St. Joe's Consecration Day 43: Preparing Your Heart and Mind

 We recognized our attachments to broken ways of understanding love. At the root of sin is doubt in the goodness of God's plan for our lives, and we need teachers who show us the way.

We enter into union with Jesus in Baptism and through Him adoption by the Father. Because we enter through our humanity, we therefore also become an adopted child of Joseph and Mary.  This process of transformation or healing conversion helps us leave behind our doubt and our attachment to our limited understanding of what is truly good for us. 

In this new identity in Jesus, we have Joseph as a father and Mary as a mother.  Mary nurtures us in her motherhood and Joseph leads and protects us in his fatherhood. This is our one and true identity. 

Then one should receive Communion in this state of grace, and receive Jesus in his body, blood, soul, and divinity with spirit and mind reflecting on how Joseph received Jesus in that moment in his appearance in our world at the Nativity. From this moment forward, you will be led by St. Joseph in a new way. Entrust yourself to him. Place yourself in his presence often and ask him to take care of you--whatever your needs are--as a child would ask of a father. 

From Consecration to St. Joseph (pp. 163 - 165)

Bottaro and Settle

"Joseph and Jesus"
by Kathy Lawrence

What do you hope for as a fruit of this consecration?

• Growth in purity of heart and humility and all the other virtues that Saint Joseph so perfectly modeled in his everyday family life. 
• Strengthening and sanctification of all my Christian friendships. 

What intention do you have to place trustingly in the hands of your father, Saint Joseph? 

The healing conversion of my family.  

St. Joe's Consecration Day 42 - Holy Family as Model of the Church

 We hold up the Holy Family not as icons of awe alone, but as models to live our lives by. Not only do they exemplify the life of perfection that we're all called to live, but they also facilitate it, opening up the channels of grace through the Incarnation and Resurrection that make it possible to join to their blessed happiness. 

"The bond of charity was the core of the Holy Family's life, first in the poverty of Bethlehem, then in their exile in Egypt, and later in the house of Nazareth." (Redemptoris Custos).  

The path Jesus opened up for us to go to Divine Union is the path through normal, everyday, human life: 

"Salvation is realized in actions which are an everyday part of family life. . . 

What is crucially important here is the sanctification of daily life, a sanctification that each person must acquire according to his or her own state and one which can be promoted according to a model accessible to all people: St. Joseph is the model of those humble one whom Christianity raises up to great destinies . . . He is proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things--it is enough to have the common, simple and human virtues. But they need to be true and authentic."

 -St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos

It takes a deeper authenticity to accept the true path to holiness. It is not one of great and lofty and widely visible things. The Holy Family exemplifies for us a life of poverty, simplicity, and complete anonymity. This is almost too much to bear. It was too much for the religious leaders--and many of the religious faithful--of Jesus' time to bear. 

We must travail the arduous path of dying to self, letting go of our attachments to our false idols of superficial holiness that only end up serving our own pride. 

We must be willing to do the difficult work of growing in charity in "everyday family life." It's easy to feed the poor at a soup kitchen. It's much more difficult to feed your spouse and children with words of kindness instead of impatience. 

From Consecration to St. Joseph (pp. 158 - 160)

Bottaro and Settle

Pope Francis inside the Sanctuary of the Holy House
CNS Photo; Vatican Media

Can I accept what the Holy Family models for me?

Yes.

What deeper areas of growth am I really in need of?

I need the security in my identity as beloved son of The Father to freely ask for and receive help from other people. I need to accept that I am loved by God and by the Holy Family. That my worth is not tied to any external measures of performance or success. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 41 - The Holy Family as Instrument of Salvation

 Salvation is realized in actions that are the everyday part of family life. 

Why should the fatherly love of Joseph not have had an influence on the filial love of Jesus? And vice versa why should the filial love of Jesus not have had an influence on the fatherly love of Joseph, thus leading to a further deepening of their unique relationship? (John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos)

Joseph formed Jesus, and Jesus formed Joseph.

God became man so that man could become God. (St. Athanasius).

What everyday parts of your family life need to be purified so as to become more like acts appropriate for salvation?

• Holding onto and replaying wounds from long ago; exaggerating faults and sleights
• Holding onto guilt and shame that prevent me from living in the moment and being generous, open, and honest with the people God places before me now.

Day 40 - The Holy Family as the Image of the Trinity

 

In the Book of Genesis God says, "Let us make man in our image." Note the "us." God is speaking from His Trinitarian voice even in the first book of Scripture. Out of this image, "Male and female He created them." Genesis brings us immediately into this awareness that somehow the creation of man and woman together can point us to the Holy Trinity.

A child is the fruition of a man's physical gift of life as the initiator and a woman's receptivity, union, and nurturing of this gift within herself. The man is drawn to the woman out of love and he gives himself to her because of love. The child is the fruit of love, the fruit of two persons giving and receiving each other.

The dynamic of self-gift leads our minds and hearts closer to contemplating the reality of the Trinity. God the Father is the initiator of the gift. Jesus the Son receives the gift, and in return, is a gift to His Father. The love that eternally spirates between and from the two of them is the Holy Spirit--the eternal and infinite Fruition of Love between the Father and the Son. 

The love between Joseph and Mary is the perfection of human self-gift and love. The fruit of their love is also at the same time the fruit of the love between Mary and the Holy Spirit, which is the self-gift between human and Divine. And as Jesus consisted of every perfection in both his humanity and his Divinity, his very being pronounces the perfection of the love of his human parents.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus then are the perfect human image of the Holy Trinity. They are also the passageway through which we all enter into communion with the Holy Trinity. 

. . . Joseph, Mary, and Jesus stand at the center of space and time, and history flows outward from their existence.   

How is your love imperfect?

Whenever I chose my own self-centered, grasping desires over the good of another person. When I chose a physical need over a spiritual need and miss an opportunity to make an offering of myself to God. 

Who are you called to make the greatest gift of self to in your particular vocation?

To Jesus in the daily offerings in prayer, solidarity in suffering, and expressions of gracious joy. To my brother whom I live with. 

How can you give more of yourself today than you did yesterday to be faithful to who you are called to love?

Engage my brother in longer conversations. Offer him something as a gift or prepare one for him for Christmas. Invite him to celebrate Advent and make a good Confession. 

