St. Joseph is a spiritual father who will fight for you

Don Donald Calloway wrote a comprehensive and personal warmth work. In fact, his love and enthusiasm for his topic are evident on every page of this book. So it is worth mentioning his past, which is certainly under the protection of this saint to whom he is, together with the reverence for the Madonna, clearly devoted (he is a Marian father of the Immaculate Conception).

We learn that "before his conversion, it was an abandonment of high school that had been expelled from a foreign country, institutionalized twice and thrown in prison several times". All this was before his "radical conversion". One is drawn to conversion stories like this, although the tempting summary leaves some questions unanswered.

Many Catholics will know about the popular promotion of Saint Louis de Montfort of the 33-day consecration to Our Lady and may have already officially consecrated them. Don Calloway reminds them that being consecrated to St. Joseph will only support and deepen the precedent. "You are not a member of a one-parent spiritual family," he stresses, "Mary is your spiritual mother and St. Joseph is your spiritual father" - as well as the fact that "the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are one ".

So why is consecration to Saint Joseph important? It is the author's thesis that Joseph's time has come. Catholics who have a sense of providential history will understand this observation and, in fact, Calloway has added many events in the past 150 years to support his thesis. In 1870, Pius IX declared Saint Joseph Patron of the universal Church. In 1871 Cardinal Vaughan founded the Josephite order. In 1909, Saint Pius X approved the Litany of Saint Joseph. In 1917 in Fatima (significantly, in the last apparition of October 13), St. Joseph appears and blesses the world.

In 1921 Benedict XV added a special mention of San Giuseppe to the Divine Lode. Pius XII instituted the feast of San Giuseppe Lavoratore on May 1. In 1962 John XXIII included the name of San Giuseppe in the Canon of the Mass. In 2013, Pope Francis inserted the name of St. Joseph into all the Eucharistic prayers.

This is only a selection of St. Joseph's growing inclusion in the official worship and conscience of the Church. They remind us that God does nothing without a supernatural purpose - sometimes discerning only long after the event. For Don Calloway, the elevation of St. Joseph is particularly necessary for our times, "to help us protect marriage and the family". Indeed, he continues by observing that "many people no longer know what it means to be a man or a woman, let alone what constitutes a marriage and a family". He adds that "the whole world needs to be evangelized, including the vast majority of baptized Christians".

No Catholic who follows public affairs will be able to contest this, or the comment that "the countries once established on Judeo-Christian principles have been overwhelmed by ideologies and organizations that seek to strip society of all that is sacred".

The point of formal consecration means that St. Joseph becomes his own spiritual father so that "you want to be like him", in all his male virtues. For those who prefer to keep their devotional life as simple as possible, the author comments that he will make a simple assignment prayer, or he can follow a program of preparation for formal consecration. He himself chose to emulate the 33-day method of St Louis de Montfort.

Calloway's book is divided into three parts. Part I describes the 33-day preparation. Part II contains "The wonders of St. Joseph" and Part III lists the prayers for him.

Part I examines all the holy facets of the character of St. Joseph, with quotes from the scriptures and saints. Some of these, such as "Guardian of the Virgin", will be familiar; others, such as "Terror of Demons" may be new. Don Calloway reminds us that Satan is real, together with evil spirits: "In times of fear, oppression, mortal danger and extreme temptation" we should invoke the help of St. Joseph: "He will fight for you".

Part II includes many testimonies of saints such as André Bessette, Saint John Paul II and Josemaría Escrivá to illustrate how important devotion to Saint Joseph was in their spiritual progress.

On the back of the book, Father Calloway includes works of art that he commissioned from St. Joseph. Of these, what I like most is the icon of an unknown artist. This is because it reflects the prayerful and ageless quality of the iconography, in contrast to the other works that tend to the pious, somewhat sentimentalized style of popular religious illustrations, common to sacred images.

The important thing for Catholics, whether they choose to consecrate St. Joseph or not, is to learn more about this greatest of saints, appointed by God as our guardian and protector as he was for Our Lady and Jesus.