Litany to Saint Joseph

A Catholic litany is a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications to a key figure in Salvation history, be it a person of the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Mother, or a Saint.  It is designed to be read or sung by a leader  and the people respond to each invocation or supplication with a set response.  However, it can be prayed privately, as well. 
The litany to Saint Joseph was approved by Pope Saint Pius X in 1909.   As is customary with all Church-approved litanies, it begins with petitions to the Holy Trinity, followed by one addressed to the Blessed Virgin. The petitions to Joseph follow after.
Saying litanies are useful for petitions, of course, and we hope that God hears and answers them.  However, saying litanies often give us other side benefits which often, can be equally or more important than the petitions we express.   Litanies help us learn about key central figures in Salvation history and our own life of faith.  They help us learn about the virtues.   They help us reflect on our own personhood and see what we should be aspiring to as persons who wish to be Saints.  They allow us to enter into a time of meditation and communion with the Lord, sort of like how saying the decades of the Rosary do.

By asking Saint Joseph to plead with the Father for our sake,  his spiritual influence will be drawn down on the world today and in our own lives.  We will receive the Divine graces and blessings we need.  We will also learn about the many noble qualities of Joseph, and the different roles he played in the life of Our Lord, and still does in the Church.  Joseph has many qualities we should seek to emulate.  Saying this Litany often will help us do just that.  I pray that saying this Litany to Saint Joseph regularly allows you to become friends with this Saint. Of course, when one becomes friends with a Saint, he or she becomes friends of God, because, after all, that is what a Saint is.

Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy. Jesus, hear us.  God, the Father of Heaven, God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, God, the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God, Holy Mary, St. Joseph, Renowned offspring of David, Light of Patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster father of the Son of God, Diligent protector of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most strong, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of artisans, Glory of home life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families, Solace of the wretched, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world. He made him the lord of his household.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.Lord, have mercy. Jesus, graciously hear us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. spare us, O Lord. graciously hear us, O Lord. And prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray, ---  O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever. Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Angels

This image from the Shrine is of the scene in the Gospel of Matthew where an angel appears to Joseph and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, even though she was pregnant with a child that was not biologically his.  There is so much that can be taken from this short, yet very important scene in Matthew's infancy narrative.  I am sure there will be opportunities to do so in future posts.
For now, I want to just briefly discuss angels.  

Life today is devoid of mystery for many. There is no transcendent dimension.  Things beyond what can be seen or felt are rendered non-exist at worst, or non-important at best.   However, just because something is invisible does not mean it is not real.  Catholics say in the Creed every Sunday, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen."
God created not just us humans, animals, and nature, but He created other things, as well, that are not seen.  The most notable things He created that are not seen are angels. 
Now, there are exceptions to this general reality that angels are not seen.  Numerous times in Scripture angels appear, but they are not seen regularly, as are people and things.  Even in the secular world, one hears people sometime report "angelic experiences".   However, for the most part, angels and their work, while important, remain invisible to men and women.

What are angels?  Angels are servants and messengers of God.  They are pure spirit. They have intelligence and will.   The Church teaches each of us has a guardian angel.
In previous, less materialistic, less man-focused times, more people believed in angels.  I think the lack of belief in angels is a result of our culture that has reduced the transcendent to almost nothing.  Yet, the human cry for the transcendent continues, whether it is acknowledged or not.
So, I say, why not believe in angels?  If you believe in God,  it makes sense, I think.  If He is all powerful, why could He not create perfect spiritual beings?  If He is all good, why not believe He could create perfect spiritual beings who, in serving God, serve us, and sometimes, like in the case with Joseph, speak to us?

Saints like Joseph give us so much good example to live by, and still intercede for us today.  If angels were a part of their life, and they believed in, listened to, and were protected by them, should we not acknowledge them, and allow them to play a greater role in our life, too?  We should pray to our guardian angel often to keep us straight on the narrow path that leads to heaven.   The angel will definitely hear our prayer, and who knows, it just maybe will speak to us?

In future posts, I will discuss more why despite angels, having perfection that surpasses all visible creatures, are not God's crowing achievement of creation.  Man is.   (Wow, we must be a good thing if we surpass angels, more to come to that.)  I will also try to discuss at a certain point the different types of angels that the Tradition of the Church has discerned exist. 
For now, let us rejoice in the creation and gift of God that are His angels.

Joseph, terror of demons, pray for us.

Martha and Joseph

Today is the feast of Saint Martha. She was the one who complained about doing all the work in preparation for Our Lord's visit to her house while her sister Mary was just sitting there listening to Jesus speak.
 
