This is part of the Consecration to St. Joseph Set

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DAY 20: Did you know St. Faustina Kowalska had visions of St. Joseph? She frequently turned to him, asking him to help her do the will of God and be obedient.

DAY 20: Joseph Most Obedient, Pray for Us

If you want to know St. Joseph’s obedience, look at how he rose at night at the angel’s voice and, giving no care to hunger, hardships, or cold, went to Egypt where he led a hard life until the next command of God. — St. Joseph Sebastian Pelczar

Obedience is a misunderstood virtue. Many people are of the opinion that obedience to authority limits their freedom, requiring them to hand over their rights to others. This is not the case. In fact, obedience to laws is a part of everyday human life. A road sign, for example, doesn’t take away a person’s freedom. Road signs and other legitimate laws are designed to give people true freedom and happiness. You are able to disobey stop signs while driving, but obedience to the stop sign is what allows you and others to reach your destinations in safety.

Natural law and divine law are not inhibitors to freedom. In God’s plan, the purpose of these laws is to help us reach our ultimate destination: heaven. Those who fail to obey reason and the divine dictates will end up psychologically, anthropologically, and spiritually frustrated, and run the risk of never reaching heaven.

Saint Joseph is a model of obedience. Obedience requires trust. Lack of trust on the part of our first parents (Adam and Eve) is what caused all mankind to fall into sin. In the Garden of Eden, our first parents were tricked into disobeying God by the serpent. The devil instilled in their minds doubts regarding God’s trustworthiness. “Did God really say you would die?” (Gen 3:1). Our new parents, Mary and St. Joseph, trusted God and were willing to suffer for their obe-dience to God. Mary and Joseph were certain that God had their best interests in mind.

Why was St. Matthew so keen to note Joseph’s trust in the words received from the messenger of God, if not to invite us to imitate this same loving trust? — Pope Benedict XVI

Saint Joseph will increase the virtue of obedience in you. You are probably familiar with the heavenly visions given to St. Faustina containing the Divine Mercy message and devotion. Did you know that St. Faustina also had visions of St. Joseph? Saint Faustina loved St. Joseph very much and frequently turned to him for his powerful intercession, asking him to help her do the will of God and be faithful to her mission of spreading devotion to God’s mercy. With the help of St. Joseph, St. Faustina was able to complete her mission and be obedient to her superiors, even when they sent her for a psychological evaluation!

The virtue of obedience is not only for nuns and priests, though. Everyone needs to be obedient to both natural and divine law. Obey-ing the 10 Commandments, the teachings of the Catholic Church, attending Mass faithfully on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and going to Confession when you fall into sin are all ways of showing that you trust and obey God.

Everyone needs to trust God and obey the natural law as well. The person who defends marriage as an institution between one man and one woman is obeying the natural law. Protecting children in the womb by voting for candidates who are uncompromisingly pro-life is also a sign of being obedient to the natural law. Resisting the nonsense of gender ideology is another way of obeying the natural law. If you are mocked, ridiculed, and made to suffer for your trust and obedience to divine and natural law, you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Joseph, in obedience to the Holy Spirit, found in the Holy Spirit the source of love.— St. John Paul II

Sleeping St. Joseph

In vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat: when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber. — Psalm 127:2

God loves sleep. He made it.

Your Heavenly Father has designed you so that approximately one-third of your life should be spent asleep. He himself rested after creating the heavens and the earth (see Gen 2:2-3).

God is a father. He delights in his children when they sleep. God communicates with his children when they sleep. It’s a biblical fact. In the life and mission of St. Joseph, God chose to speak to him as he slept. On four occasions, God communicated through an angel to St. Joseph very important messages in his dreams (see Mt 1:20; 2:13, 19, 22).

Saint Joseph’s sleep is so important and powerful that Satan fears it. Christianity has always held that Satan, a rebellious creature, chose not to serve God, arrogantly declaring, “Non serviam” (“I will not serve”; Jer 2:20). In contrast, the Virgin Mary utters her humble “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum” (“Be it done to me according to your word” [Lk 1:38]). The great St. Joseph responds more with obedient action than with words: “Fecit sicut præcepit ei angelus Domini” (“He did as the angel of the Lord commanded” [Mt 1:24]). Saint Joseph’s sleep is a game-changer!

According to the New Testament, St. Joseph’s sleep is prayer. In heaven, St. Joseph no longer sleeps, of course, but in eternity he does “rest in the Lord.” Is not the afterlife called “eternal rest”?

