OPENING PRAYERS FOR EACH DAY​

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Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

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V. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

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Let us pray: O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

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PRAYER TO THE HOLY TRINITY: My God and Lord, one and three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: I believe that I am in your sovereign presence now, as I intend to consecrate this novena to Saint Joseph. I love you with all my heart because you are infinitely good and worthy to be loved above all things. I adore you with all the respect that I am capable of, and I repent of the many sins I have committed against your divine majesty.

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In this novena, I would like to learn the virtues that the glorious Patriarch practiced with such perfection, and to obtain, through his intercession, the graces that I so need. But who am I, Lord, to dare to appear in your presence? I know the deficiency of my merits and the multitude of my sins, for which I do not deserve to be heard in my prayers. But what I don't deserve, the nurturing father of Jesus deserves. What I can't obtain for myself, he can. I come, therefore, with all confidence, to implore divine clemency, not relying on my weakness, but on the power and strength of Saint Joseph. Amen.

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PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: Immaculate Virgin, most chaste spouse of Saint Joseph, assist me in these moments that I dedicate to the honor of your most glorious husband. And how, without your help, could I worthily honor a just man, to whom you dedicated thirty years of your life? I know that I cannot honor him as he deserves. That is why I come to you, so that you may repair what I lack. Help me, O Blessed Lady, in my prayers, so that they may be favorably dispatched, through the intercession and validation of your holy spouse. Amen.

 

PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH: O my dear saint, I would like to offer you this novena with all fervor and reverence. And why should I not come to you, who deserved the respect and favor of Jesus and Mary, and dedicate myself to your service? I wish to honor you with dignity, because I ardently desire to obtain, through your intercession, my eternal salvation, and also the particular graces that I intend to achieve in this novena. Pay no attention, then, to my faults, but to your great mercy and the great love you profess to me. O my father and protector, in you I put my trust, I will never be disappointed. Amen.

 

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CLOSING PRAYERS FOR EACH DAY

 

MEMORARE: Remember, O most pure spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, my great protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection, or implored your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding therefore in your goodness, I come before you. Do not turn down my petitions, Virgin Father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

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ANTIPHON: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

 

V. Pray for us, most holy Joseph.
R. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

 

Let us pray: O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your Most Holy Mother; grant, we beg of you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in Heaven whom on earth we venerate as our protector: You who reign forever and ever. Amen. 

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DAY ONE: SAINT JOSEPH SANCITIFED IN THE WOMB

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I give thanks, most holy Joseph, to the Holy Trinity for the many merits and virtues with which you were blessed, and especially for the great and singular privilege, of being sanctified in your mother's womb and confirmed in grace. What a joy for your heart to be free from sin, which is the only thing that displeases the God-Man, who called you Father! What thanks would you give to the Beatific Trinity for this so noted privilege! I congratulate you with all my heart for the incomparable innocence you had since before you were born, and for the particular grace and friendship with which God himself distinguished you. For this privilege and for the great joy it has caused you, I beseech you, my dear father, to obtain for me from God a great hatred of sin and a great love of virtue and my eternal salvation.

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And since I believe that the grace that I wish to achieve in this novena will be conducive to my salvation, I have complete confidence that I will achieve it through your very powerful intercession. However, if my prayer is not well directed, straighten it out and pray for me.

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(Ask now for the favor you wish to obtain through this novena).

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In honor of the seven sorrows and joys of Saint Joseph: Our Father (x7), Hail Mary (x7), Glory Be (x7).

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DAY TWO: ORDAINED HUSBAND OF MARY

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What happiness for you, my glorious Protector, to be miraculously chosen as the husband of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. I rejoice with you for the immense satisfaction you experienced on that happy day when you joined your lot to that of the Mother of God herself. How jealous the angels would be for you to be the guardian of the mother of the Incarnate Word, and for that very fact also the guardian of the Son of God!

