The Prayer:
Oh,
It is said that this prayer was found in the fiftieth year or Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In 1505 it was sent from the Pope to Emperor Charles when he was going into battle. Whoever shall read this prayer, or hear it or keep it about themselves shall never die a sudden death, or be drowned, nor shall poison take effect of them; neither shall they fall into the hands of the enemy, or shall be burned in any fire or shall be overpowered in battle.
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Say this prayer for nine mornings for anything you may desire. It has never been known to fail, so be sure you really want what you ask.
St Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church and also the Patron Saint of departing Souls. It is so sad that many in the Church have forgotten this most humble servant of God. He is truly very Powerful with God.
We know Joseph was a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him without knowing the outcome. When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately and without question or concern for gossip, took Mary as his wife. When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back. <More on St Joseph>
Useful Catholic Websites:
www.medjugorje.org
www.christinagallagher.org
Here are some Catholic Devotions I have found very helpful in my journey with God. The Devil is very powerful and we need all the help we can get in fighting the good fight and keeping the hope alive in our souls, the hope of our eternal salvation with God.
1. Frequent / regular confession
(Forming a relationship with a spiritual director can be very helpful)
2. Get a picture of the Divine
Mercy and kiss it every day (anyone who venerates the Divine Image
will not perish). Say the Divine Mercy Chaplet starting on Good
Friday for 9 days and then go to Confession and Mass on Divine Mercy
Sunday. This devotion is more powerful than any known to the
Catholic Church as Jesus promises that not only will our sins be forgiven
but also the punishment for those sins. We live in perilous times,
so let us not fail to make use of the Divine
Mercy devotion! How Great and Merciful is God.
3. Say this prayer, "I invoke the
protection and Seal of the Blessed Mother Of
God, Her Immaculate
Conception and Her Immaculate Heart." Also say "Sweet
Jesus, protect me from all harm, bind every spirit that may come against
me, I consecrate my mind, body and soul to your protection"
4. Daily
Mass (this is the best prayer of all). We Catholics have been truly
blessed, having Jesus come into our mortal bodies is LIFE ITSELF! Its very
important that we are in a state of grace when we take our Lord into our
Body's.
5. Regular Devotion to the Blessed
Eucharist
6. Say the Rosary daily
(especially good to meditate on our Lord's passion and cry your heart out
with Jesus in his hour of need) frequently kiss the cross on your Rosary
beads
7. Pray to St Joseph who is very
powerful with God
8. Pray to the
saints (I like to pray to St Philomena,
St Anthony, St Rita, St Jude, Good St Anne, St Faustina, St Bernadette of
Lourdes, St Lucy, The Cure de Ars)
9. Bless yourself with Holy water every
time you leave your house (sometimes this is the only thing which can make
the demons leave us alone)
"A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars..."
11. Say an act of contrition every day
asking God to give you a contrite heart
12. LOVE,
LOVE, LOVE, only by loving others do we love
ourselves and DO GOD's WILL on Earth (if you want a crash course on Love,
read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel). This is probably
the hardest one of all and why the world is in such a desperate
state. Jesus says in Luke's gospel, "Do you think the Son of
Man will find Faith on Earth when he returns." Ask yourself this,
when Jesus returns will he find Faith and Love in you?
13. If you were abused in your early life, seek healing for the past hurts, but don't let it overtake you, so that you become a perpetual victim. I know about this and know that one of the most important aspects of abuse is defeating the victim status which can become a self fulfilling prophecy for people who have suffered abuse. Abuse wrecks lives but God is a great healer. Personally I found St Philomena, and the Cure de Ars, very powerful for helping with past hurts.
14. The medal of St Benedict is one of the best known means of protection from Evil to the Holy Mother Church
15. Pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and ask for their prayers
16. As often as you can read and meditate on Holy Scripture. Here is one extract to get you going "You will indeed listen, but never understand, and will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn - and I would heal them." Matthew 13.14
17. Foster a childlike devotion to the Most Holy Mother of God
The above practices are very good at breaking the demons hold over our lives. I am no preacher and sorry if that's how it sounds. I am only trying to relay the things which have helped me escape the tyranny of my biggest enemy, the Devil. As St Benedict said, "Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!"
If you know someone who is looking for help and is receptive to Catholic Teaching please give them my website URL WWW.GOODSTJOSEPH.COM
More information on St Joseph:
Extract below taken from Divine Favors Granted to St. Joseph by TAN Books & Publishers, Inc.
