St. Joseph? Is he the saint that looks over me?

Novena to St. Joseph

O GLORIOUS St. Joseph, faithful follower
of Jesus Christ, to you do we raise our hearts
and hands, to implore your powerful intercession
in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus
all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual
and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of
a happy death, and the special favor we now implore

(Mention your petition. Then say the following
seven times in honor of the seven sorrows and
joys of St. Joseph.)

O Glorious St. Joseph, through the love that
you bore to Jesus Christ, and for the glory of
His Holy Name, deign to hear our prayers and
obtain for us our petitions. O Jesus, Mary and
Joseph, come to our assistance. Amen.

This is a prayer that I have prayed twice now and each time St. Joseph has answered me. I want to share it with everyone in hopes that he intercedes on your behalf.

You may ask why I decided out of all the Saints that I could pick from, why I picked St. Joseph. The answer is like this. When I went through Confirmation, I chose St. Joseph as the saint to be named after. I don’t really know all the details to why we pick a Saint to take the name of, but I think it has something to do with attempting to live one’s life like they did seeing we know they have made it to Heaven. Honestly, the reason I picked St. Joseph was because my name is Joseph and I really was not all that into the religious thing. My mom said I had to do it, so I did. I am sure that wasn’t much different than many teenagers, they go to Church and do what is required of them because their parents tell them too.

Anyways, now I am glad that I picked St. Joseph as who I should model my life after. I know this may seem strange coming from a gay guy, that he feels he should model his life as the man chosen to watch over Jesus when He was young and Mary while she was pregnant and raising Jesus. What would I have in common with him? I think it is this. St. Joseph was a very important part of God’s plan, but he is over looked often. It seems that most people focus more on Mary, than they do Joseph. He is somewhat a forgotten individual, sort of like me. I do feel that St. Joseph understand what it’s like to be overlooked and feels for those people. Well, that is what I thought until recently.

I would also like to share with you something else that I have discovered about St. Joseph. This can be found on Saints’ Names for Boys. I found out there are two St. Josephs. One is the one I have talked about above, Jesus’ dad. The other is Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Here is what is written on that website about both of these Saints.

God chose Saint Joseph to care for Mary and Jesus because his holiness and love for Him was great, his compassion for others was outstanding, and his desire to protect and provide for his family was honorable.

Saint Joseph of Cupertino endured much rejection—his mother disapproved of him and the religious orders he tried to join refused him—but rather than succumbing to self-pity, he turned to God for acceptance. He became a priest who worked miracles and conversed intimately with Christ in ecstasies.

Check out Saint Joseph of Cupertino. This gives me something new to think about! Maybe this is the St. Joseph I should model my life after. I will have to do some more research on him, but by this short descriptions, he may be more of the guy that I could relate too.

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that it was St. Joseph (Jesus’ dad) that interceded for me in the past. He is the one I still turn to when I really need someone to speak to God on my behalf, well, besides my sister, cousin and grandparents. I do believe they are all in Heaven and have spoken to God on my behalf before. But out of everyone that I have asked help from, St. Joseph seems to have a little more grace with God to intercede in ways that make it know that he was the one that interceded on my behalf.

I would just like to ask these questions of you. Have you ever asked a Saint to intercede for you? If so, would you care to share whom that Saint was? I do not think it is important to share (unless you wish too) how the Saint interceded for you. I think it is more important to let others know that Saints will intercede on our behalves if they feel they should do so.

P.S. If you don’t know what Novena means, it’s a recitation of prayers and devotions for a special purpose during nine consecutive days.

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