St Joseph, his time is now
Patron of Families and the Universal Church.
In March of this year, I began a work with my 29th icon, St Joseph. I’m very blessed to pray with the Saints through art. The Holy Spirit and St Joseph took such a hold of me during the process of this painting that I actually had to step away from the prayer due to the weight and responsibility I was feeling in his message.
Here are some of the things that St Joseph spoke to my heart…
First, he talked about this immense joy he had. That when God called him, he felt so unworthy and sinful. He talked to me a lot about clay and making vessels and that Our Lord chose him, nothing but a broken vessel, to protect the treasure of salvation. Almost constant St Joseph showed me his hands in clay. When he began to walk in his mission with Our Lady and Jesus, the Lord poured out so much joy into their days together. Then he showed me how his time was coming in the Church, like never seen in the history of the Redemption. St Joseph would be coming to reclaim the family and the Church. He spoke to my heart about the coming days and the power of grace being poured out right now.
When I recently returned to this prayer with Saint Joseph in October, he spoke to me with a father’s heart… one of concern and protection. St Joseph said, “they ignore my son and hurt my dear Mary, now is my time.”
In the icon you will see dear Joseph cradling sweet Baby Jesus with his left hand and Jesus resting, relieved to be in His earthly father’s arms again. Jesus holds St Joseph’s lily… the biblical passage, “The just man shall blossom like the lily” is applied to St. Joseph in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet it is Our Redeemer who holds this Lily now, and the stem of the Lily pierces though the Eucharist, which is setting like a sun over the Vatican, as a symbol of purification. In Joseph’s right hand, he hold out the Vatican, representative of the One True Church, marred, yet alive, and St Joseph is calling us to return to our Faith.
Notice the 3 circles in the Eucharist, Jesus halo and St Joseph’s halo, aligned perfectly with their faces. Three is the number of the Trinity, resurrection, divine wholeness, completeness and perfection. Isaiah 40:22 “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
Jesus is wrapped in a red blanket, which represents His Most Precious Blood, and is pouring out through the Church, into the baptismal waves of His grace. The Family, are they going into the Church or going out? This is for the viewer to discern, as this should change as we go into the sacramental graces, we carry them out in our mission as priest, profit and king.
Saint Joseph…pray for us!