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Day Nine
Patron of a happy death
Saint Joseph, how fitting it was
that at the hour of your death
Jesus should stand at your bedside with Mary,
the sweetness and hope of all mankind.
You gave your entire life
to the service of Jesus and Mary;
at death you enjoyed the consolation
of dying in Their loving arms.
You accepted death in the spirit
of loving submission to the Will of God,
and this acceptance crowned your hidden life of virtue.
Yours was a merciful judgment,
for your foster-Son,
for whom you had cared so lovingly,
was your Judge, and Mary was your advocate.
The verdict of the Judge
was a word of encouragement to wait
for His coming to Limbo,
where He would shower you
with the choicest fruits of the Redemption,
and an embrace of grateful affection
before you breathed forth your soul into eternity.
You looked into eternity
and to your everlasting reward with confidence.
If our Savior blessed the shepherds,
the Magi, Simeon, John the Baptist, and others,
because they greeted His presence
with devoted hearts for a brief passing hour,
how much more did He bless you
who have sanctified yourself
for so many years in His company
and that of His Mother?
If Jesus regards every corporal
and spiritual work of mercy,
performed in behalf of our fellow men
out of love for Him,
as done to Himself,
and promises heaven as a reward,
what must have been the extent of His gratitude to you
who in the truest sense of the word
have received Him,
given Him shelter, clothed, nourished,
and consoled Him at the sacrifice
of your strength and rest,
and even your life,
with a love which surpassed the love of all fathers.
God really and personally
made Himself your debtor.
Our Divine Savior paid that debt of gratitude
by granting you many graces in your lifetime,
especially the grace of growing in love,
which is the best and most perfect of all gifts.
Thus at the end of your life
your heart became filled with love,
the fervor and longing of which
your frail body could not resist.
Your soul followed the triumphant impulse
of your love and winged its flight from earth
to bear the prophets and patriarchs in Limbo
the glad tidings of the advent of the Redeemer.
Saint Joseph, I thank God
for your privilege of being able to die
in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
As a token of your own gratitude to God,
obtain for me the grace of a happy death.
Help me to spend each day
in preparation for death.
May I, too, accept death
in the spirit of resignation to God's Holy Will,
and die, as you did, in the arms of Jesus,
strengthened by Holy Viaticum,
and in the arms of Mary,
with her rosary in my hand
and her name on my lips!
Novena Prayer
*(prayer to be said at the end of each day's devotion)
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you.
You are the faithful protector and intercessor
of all who love and venerate you.
You know that I have
special confidence in you and that,
after Jesus and Mary,
I place all my hope of salvation in you,
for you are especially powerful with God
and will never abandon your faithful servants.
Therefore I humbly invoke you
and commend myself,
with all who are dear to me
and all that belong to me,
to your intercession.
I beg of you,
by your love for Jesus and Mary,
not to abandon me during life
and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph,
spouse of the Immaculate Virgin,
obtain for me a pure, humble,
charitable mind, and perfect resignation
to the divine Will.
Be my guide, my father,
and my model through life
that I may merit to die as you did
in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph,
faithful follower of Jesus Christ,
I raise my heart to you
to implore your powerful intercession
in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus
all the graces necessary for my spiritual
and temporal welfare,
particularly the grace of a happy death,
and the special grace I now implore:
(Mention your request)
Guardian of the Word Incarnate,
I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf
will be graciously heard before the throne of God.
Amen.
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