Awaken the Sleeping Giant: The powerful Saint Joseph devotion Catholics need for modern times. The little known Sleeping Saint Joseph devotion, popular among South American and Filipino Catholics, is now growing worldwide. People are placing their personal intentions under small statues of a sleeping Saint Joseph, trusting that he will present their requests to the Lord in his dreams.
Devotion and Scripture
Just as God communicated to Saint Joseph in his dreams over 2,000 years ago, this devotion allows us to ask him to sleep on our petitions, to dream of them, and to offer them up to Christ. In turn, we pray for discernment in following God's will as Saint Joseph did. God entrusted the paramount role of earthly guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth to Saint Joseph, and his dreams allowed him to discern God's will and act accordingly.
It was a special form of prayer that allowed Saint Joseph to turn to God in times of peril and surrender wholeheartedly to God's Divine Plan. This first occurred when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Saint Joseph in a dream after he discovered that Mary was pregnant. The angel told Saint Joseph not to be afraid to take the Virgin Mary as his wife, for the child conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20).
The Angel of the Lord also appeared to Saint Joseph in a dream, warning him to take Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Egypt to escape King Herod (Matthew 2:13), and again telling him to take the Holy Family back to Nazareth (Matthew 2:19-23). Saint Joseph obeyed the Word of God on all occasions in silence and through prompt action. Like him, how can we hear God's voice in our own lives? How can we awaken to, accept, and act on God's Will for us?
Pope Francis has promoted the Sleeping Saint Joseph devotion. During his Philippines visit, he said: "Joseph's rest revealed God’s Will to him. In this moment of rest in the Lord, as we pause from our many daily obligations and activities, God is also speaking to us. I would like to tell you something very personal. I like Saint Joseph very much. He is a strong man of silence. On my desk I have a statue of Saint Joseph sleeping. While sleeping, he looks after the Church. Yes, he can do it! We know that. When I have a problem or a difficulty, I write on a piece of paper and I put it under his statue so he can dream about it. This means please, Saint Joseph, pray about this problem."
The Time for Saint Joseph
Many devout Catholics now seek our spiritual father’s powerful intercession, not only in the Year of Saint Joseph, but also in today’s spiritual battle, given his role as protector and defender of the Church. Father Donald Calloway proclaims in this book (page 1), Consecration to Saint Joseph, "Now is the time of Saint Joseph! Without exaggeration, the Church has done more to promote Saint Joseph in the last 150 years than in the previous 1800 years of Christianity (page 4)! But why now? Why Saint Joseph?"
As we witness vicious assaults on the Church and morality, it comes as no surprise that Saint Joseph, the Sleeping Giant and Patron of the Universal Church, has been awakened. Father Calloway explains that we need the spiritual fatherhood of Saint Joseph to protect marriage and the family unit, which have been heavily undermined. The mass scale of attacks on the meaning of marriage, masculinity, femininity, the unborn, and the sacredness of human life have never been so witnessed in human history.
It is now time to call upon Saint Joseph, Terror of Demons, to come to our refuge and help us fight against the forces of evil. It is also time to identify the dangers threatening our Church, so that like Saint Joseph, who took the Virgin Mary and Jesus to Egypt to protect them from King Herod’s wrath, we too can defend the Church and her teachings from malicious attacks.
We need Saint Joseph to open hearts to Christ in today's very fractured world. Just like he was met with closed doors while searching Bethlehem’s streets for Christ's birthplace, many today close their hearts to the fullness of truth and God’s Will. It is time to call upon Saint Joseph to open the hearts of individuals; that Christ may be embraced and born in our hearts. As Father Calloway states in his book (page 4): "Saint Joseph was the first missionary. Today, he desires again to bring Jesus to the nations."
Saint Joseph's Powerful Intercession
Other popular devotions to Saint Joseph are:
(A) 30-Day Holy Cloak of Saint Joseph Novena
(B) 33-Day Consecration to Saint Joseph
As Saint Teresa of Avila wrote in her autobiography: "There are many saints to whom God has given the power to assist us in the necessities of life, but the power given to Saint Joseph is unlimited. It extends to all our needs, and all those who invoke him with confidence are sure to be heard."
In times of tribulation, confusion, or when simply trying to hear God's voice, let us call upon Saint Joseph, the silent but strong defender of the Universal Church. The man of heavenly dreams. This powerful saint has awoken from his slumber to shake our faithless world and open our hearts to the truth.
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
+JMJ+
Article Copyright © ChurchPOP. All Rights Reserved. Original article here.
Author Copyright © Georgette Bechara. All Rights Reserved.
Image by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1728 - 1779, Bohemian Painter. Public Domain.
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