Who Are St. Joseph’s Supporters?
We are a Catholic women’s apostolate (Catholic women ages 18+) who strive to live out our baptismal promises by faithfulness to the precepts and teachings of the Holy Catholic Church.
We commit to pray, fast* and offer acts of charity the first Wednesday of each month, to assist St. Joseph in his work of raising up families of saints for God who are so urgently needed at this time in history.
We pray specifically for the spiritual transformation of our families and our parish families with a special emphasis on praying for the conversion of all fathers. We pray that God will raise them up to become the godly spiritual leaders He has called them to be under the protection, guidance and intercession of St. Joseph.
Our special prayer intentions on behalf of fathers include all males in our families and parishes (sons, brothers, grandsons, future spouses…), who may one day become fathers or mentors; all of the absent fathers from our families and parishes who need to be brought back; our parish priests, bishops and our Holy Father (spiritual fathers).
As God chose to entrust His own most treasured family members, Jesus and Mary, to the protection and guidance of St. Joseph, we choose to entrust ourselves, our families and our parish families to him as well.
* One does not necessarily have to fast from food in order to join our group; each member is encouraged to pray and ask the Holy Spirit how they should fast or make some worthy sacrifice according to their own particular situations.
Why Do We Have A Special Emphasis On Praying For Fathers?
God’s Role For Fathers:
God has entrusted to fathers a unique role in leading their families to know, love and serve Him, and to protect their families not only physically, but also spiritually. When they fail at this task, we see the disintegration of faith, marriage and even the family itself, resulting in devastating effects upon all of society. The way to reverse all of this, then, is to build up fatherhood once more, and for our men to resume their leadership roles in the Church, family and society, something they cannot do without our love and support.
It is also true that we come to know God as our Father through our relationships with our earthly fathers. When our earthly fathers fail to represent God the Father to our families, we have great difficulty connecting with God as Father, and even have difficulty trying to come to terms with the idea of having a Father in heaven at all. The restoration of the faith, and society with it, will come through the restoration of fatherhood.
Recent Studies:
Recent studies confirm the impact of the father’s spiritual life on the family by revealing that the religious practice of the father of the family may well determine the children’s future attendance or absence from church.
A recent Swiss study[1] revealed that when mothers attend church regularly but the fathers don’t attend at all, only 2% of their children are shown to regularly attend church later in life.
In contrast, if the mothers don’t attend church at all but the fathers attend church regularly, 44% of their children are shown to regularly attend church later in life.
Amazingly, even if the fathers attended church only on occasion, while the mothers didn’t attend at all, 25% of their children are shown to attend church regularly as adults!
The lack of young adults in our churches, then, is directly related to the lack of fathers attending church today! In order to bring young adults back into our churches, we need to bring their fathers back! Without men, our churches will not survive.
[1] The Truth About Men & Church, Robbie Low, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, June 2003, The Fellowship of St. James http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-05-024-v;
The Spiritual Role Of Women:
Women’s Role
Women have an important role to play. Women, in particular, make great sacrifices both physically and emotionally to ensure the well-being of their families and future generations. These sacrifices are necessary to provide for their families’ lives in this world, but do NOT necessarily secure their families’ lives in the next.
This is why women are also called to make the spiritual sacrifices necessary to see their families inherit eternal life. Praying, fasting and almsgiving (charity) are a most effective means to obtain the graces their families need to begin to walk in the ways of the Lord.
PRAYER, FASTING AND ALMSGIVING: THE RULE OF A HOLY LIFE
Fasting, combined with effective prayers and works of charity, is a weapon against evil and can drive out the worst kinds of demons (Matt 17:21). Fasting with a right heart also draws down God’s mercy (Jonah 3). Prayer and almsgiving, accompanied by fasting, is therefore an effective means for drawing down God’s grace: the grace needed for conversion and for breaking off the power of addictions and strongholds over our family members, as well as for obtaining grace for the journey towards holiness.
While we pray and fast for God to raise up our men to be the godly spiritual leaders of our families that they are called to be, and subsequently bring our entire families back to God through the intercession of St. Joseph, there is much more to do! The more we draw near to God ourselves, the more He will draw near to us (James 4:8), and when we abide in Him and His Words are found to abide in us, we can ask whatever we will and it shall be done for us (John 15:7). We must then work diligently towards our own conversions, not only for our own benefit, but for the benefit of our loved ones as well.
WOMEN OF GRACE:
Our men cannot regain their roles as spiritual leaders without our love and support. We simply cannot build our men up if we are, at the same time, tearing them down with our tongues and our attitudes! We must learn to become women of grace! We must, with God’s help, learn to love, honor, affirm and build up our men, even under the most difficult and challenging circumstances! In fact, this is part of our journey to holiness and a part of our unique role in leading our families back to God!
Although loving and honoring the members of our families, and especially our spouses, may sound like an ominous challenge at times, the GOOD NEWS is that love is a DECISION, not a feeling. We do not have to feel loving in order to live out our call to holiness – we simply have to decide to love and choose to act in a loving way.
