Year of St. Joseph (Part 2)

(An excerpt during the reflection night on St. Joseph by Rev. Fr. Wilfredo de Mesa Jr. OSJ, Parochial Vicar of Sanctuario de San Jose in Green Hills, Manila, via DXGN 89.9 Spirit FM-Davao, April 29, 2021. The Oblates of St. Joseph is a Congregation of priests and brothers who live the spirituality of St. Joseph. They work for the education of the Youth, the parish ministry and the propagation of the devotion to St. Joseph. Part 2 of a series.)

The second purpose of this Year of St. Joseph my dear brothers and sisters is to encourage us to implore his intercession. Para hingin daw natin ang kanyang pamamagitan. Hindi po ba saints are our intercessors? Tagapamagitan natin sa Dios. Sapagkat we believe saints are already in heaven. They are nearest to God. And so, when we pray to them, they can bring our prayers to God. And now, St. Joseph is a very powerful intercessor.

May isang saint na napakalalim ng pagdedebosyon kay San Jose – si St. Theresa of Avila. Siya daw po ay nagkasakit, malubhang-malubha. At yung kalahati nang kanyang katawan ay halos immovable na. She was paralyzed. She was presumed half-dead. And so, St. Theresa of Avila, in her sickness, prayed and prayed to St. Joseph; and you know, her prayers were answered. Her paralysis was cured, and she was able to walk again.

At ito po ang sabi ni St. Theresa of Avila: “I wish, I could persuade everyone to be devoted to St. Joseph. For I have great experience of the blessings which he can obtain from God. I do not remember that I have ever asked anything of him which he had failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favors which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint. And the perils from which he had delivered me both in body and in soul. To other saints, the Lord seems to have given grace to help us in some of our necessities. But my experience is that, St. Joseph help us in them all. The Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject on earth to St. Joseph, so in heaven He now does all that St. Joseph asked.”

And even our present pope, Pope Francis, always implores the intercession of St. Joseph. Nung siya po ay bumisita dito sa Pilipinas, na-e-share nya na kapag siya daw po ay may prayer o may petition, isinusulat nya sa papel at inilalagay nya sa ilalim ng statue ni sleeping St. Joseph. At ito po ay tinutugon ng Diyos sa pamamagitan ni San Jose. Kaya po sumikat yong statue ng Sleeping St. Joseph. So, that is the purpose of the Year of St. Joseph – to encourage us to implore the intercession of St. Joseph.