Meditation before Saint Joseph's Feast

God the Holy Father chosed , in His infinite wisdom , Saint Joseph to guide and guard His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In these prayers, we turn to Saint Joseph and ask him to guide us as a father would.

The path of Saint Joseph through his earthly life was a quiet hidden one. The same may be said of his devotional path through the Christian centuries. Many have carried him silently in their hearts, have looked at his statues in the Christmas stable scene. And they have understood that he was an intimate, important part of the silent night when a Star shone from above, and the song of the angels joined the praise of the shepherds.

But, as Cardinal Newman has pointed out, Joseph himself was long a star dimly seen in devotional practice, a man quietly loved by many, but waiting, so to say, in the vestibule until the strong voices of Saint Bernardine, Saint Teresa of Avila and others summoned him into the sanctuary. It was only in 1870 that Pius IX declared him universal Patron of the Church and extended his major feastday to the whole Church.
Pope Pius XI invoked him as the saint whom we should call upon to defeat atheistic communism.
Pope Pius XII, for his part, proclaimed the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker (1 May) as a counter-point to the May Day celebrations held throughout the communist "workers paradise" world.
Saint Joseph is, as we all know, the Patron of the Universal Church. Along with Mary he is one of the most honored saints in the entire array of saints found in the life and history of our Church. It is fitting that this be so - he was next to Mary, the Guardian of Jesus, the link between Christ and the prophetic portrayal of the origins of the Messiah being found in the "House of David".
In addition to being honored as the Patron Saint of the Universal Church, he is hailed as the Patron of Workers, Patron of Families, Patron of the Sick and Dying, and the Guardian Saint of Virgins. He is also the patron of those engaged in the interior life, as well as being the patron saint of those in authority, of fathers, priests, and those placed in charge over the poor and defenseless.
In every Catholic Church throughout the world , there is a side alter dedicated to the Spouse of Mary. Before that altar or in the solitude of one’s own home, or under the vault of the open skies, a person can appear to Saint Joseph for aid in life’s struggle.
Let us prepare morally and faithfully for one of the Feast of Saint Joseph , let us ask Saint Joseph intercession for all our daily needs and entrust our dear ones to the head of the Holy Family .
Happy Feast of Saint Joseph for each all of you !