It is not hard to see why St. Joseph would be called upon to intercede for husbands and fathers. Because of his unique relationship to Jesus and Mary, he is among heaven’s most powerful protectors and intercessors.
St. Joseph was the head of the Holy Family, not because he was the most holy (he was least in that respect next to Jesus and Mary); he was the head of the Holy Family because he was the father of the family. If we understand that the “first family” was created as a reflection of the Triune God, of Three in One, we can see that this first family was a prototype of all families.
Families would become the smallest and most basic unit of society, and the plan for the human family was a true reflection of God Himself.
St. Paul said in Ephesians 3:14-15:
I bow my knees to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named.
We know that fathers and husbands are as crucial in the lives of families today as they have ever been, and yet they are also under attack in more ways than ever before. Today the devil is on the prowl because he knows that to strike at families is to strike at the heart of humanity.
This is why we must pray for our husbands and fathers! The Feast of St. Joseph (March 19), which falls during Lent, is the perfect opportunity to renew our prayers for these men in our lives in a very special and specific way and to ask St. Joseph for his powerful intercession.
As head of the Holy Family, St. Joseph is also the patron and guardian of every Christian family. The family is the primary place of formation, instruction in prayer, and the teaching of virtues, ethics, and moral values. And yet it often can be difficult for husbands and fathers to be the head of their own families when faced with such a strong adversary as our modern culture—which seems to stand against the family at every turn.
St. Joseph, pray for families!
Why St. Joseph Is So Powerful for Families
God the Father gave St. Joseph authority over Mary and the Divine Child. God chose him for this role and enriched him, giving him particular gifts for his fatherhood and every other duty entrusted to him. St. Joseph received these gifts with humility, putting himself and his life at the service of God and Mary and Jesus.
For this reason, he is the perfect model of holiness for husbands and fathers.
When Joseph was troubled by Mary’s pregnancy, an angel appeared to him in a dream and from that point on, Joseph believed and obeyed. His incredible faith and trust in God enabled him to surrender his plans, dreams, and assumptions about his life to take on a fatherhood he had never expected and a mystery he’d never imagined—all for the love of God.
In this way, we can recognize that Joseph must have had a strong interior life:
The same silence that characterizes the life of St. Joseph also reveals the deep union between the contemplative and active life in this beloved saint. The Gospels announce what Joseph did. They do not present a single word of what he said. All that he did in the Gospels evidences a spirit of deep contemplation. God would not have subjected Himself to the authority and care of someone who was not seeking to know Him in holiness and to live in His law. For these reasons we know that St. Joseph was a holy man who sought the face of God in prayer.
6 Truths About St. Joseph, Our Spiritual Father, Catholic Company Magazine
We can ask Our Lord – on behalf of our husbands and fathers – for an interior life that seeks Him in all things.
And as one who lived alongside Jesus as his earthly father and who had his own life of prayer, we can ask St. Joseph for intercessory prayers. In this way, we are asking for special assistance for our husbands and fathers in their significant and profound vocations.
St. Joseph pray for families!
St. Joseph at Fatima
While many know about the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal, some might not be aware that St. Joseph also appeared there.
On October 13th, 1917, during the final apparition of Our Lady at Fatima (the day of the Miracle of the Sun), St. Joseph also appeared, holding the Child Jesus.
It could be said that this last apparition of Fatima was the most powerful. It was then, around noon, that the sun appeared to leave its normal place in the heavens and, according to a witness, began to “whirl in a crazy and erratic manner” and then head toward earth in front of 70,000 onlookers, causing terror in those watching. One columnist who was present reported that:
“Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, the sun trembled and danced. Suddenly it seemed to fall until it almost reached the earth, but then it stopped, slowly making its way back into the sky.”
The order of the apparition was as follows, according to the words of Sister Lucia (one of the three children):
. . . Then opening her hands, she (Our Lady) made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her light continued to be projected on the sun itself . . . After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When a little later, this apparition disappeared I saw Our Lord and Our Lady . . . Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done.
Sister Lucia, as quoted in St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood
Monsignor Joseph A. Cirrincione, in his booklet St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood, explains his belief that the scenes of Fatima foreshadow the “consequences for the world which are sure to be felt if the true fatherhood of God and the strong role of the father of the family are rejected by mankind. Having the advantage of hindsight, I declare that such consequences have already come to pass.”
