Our Lady of the Rosary - October 7th

Dear Friends and Family, Please join us in our annual re-consecration to St. Joseph which is to be prayed from January 15th to the 23rd. For those who are members of Apostoli Viae, we ask you to join with our community intentions. It is always best to state them out loud and then offer our own intentions in the chat below this post so we can all pray for one another. For the repose of the souls of Cardinal Pell and Pope Benedict XVI. For the Holy Father, that he would truly be a holy father both for his salvation and that of the Church. For the Synod on Synodality, that it would be directed by God through faithful leadership to become a holy exercise that honors the authentic magisterium and unity in the Church. For our diocesan fathers, our bishops and priests, that they would be men of deep prayer and union with God and His Church and that the faithful would be protected and nourished, and the unfaithful be brought to repentance and healing. For our earthly fathers that we would all follow Jesus in His prayer and self-giving for the salvation of our families and the Church. For those who have suffered fatherlessness or have been wounded by those who should have been better fathers that they would find healing and help in the Catholic Church. For those without spiritual directors that would find help in St. Joseph until they find a suitable spiritual father. For our High Calling priestly formation and discernment program that it would expand and prepare the hearts of all the men to be exemplary fathers as priests. MEMORARE TO SAINT JOSEPH (Repeated at the End of Each of the Prayers for the Day) Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who implored thy help and sought thy intercession were left unassisted. Full of confidence in your power I fly unto thee and beg thy protection. Despise not, O Guardian of the Redeemer, my humble supplication, but in thy bounty, hear and answer me. Amen. Day One: Saint Joseph, Powerful Intercessor Dearest Saint Joseph, after Mary, you are the most powerful intercessor before God. I know with all my heart that Jesus will listen to you with special interest as you bring my intentions to Him. Because of this, I especially want to entrust myself to your fatherly care, as did Jesus Himself. While in the past, I may have brought to you one of my intentions here or there, from this day forward, I want to give you my all. I want to forever entrust to you all of my needs and cares, trusting that you will bring them, with Mary, to your Son, Jesus. Beloved Saint Joseph, as the best of fathers, the one whom God chose to be the virginal father of His Only Son, Jesus, I am confident that you know my needs better than I ever could. I give you permission, and ask you to care for me as your child. I trust that you will do everything in your power to make my life beautiful for God. I trust that you will watch over me, and that your prayers will guide, bless, and protect me. I know in my heart that you will care for me with the same love and tenderness with which you cared for Jesus. Saint Joseph, Powerful Intercessor, please pray for me and all my intentions.  Day Two: Saint Joseph, Loving Spouse of Mary Beloved Saint Joseph, when the angel told you, “Do not be afraid to take Mary for your wife,” (Mt 1:20) you weren’t afraid. You trusted God, and now you truly are the husband of Mary. After Jesus, you are the dearest person to her heart. Saint Joseph, as my spiritual father, I ask you to bring my petitions and my life to Mary. You are truly my spiritual parents. Just as any good father wants to see his children love their mother, I know you will help me know and love my spiritual mother more. By your powerful prayers, I ask you to help me realize what a gift I have in Mary. Pray for me that I will better appreciate her motherly role in my life. Saint Joseph, I know that you love her. I know it makes you happy to see her children love her with all their heart. Therefore, as I prepare to consecrate or re-consecrate myself totally to your fatherly care, I beg you to help me fully appreciate my Mother Mary. Saint Joseph, Loving Spouse of Mary, please help me to love my spiritual mother even more. Day Three: Saint Joseph, Good Provider Dearest Saint Joseph, as the foster father of Jesus, you provided for his human needs. Through the work of your hands, he had food to strengthen him, a house to give him shelter, and clothes to keep him warm. Still, from heaven, you continue to work. Indeed, the loving labor of your prayers provides for all the members of the Body of your Son. As I prepare to consecrate or re-consecrate myself completely to you, I ask you to please provide for me and my loved ones. Through your prayers, please make sure that we always have food to eat, a roof over our heads, and clothes to wear. Please pray that in times of abundance or need, we will never forget God, that we will always be grateful for His gifts, and that we will never be a slave to things like food or money, pleasure or power. Finally, help us always to remember and be generous with the poor. Saint Joseph, with you as my spiritual father, I will do my best not to give in to useless anxiety about my job, money, or material things. I believe you will always make sure I have what I need, and as a good father, I ask that you indulge me a bit by even providing for my material wants, provided they don’t take me away from Jesus. Saint Joseph, Good Provider, please provide for my needs through your powerful prayers.  Day Four: Saint Joseph, Strong Guard Beloved Saint Joseph, when I think that God gave me my guardian angel and Saint Michael to protect and defend me, I am not afraid. When I think that you, who are even more powerful before God, are my spiritual father, the Terror of Demons, who protected the Baby Jesus from Herod, then I am completely at peace. Saint Joseph, please pray that I will have the peace that comes from trusting in your fatherly protection. I believe that you will protect me from my enemies, seen and unseen. I believe that you will protect me from bodily and spiritual harm. I trust in your fatherly care. Saint Joseph, I will do my best not to give in to fear, knowing that you are praying for me as with a child who has formally consecrated himself to your fatherly care. Saint Joseph, Strong Guardian, please defend me with your prayers.  