This is part of the Consecration to St. Joseph Set

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DAY 3: Many saints, popes and mystics refer to St. Joseph as the shadow, reflection, and representative of the Heavenly Father on earth. Let’s thank St. Joseph for being a reflection of God the Father. Let’s go to St. Joseph.

DAY 3: God, the Father of Heaven, Have Mercy on Us

Our heavenly Father has had only one saint to represent him on earth. Hence he bestowed everything he could on that favored saint, and equipped him with all that he needed to be his worthy representative. — St. Peter Julian Eymard

God the Father loves you. He loves you so much that he sent his Son into the world to save you. But saving you is not all the Father sent his Son to do for you. He sent his Son to save you and make you a child of God. Through Jesus, you are able to have a filial relationship with God the Father. Through Jesus, you can cry out, “Abba, Father!”

To be a child of God is why you were created; it’s the very purpose for which you exist. And there is only one way to the Father: Jesus Christ (see Jn 14:6). Only Jesus has the power to take you to the Father. Yet, in God’s merciful love, St. Joseph plays a very important role in your spiritual growth and journey to the Father.

Consecration to st. Joseph will inCrease the presence of the father in your life. We learn this truth from the life of Jesus himself. When the Heavenly Father sent his Son into the world to save us and make us his children, he selected one saint to represent him on earth: St. Joseph. Jesus, in living under the roof of St. Joseph and being his Son, gave us a personal example of total entrustment to St. Joseph. Jesus loved, obeyed, and imitated his earthly father. Saint Joseph is the only man that Jesus ever called father; Jesus delighted in being known as the “son of Joseph” (see Jn 6:42). We, too, should consider it an honor to be his children. If, according to the plans of the Father, Jesus needed St. Joseph, how much more do we need him, too!

The fatherhood of St. Joseph increased the presence of the heavenly father in the life of Jesus. Now, to be clear, St. Joseph is not God. He cannot add anything to the divine and eternal communion existing between God the Father and God the Son. Nor can St. Joseph improve the ability of Jesus, as a Divine Person, to perpetually behold the presence of his Heavenly Father. Rather, St. Joseph was chosen to stand in the place of the Heavenly Father according to the demands of Jesus’ human nature.

God the Father doesn’t have a human nature. Every time Jesus saw St. Joseph, heard him speak, watched him work, or witnessed his chaste love for Mary, the humanity of Jesus witnessed a perfect reflection of the Heavenly Father.

God chose to make Joseph his most tangible image on earth, the depository of all the rights of his divine paternity, the husband of that noble Virgin who is Mistress of angels and men.— Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

What the heavenly father did for Jesus, he wants to do for you. God the Father wants you to entrust yourself to the loving paternal care of St. Joseph in a manner similar to God’s entrustment of the human nature of Jesus to St. Joseph. God planned these entrustments, both of Jesus to St. Joseph and of the members of the Church to St. Joseph, from all eternity; they were not done haphazardly. Saint Joseph is the shadow of the Heavenly Father. He was the image and reflection of the Father for Jesus. God the Father wants you to accept St. Joseph as your spiritual father as well. Jesus is the one in whom we see most perfectly the image of the mercy and love of his heavenly Father (as he said: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” [Jn 14:9]), but Jesus also wants to share with us the one who was for him the earthly image of his heavenly Father.

This holy man [St. Joseph] had such towering dignity and glory that the Eternal Father most generously bestowed on him a likeness of his own primacy. — St. Bernardine of Siena

Our Spiritual Father

Inspired by the Gospel, the Fathers of the Church from the ear-liest centuries stressed that just as St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, that is, the Church. — St. John Paul II

Have you ever thought of St. Joseph in a fatherly way? Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus wants you to have St. Joseph as your loving spiritual father? The Church has always understood Mary’s spiritual maternity of the Church, but it hasn’t always understood St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood in relation to the Church. To understand why, we have to take a look at what the Church has understood and taught about St. Joseph’s fatherhood of Jesus.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, there were people in the Church, including Fathers of the Church, who were uncertain if St. Joseph could truly be called the father of Jesus. Regardless of the fact that Scripture clearly calls St. Joseph the father of Jesus (see Lk 2:33, 48), many early Christians were of the opinion that St. Joseph could not be called the father of Jesus in any way. They were cautious about such a title because they didn’t want people to think that St. Joseph was the biological father of Jesus. Essentially, they didn’t want to taint belief in the virginity of Mary in any way. It wasn’t until St. Augus-tine’s preaching in the fourth century that St. Joseph’s fatherhood of Jesus was clearly explained by the Church. In one of his sermons, St. Augustine states that St. Joseph, though not the biological father of Jesus, is nonetheless a real father to Jesus because he exercised a fatherhood toward Jesus that was authoritative, affectionate, and faithful. After St. Augustine cleared up the matter of St. Joseph’s fatherhood of Jesus, it was never questioned again. And because St. Joseph is truly the father of the Head of the Mystical Body of Christ, he is necessarily the father of the rest of the members of the Body of Christ. This understanding of St. Joseph’s patronage and fatherhood over the Church slowly began to find its way into the writings of saints and mystics.

