The Invisible Woman

 I’ve done it before, but never all by myself. Today was a first.

Most people drove by without casting a glance in my direction, or if they did see me, they acted as if I was invisible. I wasn’t. But I wasn’t jumping up and down or shouting either. I was easy to miss with my sign and rosary beads in my gloved hands. 

I sat back from the sidewalk so as not to impede foot traffic. One man jogged by, and several older women strolled by. Many others simply rushed past. One young woman stood nearby as she waited for the metro bus. Still, I remained invisible. One lady smiled as she walked her dogs out for a day in the sunshine after four gray, rainy days. She saw me until she saw my sign, Pray To End Abortion.

Six cars entered or exited the driveway to my left, leading to the professional center that houses two businesses. One is Planned Parenthood. I sat a couple of feet from the entrance. A young woman flipped me off as she drove in a bit too fast. As she gestured, the underframe of her car banged hard on the entrance incline. The loud clang and ensuing jostle echoed my visibility. Another young woman drove by and gave me a thumbs down. She saw me, too.

Perhaps I was more visible to younger women, the generation that has marinated in the lie that abortion is simply a woman’s right to control her own body. I fear for this group of women, my daughters’ generation and younger. In my generation, there was a sense that extinguishing an unborn life might be wrong. Abortion was certainly not something to “tweet” about or mention in casual conversation.

If you’ve read this far, perhaps you are thinking: I am just one person, what can I do? I want to tell you that you can do a whole lot. You can pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, spiritual weapons that make a difference in the battle between good and evil. You can move mountains.

You can be visible. You can pray. You can join your local 40daysforlife campaign.

Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Is: 49:15, NRSVCE)

Reflections on the Consecration to St. Joseph

Our pastor recently invited our entire parish to read the book, Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Donald H. Calloway, MIC. The plan was to make a parish-wide consecration to St. Joseph on Father’s Day. Well before the start date, I purchased the Kindle version and began perusing the book to decide if this “Consecration to St. Joseph” was for me.

I’d consecrated myself to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary years back when Fr. Michael Gaitley’s book, 33 Days to Morning Glory, first came out. I take my Marian consecration very seriously, and its impact on my spiritual life is right up there with my return to the Catholic Church. Since I’d already handed everything over to Mary, what was left for St. Joseph? I wondered, how many saints do I need to consecrate myself to?  And why St. Joseph since Scripture tells us so little about him? Further, I asked, isn’t consecration to St. Joseph more for men?

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo: The Holy Family with a Bird (Public Domain)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sagrada_Familia_del_pajarito_(Murillo).jpg)

A scientist by training and temperament, I decided to “chomp” on some data. In other words, I began reading Fr. Calloway’s book. The introduction suggested that skeptics—fence-sitters like me—start reading Part II as an independent book, so that is where I started.

Fr. Galloway’s writing was inspired by and contained the reflections of many saints, blessed, and popes that I greatly admire. However, there were a good many that were new to me. The author’s extensive literature search was impressive, and, frankly, the references alone are worth the book’s price. The litany of St. Joseph provides the structure on which the author organizes everything ever written about the head of the Holy Family.  

As I began reading, I pondered the life and virtues of St. Joseph in a new way. About a third of the way into Part II, I decided to give our parish’s St. Joseph consecration effort a shot. I offered to facilitate an in-person group. This lively, small group provided an opportunity to observe and learn how fellow parishioners responded to the material in the book and a sounding board of sorts for me. At the very end of the thirty-three-day preparation, I would decide whether or not I would consecrate to St. Joseph. For me, the book was a getting to know St. Joseph, not a commitment beyond that—initially, anyway.

A good deal of the material in Part I and II falls into the category of what I call guided reflection or personal opinion about Jesus’s earthly father. I enjoyed seeing the differences in the participants’ intake of this type of information. I advised our small group to step up onto the reflections/opinions if they provided a better view of St. Joseph, but to step over the reflections/opinions should they be blocking for them.

