St. Joseph Novena

podcast mini-series

On December 8th, 2020—150 years after Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church—Pope Francis announced the Year of St. Joseph, which was celebrated through December 8th, 2021.

While I saw many different devotions and parish activities that were promoted as a part of the Year of St. Joseph, I saw very little about the Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), that Pope Francis released at the beginning of that holy year.

I’ve read through this short letter several times since then. It’s become an important part of my devotion and relationship with St. Joseph. I have prayed many novenas to St. Joseph throughout my life, mostly when I’ve been discerning family and vocation decisions. He’s always come through.

A couple of years ago I formatted the letter into a novena. (It wasn’t too difficult, the letter was divided into seven sections plus an introduction and conclusion, so it was basically begging to be divided into nine-part novena.)

This year I wanted to do something a little different in preparation for St. Joseph’s feast day on March 19th. For the nine days leading up to Joseph’s feast day, so beginning on March 10, I’m going to publish a short podcast that will include one section of the pope’s letter, a short personal reflection, and a closing prayer.

In Patris Corde, Pope Francis said, “The aim of this Apostolic Letter is to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.”

That is the same goal that I have for this podcast mini-series.

You can join me by subscribing to the Pope Francis Generation podcast on your favorite podcast app or the SmartCatholics youtube page.

Please consider praying through this beautiful letter with me.

Also, if you want to know more about this document, I wrote a short review of it when it first came out. You can check that out here: https://wherepeteris.com/with-a-fathers-heart-the-year-of-st-joseph/