Follow through on my commitments to prayer, fellowship, and asceticism. 

 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 39 - Peacemakers

Matthew 5:9 

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God."

From where does the peace of a child come? It comes from the place in their heart where they have complete confidence that they are safe, that they are cared for, and that someone they love will defend them. This is the peace that our hearts long to live in, but what in our life's journey steals that peace? Often it comes from wounded parents who let us down, who didn't keep us safe, who didn't know how to love us the way we were created to be loved. 

" . . . peace does not come from outside, from the world. It comes in communion in faith and love with Jesus, the Prince of Peace. It is a fruit of prayer." 

-Fr, Jacques Philippe

The Eight Doors of the Kingdom

The Holy Family deeply desires to love you in the ways you needed to be loved. They long to have you enter into their family and live as their adopted son. 

(Being persecuted for the sake of righteousness) IS a blessing. Enduring persecution increases our capacity to trust the Father. It increases our capacity to be in union with the suffering and persecuted Christ. 

And can we not say that the Holy Family--as a communion of persons--lived the Beatitudes perfectly?

The Holy Family for Elijah
by Laura Balmaceda

What are the areas of your life that are not at peace?

• The fear that I'm not competent or smart or likable enough at work
• The fear that others may think me lacking or not worth spending time with
• A false belief that I can find peace only after first finding someone to be married to or achieving greater financial security

What are the areas of your heart that are in need of healing and peace?

The damage in my heart of not being loved for my own sake, to be defended by parents who believed in me and were concerned about protecting me from external dangers and other people's misunderstanding of me. I needed to feel and see their pride and joy for me. I needed their love to be expressed in clear and unconditional ways. I needed to be able to trust them, that they weren't lying to me or trying to manipulate me. 

Spend time with Our Lady and St. Joseph sharing those places with them. Open your heart to let them love you there. 

Do you have confidence in your identity as a beloved son of God?

Yes.

How might receiving your identity help you in times of adversity?

It helps me remember that I need not panic, fear, run, or hide. I can always turn to the Holy Family, rely on prayer, and rest in God's love secure in my identity as His son. 

Day 38 St. Joe's Consecration - Merciful

Matthew 5:7-8 

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy; blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

"In Latin 'mercy' is signified by 'misericordia' from 'miseriae' meaning misery and 'cordis' meaning heart. It is the nature of God's mercy that His heart extends into our mercy and redeems it . . . Mercy signifies that God draws our misery into His own infinitely loving heart."

-Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg

Misericordia: The Roots of Mercy

When God draws our misery into His heart, our sin, our mistakes, our wounds are burned up in the fire of His Mercy. Our encounter with the Lord's mercy is what enables us to GIVE mercy and forgiveness to others who have hurt us. It is not in our power to be unaffected by or forget an offense. But the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession (from the CCC 2843). 

The Holy Family literally lived with the Heart of Mercy (Jesus). Jesus learned the gift of mercy in the Holy Family. 

"Purity of heart finds expression in mercy. Mercy purifies hearts as nothing else does."

Fr. Jacques Philippe

The Eight Doors of the Kingdom

To have a pure heart means your whole self is oriented to God: your thoughts, your actions, all of you. And with that purity of heart, you begin to see everything around you as God sees. You begin to see the person in front of you as God sees her and honors the gift of God in each person.   

Holy Family Hearts II
Venxara

Where are the places in your heart in need of the Lord's mercy?

• Abandonment; rejection; neglect
• Sexual integrity; failures to be chaste
• Pride; lack of humility and simplicity

Is my life oriented to God?

Are my thoughts, actions, and desires given over to the Lord for purification?

Always remember to hold the hands of mercy when looking at your sin and weakness.

Day 37 St. Joe's Consecration: Meek

Anger and lingering resentments from our interactions with other people are often of signs of our needs for healing, that we have sensitivity to a particular wound that is open and in need of care. When we experience this, we can ask ourselves what is underneath all the anger.

A person striving for meekness is someone willing to look at their poverty and weaknesses--someone who isn't afraid to enter into those places in the heart with the Lord that are in need of healing. 

The Holy Family had meekness. Though they had a passion for the salvation of souls, from defending humanity from the works of the evil one, passsion for each person who crossed their path . . . no one knew that they were encounting the Son of God and His Immaculate Mother. They were approachable, and down-to-earth, and unassuming. 

When we encounter the hardness of our own hearts . . . the meekness of Jesus can heal us. The desire for healing and the willingness to let the Lord into those places in our hearts is the thirst for justice. It is a thirst for holiness and wholeness. It is a desire for the places we have been wronged by others and we have wronged others to be made right. It is a thirst for union and communion with the Lord.

"We must believe that God wants to wed us in spite of our ugliness and, believing, allow Him to do it." (Fr. Jacques Philippe, The Eight Doors of the Kingdom).

  

Where are the places in your heart that you feel a need for deeper healing?

My fear of abandonment and rejection that manifests itself whenever a relationship ends and I see that my feelings are dismissed and my worth as a human being is not seen and valued. 

With the Holy Family by your side, ask the Father to reveal the places in your heart that He thirsts to heal you. 

Day 36 - Knowledge of the Holy Family: Poor in Spirit

The Holy Family as a family of The Beatitudes.

Self-reliance vs. true detachment from things of this world

Poor in spirit = awareness of one's true identity as a son or daughter of God = humble confidence

= free to give of oneself

= free to receive another's gift

"(The experience of poverty) is meant to awaken a new hunger in our hearts, hunger for God. In (this) poverty . . . no food, no satisfaction, no human security can suffice." (Jacques Philippe from The Eight Doors of the Kingdom)

We can imagine that the Holy Family a deeper sorrow for fallen humanity because they understood the cosmic reverberations of human frailty. . . They opened up their sorrowful hearts in trust that God will bring good out of all things.

Can you see your weakness and poverty as a gift? As something lovable to the Father?

Yes, because it awakens my hunger.

What keeps you from experiencing and living the confidence that you are loved by the Father in your poverty?

Firstborn problems. The false belief that nothing can be given to me; everything must be earned

Is it difficult to trust in the Lord's providence in times of sorrow?