From Scripture, we know that St. Joseph watched over and protected Jesus as his father. From tradition, we know that St. Joseph watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, as the spiritual father of the Church. But what does this mean for you per-sonally? Well, you are a member of the Church. Doesn’t Jesus want St. Joseph to watch over you with the same paternal love, authority, affection, and fidelity that he exercised toward Jesus? The answer is “Yes!”

In the 19th century, Jesus himself explicitly commanded the Ser-vant of God Sr. Mary Martha Chambon to call St. Joseph “father.” This holy nun received extraordinary graces from Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph, and is known as the “Mystic of the Holy Wounds.” Jesus told Sr. Mary Martha the following:

You must call St. Joseph your father, for I have given him the title and the goodness of a father.

Through Baptism, you became a child of God and a member of God’s family. Jesus is your Lord, Savior, and brother. The Son of God became your brother for a very specific reason: He wants you to share in his filial relationship with the Heavenly Father. This is a fun-damental Christian truth. It is also a truth that helps us understand the spiritual fatherhood that St. Joseph exercises toward you.

Here’s what I mean.

If Jesus is your brother, his parents become your parents. Not physically, of course, but spiritually. Specifically, Jesus’ mother becomes your mother. Jesus’ father becomes your father. If Mary is your mother, and Jesus is your brother, St. Joseph has to be your father. Any man married to your mother is your father. Again, the filial relationship you have with St. Joseph is not biological; it wasn’t biological for Jesus, either. Yet this does not mean that St. Joseph’s fatherhood is not real. Saint Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood is very real. Were spiritual fatherhood not real, calling Jesus’ Heavenly Father your Heavenly Father would be meaningless.

To gain a deeper appreciation of St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood, let’s turn to St. Josemaría Escrivá, who offers a candid observation:

There is something I do not quite like in that title of foster father which is sometimes given to Joseph, because it might make us think of the relationship between Joseph and Jesus as something cold and external. Certainly our faith tells us that he was not his father according to the flesh, but this is not the only kind of fatherhood.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with calling St. Joseph the foster father of Jesus. After all, “foster father” is one of the official titles used in the Litany of St. Joseph. Saint Josemaría knew that and accepted it. Nonetheless, St. Josemaría is absolutely correct that biological fatherhood is not the only kind of fatherhood.

With absolute certainty we can assert that the first time the Baby Jesus looked up to St. Joseph and spoke to him, Jesus did not exclaim: “Foster father!” No, the divine Infant would have joyfully cried out (in Aramaic) “Father!” or even “Daddy!” Again, there’s nothing wrong with the term foster father, but it must be acknowledged that the New Testament never refers to St. Joseph as the “foster father” of Jesus.

Here’s a concrete example: On one occasion, Mary and St. Joseph lost the Child Jesus for three days. Jesus’ parents searched for him anxiously and, when they finally found him, his mother said to him, “Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Lk 2:48). Mary did not say to Jesus: “Your foster father and I have been looking for you.” Saint Joseph’s fatherhood was more than a legal guardianship. His paternal relationship with Jesus was personal, authoritative, affectionate, moral, and loving. This is the kind of fatherhood that St. Joseph wants to have with you, too.

Saint Joseph is the best of fathers. His spiritual fatherhood was planned from all eternity.

There is but one fatherhood, that of God the Father, the one Creator of the world, of all that is seen and unseen. Yet man, created in the image of God, has been granted a share in this one paternity of God (Eph 3:15). Saint Joseph is a striking case of this, since he is a father, without fatherhood according to the flesh. He is not the biological father of Jesus, whose Father is God alone, and yet he lives his fatherhood fully and completely. To be a father means above all to be at the service of life and growth. Saint Joseph, in this sense, gave proof of great devotion. — Pope Benedict XVI

Perhaps you are wondering, “Why did Jesus need the fatherhood of St. Joseph at all since God is Jesus’ Father?” It’s a good question. Essentially, Jesus needed St. Joseph as a father because the human nature of Jesus required it. When the Son of God became incarnate, he placed himself under the anthropological (human) requirements of needing a human father to love, feed, educate, shelter, clothe, and protect him. Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is not a pure spiritual being. He is the God-Man. He has a divine nature and a human nature.