Day Five: Saint Joseph, Who Did God’s Will Dear Saint Joseph, you were profoundly docile to God's will, even in the most difficult of circumstances. I want to also do God’s most perfect will, but I know that, on my own, I will fail. I need your help. I trust that with you as my spiritual father, you will guide me to always do God’s most perfect will. I want to reach the degree of glory that God has prepared for me in heaven. I want to bear fruit that will last. I want to be a saint. Help me, Saint Joseph. You see how weak and sinful I am. Teach me, good father. Help me to follow the commandments, and make my heart sensitive to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. I know that as I entrust myself to your care, you will guide me and show me how to always do God’s will. Redirect the stream of my life if it ever departs from God’s most perfect will. Saint Joseph, who did God’s will, please always keep me in God’s most perfect will.  Day Six: Saint Joseph, Who Suffered with Love As the day draws closer when I will fully consecrate (or reconsecrate) myself to you, Saint Joseph, I cannot help but notice how you suffered with love. You suffered darkness and confusion when Mary was found with child. You suffered the sacrifice of your flesh as you lovingly offered up the absence of bodily intimacy in marriage. You suffered a sword in your heart, with Mary, when Simeon foretold the passion of your Son. You suffered stress and uncertainty when you had to escape with your family to Egypt and lived as a foreigner. You suffered crushing anxiety when your Son was lost for three days. You daily suffered fatigue and bodily aches from your manual labor. Worst of all, your fatherly heart grieved at knowing that you could not be there for Jesus and Mary when their darkest hour would one day come. Saint Joseph, thank you for what you suffered in God’s service, in union with your Son, for my salvation. I love you, Saint Joseph. Thank you for your yes. Please help me to suffer with love as you did. When I suffer, help me not to complain. Help me not to forget love. Help me not to forget others. Dear Saint Joseph, through my suffering, watch over my weak heart: may it not harden but rather become more merciful. Help me to remember all of God’s children who are suffering in the world, and help me to offer my suffering for them and for the good of the Church. I am counting on you, Saint Joseph. I know you will be with me, helping me to suffer with love. Saint Joseph, who suffered with love, please help me to suffer with a love like yours. Day Seven: Saint Joseph, Pure of Heart Purest Saint Joseph, I want to be a saint, and saints need to be pure of body and soul. Guard me, protect me, and defend me from temptations against purity. I rely on you, Saint Joseph. Don’t let me fall. Don’t let my eyes or thoughts wander. If they do, please bring them back to Jesus. I trust in you, Saint Joseph. You lived purely with Mary, despite her beauty. Help me to see the beauty of others with your own pure vision. If I fall, help me to find God’s mercy and free me from any bondage to such sin. Purify my intentions in all that I do. Help me do everything, not to please myself or others, but to please God alone. Give me this grace as my dear spiritual father. I trust in you, Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph, Pure of Heart, please lend me your own purity of heart. Day Eight: Saint Joseph, Man of Peace and Joy Saint Joseph, although the Bible doesn’t speak directly of your joy, you lived in the presence of Jesus and Mary. How could you not be joyful? I beg of you to pray that I will also find my joy by living in their presence. Please pray that I keep my joy and not give in to desolation, sadness, laziness, or discouragement. Having lived with Jesus and Mary, you also must have been a man of tremendous peace. Please ask your Son to help me keep my peace of soul and not hold on to anger and bitterness in my heart. Help me to be merciful to everyone by offering forgiveness that I might also, like you, be afilled with true peace and joy. Saint Joseph, Man of Peace and Joy, please put me at peace and help me find joy.  Day Nine: Saint Joseph, Who Died So Beautifully Beloved Saint Joseph, I know that I am going to die. When I do, I ask that you be there to greet me with Jesus and Mary. For my part, I will not to be afraid of death, and I will live my life in preparation for it. I will even do my best to look forward to it as the time when I will can meet you, face to face. Prepare me for my death, whenever it may be. If it is sudden, please make sure that my soul is prepared and please make sure I will not be lost. Dearest Saint Joseph, obtain this grace for me as I consecrate myself to your fatherly care. I am fully yours. I give you permission to take me home to my Father’s house when the day of my death comes. Saint Joseph, who died so beautifully, please prepare my soul for death.  Consecration to Saint Joseph Dear Saint Joseph, On this day, before God and your Immaculate Spouse, Mary, I ___________________, choose you as my spiritual father forever. I formally entrust myself to your fatherly care. I love you, and I trust in your prayers for my life. As your spiritual child, I give you full permission to act in my life, especially by... Praying for me constantly, bringing me even deeper into the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, providing for all my loved ones and me, Guarding and protecting me from bodily and spiritual evil, guiding me always to do God’s most perfect will, helping me to suffer with love and without complaint, Giving me purity of body and of soul, Forming me into a person of peace and joy, Preparing me for a beautiful and happy death. From this day forward, Saint Joseph, you are my spiritual father, and I am your child. I trust you and love you, and I look forward to meeting you someday in heaven. I ask all of this in Jesus’ name and for the glory of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen

