Sun Mar 10 CHAT 730P est: During the Conclave let’s ask St Joseph for his help!
Sister : Some discussion points for Sunday’s chat:1.What has St. Joseph meant to you in your Christian walk?2.How did St. Joseph guard the Holy Family and respond to the angel’s commands? How did he handle various difficulties, such as responding to Mary’s pregnancy, and taking flight to Egypt?3.What can be said about the qualities of St. Joseph, and the fact that the Gospel writers recorded not a word from his lips?4.St. Joseph is called Patron of the Universal Church. How can we invoke his intercession during the time of papal transition?
Mar 10 2013, 7:01 PM
Sister : Welcome to tonight’s chat! What qualities of St Joseph do you most admire and hope to grow in?
Sister Carmelites and Visitandines have a special devotion to St Joseph
In fact the spiritual scholars try to see the connection between St Theresa of Avila’s devotion and St Jane’s
C: Yes, and St Joseph’s day is coming up. And everywhere I’ve been I’ve belonged to a St Joseph’s. hey, I just realized that! He’s been here all the time!
Sister : Really? In what way?
C: In that everywhere I’ve been, I’ve belonged to a parish dedicated to him.
Sister : Oh my. He has been protecting you
And leading you
J: I have never given St Joseph enough attention…just seems there are so many others I just never have fit him in much
C: And I didn’t even realize it until you said so. So Joseph and Mary both, and Jesus are all in this wit me
Sister : That’s because he’s quiet
But the silence indicates great closeness to God.
C: Yes, it would be very good if I could be quiet like him
Sister : You will learn to be in monastic life. He can be your patron for that too
St Joseph was a just man as is always said.
C: Yes, and I’ve been slowing down and getting quieter and quieter, even though I can still be quite noisy under the right situations
J: he had to be a just man to believe Mary’s story..wow..I wouldn’t
C: Didn’t he doubt though, until the angel spoke to him?
Sister : He needed to be prompted in a dream
But he listened!
J: yes
J: You did WHAT? with WHO?
Sister : The more he was silent with people, the more he spoke and listened to God
C: J you are too funny
Mar 10 2013, 7:57 PM
C you have to be quiet in order to hear the still small voice inside, but I think it is more than just not talking, or not listening to tv or radio
Sister : It’s a sacred silence
Silence is the voice of the soul
: Here’s waht Cardinal Dolan said:It also seems providential that we undergo this passing of one Pope and the rising up of a new one during March, classically devoted to St. Joseph (whose feastday is March 19th).St. Joseph, a man of silence – and we need quiet reflection as the College of Cardinals and members of the Church;St. Joseph, a man who dealt with emergencies – – think of his virgin wife’s “untimely,” embarrassing pregnancy; the birth of Jesus in exile, in a stable; the flight to Egypt to escape a murdering tyrant, the three-day loss of his boy – – with calmness, trust in God, and responsibility. What an example he is as we see so many “emergencies” in the Church and the world today!St. Joseph, ever attentive to God’s will, placing Jesus and Mary at the heart of his life, reliable in his duties to care and protect his virgin wife and adopted son; a working-man who took pride in his profession as a carpenter.No wonder we
Mar 10 2013, 8:07 PM
No wonder we call him the Patron of the Church Universal. Wouldn’t it be great to have a new Pope by his feastday?
I’m going to begin a novena to him on March 11, nine days of prayer in preparation for his feastday (two days after St. Patrick’s Day), asking him and his virgin-wife to look after the Church, and get us an inspired new Successor of St. Peter. Will you join me?
Sister So tomorrow start a novena to St Joseph and join Cardinal Dolan!
Mar 10 2013, 8:09 PM
J: my local Shrine does his novena every year..right after liturgy then have a bash on his feast day
Sister : Prayer of the Church to St. Joseph:
Assist us, O Lord, we beseech You, by the merits of St Joseph, the spouse of Your most Holy Mother, that what our own power cannot obtain, may be given us by his intercession. We ask this through Christ Our Lord, who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen
Sister : J, do you have the shrine novena handy?
Sr. M: We’ll start Cardinal Dolan’s suggested novena tomorrow at Vespers.
J: No I don’t…they have booklets there
Sr. M: We each have the prayer at our place in Choir. Do you need it?