In his human nature, Jesus had physical, emotional, and psycho-logical needs. God the Father doesn’t have a body, emotions, or pas-sions because he never became incarnate like his Son. The Heavenly Father can’t physically touch, walk with, or embrace his Incarnate Son. Therefore, God the Father entrusts his Son to the watchful, loving care of a human father. Saint Joseph stands in the place of the Heavenly Father. He has been entrusted with taking care of the human nature, growth, and development of Jesus. Through the fatherhood of St. Joseph, Jesus grew into the fullness of his manhood.

The growth of Jesus “in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk 2:52) took place within the Holy Family under the eyes of Joseph, who had the important task of “raising” Jesus, that is, feeding, clothing, and educating him in the Law and in a trade, in keeping with the duties of a father. — St. John Paul II

The divine nature of Jesus did not need anything from St. Joseph, but the human nature of Jesus did require the fatherhood of St. Joseph. When the Son of God humbled himself and took on human nature, he placed himself under the laws of human growth and development. In order to grow into the fullness of his manhood, Jesus required a mother, a father, and time. All children require this.

Venerable Fulton Sheen provides an interesting statistic related to this topic. He states:

Let those who think that the Church pays too much attention to Mary give heed to the fact that Our Blessed Lord himself gave ten times as much of his life to her as he gave to his apostles.

In other words, the apostles spent three years with Jesus, but Mary spent more than 30 years with him! Why is this important? It’s important because the human nature of Jesus needed to learn certain things from the maternal love and example of his mother. Our Savior is not a robot or an angel. In his human nature, he needed a mother to teach him about human life. But his mother was not the only one who taught him. As important as a mother is in the human development of a child, there is only so much a mother can teach a child, especially a boy.

Jesus is a male. As a male, he needed a father to teach him what it is to be a man. Jesus needed the fatherhood of St. Joseph as a model of masculinity for him to imitate. Only a father can do this for a son. How did Jesus learn to sacrifice as a man? He witnessed the daily example of his father. Where did Jesus learn to work as a man? He learned it in his father’s carpentry shop. How did Jesus learn to pray and acquire the manners of a gentleman? Jesus learned all these things from his father, St. Joseph.

According to the divine plan, an earthly, human father was absolutely necessary in the life of Jesus. You’ve no doubt heard the adage, “Like father, like son.” Well, it’s true. In his preaching, Jesus himself spoke of the exemplary power of a good father. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also” (Jn 5:19). Our Lord spoke these words in reference to his Heavenly Father, but they also apply to those aspects of Jesus’ human nature that would be strengthened by the example of St. Joseph.

Joseph fulfilled every aspect of his paternal role. He must cer-tainly have taught Jesus to pray, together with Mary. In particular Joseph himself must have taken Jesus to the Synagogue for the rites of the Sabbath, as well as to Jerusalem for the great feasts of the people of Israel. Joseph, in accordance with the Jewish tradition, would have led the prayers at home both every day — in the morning, in the evening, at meals — and on the principal religious feasts. In the rhythm of the days he spent at Nazareth, in the simple home and in Joseph’s workshop, Jesus learned to alternate prayer and work, as well as to offer God his labor in earning the bread the family needed. — Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus spent decades learning the virtues of manhood from his father. Jesus wanted to be like his father, St. Joseph. Jesus thinks so highly of his earthly father that he wants you to be a child of St. Joseph, too. Jesus wants you to resemble St. Joseph.

But why do we need the fatherhood of St. Joseph if we already have a biological father who shares our nature and is supposed to take care of us? Allow me to provide the answer by asking you several other questions:

• Is your biological father the Spouse of the Mother of God and father of Jesus Christ?
• Does your biological father have the superlative of every virtue?
• Is your biological father the Head of the Holy Family, the Patron of the Universal Church, and the Terror of Demons?

Jesus wants you to have the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph because there is no man more capable of modeling true fatherhood for you than St. Joseph. His loving spiritual fatherhood has the power to draw you extremely close to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, increase your virtue, protect you from Satan, and help you reach heaven.

Now, having stated that, I need to also make clear that the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph is not intended to take the place of the paternity of your biological father any more than the spiritual motherhood of Mary is meant to take the place of your biological mother. The spiritual parentage of St. Joseph and Mary is meant to supplement the witness and love of your earthly parents, helping you grow in the spiritual life, especially in virtue and holiness.

Hopefully, your biological parents have done their best at loving, educating, feeding, sheltering, clothing, protecting, and correcting you. If your parents have been virtuous and saintly, you should consider yourself extremely blessed. Today, sadly, many people have not had this experience. We live in a fallen world, and the majority of people have seen and experienced the flaws and imperfections of their parents. However, with St. Joseph and Mary as your spiritual parents, you are blessed with perfect parents and perfect models.

