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.