O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so prompt, so strong 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 weary 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 me. Amen.
From The Knights’ Prayer Book.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ chose to live family life within the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Isn’t that a wonderful, beautiful thought? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “By his obedience to Mary and Joseph, as well as by his humble work during the long years in Nazareth, Jesus gives us the example of holiness in the daily life of family and work” (paragraph 564).
Let’s look briefly at what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about the family:
“Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than ‘the family of God.’ From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers ‘together with all [their] household.’ When they were converted, they desired that ‘their whole household’ should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.
“In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica.
“It is in the bosom of the family that parents are ‘by word and example… the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any religious vocation’” (paragraphs 1655 and 1656).
“The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called ‘the domestic church,’ a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (paragraph 1666).
In his apostolic exhortation on St. Joseph, Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “May St. Joseph become for all of us an exceptional teacher in the service of Christ’s saving mission, a mission which is the responsibility of each and every member of the Church: husbands and wives, parents, those who live by the work of their hands or by any other kind of work, those called to the contemplative life and those called to the apostolate” (Redemptoris Custos, 32).
Prayer cards often say it dates from the first century, that it was sent to Emperor Charles before a battle in 1505, and that it “has never been known to fail.” None of these stories can be traced to a reliable source, and the Church makes no such promise for any prayer. What the prayer offers is something better: a heartfelt act of trust in St. Joseph, patron of a happy death. God always hears our prayer, though not always in the way we expect.
Choose one intention and pray the prayer once a day for nine days in a row. Many people begin on 10 March to finish on St. Joseph’s feast, 19 March, but you may begin on any day.
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Please know that every prayer request shared here is kept strictly confidential. Your request will go to the Brothers, who will intercede for you. We will place your intentions before our Eucharistic King during our daily hours of adoration.
