trembling and weeping from cold and the other hardships which He experienced.

St. Joseph, obtain…

"An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, 'Arise, and take the child and His mother and flee into Egypt.' "  (Luke 2:13).  Consider the ready obedience of St. Joseph, who raised no doubts about the time of the journey, nor about the manner of traveling, nor about the place in Egypt in which they were to stay, but immediately prepared to set out.  He instantly makes known to Mary the command of the angel and on the same night sets out without guide on a journey of 400 miles…

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will"  (Luke 2:14).  Consider how great was the love and tenderness of St. Joseph when he beheld with his own eyes the Son of God become an infant, when he heard the angels singing around their newborn Lord, and saw the stable filled with light.  Kneeling down and weeping with love and compassion, Joseph said, "I adore Thee, yes, I adore Thee, my Lord and my God.  How great is my happiness to be the first, after Mary, to see…

"And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger"  (Luke 2:7).  How great must have been the joy of St. Joseph when he heard Mary calling him and saying, "Joseph, come and adore our infant God, Who is just born in this cave.  Behold how beautiful He is.  Look at the King of the world in this manger, on this straw.  See how He, Who makes the seraphs burn with love, trembles with cold.  Behold how He Who is the joy of paradise, weeps!" …

I just started reading this a few days ago, and several things in it struck me.  One example is faith.  Faith is compared to a naked person, because "everyone blushes" to discuss matters of faith.  It sounds like the situation today; people shy away from discussing such things for fear of "offending" someone.  Yet it was written in the fourteenth century.  If God considered matters so bad then, how much worse must they seem to Him now!

"And it came to pass while they were there, that the days for her to be delivered were fulfilled.  And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn"  (Luke 2:6-7).  How great must have been the sorrow of St. Joseph when he could find no shelter for Mary on the night of the birth of the Divine Word, and was obliged to bring her to a stable!  How his heart must have been pierced with anguish to…

"And Joseph also went from Galilee out of the town of Nazareth into Judea to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem"  (Luke 2:4).  In response to the decree of Caesar Augustus, St. Joseph made the long journey across the hills from Galilee to Bethlehem with Mary, who bore beneath her heart the Incarnate Son of God.  What sweet conversations must Mary and Joseph have held on this journey on the mercy of God in sending his Son into the world to redeem the human race, and on the love of…

Dear Fellow Crusaders,

Thank you all for your prayers over the last two months following Ron's, my husband, sudden cardiac arrest.  He is home and slowly recovering.

I have asked Father James Haynos to offer Holy Mass for the Crusaders, and, providentially, that Mass will be offered Dec. 24, Christmas Eve! Thank you, Mother!

Some remarkable occurrences surrounding this event are…

When Jesus lived in this world in the house of St. Joseph, could a sinner who desired to obtain forgiveness from Our Lord have found a more efficacious means of obtaining pardon than through St. Joseph?  If then we desire to receive the forgiveness of our sins, let us have recourse to St. Joseph, who, now that he is in heaven, is more loved by Jesus Christ than he was loved by Him on earth.

St. Joseph, obtain from Jesus the pardon of my sins.

Let us ask St. Joseph for the grace to love Our Lord Jesus Christ .  This is the particular grace which St. Joseph obtains for those who are devout to him -- a tender love for the Incarnate Word.  The saint merited the power to bestow this grace upon his servants by the great love which he himself bore toward Jesus while he lived on earth.

St. Joseph, make me love Jesus with all my heart.

St. Teresa also writes:  "I would wish to persuade all the world to be devoted to St. Joseph, because I have long experience of the great favors which he obtains from God.  I have never known any soul especially devoted to him that did not always advance in virtue.  I ask, for God's sake, that they who do not believe me will at least make a trial of this devotion.  I cannot believe that favors are not granted to St. Joseph in return for the help which he gave on earth to Jesus and…

St. Teresa says:  "I do not remember to have asked any favor from St. Joseph which he did not grant. An account of the many graces which God has bestowed on me, and of the dangers, corporal and spiritual, from which He has delivered me through this saint would excite wonder.  The Lord appears to have given power to the other saints to assist us in a single necessity; but experience shows that St. Joseph gives aid in all.  The Lord gives us to understand that, as He was to be subject to St.…

St. Bernard, speaking of St. Joseph's power of dispensing graces to his devout clients, makes use of the following remarkable words:  "To some of the saints power is granted to succor us in particular necessities.  But to St. Joseph power is granted to succor in all necessities, and to defend all those who, with devotion, have recourse to him."  Let us then often say to him:

St. Joseph, help us when we are in need.

Most Holy Patriarch, now that thou are on a lofty throne in heaven near thy Beloved Jesus, Who was subject to thee on earth, have pity on me, who am exposed to the attacks of so many  enemies, to the evil spirits, and the passions that continually strive to rob me of the grace of God.  Through the grace given to thee on earth of enjoying the continual society of Jesus and Mary, obtain for me the grace of living during the remaining days of my life united to God, by resisting the attacks of…

O great St. Joseph, since God has served thee, I also wish to enroll myself in thy service.  I wish henceforth to serve thee, to honor and love thee.  Take me under thy protection and dispose of me as thou pleases.  My holy St. Joseph, pray to Jesus for me.  Having obeyed all thy commands on earth, He will certainly never refuse anything thou ask of Him.  Tell Him to pardon me the offenses that I have committed against Him.  Tell Him to detach me from creatures and from myself.  Ask Him to…

To prove the power which St. Joseph possesses in paradise, St. Bernardine of Siena writes thus:  "We cannot doubt that Christ accords to St. Joseph, now that he is in heaven, even more perfectly the respect and reverence which He paid to him on earth.  Our Lord, Who on earth revered St. Joseph as His father, will certainly deny him nothing that he asks in heaven."  Let us then say to him with confidence:

St. Joseph, powerful protector of souls, keep us from all sin.