Pope Francis dedicated this year in the church to St Joseph and my beloved and I could not be more excited because we both have always had a devotion to St. Joseph.
Years after I had received my annullment I had no intention of every marrying again. But I always remained open and I would tell the Lord that the only way that I would marry again is if he sent me a just man, a good man, a man like St. Joseph. And just when I was settling into a comfortable single vocation the Lord did just that and sent me the greatest gift and blessing of all in my beloved John.
Since the beginning of our relationship we have always prayed together in addition to our individual prayer. So a few months ago when John was gifted the book of the Consecration to St. Joseph as part of his men's sharing group we decided to do the 33 day concecration together. But after a few days we became distracted, then inconsistent and decided not to continue and to do the concecration later.
And the Church has perfect timing because in this Year of St. Jospeh and as a Church we are given the opportunity to draw closer to this beautiful Saint and foster Father of Jesus.
John and I decided to start the concecration on December 22nd with our Concecration Day taking place in 33 days on January 23rd which is the little known Feast of the Holy Spouses.
And as part of our daily concecration we are also praying a rosary on our St. Joseph Beads. Through prayer and discernment with our Spiritual Father my beloved was inspired to create a rosary in honor of St. Joseph and we now have the blessing to add this to our daily prayer.
This gave me pause to reflect on what it must have been like for Jesus growing up, knowing his Divine nature and the surpassing love of God the Father, but seeing that love, goodness and faithfulnes modeled every day in the day to day in his foster father Joseph. Even before Jesus was born, St. Joseph was obedient and trusting the word of God, taking Mary as his wife when she was with child, protecting Mary with Jesus in her womb as they traveled to Bethlehem, caring for Mary when she gave birth in the manger, rising in the dead of night after the Angel came to him and told him to take Mary and the babe Jesus to Egypt and on and on in the many ways that Jesus witnessed the love, care, guardianship and protection of Joseph as he grew.
I love how spiritual readings and the grace of the Holy Spirit can open the door wider to a deeper understanding and provide me with a new lense in which to see St. Joseph and that only serves to give me additional reasons to fall more deeply in love with him.
If you are looking to dive deeper into the life of St. Joseph or looking to come to know him better, check out the book and the concecration.
Or if you like ask Our Lady through the grace of the rosary to help you get to know St. Joseph better.
There is so much to learn about St. Joseph and this my friends is the perfect year to do it!
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