St. Joseph, Our Holy Patron

Among the friends of God, Saint Joseph is second only to God’s mother. During his life he guarded God’s Son, and today he has the role of protecting Christ’s Church on earth.

Why has Saint Joseph been chosen as patron of our church? We know so little about him. Sacred Scripture is quite silent about him and yet, next to Our Lady, he was the most prominent figure in the life of Christ. Saint Joseph, as the spouse of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, had a simple life. It is most fitting that God chose a carpenter, a humble workman, to be the foster father of Jesus, since He has always chosen the lowly to do great things.

Of the descendants of David, Joseph was chosen as the head of the Holy Family for his diligence, strength, and purity. From the Nativity, to the Flight into Egypt and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, Saint Joseph was present as a holy guardian. As he protected Christ on earth, he also protects the Church – he bears the great title of “Patron of the Universal Church”.  And not only does he keep watch over the Catholic Church at large, but he pray that he have a special regard for our humble group of faithful in Ray Township, who attend Mass in a church dedicated to his name.

What a splendid patron to have in these our days, when the Church is being ridiculed and mocked! What comfort we can find in the assurance that we have a heavenly protector who has the greatest care for us. Despite the storms which threaten Christ’s Church, storms which are no longer merely without but also within, we find peace in the confidence that St. Joseph will look after us as he looked after his foster-son.

St. Joseph, illustrious son of David, pray for us!

Act of Consecration to St. Joseph


O Glorious Patriarch and Patron of the Catholic Church! O Virgin Spouse of God, and guardian and foster father of the Incarnate Word! In the presence of Jesus and Mary, I choose thee this day to be my guardian and father.

O thou whom God has constituted Head of the Holy Family, accept me, I beseech thee, though utterly unworthy, to be a poor little servant in thy holy house. Present me to thy Immaculate Spouse, ask her also to accept me as a servant and to adopt me as a child. With her, teach me, thou who art a master of the interior life, how to converse constantly with Jesus and how to serve Him faithfully in all things to the end of my life.

To thy custody was committed the Living Bread of Heaven, to be dispensed to thy starving brethren. O, with Mary help me to prepare the poor stable of my heart to receive, worthily and often, the Bread of my salvation. Let me receive it from thy hands and from those of Mary, as often as I approach the Holy Table.

O my tender and watchful father, I hereby consecrate myself to thee; and I firmly purpose and resolve never to leave thee, and never to say or do anything, nor to suffer anyone under my charge to say or do anything, against thy honor! O thou head of the house of God upon earth, in faithful imitation of Jesus and Mary, I place myself and all my concerns under thy care and protection. To thee, after Jesus and Mary, I consecrate my body and soul with all their faculties, my spiritual progress, my home, and all my affairs and undertakings.

Forsake me not, but adopt me as a servant and a child of the Holy Family. Watch over me at all times, but especially in the last awful hour of my life on earth: then visit, console, and strengthen me with Jesus and Mary, that with them and thee I may sing the praises of the adorable Trinity for all eternity. Amen.