The visits to St. Joseph by the angel in Scripture
When the life of the Child was in danger after the visit of the Magi, God again sent an angel to Joseph with a message: “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt; and be there until I shall tell thee” (Matt. 2:13). And then again, when the danger was over, another angel came as a messenger, saying, “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel.” Finally, when he was thinking of settling with Mary and the Christ Child in Judea, Joseph was warned in a dream that this would be dangerous, and so he went back and settled in Nazareth. Thus we see that it was St. Joseph to whom God the Father gave instructions for the Holy Family.
Just as God united Mary to Himself in a unique and intimate manner through her conception of the Child Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, “so He willed to unite St. Joseph to Himself in a unique and intimate manner in the exercise of His fatherhood of Jesus” (St. Joseph, Fatima, and Fatherhood).
St. Joseph, as the head of the family, shared God’s authority, as does every human father. The source of the authority comes from the office, not the person. Yet because of that role, St. Joseph was burdened with responsibilities and duties that came along with his fatherhood. This is the same for all fathers. No father is perfect. St. Joseph was as close to that as a human being could be. And so let us ask for his intercession for our own husbands and fathers.
St. Joseph, pray for families!
The Message of St. Joseph at Fatima
How does the message of Fatima relate to the role of fatherhood today? When the children and all of the 70,000 onlookers saw the sun move about in a wild fashion and begin to descend toward earth, they were terrified. Many believed it was the end of the world. This is understandable since we always count on the sun moving normally in the sky, and it was observed to be moving wildly about, apart from the laws of nature.
According to some who have studied the apparitions at Fatima, the vision of the Holy Family—with the peaceful St. Joseph and the Child Jesus—seems to contrast with the events of the “Miracle of the Sun,” in which the sun whirled about in the sky just moments later. According to Msgr. Joseph Cirrincione:
. . . the future event which both scenes foreshadow, has to do with fatherhood . . . St. Joseph was holding the Child Jesus and both were blessing the world, while Our Lady of the Rosary looked on. I see in that peaceful scene a reminder of what we pray in the Litany of St. Joseph, ‘Head of the Holy Family, Pray for us.’ And in the convulsions of the sun, I see an ominous foreshadowing of the consequences for the world which are sure to be felt if the true fatherhood of the family is rejected by mankind.
Msgr. Joseph Cirrincione, St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood
Fatima has been called the “Hope of the World” because it was there that God intervened in an astounding way in human affairs.
“From the earliest times,” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said, “humanity has succeeded in unleashing a cycle of death and terror, but failed in bringing it to an end.” For this reason, he said, the message of Fatima continues its relevance for the world. “We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete,” he said.
Can We Still Have Hope?
It is apparent, now more than ever, that fatherhood has been diminished and that many see it as old-fashioned and unnecessary. Even the role of priests as fathers is challenged in society today. Yet there is no denying that the role of fathers will always be crucial to family life and to the life of the Church.
We can—and should!—still have hope.
We can never lose sight of that true hope that is a sign of our faith, and the vision of St. Joseph and Jesus blessing the world at Fatima should bring us tremendous hope.
The vision of St. Joseph and the Infant Jesus blessing the world, with Mary by the side of the sun which has not left its place, is God’s assurance that though men may reject Him, God will never reject man.
Msgr. Joseph Cirrincione, St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood
The “Miracle of the Sun” is not a debatable event, it is a historic one, witnessed by approximately 70,000 who were there that day. By applying that knowledge with our faith in God we can continue to pray in the way that Our Lady requested, especially for our husbands and fathers.
Let us never tire of asking for St. Joseph’s powerful intercession for families everywhere.
St. Joseph, pray for families!
The Earliest Known Prayer to St. Joseph (circa 50 A.D.)
O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.
O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your divine son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.
O St. Joseph, I never tire of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.
Do you honor St. Joseph in a special way on his feast days or other days? How?
Do you pray for your family by asking for the intercession of St. Joseph?
To learn more about St. Joseph, sign up for the March edition of our Year of Devotions series.
