St. Joseph, example to parents, pray for us.
Yes, I can see St. Joseph as a beautiful example to parents as he protected and cared for Jesus and Mary during his life. He remained obedient to God’s plan and spent his life following His will. This is our call as parents too – protecting and caring for our children, remaining obedient to the will of God in our life and theirs. What strikes me about St. Joseph, though, is his complete abandonment to serving God in HIS way, which must have looked very different from the plan St. Joseph might have created for himself. Isn’t this true of parenting too? We think we can map out every detail of our children’s lives only to realize their Creator has something bigger in store. May St. Joseph’s example of abandonment to God’s will be our example.
St. Joseph, pillar of families, pray for us.
There is somewhat of a mystery around the quiet years of Jesus’ life as a Child, living with Mary and Joseph, but I can imagine that St. Joseph had many moments of joy and laughter, moments of tender peace, moments of simple quality time together as a family. Isn’t that what we long for in our family life? We long for time together to embrace one another as we are, in a home full of love and laughter in the day-to-day. May we embrace the example of the Holy Family in these quiet years and strive to live this out in our own families, showing each other unconditional love just as we are.
St. Joseph, mirror of patience, pray for us.
This is the line from the litany of St. Joseph that gets me, especially because of so many other titles of St. Joseph that have to do with family life, did we really need to incorporate patience with all of those? There are times in family life that patience feels so unreachable and distant, in the busyness of everyday household tasks and demands, who has time for patience? Yet St. Joseph is that example for us, mirror or patience, to shed the weight of pride and selfishness and embrace the way of patience. So please, St. Joseph, pray for us, to see the moments in family life that could challenge our patience as what they really are – gifts. The gift of a family, the gift of being together in love and joy, and yes, even patience.
