Final Vows in Brazil
Saint Joseph is a model of virtue: a man who was just, obedient, magnanimous, faithful, humble, poor, a holy spouse, an exemplary father, lover of silence, hard worker, generous, with a great spirit of sacrifice and much more. But that which stands out the most is his purity and chastity. God didn´t only choose a virgin as Mother of his only begotten Son, but also it was most convenient that his father was also pure and chaste.[1]
As each March 19th (this year on March 20th for being a Sunday in Lent), we have celebrated our beloved St. Joseph, model and guardian of consecrated souls, beginning thirty days beforehand with the prayer in his honor, asking for the spiritual and material needs of our communities, for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life for the whole Church, and that through the intercessions of St. Joseph, many souls, having received the call of God, may embrace the consecrated life with generosity.
Formation House in Italy
St. Bernadine of Siene says, “If the Holy Church is indebted to the Virgen Mother, because through her has the Church been made worthy to receive Christ, certainly the Church is also indebted to St. Joseph, after Mary, with a particular thankfulness and reverence.”[2] The liturgy itself puts St. Joseph immediately after the Virgen Mary.
It was St. Joseph, the dignified and noble man, faithful guardian of the Holy Family, who lived completely abandoned to the Divine designs, and totally entrusted to Divine Providence.
Final Vows in Mexico
Our Directory of Spirituality says: “A particular way of giving glory to God, is to trust limitlessly in his Providence, based in his design of salvation…we must learn to see all as coming from Him who doesn´t forget even a little bird… One must see everything in the light of the loving designs of the Providence of God.”[67] The Most Holy Virgen and Saint Joseph are the most complete examples of such trust.
Why do we have a special devotion to Saint Joseph? Because St. Joseph is an eminent member of the Church of Christ. He is a model of virtue, the patron of the Universal Church and a good death. He is spouse of Mary, the father of the Incarnate Word. The Redemptor himself was subject to St. Joseph. But above all, we have a special devotion because of his most efficacious intercession, which we have experienced many times. Every religious chosen by and with singular love to be the spouse of the Incarnate Word, in imitation of St. Joseph, must dedicate herself completely to his care, that is to say, to seek to please him by doing his most holy will and being spiritual mothers of his children.3
Contemplatives sisters in Luxembourg
Today and always, we entrust our necessities to St. Joseph, to whom God “entrusted the guardianship of his most precious treasures”[4], to the care of such a solicitous father, and we give thanks to God for giving him to us as our model and example of virtue.
Celebration in The Netherlands and investure of habit from Sr. Mary Our Lady of Walsingham.
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[1] Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela, San José y las Servidoras, Prologue.
[2] St. Bernadine of Siene, Sermon 2, opera 7, 16. 27-30.
[3] Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela, San José y las Servidoras, Prologue.
[4] John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation “Redemptoris Custos”.