Childhood of Christ - by HONTHORST, Gerrit van - from The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Childhood of Christ - by HONTHORST, Gerrit van -
from The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
On March 19, 1905, Saint Joseph himself told the Breton Stigmatist, Marie-Julie Jahenny, speaking of the coming chastisement, after announcing that the punishments will be increased because no notice was taken of the warnings of Our Lady of Salette, added: "Ah, I am invoked very little . . . And yet, I come immediately after Jesus and Mary, Who take pleasure in keeping their treasures at my disposition . . . And note well, I have more pleasure in granting your request than you have of having them granted . . . Why? Yes, why do you invoke me so little? . . . "
--------Marie-Julie
Jahenny: THE BRETON STIGMATIST,
Marquis de la Franquerie
all men under his fatherly care, and to inspire them with veneration for a Saint to whom He confided the most precious trust ------ the Savior of the World, the Incarnate Word, the Source of all Delights, and the Center of all the Riches of Paradise. This motive alone suffices to inspire us with a tender devotion to Saint Joseph; but a still more powerful one is the example which the Son of the Most High has given us.
When Jesus Christ, while hanging on the Cross, said to His blessed Mother, pointing at the same time to Saint John the Apostle, "Woman, behold thy son . . . Behold thy mother", He intended to place all the human race under her protection in the person of the beloved disciple, who then, says Saint Bernardine of Sienna, represented all the 'elect'.
In like manner, we may believe that the Eternal Father, in appointing Saint Joseph, in his capacity of Head of the Holy Family, to guide and protect Jesus and Mary during the flight into Egypt, to watch over and provide for them, designed to place
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Remember, most pure spouse of the Virgin Mary, Saint
Joseph, our beloved patron, never was it known that anyone invoked your protection and
sought your aid without being comforted. Inspired with this confidence, I come to you and
commend myself to you. Do not despise my petition, dear foster father of our Redeemer, but
accept them graciously and pray for me to your adopted Son, Our Lord. 
Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who implored your help and sought your intercession
was left unassisted. Full of confidence in your power I fly unto you and beg your
protection. Despise not O Guardian of the Redeemer my humble supplication, but in your
bounty, hear and answer me. 
Glorious Saint Joseph, foster father and protector of
Jesus Christ, to you I raise my heart and my hands to implore your powerful intercession.
Please obtain for me from the kind Heart of Jesus the help and the graces necessary for my
spiritual and temporal welfare. I ask particularly for the grace of a happy death and the
special favor I now implore. 
Blessed Joseph, husband of Mary, be with
us this day. You protected and cherished the Virgin; loving the Child Jesus as your Son,
you rescued Him from the danger of death. Defend the Church, the household of God,
purchased by the Blood of Christ. 
O Blessed Joseph, happy man, to whom it was given not
only to see and to hear that God Whom many kings longed to see, and saw not, to hear, and
heard not; but also to carry Him in your arms, to embrace Him, to clothe Him, and guard
and defend Him. 
O Glorious Saint Joseph, you were chosen by God to be
the foster father of Jesus, the most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, and the head of the
Holy Family. You have been chosen by Christ's Vicar as the heavenly Patron and Protector
of the Church founded by Christ. 
Glorious Saint Joseph, model of all who pass their
life in labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance to atone for my many
sins; to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my own inclinations; to work
with gratitude and joy, considering it an honor to use and develop by my labor the gifts I
have received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation and patience, without ever
recoiling before weariness or difficulties. 
O Great Saint Joseph, you
were completely obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Obtain for me the grace to
know the state of life that God in His Providence has chosen for me. Since my happiness on
earth, and perhaps even my final happiness in heaven, depends on this choice, let me not
be deceived in making it. 
O Blessed Joseph, you gave your last breath in the
loving embrace of Jesus and Mary. When the seal of death shall close my life, come with
Jesus and Mary to aid me. Obtain for me this solace for that hour - to die with Their holy
Arms around me. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I commend my soul, living and dying, into Your
sacred Arms.
Dear Saint Joseph, you are the Patron of the family
of the Church. God chose you to be the head and protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
You chose to do a carpenter's work which made some say about Jesus: "Is He not the
carpenter's Son?" Deign to bless and encourage carpenters whose work is so much like
yours.
We speak to you, O blessed Joseph, our protector on
earth, as one who knows the value of work and the response of our calling. We address you
through your holy spouse, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and knowing the fatherly
affection with which you embraced Our Lord Jesus, ask that you may assist us in our needs,
and strengthen us in our labors. 
We come to you, O blessed Joseph, in our distress.
Having sought the aid of your most blessed spouse, we now confidently implore your
assistance also. We humbly beg that, mindful of the affection which bound you to the
Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and of the fatherly love with which you cherished the
Child Jesus, you will lovingly watch over the heritage which Jesus Christ purchased with
His Blood, and by your powerful intercession help us in our urgent need. Prudent guardian
of the Holy Family, protect the chosen people of Jesus Christ; drive far from us, most
loving father, all error and corrupting sin. From your place in heaven, most powerful
protector, graciously come to our aid in this conflict with the powers of darkness, and as
of old you delivered the Child Jesus from danger of death, so now defend the holy Church
from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Extend to each one of us your
continual protection, that, led on by your example, and borne up by your strength, we may
be able to live and die in holiness and obtain everlasting happiness in heaven.
Gracious Saint Joseph, protect me and my family from
all evil as you did the Holy Family. Kindly keep us ever united in the love of Christ,
ever fervent in imitation of the virtue of our Blessed Lady, your sinless spouse, and
always faithful in devotion to you. 
Glorious Saint Joseph, you
are the pattern of all who work. Obtain for me, please, the grace to work conscientiously
and to put devotion to duty before my selfish inclinations. Help me to labor in
thankfulness and joy, for it is an honor to employ and to develop by my labor the gifts I
have received from almighty God. 
O Blessed Saint Joseph, faithful guardian and
protector of virgins, to whom God entrusted Jesus and Mary, I implore you by the love
which you did bear them, to preserve me from every defilement of soul and body, that I may
always serve them in holiness and purity of love.
Glorious Saint Joseph, model of all who are devoted
to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many
sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully
and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received
from God, to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever
shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty to work; above all, with purity of
intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I
have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in
success, so baneful to the work of God. 
To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we have recourse in our
tribulation, and, having implored the help of thy thrice-holy Spouse, we confidently
invoke thy patronage also. By that charity wherewith thou wast united to the immaculate
Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly affection with which thou didst embrace the
Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray, that thou wouldst look graciously upon
the inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by His Blood, and assist us in our needs
by thy power and strength. 
O glorious Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus, you
did provide for the Holy Family. We commit to your protection all our crops and farm
industries. 
To you, O blessed Joseph, we fly in our tribulation
and, after imploring the help of your most holy spouse, we ask also with confidence for
your patronage. By the affection which united you to the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God,
and the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we beseech you to look
kindly upon the inheritance which Jesus Christ acquired by His precious Blood, and by your
powerful aid to help us in our needs.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, thou who hast
power to render possible even things which are considered impossible, come to our aid in
our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under Thy
particular protection, that it may end happily. 
Glorious Saint Joseph, faithful guardian of Jesus
Christ, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in
obtaining from the heart of Jesus, all the help and graces necessary for our spiritual and
temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death and the special favor we now
implore. 
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