St. Joseph, Mary Garden Patron

May is the month of Mary and a good time to think of Mary Gardens as well as St. Joseph as a Mary Garden patron.

Artist Ade Bethune, a Mary gardener, designed the statue depicted above for placement in her Mary Garden. An article about the statue found on the extensive Mary Gardens website states regarding St. Joseph:

"As prayerful workman, most chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin, and foster father of Jesus, he is the example and inspiration for every aspect of our Mary Garden work, both prayerful and practical. . . .

"To bring St. Joseph closer to us as we work with the soil, and to assist us in meditating on his example, in beseeching his intercession and in contemplating his life with Mary and Jesus, we can use to advantage a suitable outdoor image or likeness of St. Joseph. . . .

"This statue is identified as that of St. Joseph, most chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin and foster father of Jesus, by the flowering staff, the traditional emblem of St. Joseph, clasped in his left hand.

"St. Joseph, patron of all workmen and provider for the Holy Family, is represented in a special manner for garden and farm workmen as kneeling at garden work with a small cultivating tool in his right hand.

"A sense of St. Joseph's fidelity to grace and to the interior life, and of his faithful watchfulness for God's will and providence, is conveyed by the artist's representation of his countenance and of the entire bearing of his body.

"At the same time, the statue's body and countenance show a strength which bespeaks St. Joseph's fitness as protector of the Holy Family and the Church and also as model for all workmen. It likewise testifies to the strength of his purity and chastity.

"The cultivating tool recalls for us that garden work and all work is a stewardship of God's creatures. It recalls also the analogies between the cultivation of plant life and of the spiritual life. . . .

"Beholding the statue as we work outdoors, we are reminded that all our work, too, should be performed recollectedly, with prayerful intentions and custody of heart, and that from time to time we should pause for a moment to give our attention fully to Our Lady and to the divine Child, that our work, like St. Joseph's, will become a continual prayer of devotion, praise and thanksgiving."

Read more at the link above.

 

This Glorious Saint: St. Joseph

Today March 19, is the feast of St. Joseph, to whom St. Teresa of Avila had a great devotion. Here is what she had to say about him in Chapter Six of her Autobiography:

I took for my advocate and lord the glorious Saint Joseph and commended myself earnestly to him; and I found that this my father and lord delivered me both from this trouble and also from other and greater troubles concerning my honor and the loss of my soul, and that he gave me greater blessings than I could ask of him.

I do not remember even now that I have ever asked anything of him which he has failed to grant.

I am astonished at the great favors which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint, and at the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul.

To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succor us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succors us in them all and that the Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject to him on earth (for, being His guardian and being called His father, he could command Him) just so in Heaven He still does all that he asks.

This has also been the experience of other persons whom I have advised to commend themselves to him; and even to-day there are many who have great devotion to him through having newly experienced this truth.

I wish I could persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint, for I have great experience of the blessings which he can obtain from God. I have never known anyone to be truly devoted to him and render him particular services who did not notably advance in virtue, for he gives very real help to souls who commend themselves to him.

For some years now, I think, I have made some request of him every year on his festival and I have always had it granted. If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good.

I only beg, for the love of God, that anyone who does not believe me will put what I say to the test, and he will see by experience what great advantages come from his commending himself to this glorious patriarch and having devotion to him.

Those who practice prayer should have a special affection for him always. I do not know how anyone can think of the Queen of the Angels, during the time that she suffered so much with the Child Jesus, without giving thanks to Saint Joseph for the way he helped them.

If anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious saint as his master and he will not go astray.

Image: Escalante's, "St. Joseph and the Infant Christ." Oil on canvas (1660-1665). From the Web Gallery of Art.

The Litany of St. Joseph

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Holy Trinity, one God. Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Noble son of the House of David, pray for us.
Light of patriarchs, pray for us.
Husband of the Mother of God, pray for us.
Guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.
Foster father of the Son of God, pray for us.
Faithful guardian of Christ, pray for us.
Head of the holy family, pray for us.
Joseph, chaste and just, pray for us.
Joseph, prudent and brave, pray for us.
Joseph, obedient and loyal, pray for us.
Pattern of patience, pray for us.
Lover of poverty, pray for us.
Model of workers, pray for us.
Example to parents, pray for us.
Guardian of virgins, pray for us.
Pillar of family life, pray for us.
Comfort of the troubled, pray for us.
Hope of the sick, pray for us.
Patron of the dying, pray for us.
Terror of evil spirits, pray for us.
Protector of the Church, pray for us.

Lamb of God, you take away
the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away
the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away
the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.

V. God made him master of his household.
R. And put him in charge of all that he owned.

Let us pray.
Almighty God,
in your infinite wisdom and love
you chose Joseph to be the husband of Mary,
the mother of your Son.
As we enjoy his protection on earth,
may we have the help of his prayers in heaven.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

March 19 is the feast day of St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church.
The image above is the painting "Joseph with the Infant Christ" by Murillo (1666)

Prayer to St. Joseph in Time of Distress

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph.  Also, Holy Mother Church dedicates the month of March to St. Joseph. He is indeed a powerful intercessor.

We come to thee, O blessed Joseph, in our sore distress. Having sought the aid of thy most blessed spouse, we now confidently implore thy assistance also. We humbly beg that, mindful of the dutiful affection which bound thee to the immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and of the fatherly love with which thou didst cherish the Child Jesus, thou wilt lovingly watch over the heritage which Jesus Christ purchased with His blood, and by thy powerful intercession help us in our urgent need.

Most powerful guardian of the Holy Family, protect the chosen race of Jesus Christ; drive far from us, most loving father, every pest of error and corrupting sin. From thy place in heaven, most powerful protector, graciously come to our aid in this conflict with the power of darkness, and as of old thou didst deliver the Child Jesus from supreme peril of life, so now defend the holy Church of God from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity.

Have each of us always in thy keeping that, following thy example, and borne up by thy strength, we may be able to live holy, die happily, and so enter the everlasting bliss of heaven. Amen.

Sources: Prayerbook.com (prayer text); Wikipedia (image)