The Apparitions On July 13, 1917, at Fátima, Portugal, the Blessed Virgin Mary said to the three pastorinhos, Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta: “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace... I shall come to ask for... the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays....” On December 10, 1925, in a Dorothean convent in Pontevedra, Spain, Sister Lúcia Santos, a postulant and last surviving Fatima visionary, received a visit from the Mother of God. She describes the visit in her memoirs: “... suddenly the room lit up and it was the light of my dear Mother in Heaven who came with the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud. Our Lady, as if wanting to instill courage, rested her hand on my shoulder, and as she did so, showed me her Immaculate Heart encircled by thorns which she was holding in her other hand.  “The Child Jesus said: ‘Have compassion on the Heart of your most holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.’ “Then Our Lady said: ‘Look, my daughter, at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.’” “After this grace, how could I keep myself from the least sacrifice that God asks of me to console the Heart of my beloved Mother in Heaven, happy that Mary depletes the bitter drops of the Chalice.” In a separate vision a few months later, Jesus explained the five Saturdays to Sister Lúcia:   “My daughter, the reason is simple. There are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: 1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception; 2. Blasphemies against Her Virginity; 3. Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of men; 4. The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference, or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother; 5. The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her holy images. Here, my daughter, is the reason why the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Me to ask for this little act of reparation. The Requirements On five consecutive Saturdays Confess: within 8 days before or after the first Saturday receive Holy Communion recite five decades of the Rosary keep Mary company for 15 minutes while meditating on one or more of the mysteries of the rosary with the intention of making reparation to Mary--all of these actions must be done with this intention in mind. The Promises Salvation of our own soul Salvation of sinners Peace in the world Common Questions WHAT IF I MISS A SATURDAY? Then you have to start over. As Jesus said to Sr. Lúcia,  “It is true, my daughter, that many souls begin the First Saturdays, but few finish them, and those who do complete them do so in order to receive the graces that are promised thereby. It would please me more if they did Five with fervour and with the intention of making reparation to the Heart of your heavenly Mother, than if they did Fifteen, in a tepid and indifferent manner…” (15th February 1926) WHAT IF I CAN'T RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION ON A SATURDAY? Sister Lúcia asked Jesus about this, and He said,  “The practice of this devotion will be equally accepted on the Sunday following the first Saturday, when, for just reasons, My priests will allow it.” Obviously, if you can go to Mass on Saturday, do. But if your parish doesn't have Saturday morning or afternoon Mass, for instance, then go Sunday, but be sure to ask permission of your pastor.  *Note: Saturday vigil Masses will count with permission of your pastor. But this option should only be used if you don't have a Saturday morning Mass available. We're not seeking convenience here. WHAT IF I CAN'T GO TO CONFESSION ON A FIRST SATURDAY? Sister asked Jesus about this, too: “My Jesus! Many souls find it difficult to confess on Saturday. Will Thou allow a confession within eight days to be valid?" “He replied: "Yes. It can even be made later on, provided that the souls are in the state of grace when they receive Me on the First Saturday and that they had the intention of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Mary." IT TAKES ME 15 MINUTES TO PRAY FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY. DOES THAT COUNT AS MY 15 MINUTES WITH MARY? No. Give her another fifteen minutes. As Sister Lucia wrote to her mother in 1927: “The fifteen minutes [of meditation], is what can, it seems to me, give you difficulty; but it is quite easy. Who after all cannot contemplate the mysteries of the Rosary…Who cannot spend fifteen minutes in these holy thoughts, near the most tender of mothers?" (Letter to her mother, Maria Rosa, July 24, 1927) Sister Lúcia later wrote to her godmother: “It seems to me, my dear godmother, that we are fortunate to be able to give Our dear Heavenly Mother this proof of love, for we know that She desires it to be offered to Her. As for myself, I avow that I am never so happy as when first Saturday arrives. Isn’t it true that our greatest happiness is to belong entirely to Jesus and Mary and to love Them and Them alone, without reserve? We see this so clearly in the lives of the saints… They were happy because they loved, and we, my dear godmother, we must seek to love as they did, not only to enjoy Jesus, which is the least important — because if we do not enjoy Him here below, we will enjoy Him up above — but to give Jesus and Mary the consolation for being loved… and that in exchange for this love they might be able to save many souls.” Image: Aparición a la Hermana Lucía by Raul Berzosa, used with permission of the artist