CONSECRATION TO ST JOSEPH | KAIROS GLOBAL | MARCH 2021

Author: Tania Rose Josun

Consecration to St. Joseph is not a prayer book, at least not in the strict sense of the word. It is a love letter to each one of us, one that unfailingly makes the reader fall in love with the greatest saint after our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph. 

A Bit of History

Written by Fr. Donald Calloway, whose story is one of redemption and Divine Mercy, this book took Fr. Calloway three years to research and write. It all started when he began to notice the number of married men – fathers – who kept coming to him either in confession or spiritual guidance, who were on the verge of marital collapse. This struck a chord with Fr. Calloway, who came from a broken home, himself. After reading on studies – both Church and sociological ones – he found that half of all marriages were ending in divorce. This led to the realisation that ‘we could use a father right now.’ But who was one to go to? The answer was obvious – Ite Ad Ioseph – go to Joseph. 

But more than a book to be read, Fr. Calloway wanted it to be a form of application as well. The answer came in prayer, a book that would mirror St. Louis de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. But would not such a book be already available? After numerous calls to people around the world, the answer was no. But every single one of those people told Fr. Calloway that it was a brilliant idea. And so we have the Consecration to St. Joseph. 

The Book

Consecration to St. Joseph takes the Litany of St. Joseph as its backbone and builds upon that. Just like Montfort’s Marian Consecration, this too is a thirty-three day programme having three parts for each day. Part I is a reflection on one of the invocations from the Litany of St. Joseph, which ‘highlight many of St. Joseph’s titles, privileges and heroic virtues.’ Part II is a reading on St. Joseph and the third part is praying the Litany. By following this method, the participant will come to know and love St. Joseph in a deep way, confidently relying on him with filial affection. 

While it may seem time consuming, it takes only about twenty minutes to complete the day’s programme. Ideally, the consecration is to begin on any of the dates mentioned in the Consecration Chart (where the programme culminates on a Liturgical feast of St. Joseph), but the rule isn’t one set in concrete. For a person who isn’t quite ready to make the consecration for lack of adequate knowledge or ‘affection’ for the saint, they can skip Part I and read Part II, also called The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, like a book, within a book. 

As Fr. Calloway tells the reader in the Introduction, making this consecration will change one’s life. ‘In his day, St. Maximilian Kolbe asked the question, “Who are you, O Immaculate Conception?” He sought to provide an answer to that question through his preaching, writing, and an apostolate of Marian consecration. Today, many people are asking a similar question about St. Joseph: “Who are you, St. Joseph?” Consecration to St. Joseph will answer that question and offer to the Church a renewed understanding and appreciation of the great St. Joseph.’

St. Joseph

Who was Joseph? We know from Scripture that he was a humble carpenter, the chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and head of the Holy Family on earth. But who was Joseph? What was he like as a person? Why did God choose him to be the one who would clothe, feed, protect, educate in the Law and bring up as his own, the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life?

And why do we need him now? Why wasn’t the need for him felt this much, these past two-thousand years? 

As we go through the thirty-three days consecrating ourselves to him, St. Joseph is unveiled to us in a deep and profound way. We immediately recognise why he is needed in these present times. And we see that he was never a dormant figure in the Church. ‘Across the centuries, saints, popes, mystics, scholars, and laity alike have praised and extolled the greatness of St. Joseph. In the 16th century, the Holy Spirit used St. Teresa of Avila to bring about a greater awareness of St. Joseph in the Church. Even before St. Teresa, saints such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Bernardine of Siena, and St. Lawrence of Brindisi strongly emphasized the greatness of St. Joseph.’ 

Fr. Calloway gives us two reasons for why St. Joseph is much needed for our times. First to protect marriage and the family from the extraordinary attack it is now under. In the words of Servant of God Sr. Lucia dos Santos, the Fatima visionary: the final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and family. Second, for a complete re-evangelisation of the whole world – including baptised Christians. ‘In an apostolic exhortation on St. Joseph in 1989, St. John Paul II reminded us of the necessity of invoking St. Joseph in the work of re-evangelising the world. He wrote: This patronage (of St. Joseph) must be invoked as ever necessary for the Church, not only as a defense against all dangers, but also, and indeed primarily, as an impetus for her renewed commitment to evangelisation in the world and to re-evangelisation in those lands and nations where religion and Christian life were formerly flourishing and now are put to a hard test.’

In this year of St. Joseph, what better way to celebrate it than by consecrating oneself to him? ‘God is telling his Church that, in order to defend marriage and the family, elevate morals, recover lost ground, and win souls for Jesus Christ, we need to bring St. Joseph onto the battlefield. He is the Terror of Demons!’

My Story

My ‘love story’ with St. Joseph began on rather selfish terms, to get an intention fulfilled, and that too when I was advised to go to him for it. But providentially, not long after, a dear friend of the family sent us Consecration to St. Joseph. Hoping to get into his good books and to obtain the favour, I began the consecration. To say that it was an eye-opener is to say the least!

As I went through the pages of each day, the imprint of St. Joseph in my heart began to evolve – from almost nothing to that of the gentle, humble, pure, courageous, self-sacrificing, obedient Spouse of Mary and Foster Father of Jesus. 

While my intention is yet to become reality, I know it is in the heart of St. Joseph. If the Lord wills, and In His Time, it will come to be. But until then and for all my life, I know I have a spiritual father who watches over and prays for this poor soul to Jesus, the Incarnate Word. 

Tania Rose Josun lives in Kottayam, India with her family.