Yes and now. When sorrow hits and I don't pray, ruminating and catastrophizing instead, then it is difficult to trust.

Do you believe that He desires to console you? And that He will?

Yes. Sometimes.

St. Joe's Consecration Day 35 - Divine Mercy

St. Joseph taught Jesus he was good without having to do anything (to prove that goodness). Jesus's being drew Joseph's and Mary's awe, contemplation, and love. 

For centuries, God has continued to unfold the delicate intricacies of His love for us (see A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn), from Adam and Eve to the modern saints who have seen and spoke of His Divine Mercy:

• St. Margaret Mary Alocoque and the Sacred Heart (17th century)
• See Consoling the Heart of Jesus by Fr. Michael Gaitley
• St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (18th century)
• St Therese of Lisieux and the Little Way (19th century)
• St. Faustina and her Diary Divine Mercy (20th century)

Take a break from your busy life where you're either running away from your weakness by pretending to be in control or running away from your weakness by trying to prove your worth. Listen to Jesus tell you that He is strong in your weakness, that He loves you in your weakness, to stop running away from your weakness. 

Let's stop this rumination for a moment and listen for His song.

The Concert of Angels by Gaudenzio Ferrari

Do you typically avoid your weakness by pretending you are in control? Or feeling that you need to earn the sense of having worth before God? 

Depending on the day or situation, it can be some of either mechanism of avoiding and acknowledging my weakness.

If the former how can you submit yourself in one way today to the reality that you do not have the control you would like?

• Send a message to the leaders of my Trinity small group and be honest about missing the last session.
• Send a message to my spiritual director and be honest about missing his prior call.

If the latter, how can you submit yourself in one way today to the reality God's love is bigger than your imperfection?

• Fast but also be open to receive any gifts God gives me.
• Reframe any negative self-talk with gentle appreciation in gratitude for God's love and mercy.
• Visit a beautiful church or seek God in adoration in a small chapel. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 34 - The Resurrection

The moment of the tomb opening up, when Jesus Christ conquered death, is the moment that changes everything for all time. Because of the moment Adam and Eve chose sin, and then the moment when Mary and Joseph said "Yes," we are led to this moment. 

The stone was rolled away, and Jesus was not there. The man who loved so insanely that he suffered torture and death for the sake of his beloved plummetted to the depths of death and came out alive. This moment is so important because it validates all the other moments that came before it. 

. . . We forget all too readily that Jesus is KING. Jesus is LORD. We bend a knee and fall to the ground in the presence of our king and lord. Do we know what that means? 

. . . (Jesus) said so many things that people thought were crazy when they heard it, that they walked away from despite the miracles that he was working in their very sight. 

Our God is madly in love with us. Oh how much He loves us! Despite how silly and adolescent we are in our pride, balking at his rightful authority, going against his will over and over again, he pursues us to the end of the earth. 

What are you holding onto in your life that goes against the teaching of Jesus?

Any subtle attachments I have to political affiliations. 

What commandments do you have the most difficulty with?

The 6th and 9th. 

Where does the authority of the church challenge you the most?

In calls to political action on life issues when I worry about how the wider society will perceive me or when I expect conflict and disagreement from people I care about? 

Open it all up to Him today. Sing Alleluia with all the saints and angels of Heaven, proclaiming that you are in need of a Savior--and you have One!

St. Joe's Consecration Day 33 - Trustful Surrender

 Jesus himself knew what to do within this strange silent stillness (of Holy Saturday). It was the stillness of the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the torment of his heart, deeper than words, that expressed itself in blood sweat through his pores. It was the shocking, total, and utter acceptance of his human nature ("Let this cup pass!") and then the acceptance of his divine Father ("Not my will but yours be done."). He must have learned those words from his human father, who taught him how to sit in silence and encounter God in the prayer of the deep. 

"I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were in created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you. Together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

. . . I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place."

 -from an ancient homily in the Office of the Readings for Holy Saturday

What doubt do we hold onto in our lives that we don't think God will take care of?

It is easy to say we trust God, but do we act like it?

What do we ruminate about?

• Conflicts and disagreements with other people, especially those who are close to me.

What do we stress about?

• Not having fulfilled a vocation. Whether I will always be alone. 

What situations bring out the worst in us because we begin to feel the loss of control or worry that all will not be well?

• At work, feeling overwhelmed with too many assignments to do in a short time or feeling misunderstood or undervalued
• Succumbing once again to some habitual sin, feeling that there's no way out or that I am perpetually defective or deficient
• Interactions with my parents or siblings in which I feel there is some unbridgeable chasm between us

St. Joe's Consecration Day 32 - The Crucifixion

 Jesus tells us "not to be anxious about your life" (Mathew 6:25). St. Paul tells us "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ."

When we experience pain, we immediately want it to go away. . . and the thought that God, who can make it go away but doesn't, can be too difficult to bear. Therefore our minds come up with all sorts of arguments against God: against his goodness, his power, his love, or his very existence.  

Instead of asking "Why, God?" we might ask "Where are you God?" Crying out "Why have you abandoned me?" returns us to the faint echo of our words repeated in the mouth of Jesus who suffered with us. He felt it, too.

Jesus, who did not have to suffer, chose to suffer because we suffer. He looked at us upon our crosses in life, and said to himself, "If that's where you are, that's where I want to be." 

Mary held her dead son in her arms and still trusted God's goodness and plan. Joseph also had a share in this as he anticipated the suffering that lay ahead for his beloved wife and son.

"On the Cross, God's Eros is made manifest for us. Eros is indeed that force which does not allow the lover to remain in himself, but moves him to become one with the beloved." (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est)

What hidden pain is holding you back?

The pain of not believing I can be loved for my own sake.

What have you suffered in your life that blocks you from the deepest levels of trust and abandonment to God?  

Being abandoned, neglected and misunderstood by my parents. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 31 - The Eucharist

 The Eucharist is the manifestation of (the Divine Person’s) desire to remain with us until the end of the world. It is His infinite love that stretches beyond what is reasonable.

. . . St. Therese’s thoughts (from The Story of a Soul) are like the private journal of a bride waiting for her wedding day. It is no surprise then that the great mystic Pope St. John Paul II saw so clearly the marital embrace as the image of God’s love for us.

