To consecrate oneself is a profound spiritual act. It is a simple act and yet a significant one. Words are used, but it is the heart that speaks to the heart of another. To consecrate oneself to St Joseph means turning to him with all one’s heart to seek to become more like Jesus.

St Joseph is a powerful intercessor

“Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.”

(St Thomas Aquinas)

St Joseph can help us increase in virtue

“Oh, what a saint is the glorious St Joseph! … St Joseph will obtain for us, if we repose confidence in him, an increase in every kind of virtue, but particularly in those which he possessed in a pre-eminent degree. These are a perfect purity of body and mind, humility, constancy, fortitude, and perseverance: virtues which will render us victorious over our enemies in this life, and enable us to obtain the grace of enjoying in the life to come those rewards which are prepared for the imitators of St Joseph.”

(St Francis de Sales)

Among all people, St Joseph most closely resembled Our Lady.

“St Joseph was the one who made the nearest approach [to Our Lady’s level of virtue]; and as a mirror when set before the rays of the sun reflects them perfectly, and another set before the first so vividly repeats them that it is scarcely possible to see which of the two immediately received them, even so Our Lady, like a most pure mirror, received the rays of the Sun of Justice, which conveyed into her soul all virtues and perfections; and St Joseph, like a second mirror, reflected them so perfectly, that he appeared to possess them in as sublime a degree as did the glorious Virgin herself.”

(St Francis de Sales)

St Joseph shows us the holiness of ordinary life

“Good St Joseph! Oh! How I love him! I can see him planing, then drying his forehead from time to time. Oh! How I pity him! It seems to me their life was simple… What does me a lot of good when I think of the Holy Family is to imagine a life that was very ordinary. It wasn’t everything that they have told us or imagined…

How many troubles, disappointments! How many times did others make complaints to good St Joseph! How many times did they refuse to pay him for his work! Oh! How astonished we would be if we only knew how much they had to suffer!”

(St Thérèse of Lisieux)

St Joseph shows us how to trust in God’s plan

“Even in difficult and sometimes tragic moments, the humble carpenter of Nazareth never claimed for himself the right to dispute God’s plan. He awaited the call from on High and in silence respected the mystery, letting himself be guided by the Lord. Once he received the mission, he fulfils it with docile responsibility. He listens attentively to the angel, when he is asked to take as his wife the Virgin of Nazareth (cf. Mt 1:18-25), in the flight into Egypt (cf. Mt 2:13-15) and in the return to Israel (cf. Mt 2:19-23).”

(Pope St John Paul II)

St Joseph reminds us to listen for God’s voice

“St Joseph’s silence does not express an inner emptiness but, on the contrary, the fullness of the faith he bears in his heart and which guides his every thought and action…

Let us allow ourselves to be “filled” with St Joseph’s silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither recollection nor listening to God’s voice, we are in such deep need of it.”

(Pope Benedict XVI)

When should you start your consecration?

You can pray this consecration whenever you want and as many times as you want. Many people like to complete the consecration on a special feast day, depending upon their reasons for undertaking the consecration and the intentions for which they are praying.

*In a leap year, the consecration would begin on 19th February.

** The solemnity of the Holy Family usually falls on the first Sunday after Christmas. However, if Christmas is on a Sunday, it is best to check what day has been designated by your local bishop and begin your consecration twenty-nine days before the consecration date (which is Day 30).

Consecrate yourself to St Joseph, the beloved foster father of Jesus:

With 30 Day Consecration to St Joseph