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

It is important to remember that Our Lord did not tell Martha that what she was doing was bad. ( Even though this passage does not put her in the best light, Martha did, in the end, become a Saint! )  Jesus only said that what Mary was doing was better.  In other words, action is not bad, but contemplation is better than action.   Seeking to serve the Lord by doing certain deeds is not at all a bad thing, it is just incomplete. 

I kind of think there was a little of that active/ contemplative interplay in the life of Joseph and Mary. (The Blessed Mother and Martha's sister Mary are not the same, just to be sure no one is confused, they are two different Mary's.)  Mary, I think, was the contemplative one; Joseph, as the title Saint Joseph the Worker suggests, was the worker.   I find it interesting that at the end of the Infancy Narrative in Luke's Gospel, Luke writes "..and his mother kept all these things in her heart."   He does not say anything about Joseph the father doing the same.  Here is another point to back up my theory. We see statues of Joseph with a saw and other tools; we never see statues of Mary with cooking utensils, do we?  Now, do not get me wrong, I am sure Joseph prayed a lot, and I am sure Mary worked a lot.  However, I think Joseph's inclination was to act, Mary's inclination was to "ponder", or meditate, or pray, whichever term you propose.  This is just speculation again on my part, this is not doctrine.
I think that while Joseph had this inclination, he probably handled it better than Martha did.  He probably did not complain when he saw Mary at prayer.  He probably admired her, or even stopped himself to pray with her.
Just as Martha needed her sister Mary, and vice versa, so Joseph needed his wife Mary, and vice versa.  The active and the contemplative need each other, and the world needs them both.

The Church's teaching on the Christian life is so beautiful because it balances both the contemplative and active dimensions.   Another way to look at it is that Her teaching balances the spiritual and the moral life. Work is good, but we must not , as is said, work so hard that we forget the Master of the Work.  Prayer is good, but we must not spend all day in prayer, and neglect our daily responsibilities.  We must live with our eyes on heaven, but our feet must be firmly on the ground (unless we go into spiritual ecstasy, but that is for a chosen few only, lol).  Living this balanced life will prevent us from becoming activists.  At the same time, it will prevent us from withdrawing from this world and ignoring its (and our own) problems.  These are the kind of people the world needs; people who can balance action with prayer, who are not busy-bodies, but who are not overly spiritualized, either, that they forget the temporal.
It needs more people like Saint Joseph.  

Let's be that kind of person.


Saint Martha, pray for us
Joseph, Spouse of the Mother of God who is the model of prayer for all of us, pray for us

Marriage

This image from the Shrine is that of Mary and Joseph as a newly married couple.   In Matthew 8:24, the Scripture verse quoted on this window,  we read "When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home."  I am not 100% sure if this stained glass window is meant to represent his betrothal to Mary, which in Our Lord's time was considered the first part of the marriage, the beginning of a time in which they would be married, but did not live together yet,  or if this represents the second part of the marriage ceremony so-to-speak,  in which the wife would finally move into the husband's home.  (In Jesus' time, there was several months gap in between the betrothal and the moving in together. )   I am guessing this image is referring to the later due to the relevant Scripture verse being placed under it.
The angel had been speaking to Joseph because after the betrothal Mary became pregnant without having relations to Joseph, and Joseph, fearing she had done something awful, wanted to quietly divorce her to avoid her being shamed and possibly stoned to death for adultery.  However, the angel told him of other plans God had for the two of them, and they, led by Joseph, went ahead with their marriage.

Because of this, I am sure Joseph and Mary both had feelings of anxiety as they began their married life together. They were not sure what this all meant, yet they showed trust in God, even right from the beginning of their marriage.  Anxiety might very well describe the feeling that many married couples today have as they begin their marriage.  In a sense, one cannot blame them for this.  Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce.   (I, unfortunately, know this first hand.)   The idea of a permanent commitment to one person for the duration of one's life is scary.  That is why we see prenuptial agreements, living together before marriage to "test" it out, sex before marriage to try to get a good feeling on the other person, kind of like a security blanket, for lack of a better word.   Finally, of course, we see marriage being redefined to include relationships where it is physically impossible to give or donate one's body to another because neither body is capable of receiving the other.   The "total commitment" of body and soul, so intrinsic to the nature of marriage, just makes the average person shutter at the realities and responsibilities that go with that, and so, we take "precautions", which are often sinful.

