'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men of good will (Luke 2:14). Consider how great was the love and tenderness of St. Joseph when he beheld with his own eyes the Son of God become an infant; when he heard the angels singing around their newborn Lord, and saw the stable filled with light. Kneeling down and weeping with love and compassion, Joseph said: 'I adore Thee, yes I adore Thee, my Lord and my God.
How great is my happiness to be the first, after Mary, to see You born, and to know that in this world You wished to be called and reputed my Son! Allow me, then, also to call You my Son, and to say: My God and my Son, to You I consecrate my whole being. My life shall be no longer mine, but shall be Yours without reserve!
Let us then often say to him:
St. Joseph, grant that I may spend my life, like you, in the service of God.
PRAYER
Most holy patriarch, St. Joseph, I rejoice at the great dignity to which you have been raised in being made foster father of the Son of God, endowed with authority to command Him Whom heaven and earth obey.
My holy patron, since Jesus Himself respected and served you as His father, I, too, wish to enroll myself in your service. I choose you, after Mary, for my principal advocate and protector. I promise to honor you every day with some special devotion, and each day I will place myself under your protection.
As you enjoyed the sweet company of Jesus and Mary during your life on earth, grant that I may ever live close to them and never be separated from God by losing His grace. And as you were assisted by Jesus and Mary at the hour of your death, so grant me protection at the hour of my death, that, dying in your presence and that of Jesus and Mary, I may one day go to thank you in paradise, and in your company praise and love God for all eternity. Amen.
St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church, protect us.
Protect our Holy Father, the Pope, and our Mother, Holy Church.
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