The Year of St Joseph
On Friday 19 March we celebrate the Feast of St Joseph, husband of Mary and stepfather to Jesus.
In the week leading up to it we reflect on St Joseph’s life and ask him to guide and inspire us to grow closer to God. The themes have been taken from Pope Francis’ letter Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart), which declared 2021 the Year of St Joseph.
Our Mission Together Week of Prayer follows the National Novena of St Joseph, which begins on Thursday 10th March and is run by St. Joseph’s Missionary Society (The Mill Hill Missionaries) – England’s only missionary order.
The order of priests was named after St Joseph because his was a life of love and service – a model for missionary life. The full Novena may be found here: millhillmissionaries.com/novena/
If you would like to follow the same prayer cycle the children will be following in school during this special week, please see the instructions below.
HOW TO PRAY THE WEEK OF ST JOSEPH
• Begin on Monday 15 March.
• Start each day with the opening prayer on Slide Two.
• On Monday continue with the reflection and prayer on Slide Three; on Tuesday proceed to Slide Four and so on.
• By Friday 19 March you will have reflected on four themes of St Joseph’s life.
• Each day’s prayer and reflection takes no longer than ten minutes.