All of these reflect a certain, I think, anxiety about marriage.   Our Lord tells us, though, "Be not afraid" more than once in the Gospels.  He was speaking more generally than just on marriage, but His words can certainly apply to that ever so important Sacrament.  I am grateful that my parents provided a good example for me of faithfulness and love in marriage, they have been married almost 47 years now.  However, others may not have grown up in a family with a strong marital relationship.  They may see their friends struggling in marriage.  They may have failed at marriage themselves.  It is easy to lose hope in marriage, and as I said, be anxious about it.
Marriage is not easy.  As you know, and we will explore more in this blog, the lives of Joseph and Mary were not easy.  They endured many trials and tribulations.  Yet, they were both obedient to the Lord, and in the end, their marriage helped save the world, and continues to have positive effects to this day.  We can look to them if we are discouraged about our own marriage, or face anxiety or have lost hope in the reality of marriage for ourselves.

Joseph, husband of Mary, pray for us

Joseph and all the Saints

This is one of the stained glass windows at the Shrine.  It depicts Joseph as patron of the universal Church, a title I have mentioned several times already in the short life of this blog.   You can see Joseph standing guard and radiating influence on different types of church buildings, small and large.  He watches over from heaven the entire Church.

How the Church needs heavenly protection today!  We can no longer depend on government or society at large to protect the Church.  We should do what we can, but we know are fighting with forces that are stronger than us.  We know our strength is not enough.   We need the help of the Church triumphant in heaven, and that includes all the Saints, including Joseph, who have fought the battles here on Earth that we are fighting, and have won the prize of eternal life with the Blessed Trinity. 

Yet, in their love for the Lord, which translates into love of the people he has created (remember, one cannot have one without the other, according to the Word of God), they still fight for us.  You think they could and would rest, take it easy, say something like, "Heck, I made it.  Let them still down there duke it out themselves.  I'm going to rest."   They would be justified in believing and doing that. 

However, that is not a Saint's character.  Saints, who are typically very busy on Earth, continue to be very busy in heaven.  As they did on Earth, they continue to love and thirst for souls, in imitation of their Divine Master.   They will not rest until all souls have joined them up there.

We need to today think of the Church in heaven more often than we do. The more proper term, actually, for the Church in heaven is "Church triumphant".   The Church is made up of three groups; the "Church militant" (those of us still fighting the battle here on Earth), the "Church suffering" (the souls in purgatory who have died, and will be in heaven, but need to be purified first because of their sins), and then finally, the aforementioned "Church triumphant" (the saints in heaven). 

I think we need to stop thinking of heaven as a place in space and time.  It is beyond space and time, but it is not necessarily very far away.  Think of Our Lord after the Resurrection, he walked through doors.  He was beyond space and time.  He was in heaven, so to speak, but He was still very much right next to the disciples.  My point is heaven and earth are not distant realities from each other.  How we live on Earth, what we do, and do not do, has profound implications for our life in heaven.   This is why I believe "Church triumphant" is more accurate to say than "Church in heaven" because the former signifies a state of being, while the latter signifies a place.   Heaven is more a state of being than it is a place.

Saints like Joseph, members of this Church triumphant, are here to help us.   They intercede for us.  They pray for us.   They sometimes do miracles (in fact, to become a canonized saint, a miracle or two is usually required that can be attributed to that Saint.).   They are our family.  We need to remember them, as they remember us.   The Church is not just what we see around us;  the people, the buildings, the good things, and the not so good things.  There are other dimensions to the Church we need to consider, be aware of, and for lack of a better word, take advantage of, in our struggles here on Earth. 

Joseph, who was chaste, just , obedient, and faithful, can help us when we are tempted against any of those virtues.  Despite all the troubles going on in the world and the Church, he does not want to just watch afar from heaven.   He wants to send down rays of light and hope, as he is doing in the stained glass window pictured here, and fill us with faith, hope, and love to help us carry on in the battle for Christ and His Bride, the Church, whom He appointed Joseph as guardian and protector.

Joseph, Protector of Holy Church, pray for us.

 

Speaking of Saint Joseph

Well, today marks the start of the second week of this blog.  I thank those of you who have been reading this regularly, and welcome those of you who are starting to read it today.   This blog gives me a forum to express what is on my mind, which, as I stated in the first entry, became important to me after some recent developments in society that made me realize I had to stand up and do more for the Faith than I had before.  I had no idea which direction the blog would take.   I am very delighted with the direction it is taking.   I feel the Lord has a message He wants to get out.  I am not at all saying that His words are my words.  I believe, though, that through the words on this blog, He is sending a message, and I very humbled that He is using me as his messenger.
Towards the end of his life, Our Lord said to Saint Thomas Aquinas, "Thomas, you have written well of me." I can only pray I am doing the same.

