St Teresa and St Joseph

On this feast of St Joseph the Worker I am reminded of Teresa’s devotion to him.  “Would that I could persuade all men to be devout to this glorious saint,” wrote St. Teresa in her autobiography about St Joseph, “for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God.”  “I took for my patron the glorious St. Joseph and recommended myself earnestly to him.”  One of her earliest blessings came with a severe illness she suffered.  She had been healed by St. Joseph, when at the point of death, and she attributed her recovery to him.  When she formulated the intention of establishing her first monastery, she was instructed by Our Lord to dedicate it to St. Joseph, and indeed two-thirds of her monasteries were dedicated to St. Joseph.  St. Teresa reminds us why St. Joseph is such a great intercessor.  “Our Lord would have us understand that, as he was subject to Joseph on earth — St. Joseph, bearing the title of his father and being his guardian, could command him — so now Our Lord in heaven grants all his petitions.” In the development of the appreciation of St. Joseph in the Church, she was, in those Renaissance times, the major promoter of St. Joseph.”  St. Teresa also reminds us how St. Joseph helps us grow in holiness through devotion to him.  “I have never known anyone who was truly devoted to him and honoured him by particular services who did not advance greatly in virtue, for he helps in a special way those souls who recommend themselves to him,” she said.  “I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at any time for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favours which God hath given me through this blessed saint, the dangers from which he hath delivered me, both of body and of soul.”

Intercessions:

Louise Aldred OCDS RIP – a long-time member of the Nottingham Secular community

Brian Davis – cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela) - cancer

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Rebekah – in hospital