As a child, I always associated this feast day with the festival of San Giuseppe at the Catholic high school my dad worked at of the same name. Now, as an adult, but especially as a wife and mother, St. Joseph holds more meaning for me than the cannoli-laden plates of my youth.
What a role model our sons and husbands (and fathers) have in him. Given a culture that belittles the role of authentic fatherhood, St. Joseph is a beacon for those men, young and old, trying to find their way. Two wonderful articles are over at the Catholic Exchange. You can read this year's article here, and while you're at it, this is an oldie (from last year) but a real goodie!
Blessed Saint Joseph,
holy guardian of Jesus and Mary,
assist us by your prayers
in all the necessities of life.
Ask of Jesus that special grace
which He granted to you,
to watch over our home
at the pillow of the sick and the dying,
so that with Mary and with you,
heaven may find our family unbroken
in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Amen
-from A Prayer For a Family
3 comments:
What a blessing for me to find a fellow Catholic adopting from Ethiopia. My husband and I just started the process to adopt a waiting child, a little girl age 2 (as far as we know). We are feeling the pressure to get it all done as soon as possible since we have her picture and know she is currently in an orphanage. Please keep us in prayer and we will do the same for you! (We are in Wisconsin, by the way...so we have the Midwest in common as well)
St. Joseph, Pray for us!
Kathryn,
I'm so thrilled to hear about your adoption plans! Which agency are you using? We used Adoption Advocates International out of Washington state. We are very fortunate in our parish that two other families (one keeps a blog here, too...I don't know how to write the html in this, but if you look through comments in some of my posts, click on 'julie cooper' and you'll be redirected to her family's blog-it's a great one!) have adopted children from Ethiopia from the very same orphanage! We'd love to adopt from Ethiopia again, perhaps in a year or two. We're not too far from Wisconsin,in the Chicago metro area, and have traveled to the Dells with our kids a few times for vacations. My husband was actually born in Wisconsin Rapids and still has family near Wausau. We will gladly keep your family in our prayers. Feel free to email me with any questions!
God bless, Jane
Hello Jane,
We are using Christian World Adoption as our agency. I have family in Lake Zurich, a Northwestern suburb of Chicago and my husband and I live in La Crosse. We actually were just in Itasca for a wedding this past weekend. Thanks for the link to the other blog, it must be great to have that support. Thanks for your prayers!
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