Saint Joseph seems to have been the silent type.  As I stated, no words of his are spoken in Holy Scripture.  There exist no writings attributed to him, at least to my knowledge. Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, and His Mother (Joseph's wife) was conceived without sin, so it would be easy to minimize Joseph's role in Our Lord's upbringing, and to minimize the influence Joseph had on how well Our Lord turned out as a person.  But, this is a blog that is devoted to Saint Joseph, so why not give Joseph some credit.  Think of it, Mary was sinless, so I am sure she could have handled the role of being a single mother pretty well.  Yet, in God's plan, Joseph stayed, and was there throughout Our Lord's formidable years.  There has to be a reason for this.  It was not an accident that Joseph was there.   I am sure things turned out the way they did, at least in some small measure, due to the influence of Joseph.
Apparently, in Our Lord's time, Joseph was not seen as anything special.  The people asked about Jesus later in his life "is he not the carpenter's son" (Matthew 13:55).  They also asked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46)  This is a lesson for us. Being a good and holy person may not be seen in the eye's of the world as much, but where it counts, in God's eye, it means everything. Joseph did his job so well that he is now the patron of the universal Church.  This humble man, from a humble place, in a humble corner of the world, now sits guarding the entire Church from east to west, north to south, throughout the 7 continents, the young, the old, and everyone in between.  Joseph watches over the entire Church.   This is another lesson for us.  Be faithful in "small" things (though really there is nothing small in God's eyes), and only then, can you be ready to take on the "larger" things.
It seems like today Joseph is getting a similar reaction that he did in his time, a combination of indifference, ingratitude, and under-appreciation.  Perhaps one of the purposes of this blog that God had in mind was to bring Saint Joseph back to the forefront in discussion and in the  life of people today.  He has something to say, perhaps not so much by his words, but by his actions and personal qualities.  He is truly a man whose actions speak louder than his words.  We have not spoken much about his actions yet in this blog, but will as time goes on.  At the Shrine where I attend Mass, just about every stained glass window has Saint Joseph in it.  They depict different scenes in his life, as noted in either Scripture, Tradition, or both.  There are paintings, as well, of him.  I look forward to sharing them with you and speaking about different events in his life, while at the same time, discussing current events in the world and the Church, as well as the Christian spiritual and moral life.  God, of course, could have other plans for me and this blog, but for now, I do not see that happening.
Feel free to bookmark this page and share it with anyone you know who might be interested. My Facebook and Twitter friends are aware of this blog,  but I do hope to spread the word about it in the weeks and months ahead to a wider audience on the Internet.

I wish you all another great week in the Lord, and I thank you for your time.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

-Jim

The Church

I saw a sign on my way home tonight as I drove past a Catholic parish.  Our Protestant brothers and sisters are known for putting signs outside their churches with a line or quote that try to make you think or get a reaction of some sort.  It is not quite as usual to see one by a Catholic church.  The line that I did see tonight at one, though,  is one I imagine some of you have seen, heard, or read before, be it at a Protestant or Catholic church:

"What is missing from Ch ch?  U r."

I thought to myself whether or not that sign accurately reflects the reality of the situation, especially since it was posted on the property of a Catholic parish.   There is nothing missing in the Catholic Church.  The Church has the fullness of Truth.   There are some things in the Church that are not right, of course, but in terms of lacking anything, it does not.   
I think often times we hear so much about what is not right in the Church, how it is suffering so much, how few people go, and perhaps even how irrelevant it is.   All of these are things that we absolutely should be concerned with.
However, the majesty and beauty that is the Church needs to be discussed all well.  Despite the sin and weakness in the Church. there is a divine element to it, that makes it ever so glorious and perfect.  Let me quote a few lines from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
#763  "The Church is the Reign of Christ already presence in mystery."  Christ is the King of the Church, wow what a King!
#768 "Henceforward the Church...receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is on earth the seed and the beginning of that kingdom."  God's Kingdom with Christ as King will be fully achieved at some point, but to think that the Church is the seed of that Kingdom, how important it must be!
#775 "The Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God.  Because men's communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race."   The Church is the sign and instrument of unity between God and His people.  The Church is where the human meets the Divine!
#823 "The Church is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy.  This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy', loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.  The Church, then, is "the holy people of God", and her members are called "saints".   Wow, isn't that beautiful?  I love the image of the Church as the Bride of Christ.  The Church has received so much from Our Lord that She cannot possibly be anything less than the fullness of Truth, the fullness of Life, the fullness of Love.  Who would not want to be a part of this?  
While the local parish may be missing you, and rightfully wants you to come back to regular attendance at Mass, the real truth of the matter (and this does not read well in parish bulletins or signs on the front lawn of the church), is that it is you who are missing out more so than the Church.  The Church has the fullness of everything, with or without you, and it is truly humbling to think that despite that, Our Lord, working through Her, never stops calling your name, and trying to draw you into His loving embrace which is sacramentalized fully only by becoming a living active member of the Church.

