Go to Joseph - St. Joseph's Day

Wednesday is St. Joseph's Day, a special Feast Day for my religious community, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.  As our CSJP Constitutions say:

From the beginning of the congregation
Joseph was chosen as our patron
because he is a model of peace.
His courage to live a life of faith
inspires us to trust in God's abiding love
especially in times of struggle and uncertainty.  

As I reflected on this blog a while back: "We certainly live in times of struggle and uncertainty on a  grand scale, and each of us in our own lives may also face certain struggles and weariness from time to time.  And so did Joseph.  I'm spending some special time walking with Joseph these days, and invite you to do the same."

When Margaret Anna Cusack, known in religion as Mother Francis Clare, founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in 1884, she chose Joseph as our patron because he is a model of peace.  In her words: "No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace."

When I find myself in times of struggle or uncertainty, I go to Joseph, model of peace. I had a recent experience of this, today on the vigil of his feast day in fact, and all I can say is, Joseph had my back. I felt his peaceful presence, his commitment to family, and his trust in God's abiding love.

To celebrate this day, I made a video prayer reflection a while ago, set to "Joseph, Better You than Me" by the Killers (featuring Elton John and Neil Tennant).  Enjoy ... and remember to "Go to Joseph."

Praying with Joseph (A Video Prayer Reflection)

You might not be surprised to learn that I have a special affinity for St. Joseph, especially given that I am a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace!  Advent is a special time to pray with St. Joseph. Think of how excited and nervous he must have been, awaiting the coming of this child who he had dreamed about, the son who would bring light into his life and light into the world.

Last year I created this video prayer during Advent .... and now I share it with you!

Pray for us St. Joseph!

Happy St Joseph the Worker Feast Day!

From time to time, someone will ask me who who St. Joseph of Peace was (the patron of my religious community). I usually explain  that the "of Peace" was more of an attribute than a place, and that the title refers to the St. Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. The carpenter man.

Our founder Margaret Anna Cusack chose Joseph as our patron because she believed he was a model of peace:

"No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace. In peace he fulfills all the Divine commands, many of which required from him the exercise of the greatest self-sacrifice; and in peace he submitted to the cruel injustice of Herod."

Or, as our CSJP Constitutions say:  "“His courage to live a life of faith inspires us to trust in God's abiding love,especially in times of struggle and uncertainty.”

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. And yes, this Joseph is the same one as well. But as tradition tells us that he was a carpenter, hence the title worker.

Pope Pius XII instituted the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1st in 1955. This was in the midst of the cold war, and was no doubt in response to the observance of May 1st in most of the world, and especially cold war era communist countries, as May Day, International Worker's Day.

While this Feast Day is a relative late comer to the liturgical calendar, it is nonetheless an important one in the Catholic Tradition. Catholic Social Teaching has a strong respect for the dignity of work and rights of workers.

Yet the workers' rights cannot be doomed to be the mere result of economic systems aimed at maximum profits. The thing that must shape the whole economy is respect for the workers' rights within each country and all through the world's economy. ...

Created in God's image, we were given the mandate to transform the earth. By their work people share in God's creating activity....Awareness that our work is a sharing in God's work ought to permeate even the most ordinary daily activities.

By our labor we are unfolding the Creator's work and contributing to the realization of God's plan on earth. (On Human Work, John Paul II)

To each of us who shares in God's creating activity through work .... Happy Feast Day!

To all of those who are living through times of struggle and uncertainty, let's pray for the intercession of Joseph.  May we too be inspired by his courage to love.

Praying with St. Joseph

Today is St. Joseph's Day, a special Feast Day for my religious community, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.  I've been praying a lot with Joseph the past few months.  As our CSJP Constitutions say:

From the beginning of the congregation
Joseph was chosen as our patron
because he is a model of peace.
His courage to live a life of faith
inspires us to trust in God's abiding love
especially in times of struggle and uncertainty. 

As I reflected on this blog a few months ago: "We certainly live in times of struggle and uncertainty on a  grand scale, and each of us in our own lives may also face certain struggles and weariness from time to time.  And so did Joseph.  I'm spending some special time walking with Joseph these days, and invite you to do the same."

When Margaret Anna Cusack, known in religion as Mother Francis Clare, founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in 1884, she chose Joseph as our patron because he is a model of peace.  In her words: "No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace."

I made this ideo prayer reflection a while back, set to "Joseph, Better You than Me" by the Killers (featuring Elton John and Neil Tennant).  Enjoy ... and remember to "Go to Joseph."

Video: Praying with St. Joseph

I had a great creative prayer time this evening with Joseph. Pray for us St. Joseph.

Inviting St. Joseph to be with us in times of struggle and uncertainty

I admit to feeling a little bit weary of late.  Part of it is the fact that post-yucky-cold-thing, my asthma is still acting up a bit.  Part of it is recovering my energy after putting lots of focus into end of term assignments.  Part of it is facing the reality of my gigantic to-do list.  And part of it is simply our wounded and broken world.

