St. Joseph Novena 2022, Day 5: St. Joseph—an Angel?

SCRIPTURE

Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.

Ps 4:1,3-5

READING

Having reached the age of seven years, the thought came to me one day that I might, perhaps, have the misfortune to sin, and I wept.

One of my sisters asked me why I wept.

I answered, “Because I fear to commit sin, and I would rather die.”

Because of this fear I began to have devotion towards several saints, but, before all, to the holy angels and to St. Joseph, whom, in my childlike simplicity, I took to be an angel.

Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew

From her autobiography, Book I, ch. 1

NOVENA PRAYER

Holy Joseph, 
Man according to the Heart of God 
you whose heart was afire with ardent charity 
and whose life was a constant prayer and continual contemplation, 
direct us in the way of perfection. 
Obtain for us the grace of which we stand in need,

(mention your request)

in order to arrive at the sanctity to which we are called 
particularly, a spirit of prayer, humility, 
and surrender to God’s will, of which you were the model.
Amen.

NOVENA HYMN

Anne of St. Bartholomew, M; Bouix, M 1917,  Autobiography of the Blessed Mother Anne of Saint Bartholomew, inseparable companion of Saint Teresa, and foundress of the Carmels of Pontoise, Tours and Antwerp, translated from the French by Michael, M A, H. S. Collins Printing Co., Saint Louis.

All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Joseph, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Edith Stein.

Let us unite in prayer