. . . We must prepare our hearts and minds to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament properly, just as St. Joseph was prepared to receive Jesus in the humble and hidden circumstances of Bethlehem. Mary was the tabernacle . . . Joseph was the first communicant.

(The Incarnation) struck holy fear into Joseph’s heart and holy abandonment as he said “Yes” despite that fear. Can you imagine the awesome anticipation Mary and Joseph felt before the Nativity?

Joseph held that baby knowing he was holding God.

What distortions of love in your past make it difficult to accept the fullness of God’s plan for loving you?

Parental love – love with strings attached. Shame-driven. Abandonment

How can you prepare yourself to receive Him in the Eucharist more faithfully, holding back nothing of yourself for yourself, so that He who gives himself completely to you may receive you completely?

Ascetisms. Prayer. Purgative practices. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 30 - The Sacred Heart

 This is the Sacred Heart. The heart of one man with true human nature inflamed with the infinite love of a Divine Person. 

"Consider that the Sacred Heart of Jesus was no sooner formed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin than It was inflamed with an immense love for all men . . . He puts himself daily in a humble and obscure state on our altars in order to satisfy the excess of this tender love, thus fulfilling what was spoken by the Prophet: 'My delights are to be with the children of men. (Prov. 8:31)'"

-Fr. John Croiset

The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

How much of your relationship with God is based on your experience of the passionate love Jesus feels for you?

A growing proportion. I started with a cultural, habitual relationship with God the grew from my family's practice of the faith, my religious education, retreats, and Christian friendship. When I knew that I could rely on God even when (or especially when) there was no one else to turn to, I better understood the passionate love of Jesus. I began to understand his own suffering for me in the smaller sufferings and trials I endured. 

How much of your practice of religion is based on your experience of this love?

Nearly all of it. I go to Jesus, I practice my faith out of the knowledge of his love.

What might be getting in the way of receiving this love? 

My attachments to sin and the esteem of others.

St. Joe's Consecration Day 29 - Incarnation

 The human person is the satisfaction of God's infinite longing. God is the satisfaction of every person's infinite longing. Infinite longing itself was created in us to draw us back to the Infinite.

. . . It is too easy to dismiss uncomfortable or negative experiences as "bad" or "wrong," and many of us were raised to ignore, downplay, or repress certain facets of the human experience. Joseph and Mary taught Jesus how to grow into his full humanity. They affirmed him for who he was, a human boy, and raised him into a human man. 

What part of your humanity do you believe can't be from God?

Sin is the misuse of our humanity, but what specific elements native to your humanity itself, maybe something in your personality, do you reject or find it hard to believe was willed by God to exist in your identity as a human person? 

My sometimes infinite need for social connection and bondedness to others. The flip side of this desire often comes with loneliness or sorrow when I feel distance from others. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 28 - Purity

 Joseph began the same as all of us in concupiscence, but he represents the fullness of what we are called to. 

By his sacrifice . . . eternal divinity entered into time and space. The virginal marriage of Joseph and Mary provided the foundation and context for the marriage of heaven and earth. 

What is your heart holding onto that is not of God?

The sense that I'm deficient because I'm not in a relationship.

What do you need Joseph's help most to let go of?

The coping mechanisms I respond with singleness as a rationalization.

The inability to ask for and accept help.

St. Joe's Consecration Day 27 - Humility

 "Humility is not in being little . . . It is in making oneself little, and not out of some necessity or personal utility, but out of love to raise others. 

Second Advent Homily, 2013

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa

Humility in Cantalamessa's terms is related to service. . . This, of course, is the service that Joseph modeled to Jesus and all of us. . . (Joseph's and Mary's) friends looked on and saw nothing remarkable--this was a testament to the simplicity that Joseph and Mary must have carried themselves in literally the most important mission that has ever been given to any human person in the history of all time. 

(Joseph) was also called to be married to the most beautiful and most holy woman who's ever walked the face of the earth, love her with the most passionate and undying love that any man has felt for any woman, and do it all while maintaining perfectly pure and chaste celibacy.

. . . This is not public martyrdom with widespread accolades . . . this is the littleness and servitude of humility that leaves nothing for pride to grow fat on. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 97-98)

Bottaro and Settle

What are you called to do in service and love that you balk at because you won't receive credit?

• Helping my parents

What hidden sacrifices can you make more consistently but don't?

• Helping my brother 
• Praying for friends and family and people I've had conflict with
• Practicing humility within dating relationships

How are you called to humility by making yourself last without counting the cost?

• How I can serve quietly within my own family

St. Joe's Consecration Day 26 - Charity

(Interior silence) forms the foundation in which we learn true charity. Joseph had both in harmony the love of divine truth and the selfless assent to the demands of love. . . Saint John Paul II points us to the ideal harmony we are created for found in Joseph, one of bringing together interior recollection focused in the Divine Indwelling and the exterior actions of love that flow seamlessly from the integrated life we are made for.

The gift of a receptive and listening heart and mind is one of the greatest gifts we can give someone. . . This recollection teaches us how to be open and silent then in the presence of others--even if they are "wrong"--because we know there is a bigger picture. We can be receptive first and foremost in the gift of this person in his or her being. . . We will encounter the other. Encounter itself heals many wounds.   

What specific issues are most difficult for you to communicate effectively about with others?

• Issues about which I have a strong moral stance or have spent a lot of time learning about
• Issue that reveal my own shortcomings or require me to ask someone for help

Looking through today's lens, what issues of trust might be underlying your difficulty in listening in these conversations?

• I do not trust that the other person will acknowledge or listen to me. I fear a loss of pride in not being seen as "right," not being affirmed and appreciated for being "smart" or wise or simply correct.
• I do not trust God to provide for me or other people to help me; instead I fall back on self-reliance

What ruminations do you find yourself distracted by in these areas?

• I find myself making moral judgments and biased assumptions about other people. I dwell on my own needs and start to think about other people as a means to achieve my needs. 

How can Joseph's model of trust help you connect to a better way of handling these situations?

• His sense of honor, duty, purpose, and righteousness supersede his own desires for comfort or pleasure or attention. His love of divine truth leads to selfless action. He trusts God's plan and works to be the instrument through which that plan can happen, even if he doesn't know what exactly will happen next. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 25 - Interior Recollection and Discernment

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord

  I know them and they follow me. 