My guess is that today, with the latest news of a tragic violent act and the innocent death of school children, on top of news of tragic violent acts daily all over the world, I may not be the only one feeling a bit weary.

Given our general state of weariness and the fact that it's Advent, I'd like to suggest spending some time with Joseph.  You know, that Joseph.  Husband of Mary.  The faithful one who flew in the face of societal convention and stuck with Mary, believing her story, trusting in God.  The one who helped raise Jesus, fled with his family into Egypt for his safety, taught him some useful life skills, and looked for him when he was lost.  And that's just what made it into the recorded story.

Despite his key role in our Christian story, most of us tend to forget Joseph when it comes to Advent and Christmas.  Fr. James Martin wrote a great article to that effect on slate.com a few years back which I rediscovered recently via Facebook.  It's worth a read.

Yesterday morning during my prayer time, my weariness reared its head. And then, looking at my icon of St. Joseph of Peace,  I remembered this line from the Constitutions of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.

From the beginning of the congregation
Joseph was chosen as our patron
because he is a model of peace.
His courage to live a life of faith
inspires us to trust in God's abiding love
especially in times of struggle and uncertainty. (CSJP Constitution 36).

We certainly live in times of struggle and uncertainty on a grand scale, and each of us in our own lives may also face certain struggles and weariness from time to time.

And so did Joseph.  I'm spending some special time walking with Joseph these days, and invite you to do the same.

Margaret Anna Cusack, the founder of my religious community, wrote of Joseph: "No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace."  Hence, she chose Joseph as the patron for her new religious community, St. Joseph's Sisters of Peace.  We all need peace in our lives, in our world, in our hearts.

Please join me in asking St. Joseph, model of peace, to pray for peace in our violent world.  That we may welcome the light of Christ into our hearts.  That we may trust in God's faithful love in times of uncertainty and be beacons of hope in times of anxiety.  That we may grow together in love and participate in the in-breaking of love and compassion into our weary world.  St. Joseph, pray for us.

Praying & Working with Joseph

From time to time, someone will ask me who who St. Joseph of Peace was (the patron of my religious community). I usually explain  that the "of Peace" was more of an attribute than a place, and that the title refers to the St. Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. The carpenter man.

Our founder Margaret Anna Cusack chose Joseph as our patron because she believed he was a model of peace:

"No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace. In peace he fulfills all the Divine commands, many of which required from him the exercise of the greatest self-sacrifice; and in peace he submitted to the cruel injustice of Herod."

Or, as our CSJP Constitutions say:  "“His courage to live a life of faith inspires us to trust in God's abiding love,especially in times of struggle and uncertainty.”

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. And yes, this Joseph is the same one as well. But as tradition tells us that he was a carpenter, hence the title worker.

Pope Pius XII instituted the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1st in 1955. This was in the midst of the cold war, and was no doubt in response to the observance of May 1st in most of the world, and especially cold war era communist countries, as May Day, International Worker's Day.

While this Feast Day is a relative late comer to the liturgical calendar, it is nonetheless an important one in the Catholic Tradition. Catholic Social Teaching has a strong respect for the dignity of work and rights of workers.

Yet the workers' rights cannot be doomed to be the mere result of economic systems aimed at maximum profits. The thing that must shape the whole economy is respect for the workers' rights within each country and all through the world's economy. ...

Created in God's image, we were given the mandate to transform the earth. By their work people share in God's creating activity....Awareness that our work is a sharing in God's work ought to permeate even the most ordinary daily activities.

By our labor we are unfolding the Creator's work and contributing to the realization of God's plan on earth. (On Human Work, John Paul II)

To all of my bloggy friends who are sharing in God's creating activity through work .... Happy Feast Day!

To all of those who are living through times of struggle and uncertainty, let's pray for the intercession of Joseph.  May we too be inspired by his courage to love.

St Joseph the Worker

A while back somebody asked me who St. Joseph of Peace was (the patron of my religious community). I explained that the "of Peace" was more of an attribute than a place, and that the title refers to the St. Joseph, husband of Mary and father of Jesus. The carpenter man. Our founder Margaret Anna Cusack chose Joseph as our patron because she believed he was a model of peace:

"No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace. In peace he fulfills all the Divine commands, many of which required from him the exercise of the greatest self-sacrifice; and in peace he submitted to the cruel injustice of Herod."

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. And yes, this Joseph is the same one as well. But as tradition tells us that he was a carpenter, hence the title worker.

Pope Pius XII instituted the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1st in 1955. This was in the midst of the cold war, and was no doubt in response to the observance of May 1st in most of the world, and especially cold war era communist countries, as May Day, International Worker's Day.

