Quarantine Week 1 Thursday: Solemnity of St. Joseph

I’ve been going on a lot of walks and photographing the flowers I meet. These are some pansies.

Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. I have a small statue of him I inherited from a deceased member of the Legion of Mary I never met. She died about a week before I joined and had left these things behind for the praesidium members. Seeing it is a very real reminder of the bonds between Legionaries that last beyond death, and everyone’s connectedness in the body of Christ.

The St. Joseph statue has had a prominent place near my at-home desk (aka kitchen table) and I keep a tea light lit in front of him, when I am working or anxious (you would correctly deduce that means he has been getting a lot of candle time recently). I have developed a strong devotion to St. Joseph for a few reasons, including that he is simply steadfast. I imagine the absolute confusion he felt on just about every occasion during the major events we know of his life with Mary and Jesus. But, he persisted in faith and courage, and I need that example, often.

So today I finished, along with the Pray More Novenas community, the novena to St. Joseph. I already have a St. Joseph prayer I pray every day and this evening was trying to describe it to a friend on the phone. “It says something along the lines of, give baby Jesus a squeeze for me and let him know I would like him to be near me when I die,” I said, pacing the apartment parking lot, walking up and down the same set of stairs, trying to get steps in. Here’s the actual thing:

O Saint Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss his fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. Saint Joseph, Patron of departed souls – pray for me.

I like this story about the staircase he built for some nuns in New Mexico. You may also enjoy the Litany of St. Joseph to learn all about his different titles. My personal favorite: St. Joseph, Terror of Demons.

Another thing I learned today: there is a St. Corona, she is from the part of Italy most impacted by coronavirus right now, and she has been invoked in times of pandemic. Wow. Look around hard enough and you will probably find a novena to her - or, you can create your own (I like writing my own prayers sometimes - did you know you could do that?).

I had another small thought, people. It has only been a week since I wrote the article for Catholic Stand about keeping Lent during the pandemic, and even less than a week since it was published. Almost immediately, as the true gravity of the situation became more shockingly clear, I felt it was inadequate. Specifically, that it did not do enough to address what people who have been laid off are experiencing, and how to have hope despite that. That was because I had no idea what was coming.

I don’t have any particular advice on how to maintain that hope: in a matter of days, thousands of people have lost their jobs and are living in limbo, with constant worry about what comes next, how to feed their children, when they will see another paycheck - on top of worry about getting sick.

So, it is good to pray for the victims of the illness, those who are dying, those who are caring for the ill, and all those still working, particularly in public services, to keep our world from coming to a complete halt. I think, though, right now, my heart is closer to those who find themselves without work. As Catholics, we know there is dignity in work. St. Joseph himself is known as The Worker. So in a special way, St. Joseph is the perfect, powerful intercessor for these times.

Anyway: I’ll leave the last word to Matthew McConaughey.