In 1870, Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church.  On earth, he guarded and watched over Our Blessed Lord.  From heaven, he does the same for the Church who, while perfect, battles with sin as it gathers sinful people in a sinful world into her bosom to build up an army of saints for the Kingdom of Christ.

Joseph, protector of Holy Church, pray for us.

Who am I?

Psalm 139:14 says "I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."    The Psalmist was expressing his awe at the wonder of creation.   You know, speaking of creation,  the environment is a hot topic these days, especially after the Holy Father's latest encyclical was released.  I do not feel right commenting on that document, because I have not read it in its entirety. That may be a post for another day.   I am digressing again.  

My point that I was going to make is that we often speak of marveling at the beauty of what is traditionally referred to as creation; the sun, the moon, the stars, the land, the ocean, the mountains, etc.   However, we do not talk enough, I think, about the beauty that is our own creation.  Can we, from the bottom of the heart, say what the Psalmist said about our own bodies and souls?   Some of us cannot because we are so down on ourselves.  Some of us cannot because we are too proud and mighty to acknowledge God who created us.

The recent situation of the former Olympic athlete who underwent a "sex change" (yes, there are those quotes again, meaning I do not think there can be such a thing, but am using it due to its popular use only) caused me to think of this passage.   I do not think, unfortunately, that "she" would be in a position to say what the Psalmist said from the heart.  He (at that time) would have said "I detest you because I am not wonderfully made, and now I am going to do something about it."   Now, "she" probably says "I am wonderfully made because I made myself."

I cannot help but think if society had a greater reverence for the human person because we know we are created in the image and likeness of God, then more people would be at peace with who they are as male and female, and there would be less cases of people wanting a "sex change", or, (and I know this will be controversial, but I will say it anyway), there would be less cases of people wanting to act out unnatural inclinations, such as same-sex attraction. 
Quite simply, we are not at peace with who we are.  We are not comfortable in our own skin, so to speak.  It is because we have forgotten (or sometimes, outright dismissed) our Creator, our Heavenly Father.

We can undergo operations all we want, but we cannot change what God has created us to be.  If we are born a man, we cannot become a woman, no matter how much money we spend on an operation. (I think the more accurate term here is "mutilation" because, to me, an operation is something we have done to fix something.  There is nothing to be fixed here.)   Similarly, if we are born a woman, we cannot become a man.  When we appear before the judgment seat, we will come before Him as we are created, not as we "changed" ourselves.  God will ask us what we did with the gifts He gave us, and this includes our gender.  Did we live out our full masculinity?  Did we live out our full femininity?  I pray for the soul of this former athlete  and anyone who has undergone an "operation" to change their God-given bodies into something they were not created to be.

Saint Joseph faced some difficult situations in his life.  There is a prayer to him that I think would apply well to those who are tempted to think their God-given genders are not part of their identity, as it does to all people who are tempted, which is all of us.   I only wish this famous person would have said this prayer prior to doing what he did, and hopefully, "she" says it often before "her" death, before "she" faces the judgment seat of God.

O Glorious St. Joseph, you who have power to render possible even things that are considered impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair (my confusion over my gender) under your particular protection that it may end happily.

O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is in you. Let it not be said that we would invoke you in vain; and since you are so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that your goodness equals your power. Amen.

