Consecration to St. Joseph (6)

 

It's been a good week for articles on St. Joseph, and I have a whole load of video clips saved up.  So, an excellent article from the National Catholic Register on the Seven Sunday's Devotion to St. Joseph.  This is focused on the Seven Joys and Sorrows of St. Joseph, which I have mentioned before.  If one were to start the devotion this Sunday, it would be completed by the Sunday before the Feast of Joseph, the Husband of Mary (March 19).  The YouTube clip for today is a shorter one, but again featuring Fr. Boniface Hicks as he discusses the Silence of Joseph.  Enjoy!

Consecration to St. Joseph (5)

 

Today, I have an article I found in the National Catholic Register (an excellent paper) on St. Joseph as Guardian of the Redeemer, Guardian of our Lady, and Guardian of the Domestic Church (the family home).  I also am posting an episode of "Franciscan University Presents" with Dr. Scott Hahn and my good friend Fr. Boniface Hicks, O.S.B. in which they discuss St. Joseph and many questions that have arisen in our own parishes as we have pursued consecration to the Purest Heart of Joseph.  It really is outstanding.  Enjoy them both!  Finally, there is such a thing as a Rosary of St. Joseph.  On this Wednesday, a day traditionally dedicated to St. Joseph, I offer both a YouTube presentation, which includes the text of the prayer, and a link to the mysteries.

Missive (24 Jan., 2021)

Dearest Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

We come upon our first weekend under new political leadership.  I think it’s important for us to remember a number of things as we move forward.  The first is from St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy (2:1-3): “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.  This is good and pleasing to God our savior, Who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”  And so, we recognize a duty to pray for those who are in authority: for peace and tranquility, and for conversion of heart.  This is not just about those at the top, but legislators, jurists, and all who are in government service.

We also need to remember that no mere politician is a savior.  We have a Savior, Jesus Christ, Whom we can rightly depend on in all things.  Mere men and women may have policies here and there which line up nicely with this or that priority; at any particular time we find one side or another lining up with our most important priorities better than another.  I remember, when I was growing up, that the Catholic Church was jokingly referred to as the Democratic Party at prayer; over the last 25 or 30 years it’s been the Republican party that lined up with our most fundamental beliefs about life, liberty, and the nature of the human person – yet, no party is perfect, and support for those beliefs come with trade-offs that strike at other beliefs as well as our heartstrings.

In other words, we can’t depend on politicians to cure what ails us or our society.  What we can do is live our lives according to the principles laid down by God and our Holy Mother, the Church; and we can teach our children to do the same.  We can do our best to discern between the choices presented us at election time.  Finally, we can, and must, pray for guidance for ourselves and for all those who have been entrusted with the common good.

Regardless of who is at the top of the political pyramid, we are all in the pyramid together.  This is something too many have forgotten, not only in the realm of politics, but of business and life in general.  So, let us remember these things, and think on them.  Most of all, let us remember another passage of scripture which should be uppermost in our minds at all times: [L]ove one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Remember who (and Whose!) you are,

            Fr. Klos

Consecration to St. Joseph (4)

 

Fr. Calloway, the author of our book on consecration to St. Joseph, discusses "Holy Years" in the context of the Holy Year of St. Joseph.  It is just over an hour long but well worth it.  Enjoy!

Here is also a website dedicated to St. Joseph and detailing the promises of St. Joseph to those who will cultivate a devotion to his Most Chaste Heart.

Missive (17 January 2021)

 It has certainly been a trying couple of weeks, no?  As if the pandemic wasn’t enough to worry people, the political goings on of the day have certainly added another whole dimension to our world of worry.  And yet, I’ve said nothing of it: until now.  Why?

I choose what I am writing about and preaching about based on a hierarchy of importance and need.  Guess what?  Administrations come and go, as do nations and empires, as do times of feast, famine, and disease.  What always remains is the call to holiness each one of us has received, first in our birth, and then especially in our rebirth – Baptism.

So, you tell me: What is the most important thing that has happened over the past two weeks?  My answer: the celebration of Epiphany and then the Baptism of the Lord.

Does this shock you?  Are you concerned that my priorities are messed up?  No doubt there are some who will believe so.  But as we look at the long march of human history we come to realize that the people of God are sanctified in times of peace and plenty, and especially in times of trial and even (especially) persecution.  Saints have arisen in the peaceful hills of Italy and the plains of the United States; they have also arisen in the death camps of Nazi Germany, the slavery of the Islamic Middle East and Africa, Communist Russia, and present-day North Korea and China.

The politics of the moment are of rightful concern to every person, including every Christian; but our salvation is not in who is president – our salvation is in Christ, Who’s birth we spent four weeks preparing for, and Who’s birth and epiphanies we have just spent the past three weeks celebrating.