Mar 10 2013, 8:12 PM
Sister : Yes is it different than the one I put there now
C: i will look for the novena online, I don’t think I have a booklet at home
J: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/joseph.htm
http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/joseph.htm15
J: seems there are different versions out there but can’t go wrong with EWTN I guess
Sister : Since not all of us have a regular devotion to St Joseph, how would you begin to develop one?
Sr. M: Watch a film, maybe, and then pray for his intercession.
J: I always seem to push him aside…you got Jesus and Mary…God the Father…Holy Spirit..hard time working my man in
Sister : Film- can’t think of one just dedicated to him, but Jesus of Nazareth is a start. A good book too can be inspiring
J: will have to make more of an effort to pray to him
Sr. M: SFdS wrote about him at length in Conference XIX.
C: Let me google him and see what I can find
Sister Yes SFDS compares St Joseph to a palm tree
in that conference
St Joseph might be just the intercessor you need J
St Eymard wrote about St Joseph too, in a little book
J: yes..actually his novena starts on march 11th every year right?
Mar 10 2013, 8:18 PM
J: since feast day 19th?
C: Ignatius Press does put out a dvd called Josepf of Nazareth, and I’d bet they have books too
Sr. M St. Joseph is constant and firm, prepared to suffer the assaults of the enemy, write SFdS.
Sister : One’s heart needs to be stirred before we can be devoted
Sr. M: There’s a new book, “Go to Joseph,” I think is the title.
C: There is a book Go to Joseph by Richard GilsdorfPM
Sister : St Jane prayed to him every day
Sr. M: I can’t remember the author’s name, but it’s a small, almost pocket-size book.
Sister : St Eymard?
Sr. M: St. Joseph had the virtues of humility and gentleness that SFdS so admired.
Mar 10 2013, 8:22 PM
C: I think it is Richard Gilsdorf-the description of the book matchea yours
Sister : Like you said, St Francis de Sales dedicated each of our Monasteries to St Joseph, the whole order
St. Joseph had the virtues of humility and gentleness that SFdS so admired. Sister Yes and I suspect that’s why he’s our Patron, the gentleness and humility we are supposed to grow into
Sr. M: Not to mention all the houses St. Joseph has helped to sell with his statue buried in the front yard!
Sister : Upside down no less
J: Saint Joseph doesn’t speak a word in the whole of the gospels
Sr. M: That’s the humility – or the need to dive deep
Sister : That’s right J. And you know why
J: couldn’t get a word in with Mary?
Sister : Silence is closer to sancity than speaking and his sanctity was very great
J: better to not speak and leave doubts that you are a fool than speak and take away any doubt
Sr. M: Mary wasn’t a talker, either. Just the Magnificat
and a few words to the Angel Gabriel and to Jesus at Cana
C: It seems that the greatest saints didn’t speak much, but many communicate with us still through their writings
Sister : It also indicates his humility
Sr. M: Not talking to be able to listen better to what God’s saying/doing
God’s the One Who has trouble getting a word in edgewise when we pray!
Mar 10 2013, 8:27 PM
J: yes but maybe the writers just didn’t put that stuff in there…maybe he was a talker..how would we know?
Sr. M He had to deal with his carpentry customers.
Sister That’s so true! But when a characteristic is indicated of a person in the Bible it usually has a supernatural meaning
C: Maybe the Gospel writers left it out because they and Mary wanted the emphasis to be on Jesus?
J: was there a characteristic of him mentioned specifically?
Mar 10 2013, 8:29 PM
Sister : That he was just
Sr. M: Perseverance, constancy
J: oh yes
J: yes but they didn’t finish the sentence…He was just a talker
Sister : To be just means there is no excess
Sister : there is no lack of anything
J: yes I know…just being silly
Mar 10 2013, 8:30 PM
C: J, you’re not going to give that up, are you?
J He’s the man
Sister : Wit is also the sign of intelligence
J: I need to turn to him so much more
Sister : And many saints, esp the Pope saints, were witty!
J: I need to turn to him so much more
Sister : He was the closest man to Jesus
Sr. M: He must have played with his son, too.
Sister : You can’t do better than that for an intercessor
Yes, and taught him so much
J: do you think Joseph knew Jesus was God?
C: I think so, because he believed Mary’s story
J: that must have been wild for him..to have to force God to eat His peas
Sister : Do they eat that in the Middle east?
Sr. M: I’m sure he was full of wonder before his son but also practical in teaching him what he needed to know about everyday living.
Sr. M: More like curds and whey
Figs and dates