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I join my congratulations to those given to you by the angels on that beautiful day,

 

and I wholeheartedly congratulate you on having the Queen of Angels for your spouse! Such happiness it brings me that you were united to the most wise Mother of God – the model of all virtues who is the spotless mirror of the divine Majesty! By your great favors and happiness, I ask you, most powerful Joseph, for the friendship and grace of God, and the constant protection and support of Mary Most Holy. Bring my petitions before the throne of Christ to achieve the particular graces that I beg for with this novena. Amen. 

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DAY THREE: SAINT JOSEPH WORTHY OF MARY’S LOVE

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What a bitter pity you would feel in your heart, most glorious Joseph, when in your humility you thought it was your duty to separate yourself from your wife Mary! Separating yourself from Mary, whom you loved so much and who reciprocated your love with a purer, more sincere and ardent love than that of the most ardent Seraphim!

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I feel sorry for you for those terrible moments, and for that bitter trial that the Lord allowed for you to suffer! But do not be afraid, most holy Joseph, do not separate yourself from the Mother of God, it is God's will that you remain by her side. Mary belongs to you. She is yours because she is your wife and because she loves you. And if God did in her the marvels of his infinite power and infinite love, it was not to take her away from you, but so that you might be a witness of these marvels. It is the garden of God and the paradise where the Son of God has his recreation. But you are the guardian of this garden, the depositary of this immense treasure.

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Accept, my saint, sincere congratulations for the active part that God grants you in the mystery of the Incarnation and for the subjection of the God-Man and of his Most Holy Mother to your authority. For this great joy and also for the sadness that preceded it, I beg you, my dear Father, to grant me the knowledge of my religion and the grace to preserve a faith so alive in all its mysteries. May I be ready to die rather than doubt any of them. Also grant me the grace that I intend to achieve in this novena, if it is for the greater glory of God and the good of my soul. Amen.

 

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DAY FOUR: BIRTH OF CHRIST

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Most chaste husband of the Mother of God, I join you in the sadness you experienced in Bethlehem, when, arriving there after a painful journey, you saw your beloved wife Mary and the Savior of the world that she carried in her womb, unknown and repelled by all the houses and inns. O my dear Joseph, how you learned that the world is the enemy of Christ and that it is impossible to serve together two such contrary lords!

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Give me your son Jesus, who caused you so much joy in his birth. Those voices of the angels, “Peace to men of good will”, are addressed to you mainly; accept my congratulations for the great love that Jesus manifests to you, choosing you for his nourishing father and for his powerful defender and support. Allow me, most glorious and most powerful saint, to reach where you are close to Jesus, to contemplate his virtues. Grant me the graces I need to adore Our Lord more humbly, as the shepherds and kings did. I also ask for the graces I wish to obtain in this novena, if they are for the glory of God and for the salvation of my soul. Amen.

 

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DAY FIVE: HOLY NAME OF JESUS

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What great pain you suffered, my dear Saint, when you saw the blood of Christ shed in the circumcision! What crime had this divine infant committed to be thus tormented a few days after being born? Ah, it was not for his crimes, which God could not have, but for mine, that caused this suffering of Christ. Blessed Saint Joseph, make known to me the price of the blood of Jesus so that I never lose the smallest part of that saving blood, that it may cover my soul and purify me.

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Allow me, Saint Joseph, to obtain such an important grace, as to come close to you, to listen attentively, and to fruitfully receive the name of Jesus, which, by order of God, you yourself gave to the Son of God incarnate. Jesus is his name. He will save the people of Israel from the sins they have committed. But you, most glorious Joseph, are the savior and helper of Jesus. How happy you were when you gave him that name, knowing that it was not empty of meaning, but that on the contrary that child, whom the people call your son, would save the world and open the doors of Heaven! Give me Jesus, you who keep him, and may Jesus be for me my savior in life and my prize in death. By that glorious name I also ask you for the graces I wish to obtain in this novena, if they are for the glory of God and for the good of my soul. Amen.

