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In the early years of our marriage, we (like most couples) were having our share of trials. I remember specifically when I was pregnant with our second son, and we had a lot of scares with the pregnancy. My pregnancy was already high-risk due to my incompetent cervix, but ultrasounds were showing some other concerns, and one of my doctors was concerned about our baby.
In addition, we had a strong-willed one-year old and many unexpected bills. Needless to say, we were overwhelmed. Logan felt immense pressure as the head of our family, so much so that it manifested in physical ways. One night, I found him passed out in the bathroom! (All checked out fine, but it was still scary!)
I started to ask St. Joseph to pray for Logan and to help him as a husband and father. I even prayed a novena to St. Joseph, with the intention that Logan would be less stressed and able to handle everything better. A few days after my novena, Logan suddenly shared with me how he was feeling, and I knew St. Joseph was intervening. He is such a great spiritual father!
St. Joseph is the Pillar of Families
St. Joseph has been so good to our family ever since! We have asked for his prayers with our marriage, jobs, finances, pregnancies…just to name a few. And in 2021 during the Year of St. Joseph, Logan finally started a new job…on the feast of St. Joseph! His intercession more recently has also been pretty amazing – like answering novena prayers before we even finished his novena! We love him.
We named our third son after St. Joseph, because we were so thankful for his intercession, and now we are convinced that everyone needs him as a patron!
Why your marriage needs St. Joseph
We all know that marriage is hard. Even though we all experience different trials as couples, we all could learn something from St. Joseph.
St. Joseph was responsible for protecting, guiding, and providing for the son of God and the mother of God (talk about pressure, right?). If you are struggling in your vocation as spouse and parent, ask St. Joseph for prayers.
St. Joseph is called “most chaste” because he was the most chaste human man who ever lived. When you’re struggling with chastity (because we’re all called to chastity, even in marriage), ask St. Joseph for prayers.
God spoke to St. Joseph while he was sleeping, and St. Joseph immediately did what God asked, even if it seemed crazy — like taking his wife and newborn son to a strange and possibly dangerous country. When you are struggling with discernment and don’t know what God is asking of you, ask St. Joseph for prayers.
Because of Scripture, we know the Holy Family was poor. St. Joseph trusted God in the midst of their poverty. When you are struggling financially, ask St. Joseph for prayers.
St. Joseph was the holiest husband and father who ever lived, and that’s why your marriage needs him. He wants us to be holy spouses and parents as well, and he understands how difficult it can be in our human nature.
How you can get to know St. Joseph
We could honestly talk about St. Joseph all day, but for now, we just want to leave you with 3 ways to get to know St. Joseph.
- Ask him for prayers for your marriage and family every single day. We have no doubt that he will answer you! We also recommend his novena, which you can find at Pray More Novenas.
- Consecrate yourself to him. We highly recommend the book Consecration to St. Joseph, which we first read together in 2020. There is so much to learn about St. Joseph from this book, and consecrating yourself to him is a surefire way of getting his help in our married vocation.
- Celebrate his feast days. He has two! The major one is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 19. There is also an optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1. His solemnity is one of our favorite days to celebrate!
St. Joseph’s Altar
Speaking of his feast days, we love celebrating the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19. In New Orleans (where we live), there is a big tradition of building altars in honor of St. Joseph on this day. It’s a tradition that started in Italy, when there was a drought in Sicily and people begged St. Joseph for help. He answered their prayers and it rained! In thanksgiving, everyone set up tables of food to honor St. Joseph and then shared it with those in need. We continue that tradition today.
During the pandemic in 2020, there were no St. Joseph Altars at any churches since everything was shut down. So we decided to make our own altar at home!
You can see the details in our video above. Church altars resumed in 2021 so we didn’t do one at home, but then we realized we could still do both! So since then, we have continued to do this every year as a way to thank St. Joseph for all he has done for our family. We encourage you to bring St. Joseph into your marriage, because he truly is the most amazing saint that every marriage needs.