This Series will focus on the Saints. My favourite saints, saints that did awful things, saints that did wonderful things. Saints that died young, saints that died old. All amazing examples of how to love God with all our hearts.
As many of you already know, I love the saints. I love learning about new saints, bonding with familiar saints, and praying to saints who are patrons of things in my life. Researching saints is one of my favourite ways to draw closer to Christ. Some of the saints had wonderful visions of Jesus, while others served Him in the small, every day things. Some saints gave up their lives for their faith, while others spent most of their lives alone in prayer. Every saint is different, and every saint can give us examples of how we can live our lives completely for God.
One such saint is St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
Growing up in a Catholic home, I knew who St. Joseph was from a young age, but it was only a year or two ago that I realized how amazing this saint is. I think that is because growing up, I didn’t like the name Joseph… I thought it was too common, which is a bad reason to not learn about a saint.
When COVID first hit, and I began to do more youth ministry online, I would make a live video once a week on a different saint. I called the segment, “Tea With The Saints” (even though I usually drank hot chocolate or french vanilla instead of tea). The first saint I talked about was St. Joseph, because my first video was around the time of his feast day.
I started to fall in love with St. Joseph about a year before, when I discovered the Sleeping St. Joseph Statue. If you don’t know what I am talking about, look up this statue. Not only does it look beautiful, (he is wearing green, which is my favourite colour), but I love tradition surrounding it. If you have a Sleeping St. Joseph statue, tradition says that if you write your prayer intentions on a piece of paper, and place that paper under the statue, that St. Joseph will bring your intentions to God while he is sleeping.
The reason behind the tradition is biblical. In the bible, St. Joseph was an ordinary man, but on more than one occasion, while he was sleeping, he received visions from heavenly angels. Three times he received these visions. First, when he was told to marry Mary. Second, when he was told to take Mary and Jesus, and flee to Egypt. And third, when he was told to return home to Israel. As soon as he woke up, St. Joseph did what the angel instructed him to do. Pope Francis has a statue of Sleeping St. Joseph on his desk, and he placed his intentions underneath it.
I have read a few articles about the Sleeping St. Joseph statue, and in one of them, the author shared with readers how, in addition to bringing our intentions to God, Sleeping St. Joseph also tells us to rest. Resting is connected to trust. If we trust in God, we can also rest in Him. St. Joseph trusted God so much that he was able to rest, knowing that God’s plan was always the right plan. And that goes in to another reason why I love St. Joseph.
St. Joseph was cool under pressure, or so I am assuming. His trust in God was so great, but instead o freaking out, he did was God asked him to do as soon as he woke up. Yes, he was upset to learn about Mary being pregnant, but instead of ranting and yelling in the streets, he decided to dismiss her quietly. When there was no room for Mary and him in Bethlehem, he looks for other options, even if they are less that ideal. When the angel tells Joseph that King Herod wants to kill Jesus, he takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt, a completely different country than the one he grew up in. In each situation, he remained calm and trusted in God. If there is any saint to look at for an example on how to trust God, it’s St. Joseph.
St. Joseph is the patron saint of fathers, carpenters, the Universal Church, and a happy death. I don’t know if you are like me, but I don’t like thinking about death. It scares me, and makes me sad when I think about family or close friends dying. But when I think about St. Joseph, the thought of death isn’t as scary (it still is, just not as scary). Joseph died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Is there a better way to die than that? Surrounded by Our Lord and His Mother? Nope, I don’t think so. Even though death terrifies me some days, I know that by praying to St. Joseph, and living my life according to the Catechism, I can be surrounded by Jesus and Mary as he was.
He is also the patron saint of fathers. As a lot of you know, Nathan and I have been trying to start a family for years. I remember some of my childhood friends saying that their parents encouraged them to pray for their future spouses at a young age, before that had ever met their spouse. I’ve decided to do a similar thing for Nathan. While we wait, I am praying to St. Joseph that Nathan will be the father that he is called to be. That St. Joseph can be an example for him, and that through fatherhood, Nathan can become a saint like St. Joseph. Ladies, if you are in a similar boat as me, start praying for the father of your future children now. And ladies, if you already have children, pray that St. Joseph will bless the father of your children, and that he will be a good father as St. Joseph was.
As I was researching St. Joseph for my Tea With The Saints video, I learned about a consecration to St. Joseph book by Fr. Donald Calloway. Now, I have not read this book yet, nor have I consecrated my life to St. Joseph, but it is one of the goals I have for myself this year. I listened to an interview with Fr. Donald Calloway, and he mentioned so many wonderful reasons why consecration to St. Joseph is necessary in our day and age. He talked about how, with the church in turmoil, we need a spiritual father to look to, and that should be St. Joseph (after our Heavenly Father, of course). Fr. Calloway also mentioned that Jesus was not from a one parent family which, if I am being honest, blew me away. As Catholics, we focus a lot of time on Mary, as we should, but sometimes we forget that St. Joseph also raised Jesus. He would have taught Jesus more than just his trade. In His human nature, Jesus needed a father, and if Jesus was able to turn to St. Joseph, then we should too.
There is so much more that I could say about St. Joseph. He is such an incredible saint, and I can’t wait to learn more about him and to eventually consecrate my life to him. If you want to read some great articles about him, my favourites are all from Blessed is She.
Also, look up Tomics, and check out his Papa Joe cartoons. They always make me chuckle.
If you already know lots about, and love, St. Joseph, please share with me what you love most about him. If you don’t know too much, but want to learn more, let me know what stands out to you most about him.
St. Joseph, pray for us. Amen.
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