How great his (St. Josephs’) union with God, how sublime his gift of prayer, how wonderful he direction of the Holy Spirit! Blessed William Joseph Chaminade
The Holy Spirit wants you to know and love St. Joseph. With the exception of Our Lady’s life, the Holy Spirit was more active in the life of St. Joseph than in any other saint. The earthly father of Jesus never did anything without seeking the direction of the Holy Spirit. Saint Josephs’ docility to the Holy Spirit made It possible for him to communicate with God even while he slept!
Saint Joseph wants you to be docile to the direction of the Holy Spirit so that you can be led in the ways of holiness. What is holiness, anyway? Is it some unattainable spiritual you can never hope to reach? No, it is not. Holiness is living in intimate. Loving communion with God.
More specifically, holiness is observing the two great commandments of love of God and neighbor, avoiding sin, leading a life of virtue, and abiding in sanctifying grace. None of this is possible without the Holy Spirt in your life.
Wherever St. Joseph is present, the Holy Spirit is present. And St. Joseph would tell you that if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit there is one absolutely necessary thing: prayer. Without prayer, you will never be able to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit.
To be holy, you need to imitate St. Joseph. You need to maintain a heart aflame with love of God and neighbor through committing to a devout interior life. Don’t panic after reading this. You don’t have to become a monk or a nun. Holiness is for everyone.
Yet, no matter what your vocation in life, holiness is only attained by those who pray and have an active interior life, ignited and sustained by the Sacraments, fueled by prayer and a life of charity.
Saint Joseph is a model of the interior life for all his children. Saint Joseph was not a priest, yet he is holier than all priests, including the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Mary Vianney. After Jesus and Mary, St. Joseph is the holiest, most prayerful, and most virtuous person who has ever lived. He avoided anything and everything that displeased the Holy Spirit.
How did he do it? Prayer. Through prayer, St. Joseph perfectly exercised the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, as well as the moral virtues of prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude.
Consider that the entire life of Saint Joseph was interior and hidden in God; so little known to the world that but a few holy writers mention him in a few places; and of his death give no information. His was a life of prayer, quiet work, and constant sacrifice, and at the same time, a life shining with the splendor of all virtues. St. Joseph Sebastian Pelczar
There has never been another quite like St. Joseph, and there never will be. Yet you can become “another Joseph” in the world. You can become an “apparition” of Joseph for others. If you imitate St. Joseph’s dedication to prayer and the interior life, you can resemble your spiritual father. Consecration to St. joseph will increase the Holy Spirit in your life. Through consecration to St. Joseph, the Holy Spirit will recognize St. Joseph in you and pour extraordinary graces into your heart, mind, and soul. You can be a saint! Ask the Holy Spirit to make you into “another Joseph”. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with graces similar to those he gave to the paternal heart of St. Joseph.
Those souls most sensitive to the impulses of divine love have rightly seen in Joseph a brilliant example of the interior life. St. John Paull II