For many in our group, it was easy and faith-strengthening to accept a) that angels moved the Holy Family’s house to Loretto or b) that the wedding ring St. Joseph gave to Mary is in Perugia or c) that Joseph was ever-virgin ord)  that St. Joseph was a young man, and so on. For me, those were possible portraits or windows by which to gaze at St. Joseph—not a prerequisite point of view for consecration to the Saint.

I asked each person to identify the thing(s) that most influenced them to make the consecration should they decide to go forward. Then, I encouraged them to choose the particular consecration prayer that most reflected what they needed from St. Joseph, felt towards him, and believed about him.  (There are a variety of choices in the Appendix.)

As I formulated the answer to my questions, two lines of “evidence” nailed my decision to consecrate to St. Joseph:

“He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasure, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife.”  St. Bernadine of Siena (pg. 206)

“All fatherhood has its origin in God and finds its earthly model in St. Joseph. All fatherhood has the power to combat evil. Lucifer fears the fatherhood of St. Joseph more than any other creaturely fatherhood because the devil knows that there is no created person who has a greater participation in the fatherhood of God than St. Joseph.” Fr. Calloway (pg. 221)

 As I prayed and meditated on the two quotes above, I was astonished that I'd gone my entire life without a devotion to St. Joseph. My decision to consecrate didn’t require that I believe St. Joseph was a young man versus an older man or a life-long virgin and so on. My decision rested solely on my trust in the wisdom of God. That God the Father knew what he was doing when he chose St. Joseph as the earthly father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. God the Father had orchestrated St. Joseph’s unique participation in the fatherhood towards His Son.

So, in summary, my decision was straightforward. Did I, with my father-issues, need a human spiritual father in my life? Absolutely.  Did I believe that the Church and the world need a manly, holy image of fatherhood? Undoubtedly, yes. This is the time of St. Joseph!

And with that, I consecrated to St. Joseph along with our parish using the prayer below. This consecration prayer (below) is a beautiful compilation of the consecration prayers found in the Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by

• Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC (pg. 236), 
• St. Peter Julian Eymard (pp. 237-238), 
• St. Bernardine of Siena (pg. 239) 

by a staff member, Carl-Eric Tangen, at my home parish who added a few additional words.

Prayer of Consecration to St. Joseph

I, _______, a child of God, take you, St. Joseph, to be my spiritual father. I am confident that Jesus and Mary have led me to you; to know you, to love you, and to be totally consecrated to you.

O my beloved Saint Joseph, adopt me as your child. Be my father as you were the father of the Holy Family at Nazareth. Teach me the interior life, the life hidden away with Jesus, Mary in the Holy Spirit. I want to imitate the humble silence with which you shrouded Jesus and Mary. Be my guide and model in all my duties so that I may learn to fulfill them with meekness and humility: with meekness toward my brothers and sisters, my neighbor, and all with whom I come in contact; with humility toward myself and simplicity before God.

 Take charge of my salvation; watch over me day and night; preserve me from occasions of sin; obtain for me purity of body. Through your intercession with Jesus, grant me a spirit of sacrifice, humility, self-denial, burning love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and a sweet and tender love for Mary, my mother who loves you and longs to see you loved.

To you, after Jesus and Mary, I consecrate my body and soul, with all their faculties, my spiritual growth, my home, and all my affairs and undertakings. Adopt me as a servant and child of the Holy Family. Watch over me at all times, but especially at the hour of my death. Console and strengthen me with the presence of Jesus and Mary so that, with you, I may praise and adore the Holy Trinity for all eternity.

O Jesus, my Lord, my brother, and Bridegroom of my soul give me Joseph for a father as you have given me Mary as a mother. Fill me with devotion, confidence, and filial love. Jesus, I long to become more and more conformed to you. Teach me to entrust myself as a child to you daily, just as you entrusted yourself to Mary and Joseph. Help me to love and entrust myself to them as you did. Humble my heart today so that it can be a home for you and Mary and Joseph, like Nazareth, once was. I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.

Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.