The Good Shepherd

A deep interior life means a heart and a mind tuned into the presence of God. God is not found in the noise of life but the silence. . . we position ourselves before God so that He may speak to us. 

"The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in active life." (St. Mother Teresa)

What is our noise and restlessness? It is our lack of trust. We act as if we can avoid suffering for ourselves and others by ruminating on our problems. We allow the noise of our thoughts to drown out the silence of God. We also let the noise of our distractions keep us from the presence of God. 

Discernment is the process by which the noise of our broken and imperfect selves quiets down--dies even--so that all that remains is the silence in which we can commune with God. His thoughts and our thoughts line up. His desires and our desires line up. 

"The total sacrifice whereby Joseph surrendered his whole existence to the demands of the Messiah's coming into his home becomes understandable only in the light of his profound interior life." (Redemptoris Custos, 25)

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 90-91)

Bottaro and Settle

What is the root of your distractions when you attempt to recollect yourself in silence? What are you afraid of?

• Not believing that God will provide for me. That I can only rely on myself.
• Fear of being alone
• Fear of not doing enough work so that I appear competent and valuable to other people

What is holding you back?

My inability to surrender. My refusal to admit and live from an understanding of my powerlessness and weakness. 

Draw deeper into interior recollection with the trustful surrender to the goodness of God.

St. Joe's Consecration Day 24 - Silence

 "The abundance of words is the symptom of doubt. Incredulity is always talkative

. . . How can we rediscover the sense of silence as the manifestation of God? This is the tragedy of the modern world: man separates himself from God because he no longer believes in the value of silence." 

Cardinal Sarah

The Power of Silence

(The Gospels) allow us to discover in (Joseph's) actions--shrouded in silence as they are--an aura of deep contemplation.

Redemptoris Custos, 25

One suggestion to facilitate (devotion to St. Joseph) is an observance of first Wednesdays. To participate, one must pray the rosary while meditating on the mysteries in light of St. Joseph's perspective and receive Holy Communion uniting oneself to the heart of Joseph and receiving Jesus as Joseph received Him in the nativity. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(p. 88)

Bottaro and Settle

Man Contemplates the Power of Water
Lynne Buchanan

What is keeping you from interior silence in your life?

• My devices--social media, notification, watching videos to distract myself
• Fear of being alone and feeling lonely

Are there ways your mind stays noisy because there are things you don't trust God to take care of?

Yes, especially when it comes to fulfilling a vocation to marriage and doing well in my job. 

If you follow the thought rails that are the loudest, you will most likely find attachments God is inviting you to surrender to Him.

St. Joe's Consecration Day 23 - The Fatherhood of Joseph

Mathew 5:8

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Every single one of us longs for the father's gaze. We want to be seen and chosen by our dads. It is biological, psychological, and spiritual. . . Mom's gaze comes easier, we expect it, and it is our primary necessity to remain secure in our being as we are. Our father's gaze, however, draws us out of ourselves to become more.

. . . Fathers are called to be the link between heaven and earth. Fathers are an icon of God the Father to their children. . . Joseph showed Jesus "by a special gift from heaven, all the natural love, all the affectionate solicitude that a father's heart can know." (Redemptoris Custos, 8).

St. Joseph gazes upon each of us with this same paternal love. . . (He) can rightfully be called "father of all the faithful," reminding us of Abraham, the first father in faith. Joseph, in his knowledge of Scripture and its prophesies and the message of the angel, was (also) promised to be the father of many descendants in faith. From Simeon's prophesy and his early life-threatening trials, he knew this would not be easy. He accepted all this with deep trust when he said yes. 

When Joseph looks at us with his perfect fatherly gaze, he says "I see you. You've got what it takes. You're created for greatness."

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 84 - 85)

Bottaro and Settle

How might you need the father's gaze in your life?

An affirming father's gaze would boost my confidence to reach out beyond myself and do great things. More than that, I could strive for greatness and holiness with a sense of peace and joy, secure in my father's affirmation. 

Do you feel empowered by the one who has gone before you to follow the path and achieve greatness in your life? 

Yes, Jesus has gone before me and conquered death and sin. Joseph sets a loving example and persevered through trials.

Do you feel secure in the embrace of being loved by a powerful and strong love? 

Not yet, or not yet consistently. I want to be. I know that my insecurity comes when I don't feel this embrace.

How will developing a deeper relationship with Joseph as father help you to become a better version of yourself?

I may have many of the same ambitions and desires professionally and personally, but I'll have better motivations, ones that are less about projecting an image that makes up for not feeling seen and affirmed and more about using my talents in the way God intends for God's sake. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 22 - Devotion to Joseph

The Son of Mary is also Joseph's Son by virtue of the marriage bond that unites them. . . The most important fruit of marriage is holiness, which is another way of saying that marriage is a vocation ordered toward bringing Jesus into the world through your union with him. 

Let us welcome Joseph into our path to holiness. Jesus came to us through Mary and Joseph, and so we can go to Jesus through Mary and Joseph. They are our parents in the faith as they are the parents of Christ whom we seek. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 79 - 82)

Bottaro and Settle

The Holy Family (Amber Knorr)

Do you harbor some deep unconscious belief about Jesus that he must have been like an angel living on Earth?

Perhaps. What's written about him in the Gospels leaves out much of his domestic life with Mary and Joseph, but that's also the significant majority of his time on Earth. 

What basic, normal, seemingly mundane and even boring parts of your life could you connect to the life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to realize the true divine potential he invites you to? 

• The drudgery and fatigue of work
• Interpersonal conflict and petty misunderstanding
• The struggle against sloth
• The hurts I've received from my earthly parents

St. Joe's Consecration Day 21 - Relationship with the Trinity

 O my unchanging God, at every moment may I penetrate more deeply into the depths of your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven, your cherished dwelling place, and the place of your repose. 