Work

Saint Joseph was the model worker.   There is no other Saint to my knowledge with that title "The Worker".  
This blog provides the perspective of an average Catholic layman who works for a living.  I am not a professional blogger, a person who gets paid for doing this (though I can always dream lol, we know for sure Joseph did [see Matthew 1:18-25]....but I digress.)   I work and get paid by an average American company.
My company is what is commonly called a "broker".   In a sense, my company "brokers" deals between customers like Wal-Mart and Kroger, and clients like Smuckers and Unilever.  (This is not the forum to reveal or discuss my company's name or my specific team's customer and client, but I can discuss privately if you would like. )
My company does this "brokering" at both the corporate and retail level.   I supervise a team of merchandisers who do that at the retail level.   We work with the individual stores to sell in displays, get product orders, and fill the shelves.   That is basically it in a nutshell, nothing too complicated or out of the ordinary.  
Yet, you know what, we can make the ordinary extraordinary.   We can use each moment of every day, each circumstance or situation we find ourselves in at work, as a moment of grace to allow God to use us to spread His Kingdom.  I remember the famous college basketball coach Jim Valvano said one time "God must love ordinary people because he sure made a whole lot of us."   I am not talking about spreading His Kingdom by words, important as that is sometimes, but rather, how we respond to the different situations we find ourselves in, and what we do with them.   Every time we tell a co-worker something positive,  every time we give someone recognition, every time we work with someone who is struggling and help lift them up, every time we face a challenging situation with something positive, we are spreading the Kingdom of God.
This is what keeps me going in my work.  I wake up every morning, and ask how I can make an impact today.  I wake up, find the Lord in prayer, and ask Him to stay close to me throughout the day, no matter how busy I get, so I can always hear His voice calling me gently as He guides me.  I used to be go-getter, and always be pushing to do more and more, and get stressed if things were not going a certain way.   Now, I find myself more being quietly attentive to the Lord, and respond to what He is telling me to do, and I do not get as stressed.  I feel I am accomplishing more this way.  Every moment I have stressed in my life, I could have been doing something constructive.   Now, without that stress, I am doing something constructive more often and truly participating in God's recreation of the world that he began in His Son.  We get more done by following Him than we do without Him, believe me.

For some reason, I cannot imagine Saint Joseph allowing stress to get to him as he worked.  My guess is that he did not get stressed too often as he does not strike me as that kind of person, but I could be wrong.  If he did, I imagine he turned to the Lord in prayer to help him deal with it (or he just talked to his Divine child, and his sinless wife, and I guess that could always help :)) .   Joseph struck me as a quiet man, and although being quiet does not necessarily mean one is not stressed, I think chances are he lived most of his days with an inner calm and tranquility, knowing the Lord was active in his life.  Again, this is just a speculation on my part, not a doctrinal statement.

Saint Joseph the Worker is a model for everyone who works for a living.  Have faith and trust in the Lord, work hard, and God will bless your work for the sake of the Kingdom.

Joseph, model of artisans, pray for us.

Two conventions

I am going to try to make a point, and hope I make it intelligently.

I live next door to an arena.   In fact, I live between a minor league baseball stadium and the aforementioned arena.  So I am surrounded by sports!  The arena is owned by the local college,  the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.  During the school year, the school uses the facility for different purposes, especially for sporting events like the games played by the UMass-Lowell ice hockey team.   During the summer, though, (and I imagine at other times of the year, as well), other groups are allowed to use it when the school is not.
This summer, different religious groups have used it.  I have lived here for five weeks now, and it seemed every weekend up until this past one, the Jehovah Witnesses have used it for a meeting.  Every weekend, I would see families coming together, dressed to the max, and while I do not know exactly what was going on inside, I would imagine they were hearing some talks on their faith, perhaps doing some faith sharing, and likely praying together.
Before I move on to my main point, let me state that I do not agree theologically with Jehovah's Witness.  They do not believe Jesus is God, like Catholics do.  There are other things they believe that I do not, such an earthly kingdom will be coming, and that there is no hell.   They, however, do believe, though, that Jesus came from heaven and that he opened the door to salvation by his death on the Cross.  They believe one should follow his teachings.  So, they do have a fair degree of truth in what they practice and believe.
I myself, do believe 100% of what the Roman Catholic church teaches because I believe it is clear from the evidence that Jesus Christ founded one Church, and that He intended everyone to be a member of that one Church.   Therefore, it stands to reason that He would protect it from teaching error.
Having said that, while I agree 100% with what the Catholic Church teaches, I do not agree 100% with how Roman Catholics behave.  This is a key distinction that must be made in a society that does not like to make distinctions between people and actions.

So, I guess we finally come to the first point I am trying to make.   While I do not agree with everything Jehovah's Witnesses believe, I absolutely respect the way they were dressed and behaved for their meetings over the past several weekends.   It was great especially to see families coming together to fellowship, pray and learn together.

This past weekend, they were not there.  Instead, there was a Catholic youth convention.  This is a popular youth event that is held in different parts of the country, and is coordinated by a very respected Catholic college in Ohio.  High school students come in groups to fellowship with their peers, worship, pray, and learn more about their Faith.  I have heard many positive things about these weekend conventions, and I have no doubt that God works through the people that run them to touch the lives of many youth, who in turn, touch others with what they have witnessed.

