Wednesday To St. Joseph

The first Wednesday is dedicated to St. Joseph for three intentions: protection for the universal Church, assistance and a good death for each of us and all those dying during the month, divine Providence in all our needs.

1. O St. Joseph, faithful cooperator in our redemption, have pity on poor humanity, still wrapped in so much error and so many evils. You were a docile instrument in the hands of the heavenly Father, in arranging everything for the birth and childhood of Jesus, for the preparation of the Victim, of the Priest, and of the Divine Master of the world. Saint most docile to the will of God, obtain for us zeal for vocations and for their formation. For ourselves, we ask you for generous and constant correspondence to the precious gift of God’s call.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

2. O St. Joseph, model of every virtue, obtain for us your interior spirit. In loving and active silence, in the practice of all religious and civil laws, in docility to everything God willed, you arrived at a high degree of sanctity and heavenly glory. Obtain for us an increase of faith, hope, and charity, an ample infusion of the cardinal virtues, and an abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

3. O St. Joseph, we venerate you as the model of laborers, the friend of the poor, the consoler of the

afflicted and those forced to leave their own land, the saint of divine Providence. On earth you represented the universal goodness and concern of the heavenly Father. You were the carpenter of Nazareth and work-teacher to the Son of God, who became a humble laborer for us. Assist with your prayers all who labor in intellectual, moral, and physical work. For the nations obtain legislation inspired by the Gospel, the spirit of Christian charity, a way of governing in accord with justice and peace.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

4. O St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, we bless the Lord for your intimate communication with him during his infancy and youth at Bethlehem, in Egypt, and at Nazareth. You loved him with a father’s love, and he loved you with the love of a son. Your faith made you adore in him the incarnate Son of God, while he obeyed you, served you, listened to you. You held pleasant conversations with him, shared work, great sufferings, and most tender consolations. Obtain for us the grace never to offend Jesus by sin. Pray for us that we may always receive the sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation well, attain to a great intimacy with and a tender and strong love for Jesus while on earth, and possess him forever in heaven.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

5. O St. Joseph, pure spouse of Mary, we humbly ask you to obtain for us a true devotion to our tender Mother, Teacher, and Queen. By divine will, your mission was associated to Mary’s. With Mary you shared sufferings and joys; with her there was a holy rivalry in virtue, work, and merits; union of mind and of heart. St. Joseph, pray for fathers and mothers. Obtain for us the grace to know the Blessed Virgin Mary, to imitate her, to love her, to pray to her always. Draw many souls to her maternal heart.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

6. O St. Joseph, protector of the dying, we supplicate you for all the dying and beg your assistance in the hour of our own death. You merited a happy passing by a holy life, and in your last hours you had the ineffable consolation of being assisted by Jesus and Mary. Deliver us from sudden death; obtain for us the grace to imitate you in life, to detach our heart from everything worldly, and daily to gather treasures for the moment of our death. Obtain for us the grace  to receive the sacraments of the sick well, and with Mary, inspire us with sentiments of faith, hope, love, and sorrow for sins, so that we may breathe forth our soul in peace.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

7. O St. Joseph, protector of the universal Church, look kindly upon the Pope, the episcopate, the clergy, the religious, and the laity. Pray for the sanctification of all. The Church is the fruit of the blood of Jesus, your foster Son. We entrust to you our supplications for the extension, liberty, and exaltation of the Church. Defend her from errors, from evil, and from the powers of hell, as you once saved the threatened life of Jesus from the hands of Herod. May the desire of Jesus come true: “That there be one fold under one shepherd.”

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Before or after meditation, or during the Hour of Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament, the following is said or sung:

Behold the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord God has set over his household.

Ecce fidélis servus et prudens queur constituit Dóminus super famíliam suam.

(Magnificat, p. 303)