Prayer is a key dimension of family life

'Hello friends, I’m filming this on the feast of St Joseph, and I'm here in front of the chapel to St Joseph, in our cathedral, and you should be able to see in the background the lovely altar with the statues of Joseph there. There’s also one who of our own Mary MacKillop who had such devotion to St Joseph.

Pope Francis has asked that we might have a Year of St Joseph, but in fact, as you know in our own Archdiocese we have been, from this day last year, been seeking the intercession of St Joseph throughout the time of COVID and lockdowns.

So today, in a sense marks a year of already that journey we've been on as an Archdiocese. We have a year now, to once again be renewed in the love and the tenderness, justice and the strength of St Joseph.

To mark the beginning of this new year which is also the Year for the Family – what a great family man St Joseph was – we have introduced a new prayer to St Joseph through his intercession. In fact, it’s a Trinitarian prayer, a prayer to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, with the intercession of Joseph as part of that. And you'll be able to find that on our Archdiocesan website and in your parishes over the next couple of weeks.

Can I encourage you to take up that prayer in your family context, maybe at home… Given that the prayer is broken up into three bits, we might be able to pray, one little bit each day, and then over the cycle of most of the week you'll be able to say this prayer and have St Joseph and powerful family life, as well.

Prayer is one of the really key dimensions of family life.

When we are able in our households to be a school of prayer, a place where praying to God, seeking His intercession is happening, then we hold ourselves in good stead that from our prayerful life as a family, not just individually but in a family context. Praying together is such a wonderful way of living our Gospel calling to be sons and daughters with Jesus, brothers and sisters, in the Lord.

Happy St Joseph’s day to you all. May the Lord bless and keep you.'

—Archbishop Peter A Comensoli

Download the St Joseph Prayer