In recent times, a popular devotion to St. Joseph under the title “Sleeping St. Joseph” has developed in the Church. It involves obtaining a statue depicting St. Joseph asleep, asking St. Joseph’s intercession for a particular intention, writing the intention on a piece of paper, and placing the piece of paper underneath the statue of Sleeping St. Joseph. In doing this, a person is asking St. Joseph to bring his or her intention to God. The Sleeping St. Joseph devotion is a wonderful way to stay connected to your spiritual father and ask him to pray (sleep) on your intentions.

The French poet Charles Péguy wrote about the importance of sleep in an incredible poem, titled The Portal of the Mystery of Hope. The poem is written from God’s perspective and is meant to remind modern man that God delights in his children when they sleep. Here’s an excerpt:

Just sleep. Why don’t people make use of it?
I’ve given this secret to everyone, says God. I haven’t sold it.
He who sleeps well, lives well. He who sleeps, prays.
He who works, prays too. But there’s time for everything. Both for sleep and for work.
Work and sleep are like two brothers. And they get on very well together.
And sleep leads to work just like work leads to sleep.
He who works well sleeps well, he who sleeps well works well.

And yet they tell me that there are men who don’t sleep.
I don’t like the man who doesn’t sleep, says God.
Sleep is the friend of man. Sleep is the friend of God.
Sleep may be my most beautiful creation. And I too rested on the seventh day.
He whose heart is pure, sleeps. And he who sleeps has a pure heart.
This is the great secret to being as indefatigable as a child.
 
Yes, they tell me that there are men who work well and who sleep poorly.
Who don’t sleep. What a lack of confidence in me.
 
I’m talking about those who work and who don’t sleep.
I pity them. I’m talking about those who work, and who thus in doing this are following my commandment, poor children.
And who, on the other hand, don’t have the courage, don’t have the confidence to sleep.
I pity them. I hold it against them. A bit. They don’t trust me.
As a child lays innocently in his mother’s arms, thus do they not lay innocently in the arms of my Providence.
They have the courage to work. They don’t have the courage to do nothing.
They possess the virtue of work. They don’t possess the virtue of doing nothing.
Of relaxing. Of resting. Of sleeping.
Unhappy people, they don’t know what’s good.
— Charles Péguy

The sleep of St. Joseph can teach modern man important lessons about life. One of the most important lessons it teaches us is that it is okay to rest. Being a workaholic is never a good thing. Saint Joseph was not a workaholic. He liked to sleep. Sleep refreshed his soul. God communicated with St. Joseph when he slept, and he was a holier husband and father because of it.

You are not wasting time when you rest. Sleep is pleasing to God. God will speak to you and refresh your soul when you sleep.

If you are able, obtain a statue of “Sleeping St. Joseph.”  Write down your intentions and place them in the care of St. Joseph. Let him communicate with God about you.

O Saint Joseph, you are a man greatly favored by the Most High. The angel of the Lord appeared to you in dreams, while you slept, to warn you and guide you as you cared for the Holy Family. You were both silent and strong, a loyal and courageous protector. Dear Saint Joseph, as you rest in the Lord, confident of his absolute power and goodness, look upon me. Please take my need into your heart, dream of it, and present it to your Son. Help me then, good Saint Joseph, to hear the voice of God, to arise, and act with love. I praise and thank God with joy. Saint Joseph, I love you. Amen.

Pray the Litany of St. Joseph:

Lord, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven,  have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Noble Offspring of David,  pray for us.
Light of Patriarchs, pray for us.
Spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.
Guardian of the Redeemer, pray for us.
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.
Foster-Father of the Son of God, pray for us.
Zealous Defender of Christ, pray for us.
Servant of Christ, pray for us.
Minister of Salvation, pray for us.
Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

Joseph Most Just, pray for us.
Joseph Most Chaste,  pray for us.
Joseph Most Prudent,  pray for us.
Joseph Most Courageous,  pray for us.
Joseph Most Obedient, pray for us.
Joseph Most Faithful, pray for us.

Mirror of Patience, pray for us.
Lover of Poverty, pray for us.
Model of Workmen, pray for us.
Glory of Domestic Life, pray for us.
Guardian of Virgins, pray for us.
Pillar of Families, pray for us.
Support in Difficulties, pray for us.
Comfort of the Afflicted, pray for us.
Hope of the Sick, pray for us.
Patron of Exiles,  pray for us.
Patron of the Afflicted, pray for us.
Patron of the Poor, pray for us.
Patron of the Dying, pray for us.
Terror of Demons,  pray for us.
Protector of the Holy Church, pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

V. He has made him lord of his household,
R. And prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray. O God, who, in your loving providence, chose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most Holy Mother, grant us the favor of having him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our protector. You, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

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