We are undoubtedly children of Mary, and this is our glory and our consolation. But we are also adopted children of St. Joseph and this is no small reason for the confidence that we have in him. —  Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

Jesus wants you to accept St. Joseph as your spiritual father. This is true whether you have had a saintly or a sinful biological father. Saint Joseph is the greatest, most loving, and holiest of all fathers. He is the father of Christians and the perfect model of paternal love.

He [St. Joseph] is the father of Christians, since he is the depository of the seed of grace which begot Christians. Now if St. Joseph is our father, let us imitate his deeds. —  Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

If the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph is so important, why didn’t Jesus make us aware of St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood 2,000 years ago? The simple answer is because it would have led to confusion. When Jesus spoke of the Father to his disciples, it would have been very confusing to them if he also spoke about the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph. This is most likely the reason why Jesus did not initiate his public ministry until after the death of St. Joseph. Jesus wants his disciples to know about the virtues, wonders, and spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph, but for the sake of his mission, he had to leave the revealing of this mystery to the Holy Spirit and the Church.

That Jesus did not speak to his disciples about St. Joseph should in no way indicate to us that Jesus thought little of his father. On the contrary, the silence of Jesus regarding St. Joseph reveals the extreme holiness of St. Joseph. Jesus understood St. Joseph so well that he knew that his father would be more than willing to step aside so that Jesus could give priority to doing the Heavenly Father’s will. For love of Jesus, St. Joseph was more than willing to step out of the picture and appear to be of no importance. Saint Joseph desires only one thing: that Jesus accomplish the mission that he was sent to do by his Heavenly Father. It doesn’t matter to St. Joseph if he isn’t center stage. Jesus loves this about St. Joseph. The humility of St. Joseph is a witness to his greatness!

Today, however, the time has come when, for the good of mankind, the Holy Spirit desires to fully reveal the virtues, wonders, and spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph to the nations. This great mystery has been reserved for a time when the Church and the world would need it most.

Now is the time of St. Joseph!

In our day, Jesus wants the Church to know, love, honor, and seek refuge in the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph. There has never been a time in history when God’s people have needed St. Joseph more. Why? Simply put, the majority of men no longer know or understand what it means to be a gentleman, let alone what it means to be a good father. Children have grown up with poor examples of fatherhood, if they have grown up with a father at all. Contraception, pornography, abortion, gender confusion, moral depravity, empty churches, morally corrupt clergy, and cultural chaos are only a few of the fruits of a society that lacks real men and fathers. Jesus wants to draw our attention to the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph in order to right these wrongs and bring order back to the Church and the world.

What, then, should we expect from the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph? What will he do for us? Saint Joseph loves us and so will joyfully do the exact same things that a biological father does for his children, only on a spiritual level. He will spiritually feed, shelter, clothe, educate, protect, and correct us. This is his role as father. With the exception of correction, St. Joseph did all these things for Jesus, our brother. Of course, St. Joseph also provided for all Jesus’ physical needs for many years.

If Joseph was so engaged, heart and soul, in protecting and pro-viding for that little family at Nazareth, don’t you think that now in heaven he is the same loving father and guardian of the whole Church, of all its members, as he was of its Head on earth? — Venerable Pope Pius XII

From the same fact that the most holy Virgin is the mother of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all Christians whom she bore on Mount Calvary amid the supreme throes of the Redemption: Jesus Christ is, in a manner, the first-born of Christians, who by the adoption and Redemption are his brothers. And for such rea-sons the Blessed Patriarch [St. Joseph] looks upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as confided especially to his trust. — Pope Leo XIII

As the best and most loving of fathers, St. Joseph stands ready to shelter you in the safety of the Sacraments and teachings of the Catholic Church, clothe you with virtue, educate you in the interior life, protect you under his fatherly cloak, and correct you should you go astray.

If anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious saint [Joseph] as his master, and he will not go astray. — St. Teresa of Avila

Placing yourself under the fatherly cloak of St. Joseph is a great blessing in the spiritual life. In the Carmelite tradition, the cloak of St. Joseph is a very prominent theme in artistic depictions of St. Joseph. His cloak is a symbol of safety and fatherly protection. Similar to Mary shielding her children under her maternal mantle, St. Joseph lovingly protects his children under his fatherly cloak. In Catholic devotion, those who love St. Joseph will sometimes pray the Holy Cloak Novena. Novenas are normally nine days long, but the Holy Cloak Novena consists of 30 days of prayer in honor of the 30 years St. Joseph lived with Jesus. The Holy Cloak Novena is considered one of the most efficacious novenas in the treasury of the Church.

Place yourself under the paternal cloak of St. Joseph. Open your heart to the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph and experience the love of the best of fathers.
It is natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family of Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ. — Pope Leo XIII

Glorious St. Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary, we beseech you through the heart of Jesus Christ, grant to us your fatherly protection. — St. Francis de Sales

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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