Faithful in Prayer
The Gospels provide only a little insight into the traits of Saint Joseph. Most decidedly, he is described as a man of prayer. Each of the biggest decisions of his life — those that are recorded in the Gospel, i.e., the decision to wed, the decision to flee with his family to Egypt, and the decision to return from Egypt — is heavily influenced by his dialogue with God (through His intermediaries, the angels), and Joseph consistently follows the path that he discerns as the will of God. With Saint Joseph as a model, then, the first pillar of our apostolate is, necessarily, prayer.
The primacy of prayer, of course, is by no means a novel notion. Our Lord taught the apostles to pray, and He emphasized that we ought to “knock, and the door will be opened” to us. Moreover, our Lord — who is, was, and ever shall be in communion with the Father and Holy Spirit — repeatedly and pointedly retreats from His ministry and insists on engaging in prayer. Inasmuch as Jesus commanded the apostles, following the Ascension, to stay in Jerusalem and to pray for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the Church, herself, is the fruit of prayer. Within an initial lifespan of that first Pentecost, Saint Paul was exhorting the early Christian community in Rome to “Be joyful in hope, patient in adversity, and faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12). Nearly two millennia later, Saint Padre Pio famously advised the faithful to “Pray, Hope, and Don’t worry.” In short, heroically faithful men separated by many centuries each composed a short list of three essential traits, and both lists include the primacy of prayer in their essentially identical lists.
The Sanctus Josephus Society takes great compfort in the consistency of this spiritual advice, first from our Lord, and then — through the centuries — from those heroically faithful to our Lord. Our goal is to facilitate the New Evangelism — to transform ourselves, to transform our marriages and our children, to transform our families and communities, to transform America and all nations, into the persons God intends us to be. It all begins, as it did for Saint Joseph, with prayer.
The Novena
If the greatest gift our Lord has given us is the forgiveness of sins and an invitation to join him in the resurrection for all of eternity, is is worthwhile to note that this gift was the fruit not just of prayer, but of persistent prayer. Christ paid the price for our salvation, but He established the Church — His Mystical Body — as the ongoing source of Sacramental Life. The Church would carry on the work of preaching the Good News, extending by delegated authority His Divine Mercy to all who seek forgiveness of sins, and bringing the Real Presence of Christ — in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — to all the nations. The apostles prayed in Jerusalem over a nine-day period between the Ascension and Pentecost before the fruit of their prayer — the Holy Spirit — arrived. This commitment of at least nine days to pray for a certain intention — this first novena — demonstrated the efficacy of persisting in prayer over time. The tradition in which the faithful pray a novena for particular intentions has continued ever since.
The Sanctus Josephus
Pope Leo XIII, known as the “Rosary Pope”, urged the faithful to include the Prayer of Saint Joseph in the closing prayers of every Holy Rosary. The Sanctus Josephus is a prayer novena built on nine mysteries of the Holy Rosary and including, as Pope Leo XIII advised, the Prayer of Saint Joseph. With scriptural verses and reflections relating to each mystery in the devotion, the novena encourages contemplation of the mysteries of salvation history, sacramental life, and the life of Saint Joseph. The scriptural contemplations within the devotion conclude with either the Litany of Saint Joseph or the Litany of Trust. To get started praying the novena, click on the image below to visit our Sanctus Josephus novena prayer website.