THE Holy Ghost has willed to make the genealogy of the glorious St. Joseph known to us so exactly, that we need only read the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke to be acquainted with all his ancestors. By birth he is a prince of the royal house of David; his ancestors are the patriarchs, the kings of Juda, the great captains of the people of God, the most illustrious among the sons of men. Yet this descendant of David was reduced to obscurity, and lived a poor and humble life.
The Evangelists would appear to give Joseph two fathers; but the contradiction is only apparent. St. Luke says he was the son of Heli, who, however, died childless; while St. Matthew calls him the son of Jacob, because, according to several commentators, Jacob, brother of Heli, espoused his sister-in-law Esta as the law of Moses commanded, by whom he had Joseph, who was thus the son of Jacob by nature, and the son of Heli according to the law.
The poverty of the family and the custom of the country obliged Joseph to learn a trade. We do not know positively if he worked in wood or in iron, since the holy Fathers are divided on this point. The more general opinion is, however, that he was a carpenter. St. Justin, in his dialogue with Triphon, adds that the Child Jesus acted as His adopted father's little apprentice, assisting him to make yokes and ploughs.
It is a pious belief of some authors that St. Joseph was sanctified in his mother's womb Suarez does not go so far. Still we must allow that the partisans of this opinion support it by solid reasons, which have a great appearance of truth.
There can be no doubt that this great Saint was a virgin. Cardinal St. Peter Damian affirms it so positively that he seems to make it an article of faith. Some learned authors even hold that by a special inspiration of God he made the vow of virginity. Such is the belief of the great chancellor Gerson, of St. Bernardin of Siena, of Suarez, and of several others. In any case we cannot doubt that he had lived a pure angelical life when he united himself by chaste bonds to the Virgin Mary, his one and only spouse.
A secret inspiration from Heaven caused both Mary and Joseph to contract this alliance, while adoring in their hearts the impenetrable counsel of the great God. Mary was in her fifteenth year; the age of Joseph is not known so exactly, tradition being silent on the subject. The opinion that he was about eighty years old is without reasonable grounds, and is not held by theologians, the most esteemed of whom think that he was neither an old man nor a youth, but in the prime of life, between thirty and forty. There are many reasons in support of this opinion, which is now generally held.
Shortly after this virginal marriage had been celebrated with due solemnity, it pleased God to send the Archangel Gabriel to Mary, that he might announce to her the Mystery of the Incarnation, and explain to her that in becoming mother of her Creator, she should not cease to be a virgin: As the mystery was not at once revealed to St. Joseph, he was in sore perplexity, until the Angel of God appearing in a dream, reassured him, by explaining that the fruit of Mary was the work of the Holy Ghost.
The life of the two spouses in this angelic marriage resembled two stars, mutually enlightening each other by their gold and silver rays, without ever coming in contact.
Later, I shall speak of the happiness of this holy life, and with what plenitude of celestial favors God enriched this Divine household. For the moment, I shall content myself with showing how the dream of the first Joseph was verified in the second.
The former Joseph saw himself, in a dream, adored by the sun, the moon, and eleven stars. Only later on in Egypt did he understand this vision, when his father, his mother, and his brethren, prostrate at his feet, adored him as the savior of the land. The son of the patriarch Jacob was, however, only a type, destined to enhance the splendor of that other Joseph, whom God delighted to make so great, whom Jesus Christ the true Sun of Justice honors as His father, whom Our Lady, called in the Canticles beautiful as the moon, reveres as her lord and spouse, whom the Angels and Saints, who are the stars of heaven, venerate as foster. father and guide of that Infant God, Whose servants they esteem themselves happy to be.
The date of St. Joseph's death is uncertain; we know only that it took place before the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. What an entrancing sight to behold him expire, one hand in that of Jesus, the other in that of Our Lady; breathing forth his blessed spirit on the bosom of the Savior God! To die thus is not to lose life but to overcome death. Some authors believe, and with reason, that, Joseph was among those Saints who, on Ascension Day mounted up to Heaven, body and soul, with Jesus Christ. Who indeed deserved more to accompany Jesus in His triumph, than he who accompanied Him so lovingly in His exile in Egypt, and during the laborious pilgrimage of His holy life? We may therefore piously believe that as Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived united upon earth, bearing the same sufferings, so they now t are reunited, body and soul, partaking the same glory. Such is the belief of the devout St. Bemardin of Siena, and even of Suarez, whose usual reserve gives great weight to his opinion in this case. It is true that faith teaches us nothing on this point; but devotion speaks loudly, and has on its side weighty reasons, and great authorities.