So, while we keep an eye on the goings on around us: pandemic, social unrest, political gamesmanship, etc., let us stay focused on the reason God has created and redeemed us: that we may become the saints we were created to be, and be then rightly prepared for the eternal communion that is promised to those who will respond in faith, hope, and love to that blessed invitation that has been extended to us.

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Trial, or distress, or persecutions, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?  Yet in all this we are more than conquerors because of Him Who has loved us.”  (Romans 8:35, 37)

Consecration to St. Joseph (3)

Last week we began our preparations for a consecration to the Purest Heart of St. Joseph.  I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who picked up Fr. Calloway’s excellent book for the 33-day preparation for this consecration.  They are available again this weekend; and if you forgot while at church, you can always send me an e-mail with your request.  They are a very reasonable $10 a copy.  We have already discussed the “why?” regarding this consecration.  Let us continue with the “how”.

In any consecration, whether it is a consecration to the Sacred Heart, or to Mary or Joseph, the consecration we experience in Holy Matrimony or Holy Orders, or entrance into an institute of consecrated life, there is a time of preparation.  One can, indeed, simply gather and recite the prayer of consecration and receive the blessing of the bishop, priest, or religious superior; but without a time of preparation the ground will not have been prepared for the seed that will be planted: in other words, we won’t be ready to live the life we are consecrating ourselves to!

Therefore, we prepare for this consecration by coming to know St. Joseph better: through holy Scripture; through the writings of those holy people who themselves have come to know him so well and have benefited by that relationship with him; through the apparitions in which he has taken part and which have been recognized and approved by the Church; in time, becoming more and more like him.

There isn’t a great deal about St. Joseph in Scripture, but what is there is profound.  This is witnessed by the reflections on St. Joseph that have been written by many saints and blesseds.  These reflections have led, in so many of their lives, to an awareness of St. Joseph’s presence in their lives, and even his assistance.

There is indeed something of a “cloud of witnesses” where devotion to St. Joseph is concerned.  If one would refer to the painting commissioned by Fr. Calloway, in the back of his book, one would see no fewer than 26 saints and those on the path canonization: these include well known saints like St. Francis de Sales, St. Teresa of Avila, and venerable Fulton Sheen; as well as more recent and geographically closer saints such as Pope St. John Paul the Great, St. Luigi Guanella, St. Josemaría Escrivá, and St. André Bessette.

Finally, in addition to the apparitions at Fatima and Knock, as well as other earlier apparitions, there is a more recent apparition which gives witness to St. Joseph’s particular relevance to the life of the Church in our time: Brazil (1994-1998).

St. Joseph, indeed wants to draw us closer to our Lord, Jesus Christ, along with his beloved spouse - the ever-virgin Mary.  Let us receive this invitation with gratitude.

 

Consecration to the Purest Heart of Joseph (2)

 

I mentioned that I would make available links to articles, videos, and other resources which would be helpful in growing in our devotion to St. Joseph.  Here is the first article from "The World Apostolate of Fatima".  There is also a good Youtube video, "Who was St. Joseph and Why You Need to Know Him", with Fr. Calloway and Dr. Scott Hahn.  The video is just under 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Consecration to the Purest Heart of Joseph (1)

As announced last December 8^th, we will be spending the next five weeks preparing for a parish-wide consecration to the Purest Heart of St. Joseph (also referred to as the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph).  This is the next step in a three-part consecration to that which we have implored at the end of Mass for over a year now: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us; Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us; Purest Heart of Joseph, pray for us.

I have been determined that we make this consecration in the Tri-Parishes because I had become convinced that St. Joseph is a necessary addition to our common spiritual life and discipline.  The problems we are faced with today call out in a particular way for the intercession and assistance of the Guardian of the Redeemer, within our Church, within our homes, and within our own hearts.

This consecration will take place within our parishes and school on the weekend and following week of February 14 (Ash Wednesday is Feb. 17).  There are a couple of particularly good resource which Deacon Sam and I will be referencing as we prepare our homilies and which I will make use of in preparing other resources.  The first is a relatively new book by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, titled: “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father”.  I will also post articles, videos, and reflections on my blog: Three Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (3heartsjmj.blogspot.com).

Some might ask: “When we have already consecrated ourselves to Jesus, why consecrate ourselves to Mary and Joseph as well?  It seems counterintuitive to be consecrating ourselves to more than ONE person.”  Indeed, in can seem that way.  But the truth of the matter is, our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a sure, time-honored, way of growing closer to the Most Sacred Heart of her Son.  And in our consecration to St. Joseph that familial circle is completed.  In Jesus, we have a Brother, Who has given us His own mother to be our mother; however, even as His own Father desired that He not be without a father in His earthly life, so our Lord desires that this same “just man” who cared for Him in His earthly life care for us and guard us, His brothers and sister, on our earthly pilgrimage, our way to Him, as well.