But know this: love doesn’t necessarily mean to be soft or to cave in, and certainly does not give up or enable abuse – in fact, love needs to be strong! We need to learn that true love can challenge and requires us to take a stand. Love pardons, but love also confronts. Our fasting apostolate aims at teaching and encouraging us to become holy women of God, but to stand in His strength for the good of our men, our families, our Church and all of society.
“As He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written: You shall be holy for I am holy.” 1Peter 1: 15-16 [1]
“…some husbands, though they do not obey the Word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, when they see your reverent and chaste behavior. Let not yours be the outward adorning…but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1Peter 3:1-4
On Pleasing God:
“I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of God.
Praise God and give thanks to Him…with fitting honor, acknowledge Him.
Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving and righteousness.
Almsgiving delivers from death and it will purge away every sin.” Tobit 12:6-15
St. Joseph, Our Patron
St. Joseph:
Protector of the Holy Family
Faithful Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Faithful Guardian of the Child Jesus
Universal Patron and Protector of the Church
Patron Saint of Fathers
Patron Saint of Families
Patron Saint of Workers
Guardian of Virgins
Patron Saint of the Dying
Patron Saint of Canada.
It is through selfless prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and working at becoming women of grace that we invite God’s power and love to dwell in us and in our families, so that we may become sources of God’s grace, through the intercession of St. Joseph, for the conversion of our family members and our common journey to holiness.
At this particular time in history when fatherhood has come under such attack, as well as marriage, family, modesty, chastity and even faith itself, who better to lead us back than the Patron of all these areas!
Those who are faithful in little things will be entrusted with more (Matthew 25:23) and St. Joseph was certainly faithful in caring for, providing for and protecting God’s own family! Is it any wonder that God entrusts the family of God on earth, the Catholic Church, to his protection?
“Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do. Joseph opened all the storehouses.” [1] Genesis 41:55 – 56
“I took for my advocate and lord the glorious St. Joseph and earnestly recommended myself to him. I don’t recall up to this day ever having petitioned him for anything that he failed to grant. For with other saints it seems the Lord has given them grace to be of help in one need, whereas with this glorious saint I have experience that he helps in all our needs and that the Lord wants us to understand that just as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth…so in heaven God does whatever he (St. Joseph) commands. I have not known anyone truly devoted to him and rendering him special services who has not advanced more in virtue. For in a powerful way he benefits souls who recommend themselves to him. Especially persons of prayer should always be attached to him. Those who cannot find a master to teach them prayer should take this glorious saint for their master, and they will not go astray.” St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church
St. Joseph, pray for us!
OUR PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH
O Glorious St. Joseph, head of the Holy Family, and heavenly patron and protector of the Universal Church, of families and fathers, we earnestly implore you to come to our assistance. We invoke your prayers and intercession for the men in our families (fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, grandsons, future spouses, in-laws…..), the men in our parishes, our pastors, bishops and our Holy Father (his name here), that the Lord will raise them up to be Godly spiritual men like yourself.
Pray, St. Joseph, that they will be granted a supernatural love for Jesus and Mary, for the Eucharist, for the Word of God, for the will of God and for the Holy Catholic Church; that they will be given true knowledge of themselves, true knowledge of God, true contrition for their sins; that God will convict them of their sins, bring them to repentance and conversion, and that He will grant them the spiritual wisdom, understanding and discernment they need to know the will of God and the grace to carry it out. Pray that they may have true humility of heart and be made chaste in mind and heart.
Pray together with us, St. Joseph, that they may be delivered from all the powers of the world, the flesh and the devil, from all addictions and especially from pornography, lust, pride, deceit, heresy… (add your own intentions here).
Pray that God will grant them moral courage to stand up and defend what is true, right, holy and just, and that they may be consecrated in truth so that they know what is true, right, holy and just.
St. Joseph, pray with us that God will raise them up to be protectors and defenders of the faith, the family and the sanctity of life; and that He will raise them up to be the godly spiritual leaders He has called them to be in their homes, families, workplace, communities and parishes.
Good St. Joseph, we also ask you to pray for the members of our fasting group, for the desire and the discipline we need to fast and pray with love; for the spirit of mortification, endurance, unity, for our formation and for our continued conversions. Pray for renewal in our marriages, for the conversion of our families, and that God will raise us up, through you, to be families of saints at this time where there is such a great need for holiness in our world. Please also pray for our past and present fasting novena intentions.
Dear St. Joseph, God entrusted His most treasured family members to you, Jesus and Mary; we entrust ourselves and our families to you, please make us saints. Open the storehouses of heaven, and obtain for us deliverance from all the powers of evil.
St. Joseph, we trust in your powerful intercession and help to strengthen God’s kingdom here on earth, and we thank you for your love, faithfulness, devotion, prayers, intercession and your powerful help for us and our families. Amen.