-St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

The Father

The Immaculate Conception was the beginning of the Father's plan to create within Our Lady a womb . . . worthy to receive the Son of God. "The Father bending down to this beautiful creature . . . willed that she be the Mother in time of Him whose Father He is in eternity. (St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Heaven in Faith p. 39)

The Holy Spirit

"In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father's loving goodness . . . By the Holy Spirit's power and her faith, her virginity became uniquely faithful." (CCC, 723)

The Son

She knew the Son, her son, most intimately. She felt him kick inside of her . . . Her yes gave life to the Son of God. 

. . . St. Joseph models a unique relationship with the Trinity as well. The Father chose St. Joseph to be the husband of Our Lady and the father of Jesus . . . The angel confirmed for Joseph that the child was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. Throughout his life, Joseph protected, guided, and cared for The Son. 

. . . The unity of the Holy Family points us to the unity of the Holy Trinity. We, too, are called to have an intimate relationship with the Trinity. 

How do you encounter each person of the Trinity in your prayer life?

When I do an examen or an examination of conscience, I invite the Holy Spirit to shed light on my life. Before prayer or speaking about God with other people, I also invoke the Holy Spirit. In the "Our Father" prayer, I ask for the Father's help, providence, and care. I pray to Jesus throughout the day, in gratitude for His sacrifice, seeking in my helplessness His Mercy, in desperate need for God's love that He can show me in an intimate way.  

Is there one or more person of the Trinity that you know you need to grow in intimacy with through your prayer life?

God the Father.

Ask Our Lady and St. Joseph to help you grow in your relationship with the Holy Trinity. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 20 - The Assumption

Mathew 27:52-53

Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose; and coming forth out of the tombs after His Resurrection, they came into the holy city and appeared to many. 

 

"(Of) the Virgin, coming up to heaven in the court of her Son, we can truly say that never was so great a quantity brought to Heaven. Nor did anyone present so much to her Son as this holy Lady."

St. Frances de Sales 

Homily, August 15, 1602 

The ache and longing we all feel for union and communion is the ache and longing for heaven . . . Because of our pull toward sin (concupiscence), we aim that desire for fulfillment toward other people and things, but nothing will fully satisfy us like heaven. 

Our Lady understood and lived that ache and longing for heaven like no one else on earth. She had been united with the Holy Trinity in a beautiful and fulfilling way. . . As she experienced the Passion, death, and Resurrection of her son, her mother's heart was left on earth to experience a deep ache and longing for union and communion with Him . . . One can imagine her ache and longing for union and communion also connected with her desire to be reunited with St. Joseph.  

Could St. Joseph have been given the gift of assumption as well? Even Pope John XXIII in his homily on the Feast of the Ascension (May 26, 1960) made the statement that the Assumption of St. Joseph "is worthy of pious belief."

. . . The fulfillment of the ache for communion was our Lady's Assumption, as Jesus and St. Joseph welcomed her home, body and soul. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 70 - 72)

Bottaro and Settle

St. Joseph, Prince of the Church

How do you attempt to satisfy the ache and longing of your heart with anything other than God or the hope for heaven?

• Chasing esteem, success in my career, building a sense of communion and solidarity with friends
• Seeking out a romantic partner
• Seeking approval or affirmation from my parents

If you have lost a loved one, can you give them over to the care of the Holy Family and have confident hope in your communion with them again in heaven?

Yes. I can give my grandparents over to the care of the Holy Family. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 19 - The Nativity

 

Can you imagine the anxiety in the heart of Joseph when he needs to tell Mary that he's taking her, nine months pregnant, to be enrolled in a census? As they set off for Bethlehem, Joseph needed deep faith in the Lord's providence to help him protect mother and child. Mary would have relied on his masculine heart and desire to care for her. She would have rested in the peace of knowing that Joseph was trustworthy, that he would not allow any harm to come to them. 

In that moment (of the Nativity), gazing into the eyes of the Son of God, Joseph welcomed Him into his fatherly heart as his son, his true son, and promised to be the guardian of the mystery "hidden for ages in the mind of God."

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 67- 68)

Bottaro and Settle

"It follows that Jospeh's fatherhood--a relationship that places him as close as possible to Christ, to whom every election and predestination is ordered--comes to pass through marriage to Mary, that is, through the family."

Redemptoris Custos, 7

Pope Saint John Paul II

Do you ever feel like you are not up to the task that the Lord is asking you?

Yes. 

In those moments do you rely on the grace of the Lord or do you fall into self-reliance? 

More often than not, I fall into self-reliance. 

Is your heart open to receive others as spiritual sons and daughters? 

Yes. It helps that I'm learning to be more patient about the little annoyances and disagreements of life.

To love them as if they are your own, to guide and protect them?

Yes. This is a real test of humility and generosity. 

Ask St. Joseph today about how his heart received Jesus and ask for the grace to receive Jesus in yours.

St. Joe's Consecration Day 18 - The Visitation

Luke 1:49

The Mighty One has done great things for me--and holy is His name.

Instead of boasting or having a celebration for herself, Our Lady went to serve her cousin Elizabeth in her pregnancy after receiving the news of her own role in salvation history from the angel at the Annunciation -- a testament to her humility. It's also a foreshadowing of her Son: "I came to serve and not to be served."

In her Magnificat, she proclaims the Lord's greatness and not her own. She rejoices. She rembers her lowliness. She recognizes the pure gift and blessing of this call. That she has done nothing to merit any of this, except say "Yes." 

When Joseph gives his fiat to the Lord . . . he makes haste to serve Mary. He brings her and her child into the home he built for her. Joseph also hastens to serve and not to be served. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 64 - 65)

Bottaro and Settle

When faced with your own struggles, can you have the humility to serve others and be present to them?

Yes.

Can you rejoice in the Lord in the midst of difficulties?

Yes.

How do the humilty of St. Joseph and Our Lady help you to understand and live humility in your life? 

I appreciate even more in their example what it means to live a life of service for God and for other people. It starts with humility. To accept and honor and respect my own littleness in the face of God's glory, God's plans, God's love. In the greatness of God's love, the only rational and true response is to love those God has placed in my love with simple spirit of lowliness and gratitude. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 17 - Annunciation of Mary and Joseph

 "At the Annunciation, Our Lady also acted as the wife of Joseph, who had already given his consent in the marriage to any child from God if it was His will. As husband and wife before the Annunciation, Joseph and Mary were already one. Acting in moral union with Joseph, Mary gave her consent for both of them, not only for the conception of the Child, but also for the salvation of the people of God."