However, I cannot help but contrast the two images.  In one group, we saw families coming together, dressed to the max, men in jacket and ties, ladies in dresses, and the children dressed very nice, as well.  In the other group, this past weekend, we saw young people, mostly without their parents, dressed in shorts and tee shirts.   I cannot help to think, boy would it not be great if we could have Catholic family conventions, where Catholics come as families to learn about the Faith, and grow together, as a family.  I think this is a sign of one of the problems in the Church today, we are not the family of God we are supposed to be.  We are a bunch of individuals, living our own lives, isolated from one another.
The contrasts between the two groups gave me food for thought, and I hope it does for you, as well.   One group was learning the fullness of Faith, the other only some truth, and some error.  However, the latter group,  in its outward presentation at least, I feel, to me, gave me a fuller witness to how things should be, families praying and learning the Faith together.

Joseph, Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

Protecting the most vulnerable as Joseph did

Today a second video was released that was a result of undercover work done by a pro-life organization.  It showed a person at Planned Parenthood reportedly putting a price tag in the form of a fancy car, on the work of extracting and transporting parts from aborted fetuses.  This is in addition to the video from last week that shows another Planned Parenthood employee discussing ever so casually the gruesome process of how they extract parts of a fetus to use for "research".  Both of these videos are very disturbing, and should not be shown to young children.  Adults, though, need to see them.  (I was a junior high teacher for a short period of time, and I remember one day showing a video about abortion, and my students were horrified by what they saw.   They had no idea what was involved.  That day, they were "shocked" into being pro-life.   I respect those who may disagree with the approach, but I did it, and quite frankly, have not lost any sleep over that. )

We talk a lot about different societal issues these days.  We talk about racism, sexism, homophobia, class warfare, the environment, and fascism.  All of these are important issues to discuss.   However, I think these videos shows us (and they say there are more videos coming, by the way) is that underneath all these issues is a more fundamental issue; the lack of respect for human life.  Imagine, for a second, if we got rid of racism, sexism, homophobia, class warfare, fascism, and we made the environment clean, but things like what are going on in this video still were, would we say we were a better society?  I, for one, would certainly not.
However, that will not be the case, I guarantee you.  Until we get more respect for human life in this country, at all stages, from conception until natural death, then all those aforementioned problems will continue to exist, mark my words.  Think of it this way: if we think a baby in the womb can be discarded, an innocent thing who has done nothing wrong, then why do we think we can treat people of color, people of sexual orientation, the opposite gender, or poor people with any dignity?  Babies are the most vulnerable among us.   If we cannot treat the most vulnerable among us with dignity, then these other "vulnerable" groups stand no chance.

In the litany to Saint Joseph, one of the lines is " Joseph, diligent protector of Christ, pray for us."  Saint Joseph guarded Our Lord when He was most vulnerable as an infant, both before and after His birth.  He is a model for us how to take care of those most vulnerable.  Let us be more like him.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Joseph the Worker