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DAY SIX: WOUNDED HEARTS

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O my good father and support of the helpless, for that joy that your heart experienced, listening to the praises that those old saints, Simeon and Ana, paid to Christ at his presentation, I ask you not to forget me, nor my soul. Make Jesus, my Savior, always an occasion of resurrection for me, and not of fall or scandal. At the same time, I sympathize with you, most patient Joseph, for the wound that the words of the holy old Simeon inflicted in your heart, with which he announced to Mary that a sword of pain would cross her most delicate and loving soul. In such a tremendous occasion for Mary, you could not even remedy these pains, nor at least be a witness to such terrible suffering, to console your wife with your material presence in the passion of Christ! I can and must with my life and good morals console Mary, because I was responsible, with my sins, in the death of Jesus and in the pain caused to your Immaculate spouse.

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Help me, Joseph most powerful, in my spiritual poverty, in obtaining from Our Lord the grace of never again being the cause of the sorrows of Jesus and of Mary. At the same time, obtain for me the grace that I wish to obtain in this novena, if it is for the greater glory of God and the salvation of my soul. Amen.

 

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DAY SEVEN: TOPPLING OF THE IDOLS

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Allow me, Saint Joseph, to accompany you in spirit on your exile to Egypt, to admire your sacrifices and imitate your virtues. How do you defend Jesus from so many dangers and above all from death? What a great pain it would be for your loving heart to see Jesus and Mary suffer without being able to remedy it! How thirsty would you be in the desert, most holy pilgrims! Take away my thirst for inordinate pleasures, and make me hunger and thirst for justice and virtues, especially patience and mortification, which are so repugnant to the perverse inclinations of my flesh. I am saddened by the things that make you sad, most patient Joseph, and I want to rejoice in those that make you happy.

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May my imperfect soul one day experience the same joy you felt when, finally, after such a dangerous journey through deserts and wilderness, you delivered Jesus and his mother safely into Egypt. I enjoy, as you enjoyed, the fall of the idols of Egypt. May the idols of my heart, the unruly affections and inordinate passions, fall and crumble, so that in everything I may please Jesus, his Most Holy Mother, and yourself. O good Saint, grant me the grace I wish to achieve in this novena, if it is for the greater glory of God. Amen.

 

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DAY EIGHT: PATIENCE IN EXILE

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I pity you, most patient Joseph, for the privations to which you saw your beloved family subject to in the land of exile. I unite my tears to those you would shed in your heart when, lacking means, you would have to deny the Lord of all things the necessary nourishment, which in his providence he does not deny to the most abandoned little birds of the air. How this voluntary poverty and deprivation of the Son of God accuses my pleasures and delights. Your family, which is the family of God, so patient, and I complain about every small and insignificant mortification, however necessary!

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O my dear Joseph, for the immense joy that flooded your heart, when Jesus for the first time gave you the sweet name of father, and for the subjection with which for the first time he paid you the homage of his obedience, I beg you to teach me to obey my superiors, and to suffer with patience and resignation the trials that Divine Providence deigns to send me to purify me of my sins, or to increase my merits. Also grant me, for the satisfaction with which you returned from exile and lived in Nazareth, the grace that I so humbly ask of you in this novena, if it is not to the detriment of my eternal salvation. Amen.

 

 

DAY NINE: FINDING JESUS

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O Joseph, called by Jesus with the name of father, what an unspeakable pain and torment it would be for your most loving heart, to have lost Jesus, with whom were all the affections of your life! What a pity you would feel when, after asking your acquaintances and relatives, no one has seen your Son. Where is Jesus? How can you live now if Jesus, your very life, is gone? You, most holy Joseph, lost Jesus through no fault of yours, but I have lost him many times through my own fault and malice. Make Jesus known to me, that I may seek him carefully, whatever the cost. Do not allow me, if you lose him, to rest until I have found him again, by divine grace.

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I ask you for this grace, for the ineffable joy you experienced in finding Jesus in the temple, teaching, as a teacher from Heaven, the doctors of the law, and causing them admiration with his questions and answers. May I find Jesus when I look for him in faith, and let him come to my heart when I desire him through charity, so that my hope of finding him in Heaven, where I can never lose him again, may be forever satisfied. Also, grant me the graces I ask of you every day during this novena. Through the graces obtained through your intercession, may I henceforth be a herald of your power before God. Amen.​​​​​​​

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Available in the book DEVOTION TO ST. JOSEPH