A story for every day...
Saint Joseph, more powerful than men.
To get rid of his creditors, a merchant whose business was disastrous, fraudulently sold all his goods to his wife; but in getting rid of men, these two unfortunate people fell into the laces of Satan. Their parish priest would no longer admit them to the sacraments, and all that remained for them to share was eternal damnation. A friend of mine, who was very concerned about the salvation of these two people and who had some influence on them, urged them to make restitution and received only illusory promises. He then addressed me to one of their neighbors, an honest and religious man, so that he would intervene with these people. This one answers with these cold words: “Oh! when the step is made!”
Our man finally addresses Saint Joseph; he begs him ardently to be interested in the fate of these two unfortunate people, to knock for them at the door of the hearts of Jesus and Mary… Well, of their own accord, without any further exhortation from those who had tried to bring them back to honesty, the merchant and his family went to their friend, declaring that after all they had to die, and that they wanted to repair their injustices. The fact is that after some time, all the creditors were summoned, and there was an amicable arrangement.
How good Saint Joseph is!
Here is a story that comes to us from a reliable source, and which recalls the miraculous conversion of Mr. Alphonse Marie Ratisbonne in Rome, where he recited the Memorare without attaching any importance to it.
Saint Joseph’s goodness is so great that he sometimes takes pleasure in granting favors to those who pray to him mechanically and without the formal intention of obtaining any grace.
Many years ago, a young man from the city of Turin, who had no religious principles, having bought tobacco for a penny, began to read the paper in which he was locked up; it was a prayer to Saint Joseph to obtain the grace of a good death. This prayer, which he hardly understood, interested him deeply and touched his heart. He kept coming back to it. His classmates, piqued by curiosity, wanted to take the leaf from him to see what it contained, but he hid it and began to amuse himself with them again. However, he was very anxious to read this prayer again, for he had experienced an ineffable sweetness at the first reading; so, as soon as he was alone, he hastened to return to it, and as he often repeated it, he ended up knowing it by heart and repeating it without taking any notice.
Saint Joseph was not insensitive to this involuntary homage: it touched the heart of this poor young man, who went to present himself to a good priest who instructed him and brought him back to God, in whose service he persevered until death.
Saint Joseph is rightly called the advocate of desperate causes. He has all the power over the Heart of Jesus who refuses him nothing.
