By: Sr. M. Magdalene Therese
Our holy Mother Church has dedicated the entire month of March to St. Joseph. His merits are boundless and the unique litany in his honor elucidates his many admirable qualities and patronages. Not only is he Guardian of the Redeemer, he is the Protector of the Universal Church, and especially the Guardian of Virgins. He has a special place in the heart of every Carmelite dating back to Teresa of Jesus in the 16th century as she established her first reformed Carmelite Convent de San Jose in Avila, Spain—placing statues of St. Joseph at both entrances to watch over and protect her nuns.
Our own Mother Foundress, Blessed Maria Teresa of St. Joseph, was solidified in her love for this special fatherly patron when her own father (himself a Lutheran Superintendent) discovered her desire to convert to Catholicism, staunchly mocked her for praying to “such a ridiculous man”, and subsequently disowned her after she joined the Church. For Bl. Maria Teresa, St. Joseph’s heart was a place where her own heart could come to rest after being wounded and abandoned by her earthly father. Her devotion to him, and her desire for all of her daughters to be devoted to him as well, earned her a place in Fr. Donald Calloway’s book entitled Consecration to St. Joseph.
In the history of our community, countless stories of St. Joseph providing for our Carmel DCJ have been passed down from Sister to Sister. One of my favorites occurred early in our community’s beginning. A few Sisters were tasked with caring for and feeding a large orphanage of children who had no means of providing for themselves. The poor Sisters did the best they could to keep every child fed and healthy, but the store in the pantry had dwindled to just a few apples—hardly enough to feed the hungry faces that God had entrusted to their care. One sister, confident in St. Joseph’s unfailing love and his role as dutiful provider, had a child place the last apple into the hand of a statue of St. Joseph and both said a prayer begging his aid. The next morning a farmer arrived at the front door with a whole cart full of apples!
For me, coming from a family of divorced parents and being raised primarily by my mom, I had a much wounded heart with many places in need of a father’s love. It was shortly after I entered the convent that St. Joseph started making his presence known in my life. He just quietly kept showing up in the books I was reading, or catching my eye in a painting I had never noticed before, or appearing in the form of a statue in places I would visit. It took me a long time to allow him to break through my walls, at which point I subsequently started receiving his quiet, gentle, protective, fatherly love. Today, he has become one of my closest friends and I can see the healing that has started taking root in my heart and in my relationship with my own dad after letting St. Joseph into my life.
“Every moment of his life was consecrated to the service of our Lord: sleep, rest, work—everything was sacrificed uncomplainingly and unselfishly. Never would he say ‘Enough,’ for his generosity was as it were infinite. Devotedness is the measure of love and the sounding box of its strength. If we love someone more than ourselves, our devotedness is unbounded.” –Month of St. Joseph by St. Peter Julian Eymard
St. Joseph becomes a patron for us all as we daily beg his intersession for the strength to die to ourselves in our respective vocations. “Man finds himself in a true gift of himself” says Pope St. John Paul the Great, and St. Joseph is the epitome of how we are to lay down our lives in the service of Christ. May he enkindle in our hearts an ever burning love for the One whom he loved so well on Earth.