This is the statue of Saint Joseph the Worker that is housed in the Shrine.  If you are looking from the nave of the church into the sanctuary, it is to the right of the sanctuary.   Just to the left of his statue is a statue of Saint Eugene de Mazenod, the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The Shrine has many stained glass windows, and murals, that depict events in the life of Saint Joseph, and I am sure I will share some of those with you as time goes on. (Of course, if you are in the Lowell area, I encourage you to come to the Shrine and see for yourself.)
The amazing thing about Saint Joseph, for me, is that he is revered, such a key figure in salvation history, and a Saint, despite not a single spoken word of his in recorded in Scripture, not one..zero, zilch, nada.   Tell me a quote of Saint Joseph, tell me something he said.  You cannot.  Scripture speaks of him, but he himself never says a word.
I think there is meaning to this for us, especially when we consider him under the title Saint Joseph the Worker.  I think more of us need to imitate him as a quiet worker.  We should do our work humbly, quietly, not seeking attention.  The world wants us to seek attention, seek power, seek recognition.  To a degree, that is healthy.  It is healthy to receive attention, recognition, and yes, even some degree of power.   However, we really shouldn't be seeking it. 
Is that why the Church is in the condition it is today?  Have too many of her members been living their lives seeking recognition, attention, and power?  Do we speak too much and listen little?  Do we seek the glory of man, and miss the angels around us, speaking to us?   We need to look to Joseph as a model how it should be done. He lived his days out in quiet, he did not want attention, he rarely spoke.  Yet, God willed him to be the earthly father of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. There is a group called the Men of Saint Joseph in a parish I know of, and probably such a group exists in more parishes, too.  Men, indeed, need to look to Saint Joseph as a model.   Women should emulate a lot of these qualities too, but I think men struggle more than women to do so. 
If you can, look at the statue more closely.  (Yes, I am not the best picture taker, sorry. You can probably find a better picture online.)   Despite my amateur photo taking abilities,  you should be able to see the following, at least I do.  I see a strong rugged man.   With his sleeves rolled up, carrying a saw, and what appears to be a tool kit, and a vibrant looking face, he is a man's man.  He is a hard working man who takes pride in his work. 
This should send a message to all men out there, especially those who work hard, and take pride in their work.  It is OK to be a man of God. It is OK to be humble.  It is OK to shut up once in awhile, and listen to the Lord.
Saint Joseph worked hard, prayed hard, and I would imagine, the times he did play with Our Blessed Lord as an infant, child, teenager, and young adult, he probably played hard, too.   I am sure Our Lord and him had fun together.  Being a man of God does not mean you will not have any fun in life.  Being men and women of God will help us enjoy the good of this world the way we should enjoy the good, as gifts from God. It will help us get through the tough times.  Read the Bible selections about Joseph, they will not take you long at all.  He only appears in two of the four Gospels, and not for long in each.  You will get an idea what I am talking about.
I am sure as time goes on in this blog, I will speak more about Saint Joseph.  Saint Joseph, I am sure, though, would tell me to speak less and listen more.  Listen to the quiet voice of the Lord, be humble, live your life in an unassuming way, which will allow you to more easily follow the promptings of the Lord.  You will do great things in this life, if you do this, as Joseph did, and while you may not receive earthy recognition, fame, or fortune, you will receive heavenly treasures, which you will begin to experience in this life, even as fullness of them awaits only in the next.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!   I will be posting here as often as I can, or as often as I have something I wish to share.   My name is Jim and I am a Catholic layman living in Lowell, Massachusetts.   I chose to title this blog as I did because I regularly attend Saint Joseph the Worker Shrine, a beautiful Roman Catholic shrine in downtown Lowell.  It is, as is often said, "a hidden jewel in the city of Lowell".   In fact, during this weekend's upcoming Lowell Folk Festival, they will be doing some outreach to try to lure some of the 100,000 visitors that are expected for the city's annual event to make their way into the Shrine.  Unfortunately, most people around here are not aware of this beautiful place. It is hidden away as they say, tucked away between a side street and an alley.  They offer 3 Masses a day 7 days a week, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation 6 days a week.  It is staffed by priests of the religious order the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.  It has become a spiritual home for me.
Having said that, I must make very clear this is my blog, and this blog is 100% my reflections only, and is not affiliated in any way officially or unofficially with the Shrine.  I would be happy if this blog serves to further raise awareness of this beautiful place, but this blog is not something any staff member of the Shrine has endorsed or encouraged.  I am doing this strictly on my own, hopefully in line with the will of Our Lord.
I do not know what direction this blog will take.  I do not know how often I will update it.  I am just starting it on faith, and see where it goes. I pray that God speaks through this blog to whoever reads it, and one is moved to at least ponder some things in his or her life.
I realize there are a lot of Catholic blogs out there, so I am not sure if anything I say will be original.  I guess whether or not it is original is not as important as whether what I say provides food for thought or not.
As I stated, I consider myself to be an average Catholic layman.  I am single in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of the Church yet.  (I will not speak any more on that publically for now.)  I did spend some time in the mid-90's in a Diocesan seminary discerning a priestly vocation.  I also spent some time before that discerning a monastic vocation.   So, no, I am not a professionally trained lay minister in the Church, but I did feel I should disclose that I have received some formal education in the Faith, perhaps more than the average person.  Regardless, I think most of my reflections will come from education I have received in the "field of life" so to speak, with interactions with others, spiritual reading, keeping up on current events, etc.
I was inspired to start this blog a few weeks ago after the Supreme Court decision which approved same-sex "marriage".   You can probably tell from the fact that I put that word in quotes that I do not believe there is such a thing in nature, but it is in the law, and I acknowledge that.  When the law goes against nature, however, there are issues, and I am sure that will be something I talk about.   I felt that with this decision, the Church was officially put on the outskirts of society. The Church is being pushed to the edge of extinction, of irrelevancy, some would say.  If one is Catholic nowadays, and does not feel a little bit like an outsider, then  I would contend he or she is not has not integrated their life with their Faith fully.
After that decision was made, I looked myself in the mirror (as I hope many Catholics did) and asked if I truly was doing all I could do for the Faith.  The starting of this blog is a result of that reflection that occurred.  I needed a forum besides my Facebook page (which is not designed for long posts) to say what I want to say, and do what I can for Christ and His Church in Her time of need.
This blog will be a work in progress, I am hoping it will improve as time goes on.  I welcome any suggestions, criticisms, compliments, comments, and ideas for topics.
So, here we go, I hope you enjoy the posts I will make on this page.  I would encourage you to bookmark this, and check for updates.

-Jim