Tag Archives: St Teresa of Avila

St Joseph, Teacher of Prayer

Nativity scene iconSt Teresa of Avila called St Joseph “a master who teaches [us] how to pray. In this meditation we consider how:

  • St Joseph prayed in all moments and events of his life
  • We can learn from him how to find God in our work, family life, travel, recreation, etc.
  • We will benefit from having regular times for prayer each day
  • We can entrust to St Joseph our important intentions

St Joseph, great saint and powerful intercessor

St Josemaria Escriva calls St  Joseph “our father and lord”. We can learn much from this great saint and entrust all our needs to him. In this meditation we consider how:

  • St Joseph was chosen by God from all eternity to be the spiritual father of Jesus and the guardian of the Holy Family
  • God gave St Joseph special graces and virtues for his mission
  • Like Our Lady, St Joseph is a model of all the virtues and we have much to learn from him
  • St Joseph was the greatest saint after Our Lady
  • St Joseph is a most powerful intercessor, as attested by St Teresa of Avila, Pope Pius XI and Pope Francis, and we can entrust all our needs to him, assured of being heard

 

St Joseph and the difficulties of life

 

St Joseph flight into Egypt icon

We all face difficulties in life: sickness and pain, the loss of loved ones, problems in work and in relationships, financial worries, temptations to sin, etc. Our tendency is to complain about them and thus lose their great value. In this meditation we consider how: 

  • St Joseph faced many difficulties
  • St Josemaria Escriva dealt with his difficulties
  • God allows those he loves to endure tribulation
  • St Thomas More describes the great value of tribulations
  • We should face difficulties with trust in God and human resourcefulness
  • We can grow humanly and spiritually through our very difficulties

 

 

 

Love, sin and repentance

 

The parable of the prodigal son is mercy perosnified.

God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, and Jesus loved us so much that he suffered and died on the cross for us. Jesus invites us to love him in return but we so often show him by our sins that we love him too little. In this meditation we consider how:

  • We cannot avoid all sins – even the saints in heaven committed them – but we can try harder to avoid sinning.
  • God expects more from us than from many others.
  • We should strive especially to avoid committing mortal sins and deliberate venial sins.
  • We should identify the occasions of our sins and strive to avoid them.
  • We should foster true contrition for our sins.
  • We should do penance to make up at least in part for our sins and to strengthen our will to resist future temptations.
  • We should strive to go regularly to the sacrament of penance, knowing that there God always pours out his mercy on us.

Sorrow of love

We all offend God many times a day, yet we do not express our sorrow as we should. In this meditation we pray about how we can foster true contrition, sorrow of love, for our sins and failings. We consider:

  • That God truly loves each of us more than all the mothers in the world put together
  • That our sins offend God more than do the sins of others, because he has given us more grace
  • The difference between perfect contrition and imperfect contrition
  • That St Josemaria Escriva calls the act of contrition the best devotion
  • That we should say many acts of contrition each day
  • How we can foster true contrition for our sins

Meditation on St Joseph, model of virtues

St Joseph, husband of Mary and guardian of the Holy Family is a man of many virtues. In this meditation we consider some of them with the aim of striving to imitate St Joseph and to grow in devotion to him.