Page 179 - Reflections on St. Joseph

7) Powerful Intercession:
The Holy Spouses devotion joins the unsurpassed intercessory power of the Blessed Virgin
with that of the Patron of the Church, who shares in that power through his unequalled
relationship with her. No other individual intercessors can compare with these two.
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Prayer to them together as spouses has no parallel. On earth they were more closely related
to the Son of God than anyone else. They related to Jesus as a married couple and as parents.
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In Heaven their unique intimate union with him continues eternally. Besides asking them
to pray for us as individuals, we also ask them as a couple to pray for “our families and
communities.”

8) Responsive to the pastoral needs of our times, especially with regard to Life and Love:
This devotion is meant for every individual, and especially for anyone who already is familiar
with praying the joyful mysteries of the Marian rosary. It has additional value, however, for
families and family prayer. It is uniquely suited to couples, married, engaged, or courting. Since
the theme of this Symposium focuses on “life and love” and since the Holy Spouses are particular
models of life and love, allow me to spend a little more time on this point.

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Since every Christian community is called to be a genuine school of prayer, it is clear that the
most basic of Christian communities, the family, is called to be the first school of prayer. In times
when this primary cell of society is under such attack and even threatened by arrogant attempts
at unnatural redefinition, contemplation of the Holy Family calls us back to firm grounding in
God’s beautiful plan for humanity. What John Paul II wrote about the Marian Rosary is even more
pertinent to the Holy Spouses Rosary. It is “a prayer of and for the family.” As Fr. Patrick Peyton
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insisted while promoting the rosary, “the family that prays together stays together.” When
parents and children together identify with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they are better able to grow
together in unity, virtue, and covenant love. The image of Jesus Incarnate, subject to human
parents, transcends ephemeral video images which often dominate the attention of children and
family members. Every family is called to become a holy family with Jesus at the center. The
growth and development of the children is entrusted to the intercession of Mary and Joseph, the
best of parents and the model for all parents. Broken homes and single-parent families are also
assisted by these most excellent spiritual parents. When families passing through strains or
crises join in this intercessory prayer, they will find light, strength, and grace to grow beyond
their imagining.

The family in God’s plan begins with a married couple, joined by God for life in covenant love. The
most basic cause of family disintegration is the attack on marriage’s inseparable twofold purpose
of life and love. Mary and Joseph call couples to center their relationship on Christ. All
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selfishness, rivalry, and lust must yield to faithful, lifelong commitment in love. In the light of
the coming of the Son of God to Mary’s womb, children are to be valued as God’s great gift. Spouses
are called to be generous in receiving children as the greatest fruit and as the crown of their
married love.

This rosary may help courting couples remain chaste in their relationship and thereby free to
discern God’s will with respect to that relationship. They will see marriage as a response to a God-
given vocation, rather than simply the satisfaction of one’s own desire, which would soon lead to
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Reflections on st. joseph