Indulgences for the Year of Saint Joseph

“The Year of Saint Joseph” has been given, by the Apostolic Penitentiary, a number of ways to obtain the plenary indulgence. The Year extends from December 8th, 2020 to December 8th, 2021. The Penitentiary, in the Decree, In the Year of Saint Joseph The Gift of Indulgences, states that the faithful have “the opportunity to commit themselves, with prayers and good works, to obtain with the help of St. Joseph…comfort and relief from the serious human and social tribulations that today afflict the contemporary world.” Not mentioned in the Decree above, the Consecration to Saint Joseph is an additional way to obtain the plenary. This is an exciting new devotion in the Church, which takes about one month to perform.

A plenary indulgence requires the Sacrament of Penance, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father and detachment from sin. According to the Penitentiary’s General Remarks on Indulgences (most recent, from the Jubilee Year 2000), “it is sufficient that these sacred rites and prayers be carried out within several days (about 20) before or after the indulgenced act.”

After doing some initial research, I saw the need for a more concise listing of these indulgences. I have looked carefully at the text of the Decree and have compiled this simplified list to the best of my ability. I encourage you to read the text for yourself as well. Note, quotes below are taken from this Decree. Don’t forget the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker is coming up on May 1st-what a fabulous time to perform one of these wonderful devotions and bring a soul you love into the Abode of Eternal Joy!

1) Meditate for 30 minutes on “The Lord’s Prayer.” “Saint Joseph…invites us to rediscover our filial relationship with the Father, to renew our devotion to prayer, to dispose ourselves to listen and correspond with profound discernment to God’s will.”

2) Participate in a retreat for one day that includes meditation on Saint Joseph.

3) Perform one Corporal or Spiritual Work of Mercy. “The virtue of justice practiced by Saint Joseph…is full adherence to divine law, which is the law of mercy.”

4) Recite the Holy Rosary as a family or as an engaged couple. “The primary aspect of Saint Joseph’s vocation was that of being guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus.”

5) Daily entrust your work to the protection of Saint Joseph the Worker.

6) Recite a prayer to Saint Joseph the Worker for the intention of employment for the unemployed and for dignified work.

7) Recite the “Litany to Saint Joseph” for the intention of all persecuted Catholics.

8) Recite an approved prayer in honor of Saint Joseph, especially on his feast days, the 19th of each month and Wednesdays.

9) Perform the new devotion, “Consecration to Saint Joseph.”

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In This Year of Saint Joseph: Re-Grouping for Warfare

In this Year of Saint Joseph, here is one more beautiful prayer. Let us continue to keep the Foster-Father of our Redeemer in mind and remember this is a wonderful year for indulgences, with devotions to him.

Completing my bio has turned into a mid-life odyssey. I was going to do the typical dry spewing of facts in the third person. It took on a completely different form, as it became more personal and meditative. The story just seemed to require this. In recent years, I vowed to myself that I would never tell my story because it is too dark in many ways and also because I do not want the focus on me…perhaps also because I just didn’t want to think about it and dredge up all the emotion. But recently, I began to feel that it was time to do it. I also see that it is proving to be a therapeutic exercise at this mid-point in my life and at this pivotal time in history, as all of our lives are changing. It has become a deep meditation and re-connection with the people and places of my past, a re-grouping, before continuing on the rest of my journey. There has been much suffering in my life, but also much happiness. The dark parts will be largely omitted. This effort stemmed from wanting to assist my readers, so they would not feel they were reading disembodied words from a faceless person.

Maybe it is time for all of us to be doing this. In this time of relative peace, as things are heating up with each passing day, perhaps God is calling us now to look back in recollection before going forward. It is a time to come to terms with the past in every respect, get holier and suit up for the war ahead. Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, is here to help us at this time. Saying the prayer above for embarking on this process can only be a benefit. Christ is with us. No fear. Only trust, peace and joy…Faith, Hope and Love!

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January: Month of the Holy Name of Jesus

Nomen Christi means “Name of Christ.” This apostolate has a special devotion to the Holy Name. May we honor and defend His Name always! Let us perform some special devotion this month to the Holy Name of Jesus.

January is a most interesting month in the Church. A new secular year begins, which occurs not long after the new liturgical year. The new year begins with a glorious Marian feast in the new calendar. What better way to start 2021, than by commending it to Our Lady, as the whole world has begun its descent into a great abyss. We celebrate 4 feasts of Our Lord: His Circumcision, Epiphany, Holy Name and Baptism. We have a total of 6 Doctors of the Church we honor, including “The Angelic Doctor,” St. Thomas Aquinas. There are several interesting unique feasts and finally, our preparation for Lent, beginning the last day of the month!

St. Genevieve’s feast is January 3rd. I can’t think of her without thinking of the song The Simple Joys of Maidenhood, from the musical “Camelot,” which I heard countless times growing up. Its a wonderful song by Lerner and Loewe, which Julie Andrews sang to perfection (I’ve given you a theatrical version above, but please also listen to Julie’s version)…Guinevere laments to her patron saint that she is soon to wed a king she does not love. St. Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris and died in 512. In the year 1129, an illness called the “burning fever” killed many in Paris. After invoking St. Genevieve, many healings took place and the illness vanished. She is a great saint to appeal to during this present time, whatever you believe the nature of “covid” to be.

The new liturgical year has been declared the “Year of Saint Joseph.” Let us increase our love and devotion to the Foster-Father of Christ during this new year. And let us above all, contemplate the need for mercy at this time and do all we can in the coming year to secure it. Here are some notable feasts this month in the old and new calendars:

1-BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD (new, solemnity-no penance, Holy Day of Obligation prior to NWO takeover) / CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD (trad) / Octave Day of the Nativity / First Friday

2-St. Basil the Great, Doctor, “Father of Eastern Monasticism” / St. Gregory Nazianzen, Doctor, “The Theologian,” “The Christian Demosthenes” / First Saturday

3-EPIPHANY OF THE LORD (new) / MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS / St. Genevieve

4-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

5-St. John Neumann

6-EPIPHANY OF THE LORD (trad) / Sts. Caspar, Balthasar & Melchior (The Three Wisemen)

10-BAPTISM OF THE LORD (new) / THE HOLY FAMILY

13-BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (trad) / St. Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor, “The Athanasius of the West” (new)

14-St. Hilary of Poitiers (trad)

19-St. Canute

21-St. Agnes, Martyr

22-Day of Prayer for the Unborn (48th Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade +++Lord, have mercy+++)

24-Sunday of the Word of God / St. Timothy, Martyr, Companion of St. Paul (trad) / St. Francis de Sales, Doctor, “The Gentleman Doctor,” “Patron of the Catholic Press,” “Everyman’s Spiritual Director” (new)

25-Conversion of St. Paul

26-Sts. Timothy & Titus, Companions of St. Paul (new) / St. Polycarp, Martyr

27-St. John Chrysostom, Doctor, “The Golden-Mouthed,” “Doctor of the Eucharist”

28-St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor, “The Angelic Doctor,” “The Common Doctor”

29-St. Francis de Sales (trad)

31-Septuagesima Sunday / St. John Bosco

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