Medjugorje, March 20, 2023
Saint Joseph
Dear Friends, praise be to Jesus and Mary!
1. On February 25, 2023, visionary Marija received the following monthly message:
“Dear children! Keep converting and clothe yourselves in penitential garments and in personal, deep prayer; and in humility, seek peace from the Most High. In this time of grace, Satan wants to seduce you; but you, little children, keep looking at my Son and follow Him towards Calvary in renunciation and fasting. I am with you because the Most High permits me to love you and lead you towards the joy of the heart, in faith which grows for all those who love God above all. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
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2. For the solemnity of Saint Joseph, I can imagine that this great saint has manifested wonderful gifts and graces to all those who have prayed to him in this Novena! Here are two testimonies that will encourage us to welcome him in to our life, just as his beloved Bride did!
Appeared, then disappeared! Mary Ann, a sister in my community, had been sent on a mission to the Congo. One day when she was going to a nearby town, she took the road, one of those rather narrow roads in this region that she still knew almost nothing about. At one point, in the open countryside, she wanted to stop, so she parked by the side of the road. But she could not leave because the car had become stuck in the dirt. On these roads, the shoulders are not protected. She had to find a solution before nightfall! The place was almost deserted, and she had no idea how to make it out of there on her own. Time went by… A few Africans started wandering around to watch the scene, but they just laughed! Look! A white woman, a foreigner, who doesn’t know the country… They found the situation very funny and they wouldn’t move.
In her distress, Mary Ann began to pray, and especially invoked Saint Joseph, because she had already experienced his talents as a protector, and she knew his capacity for powerful intervention in cases of great difficulty. Suddenly, out of this group of gently mocking Africans, a man unexpectedly came forward, walking decisively, and carrying a large shovel on his shoulder. A big shovel in this deserted place? That was totally unexpected! Without saying a word, he made his way to Mary Ann’s car, and silently began to dig around the wheels that were stuck, until he managed to free the car. Mary Ann started the engine, happy to see herself saved, and turned around to give thanks. But the man had disappeared… Vanished!
In the evening, while listening to this story, a small group of believers asked her, intrigued:
“Did he ask you for money?” “No!”
“So, it really was St. Joseph!”
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3. Suffering in the family? Most of the testimonies I hear about favors obtained by praying to St. Joseph relate to searching for a house or a job. I must admit that he has acquired a solid reputation in these areas which are so necessary to human life! We shouldn’t ignore this, but it would also be unfair to limit his help to these aspects. My Italian friend, Bernadette, shared with me a beautiful grace that she obtained, which may inspire many people where their families are suffering…
“I must give thanks to Saint Joseph, because ever since I came to know him more closely and began to pray to him, he accompanies me day after day like a father, often giving me his providential help.
“I had a beautiful experience of his support during a spiritual healing: My father always had an anxious and irascible temperament, probably due to wounds from his own childhood. He would get nervous about trivial things, and would often get angry with us, his children. After spending several months away from home, I returned and, to my surprise, I saw that my father had become so peaceful and serene that I could easily talk to him without him getting angry. I wondered, what could have happened in his life for him to have changed like this?
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“As the days went by, I discovered that, during the week, he often recited the Rosary of St. Joseph (PS1) and even spent time in front of the Most Blessed Sacrament in a church nearby, where it was exposed every day. Instead of getting angry over nothing, he enthusiastically told me stories and comments he had read about St. Joseph, and what had touched him the most. He had become a true ‘fan’ of Saint Joseph. From that time on, my relationship with my dad became serene, something that had never been possible before. Thank you, Saint Joseph!”
Saint Joseph, head of the Holy Family, please pray for our families! Come and live with us! Chase away anger, indifference, deception, resentment, criticism, lack of forgiveness and all those foolish internal wars that destroy peace in families and communities… You who are called the “Terror of the Demons”, come and close all doors we have opened to the enemy! Where division reigns, come and establish the union of hearts! Come and establish family prayer, where it does not yet exist, despite the maternal and repeated warnings of Our Lady, your Bride!
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4. The “Padre Pio” of Naples (Italy). When an immense figure of holiness appears in the Church, it would be a great pity to ignore him. That would be like depriving the thirsty of a gushing source of water. When Padre Pio already had a solid reputation as a wonderworker, many people from Naples would come to him at San Giovanni Rotondo, hoping to receive from him a light for their life, a miracle, a healing… But Padre Pio dismissed them saying: “You have a saint in Naples, Don Dolindo, what are you doing here?!”
By devouring the book “Jesus, You Take Over”, I found a treasure trove of wisdom that our society so badly needs to heal the misery that is gnawing at it. We also need to heal many other evils caused by the darkness of consciences and the damage of relativism. Saint Faustina had already highlighted these realities through her famous Diary, but Don Dolindo Ruotolo, in a different way, exceeds all expectations. (PS2)
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Because he was able to read people’s souls, and loved Christ above all else, he suffered to see that the dose of happiness and peace that Jesus has for each soul, is received by very few of them, because of ignorance, unawareness or lack of spiritual direction. Above all, he rose up against all the agitation and the propensity that modern man has to control everything, as if he were an orphan with no father. Allow me to quote here some key points from the words that Don Dolindo received in prayer from Jesus:
“In pain, you pray for Me to take action, but for Me to do what you want Me to do… You are not turning to Me, you simply want Me to adjust to your ideas. You are just cripples asking the doctor for care, but suggest that care to the doctor. Do not do this! Instead, pray as I have taught you, the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed by thy name,” that is, glorified in my necessity. “Thy Kingdom come,” – may everything work together for Your Kingdom within ourselves and in the world. “Thy Will be done,” in other words, “YOU TAKE OVER.”
“If you really say to Me, ‘Thy will be done,’ which is similar to ‘YOU TAKE OVER,’ I intervene through My Almightiness and resolve the most difficult situations.
“What goes against surrender is worry and agitation, wanting to think about the consequences of a fact… Oh, how I desire this surrender from you to fulfill you, and how I grieve to see you agitated! This is what Satan really wants: to get you agitated so as to remove you from My action, and to make you the prey of human initiatives. Trust in Me alone, rest in Me, surrender to Me in everything. I work miracles according to full surrender to Me and lack of concern for yourselves. I pour out treasures of graces when you are in total poverty! …
“Trust in Me, turn your mind away from yourself. Do this whenever you need to. Do this, and you will see great, continual and silent miracles. I swear this to you by My love, I will remember this, I assure you. Pray always with this abandonment, and you will reap great peace and much fruit…
“Close your eyes and say with all your soul, ‘YOU TAKE OVER.’ Fear not, I will do it. A thousand prayers are not worth a single act of confident surrender. Remember that. There is no Novena more effective than this: “O Jesus, I surrender myself to You! You take over!”
I thought that these words could help us during Lent, so that we may reach Easter totally transformed, joyful and peaceful. Yes, let’s truly welcome the Risen One, our dear Savior who is waiting for us to completely surrender to Him so that He can fill us with His peace!
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