Dominic De Domenico, O.P.

True Devotion to Joseph and the Church 

At the Annunciation, Our Lady didn't express doubt but wonder in what the angel was telling her. How could this little one from Nazareth be chosen to bear the Messiah? Joseph wondered the same thing about himself . . . Like Mary, he did need an annunciation of his own--the angel's message in a dream to help him know that the Father knew that he was up for the task of caring for and protecting both mother and child. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 61-62)

Bottaro and Settle

"(Mary) never exalted herself . . . but in her lowliness . . . she gave a perfume of such sweet fragrance that it rose to the throne of Divine Majesty. . ." 

Homily; July 2, 1618

St. Frances de Sales

The Annunciation Design #2
Marcia Carole

Have you experienced wonder and awe in the Lord's will for you?

Yes, how my career has progressed these last five years. The people and professional network and groups of friends the Lord has provided me along the way. All the opportunities to share my gifts with others and help students and younger people early in their career. 

The joy and awe-filled moments I still hold fast to from teaching 3rd-grade catechism. 

How has he surprised you with a profound gift?

The time in 2020 during a pandemic to be consecrated to Jesus through Mary. Between Fr. James Boric's call on the Feast of Mary Mother of God to finding my mom's copy of Fr. Gaitley's book in our family home in Michigan, the Lord surprised me with an affirming, wonderous spiritual journey. 

Can you imagine increasing the sweetness of these moments by reflecting on them in the light of your devotion to Our Lady and St. Joseph?

Yes. The Holy Family is present now with me. They take delight in sharing their joy with me, in knowing that I can experience a small taste of their own awe and wonder. It can feel more like celebrating with family and friends who truly know and love me, wishing all the best for me in the ways of the Lord. 

In one concrete way, how can you give your own fiat, your "Yes," to the Lord today? 

By praying my Consecration prayer and accepting all of today's struggle and toil with obedience and a humble trust in the Father's will for me: without complaining, without ruminating, without wanting the past to be different or placing expectations on the future. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 16 - Immaculate Conception

 CCC 488 "Mary's Predestination"

From all eternity God chose for the mother of His Son a daughter of Israel

Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple

 

We all know the difference between the feeling of being chosen and not being chosen. When we are chosen . . . what wells up inside of us is that someone saw something in us that was of value to them. They saw our goodness and our worth and chose us. When we are overlooked, . . . we feel less than. We feel like we didn't "measure up" . . .

. . . As much as God chose Mary, he also chose Joseph. . . As important as Mary's purity was to the Father, so was Joseph's virtue . . . The Father desired this man to be just, kind, compassionate, loving, and a guardian of both Our Lady and Jesus. . . Although he was not immaculately conceived, the Father chose him, the just and righteous man. Even when Joseph felt the weight of being chosen for this task, deep down he must have felt joy that the Father had seen his goodness and found him worthy. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 58-59)

Bottaro and Settle

When have you experienced the suffering of not being chosen?

• Comparison and lack of affirmation and affection as a child within my human family
• Dating for many years as a young adult, often feeling overlooked and judged as "less than" or lacking

How can you bring that to the Father and let Him remind you that He has already chosen you from all time?

I wouldn't be alive on this earth if the Father hadn't chosen me. I know he has given me many gifts and talents. He has also been merciful to me, protecting me even in this life from the full consequences of my sinfulness, the ways I've turned my back on the Lord Who is the source of all that is good. 

I can bring these wounds, some of which I re-experience multiple times a day, to Him. I can ask that fall more deeply in love with Him so that I can lose my attachments to the lesser things of this world. 

How can Our Lady and St. Joseph share in that joy with you?

By being my spiritual guides. By helping me to see the painful or difficult things I still must labor to do, so that I am always busy working out my salvation in Christ. They can also remind me of what a blessing it is to share in the perfect domestic life of the Holy Family, to be under their watchful care like a new child, a younger brother who is dear, and welcomed, and unconditionally loved. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 15 - Devotion to Mary

Ephesians 1:18

May the eyes of (your) hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of his glory among the inheritance of the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe. 

The Wedding of Joseph and Mary

Joseph was the first to consecrate himself to Jesus through Our Lady. His life and devotion to Our Lady is the model for us of how we are called to give everything to Jesus through Mary. . . Our Lady was a witness to Joseph of how to have deep trust in the Lord when she gave her fiat at the Annunciation. Our lady in her femininity was the one to show him what it meant to be open and receptive before the Lord.

. . . She told Joseph of her fiat -- before she gave it at the Annunciation. . . After the Annunciation and birth of Jesus, they were both devoted to Him

. . . Joseph gave his free yes to Our Lady to love and care for her. He held nothing back from them -- he gave a total gift of himself to them. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 55-56)

Bottaro and Settle

Are there people in your life who have given witness to you of the Father's love and devotion?

My cousin in Dallas has been this witness for me. Her witness became clear to me the last time I visited her. Despite having two young children, she made so much time for me, preparing her home and looking out for me in all the ways a compassionate big sister would. I remember waking up the second morning at her house, just *waiting* for her to eventually wake up, too–I was so excited to talk to her and be in her company.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later in prayer that I realized something about Jesus: How much *more* does Our Lord long to see me? How much more does He wait in anticipation? Knowing that He loves me that way washed over my heart. I knew — I had to see Him more wherever and whenever I could: in Adoration, at Mass, in prayer. Because my cousin loved me that freely, it helped me believe, to know deep down that God could love me freely, that God the Father will provide for me. 

Have you ever shared with them how much their witness meant to you?

Yes, but I can be more direct and vulnerable in sharing. 

Are you beginning to see how devotion to St. Joseph will lead you to deeper devotion to Jesus and Our Lady?

Yes, following Joseph's path leads to Jesus through Mary. His example gives me a mold or structure that can help form in me and reveal what devotion might mean in my day-to-day life. 

Holy, holy, holy.

Lord God Almighty.

Merciful and mighty,

God in three persons--

Blessed Trinity.

Only Thou art holy--

There is none beside Thee,

Perfect in power,

In love and purity. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 14 - The Vice of Sloth and the Virtue of Zeal

 

In the spiritual life, "acedia" (from the Greek for "lack of care") makes us indifferent, discouraged, and apathetic to the will of God. 

