Day 3: The Dream of St. Joseph

Lord God, Almighty King: in your hands all things are placed. If you wish to save your people, no one can resist your will. You made heaven and earth and all that is contained in them; you are the owner of all things. Who, then, can resist your majesty? Lord, God of our fathers: have mercy on your people, for the enemies of the soul seek to destroy us and the difficulties that confront us are very great. You have said: "Ask and it shall be given to you. He who asks receives. Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will grant it to you. But ask with faith." Hear, then, our prayers. Forgive our faults. Turn away from us the punishments we deserve and make our weeping turn to joy, so that, by living, we may praise your holy name and continue praising it eternally in heaven. Amen.

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

In the darkness of uncertainty, Joseph wrestled with a heartache few men have ever known. He loved Mary, yet everything he thought he understood about their future seemed shattered. Righteous and merciful, he resolved to spare her shame, even at the cost of his own dreams. But God, who never abandons the just, spoke to him in the silence of sleep: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid…" In that single sentence, heaven broke open the prison of fear and human reasoning, revealing a plan infinitely greater than Joseph could have imagined.

How often we, like Joseph, stand at the edge of the unknown, ready to protect ourselves by quietly stepping away from what confuses or frightens us. Yet the angels words are spoken to us as well: "Do not be afraid to take Mary and all that she carries into your home." The Lord asks us to make room for His mysterious, often inconvenient, always fruitful will. Joseph's immediate obedience changed salvation history. Our small, fearful "yes" can change eternity too. In this novena, let us ask St. Joseph to teach us his beautiful, silent courage, the courage to trust when we cannot see, to protect what God has entrusted to us and to rise from our sleep ready to do whatever He tells us.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.