NOVENA TO SAINT JOSEPH: DAY 9 – (SAINT JOSEPH, MODEL OF DETACHMENT)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

ACT OF CONTRITION

Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all, because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants.

Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belongs to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death. Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore: (Mention your request). Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers on my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEDITATION: DAY 9

(SAINT JOSEPH, MODEL OF DETACHMENT)

St. Joseph loved poverty because it detaches man from all passing and perishable goods, delivers the soul from dangerous obstacles, and from a thousand evils and cares, and permits him to keep his eyes raised toward Heaven, instead of stooping like a slave, toward the earth.

Saint Joseph loved poverty because he saw it practised in the highest degree by Jesus Christ. Did he not regard it as a hidden and priceless treasure, when he contemplated Jesus in His abnegation — when he saw Him stretch out His divine hands to ask for the most necessary needs of life?

Saint Joseph suffered the privations of life with patience, without a murmur of complaint, using his poverty to detach himself more and more from worldly goods and to seek the goods of Heaven. Even when he was asked to move from place to place, his prompt actions reflect a lot his detachment from material things.

Beloved in Christ, God has placed material goods in your care and not the other way round. When the time comes to detach from them for the glory of God and for your sanctification and salvation, would you do as St. Joseph?

—-PAUSE FOR A MOMENT—-

DAY NINE PRAYER

Saint Joseph, how fitting it was that at the hour of your death Jesus should stand at your bedside with Mary, the sweetness and hope of all mankind. You gave your entire life to the service of Jesus and Mary; at death, you enjoyed the consolation of dying in Their loving arms. You accepted death in the spirit of loving submission to the Will of God, and this acceptance crowned your hidden life of virtue. Yours was a merciful judgment, for your foster-Son, for whom you had cared so lovingly, was your Judge, and Mary was your advocate. The verdict of the Judge was a word of encouragement to wait for His coming to Limbo, where He would shower you with the choicest fruits of the Redemption, and an embrace of grateful affection before you breathed forth your soul into eternity.

You looked into eternity and to your everlasting reward with confidence. If our Savior blessed the shepherds, the Magi, Simeon, John the Baptist, and others, because they greeted His presence with devoted hearts for a brief passing hour, how much more did He bless you who have sanctified yourself for so many years in His company and that of His Mother? If Jesus regards every corporal and spiritual work of mercy, performed on behalf of our fellow men out of love for Him, as done to Himself, and promises heaven as a reward, what must have been the extent of His gratitude to you who in the truest sense of the word have received Him, given Him shelter, clothed, nourished, and consoled Him at the sacrifice of your strength and rest, and even your life, with a love which surpassed the love of all fathers.

God really and personally made Himself your debtor. Our Divine Savior paid that debt of gratitude by granting you many graces in your lifetime, especially the grace of growing in love, which is the best and most perfect of all gifts. Thus at the end of your life, your heart became filled with love, the fervour, and longing of which your frail body could not resist. Your soul followed the triumphant impulse of your love and winged its flight from earth to bear the prophets and patriarchs in Limbo the glad tidings of the advent of the Redeemer.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to die in the arms of Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Help me to spend each day in preparation for death. May I, too, accept death in the spirit of resignation to God’s Holy Will, and die, as you did, in the arms of Jesus, strengthened by Holy Viaticum, and in the arms of Mary, with her rosary in my hand and her name on my lips! 

As I lay my intentions before you today (Mention your request), grant me the grace to be ever grateful to God for favours received. Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers on my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

Saint Joseph answers Prayers! If Saint Joseph does not grant graces, he would not be Saint Joseph!!

LITANY OF SAINT JOSEPH

Lord, have mercy.	Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.	Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.	Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.	Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.	Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father in 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.
Illustrious son 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.
Pure Guardian of the Virgin,	pray for us.
Provider for 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 brave,	pray for us.
Joseph, most obedient,	pray for us.
Joseph, most loyal,	pray for us.
Mirror of patience,	pray for us.
Lover of poverty,	pray for us.
Model for workers,	pray for us.
Glory of family life,	pray for us.
Guardian of virgins,	pray for us.
Cornerstone of families,	pray for us.
Support in difficulties,	pray for us.
Comfort of the sorrowing,	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 Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Jesus.

God made him the lord of his household, and prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray. God, in your infinite wisdom and love you chose Joseph to be the husband of Mary, the mother of your Son. May we have the help of his prayers in heaven and enjoy his protection on earth. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

CONCLUDING PRAYERS

TO SAINT JOSEPH’S PATRONAGE

Dear St. Joseph, after the Blessed Virgin Mary, you’re the most powerful intercessor before God. In a sense, Jesus remains obedient to you and will listen to you as you bring my intentions to Him. Because of this, I especially want to entrust myself to your fatherly care, just as Jesus Himself did. And while in the past, I may have brought to you one of my intentions here or there, this time I want to do something new. This time, I want to give you all. In other words, St. Joseph, I’m not here to offer you a regular “novena” for just one of my intentions. Rather, I want to forever entrust to you all of my needs and cares, trusting that you will bring them, with Mary, to your Son, Jesus.

Dear St. Joseph, as the best of fathers, as the one God chose to be the virginal father of Jesus, I believe that you know what I need better than I do myself. So go ahead, St. Joseph. I give you permission to care for me as your child. In doing so, I trust that you will do everything in your power to make my life into something beautiful for God. I trust that you will watch over me and that your prayers will guide me, bless me, and protect me. I trust that you will now care for me with the same love and tenderness with which you cared for Jesus. I’ll confirm this special relationship with you in nine days if it so pleases God.

Saint Joseph, Powerful Intercessor, please pray for me and all my intentions.

MEMORARE

Remember, o most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

O St. Joseph † make me understand the excellence of detachment. † Grant that I may enter into the interior dispositions † which animated thee in regard to that virtue. † Disclose to me the snares of riches, † the dangers which are attached to them, † the solicitude which they engender. Make me understand how much God favours us, † when he refuses us riches, † since he furnishes us a precious occasion to detach us from ourselves † and from creatures, † and to increase our merit for Heaven. Amen.

 

Blessing+

Through the intercession of Saint Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family, may the Lord bless + us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

👏🏼👏🏼 Great job praying Day 9! May the good Lord hear our humble Prayers. Amen.👏🏼👏🏼

Shalom!
Compiled by Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, OSJ
Paroquia Nossa Senhora da Immaculada Conceição, Paulo Ramos, Maranhão, Brazil
nozickcjoe@gmail.com / fadacjay@gmail.com
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PS: Have you prayed your Rosary today?