Joseph's life didn't go as planned . . . In the instant of hearing the (Good) news from Mary, his life became anything but simple. . . He was faced with knowing that he would be responsible to protect and raise the Son of God! In that instant, Joseph's plans went up in smoke.

We could give Joseph the benefit of a little moment of hesitancy--wondering if he were up to such a task. If Joseph were prone to acedia, this news could have sent Joseph down a path of life that was too much to bear, a life of discouragement, a life ultimately indifferent to the things of God, a life fleeing from union with God. Throughout scripture, however, we see Joseph's life as a life of action. 

. . . (His was) a heroic love of a man, husband, and father that led him to embrace a willingness to risk his life to protect (Mary and Jesus). 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 49-50)

Bottaro and Settle

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons

Have you become discouraged with your life, your relationships, or your vocation when things don't go the way you planned? 

Yes:

• Leaving medical school
• Taking longer than I expected to realize my vocation 
• The rocky start to my career

How can you open yourself to the Lord's encouraging will for you?

Remembering first and foremost how much He loves me. If I trust that the Lord's plans are by definition better for me than my own, I can be open to the Lord's will and free to take action to follow where He leads. 

How can even the "action" of a life of prayer help you to overcome apathy in your life?

Prayer is real work. It takes effort, planning, commitment. Prayer is not passive, even mental prayer. But prayer takes on a more active vibe when I do it communally: at Mass, at meals with friends, in small faith-sharing groups. But I need not wait for these social opportunities to be active in my prayer life. Every moment, I have a choice. 

When fatigue and the "noonday devil" hit me, what do I choose to do? Do I seek solace in some temporary distraction or mindless entertainment? Or do I choose to pray? Do I choose to let God be my strength? Do I reach out to Him and rest in Him and seek His counsel when my energy wanes? This will be the difference between my ability to live a life of action and zeal--or succumbing to sloth. 

St. Joe's Consecration Day 13 - Vice of Gluttony and Virtue of Temperance

 (Adam and Eve) grasped for more than what they needed, and as a result, perfect love expired from their hearts. . . Gluttony is a disordered desire, which abuses the legitimate pleasure God has attached to it.  It weakens the will. It fosters laziness and impurity. 

(By contrast, Mary) trusted the Lord would provide all that she needed, and that providence came through St. Joseph. 

St. Joseph was a stabilizing force in the life of Our Lady and Jesus. He was their protector and guard, but he was also a source of great love. His chaste love for Our Lady was given in temperance. Temperance . . . "ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable" (CCC 1809).

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 47-48)

Bottaro and Settle

Do you find yourself unsatisfied with the things you have been given?

Yes. Sometimes I wish I had a nicer car or lived in a nicer apartment. Sometimes I long for deeper friendships and romantic relationships. Or I read about new models of phones or laptops because I find the electronics I have now deficient or are just bored by them.  

Do you find yourself longing for more of something good? 

I know I have good, increasingly healthy friendships. But sometimes I want more to the point that I can neglect basic aspects of my life that require regular maintenance. 

Are you tempted to grasp for more than what you have?

Yes. A part of me still wants to be seen recognized for being special in some way. So I look to gadgets or clothes or other things to imbue that kind of distinction onto me. 

How can St. Joseph's model of temperance (attraction to a good but within the limits of what is honorable) be a witness of healthy balance in your life?

He chose the better and ultimately more powerful path because he placed the good before him below the ultimate good (God). St. Joseph trusted and believed in God's plan for him. In doing so, he saw the world for what it is and recognized the beauty and greater good of God's promise and love.  

St. Joe's Consecration Day 12: Vice of Lust and Virtue of Self-Mastery

 Romans 8:12-17

Brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live

    For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry "Abba, Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. 

----

The deep spiritual closeness arising from marital union and the interpersonal contact between man and woman have their definitive origin in the Spirit, the Giver of Life. Joseph, in obedience to the Spirit, found in the Spirit the source of love, the conjugal love which he experienced as a man. And this love proved to be greater than this "just man" could ever have expected within the limits of his human heart. 

-Pope St. John Paul II

Redemptoris Custos,

Were (the artists who depicted St. Joseph as a very old man) what Pope St. John Paul II called "masters of suspicion" in his Theology of the Body (people whose hearts cannot see purity and projects impurity onto others)?

. . . St. Joseph was a man who possessed natural desires toward what is true, good, and beautiful . . . Day in and day out, Joseph was surrounded by perfect femininity. But more than that, he loved and was loved by perfect femininity! As a true man, St. Joseph lived (maybe more than any other man) perfect self-mastery. Daily, he ordered his passions, his attractions toward Our Lady toward love. 

. . . Self-mastery needs attraction and passion to order. The real St. Joseph had these qualities, and he had them for Our Lady, as her husband, as a man would. It was in this experience of authentic masculinity that the true power of his self-mastery was opened to the world. 

From Consecration to Jesus through Saint Joseph:

An Integrated Look at the Holy Family

(pp. 45-46)

Bottaro and Settle

CCC 1804: The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. 

How freely do you practice the good of self-mastery?

In as much as I reject the pull of my own will for passing things of this world, I know I can practice self-mastery. 

What keeps you from freely living a life of virtue? 

There are many distracting consumerist messages around me embedded in addictive social media platforms and psychologically manipulative app algorithms that lead me out of self-mastery. 

On a deeper level, I still carry the mom- and dad-wounds from my childhood that block me from true healing. Healing comes with it a sense of equanimity, that others' words or behaviors won't compel me to hide myself from God and other people or forget the Way to life and union with God that my spiritual guides and the Church have taught me. 

What are areas of your life that are in need of ordering?

• Vocational discernment
• The steadfast toil of work
• My impenetrable identity as a child of God the Father

How has your understanding of the lived experience of St. Joseph, man and husband, changed?

I have greater awe for the great example of self-mastery and love that St. Joseph showed to his spouse Jesus. I admire the fidelity with which he lived in taking on the responsibilities entrusted to him by God the Father. I take joy in the special closeness he found living so close to the Holy Spirit, Who was and is united to Mary.