While this Feast Day is a relative late comer to the liturgical calendar, it is nonetheless an important one in the Catholic Tradition. Catholic Social Teaching has a strong respect for the dignity of work and rights of workers.

Yet the workers' rights cannot be doomed to be the mere result of economic systems aimed at maximum profits. The thing that must shape the whole economy is respect for the workers' rights within each country and all through the world's economy. ...

Created in God's image, we were given the mandate to transform the earth. By their work people share in God's creating activity....Awareness that our work is a sharing in God's work ought to permeate even the most ordinary daily activities.

By our labor we are unfolding the Creator's work and contributing to the realization of God's plan on earth. (On Human Work, John Paul II)

To all of my bloggy friends who are sharing in God's creating activity through work .... Happy Feast Day! Plus, it's always nice to have a day to spend with Joseph.

Happy St. Joseph's Day

When Margaret Anna Cusack, founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace was discerning her call to found a new order, she decided to call on Joseph as patron because he himself was a model of peace. In 1883 (one year before our founding) she wrote these words: ""No doubt we may point to St. Joseph as the great model of every virtue, but it would seem as if peace was his crowning grace. "

I'll admit to a growing fondess of Joseph. Growing up Catholic, and 1/2 Irish at that, I never knew that 2 days after St. Patrick's day there was a day to celebrate the husband of Mary and step-father of Jesus. To be quite honest, before entering the CSJPs I never thought much about Joseph, but as I say he's been growing on me. A few years ago I made him my "Advent friend," a wonderful experience of waiting for the birth of Jesus with Joseph.

If you haven't thought much about Joseph, I invite you to do so today. He's an amazing spiritual companion. Here's a little prayer video I put together that Advent when I was journeying with Joseph.



From the beginning of the congregation
Joseph was chosen as our patron
because he is a model of peace.
His courage to live a life of faith
inspires us to trust in God's abiding love,
especially in times of struggle and uncertainty.
(CSJP Constitution 36)

Seven years ago today, on St. Joseph's Day, the US began its military engagement (a little thing called a war) began in Iraq. Since then, thousands of Iraqi civilians and US, coalition and Iraqi military and police personnel have died. Thousands more have been injured in life-changing ways.

Please join me in asking St. Joseph, model of peace, to pray for peace for the Iraqi people. That their election transition may go smoothly and peacefully. That the anticipated US troop withdrawal will take place and most importantly will lead to a more stable, peaceful Iraq where the Iraqi people can live their lives fully and joyfully. St. Joseph, pray for us.

St Joseph

A recent visitor to the blog asked me to comment on the following:

Since he figures even more prominently than Peace in your title, I would love to hear more about what good Saint Joseph means to you and your Sisters and how he assists you in forming your Congregational identity as well.

Thanks for the invitation! My relationship with Joseph has been growing over the past five and a half years of my association with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Our original name at our 1884 founding was "St. Joseph's Sisters of Peace of the Immaculate Conception." This was changed over the years (with the moniker for the longest interval being Sisters of St. Joseph of Newark) until we reclaimed "peace" as part of our title after Vatican II, becoming the "Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace."

Our Founder Margaret Anna Cusack (known in religion as Mother Francis Clare) chose Joseph as our patron because he was a model of peace. As our Constitutions say so beautifully:

From the beginning of the congregation
Joseph was chosen as our patron
because he is a model of peace.
His courage to live a life of faith
inspires us to trust in God's abiding love,
especially in times of struggle and uncertainty.
(CSJP Constitution 36)

Whenever I think of what it must have been like 2,000+ years ago. Here was an honest man, betrothed to a young woman. Ready to move onto the next expected step of his life. And then she's pregnant. And not by him! He's ready to do the right thing, but then that dream. How crazy must that have seemed. Talk about struggle and uncertainty. But he trusted. In Mary. In Jesus as he helped to raise him, knowing there was something special about this little boy. And above all, in God the father. Wow. He is a model of peace, someone we can spend time with when life gets a little crazy. And in good times too. I like to imagine the good times he had with Jesus and Mary. Those quiet moments. I'm sure there were many.

Last year I made this video prayer about St. Joseph. It's worth sharing again.

Thanks to my bloggy friend for inviting me to spend some more time with Joseph.

St Joseph Video Prayer

Joseph is my Advent friend. Honestly. Weird as it may sound, being as I'm a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace, I realized that I haven't spent much time in spiritual friendship and prayer with Joseph. Around the same time as I realized this, I was having Joseph sightings all around - even on the Simpsons! (It was a Christmas special where Homer was Joseph).

So, I decided that Joseph wanted to be my Advent friend. I've been playing around with setting pictures to music as prayer, so I thought I'd make one for Joseph.

It was a prayer to put it together, just as it's a 3 minute prayer time to watch it. Maybe you might want to spend time with Joseph this Advent too!