Category Archives: Spiritual Practices

Spiritual Practices

1st Annual Josephology Symposium . March 20

Symposium Speakers

Rev. Boniface Hicks, OSB

“St. Joseph presides over this intentional surrender to childlike obedience [which] takes place in St. Teresa’s fourth mansion [and] Joseph holds the lantern for us that can help us navigate this night,” explains former atheist, Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB, author of Through the Heart of St. Joseph and spiritual director. His talk will unveil how Joseph is a “secret weapon” of the spiritual life who can “increase” our spiritual wisdom and pace up the holy mountain.

Rev. Edward Looney

The Founder of JSI will give the Inaugural Address, giving us a thumbnail sketch of JSI’s hope and dreams, its inception, mission, goals, and an overview of the symposium’s theme and speakers.

Dr. Robert Fastiggi

This talk will explore Joseph’s role in God’s plan of Redemption, the requisite special graces he was given, his unique proximity to the order of the hypostatic union, such that, as Mary, the virgin God-bearer, can be called Coredemptrix because of her maternal cooperation with the Redeemer, is it possible to call Joseph, the virgin God-raiser, a Coredemptor due to his paternal cooperation with the Redeemer?

Dr. Christopher West

If Theology of the Body is a theological time-bomb set to explode in our millennium, then St. Joseph is its fuse! Dr. Christopher West, a spark-plug speaker and author himself, will ignite your understanding on Joseph’s manly purity and total gift of self in this dynamite talk steeped in the mind of John Paul II.

Dr. Elizabeth Lev

Art historian Dr. Elizabeth Lev, based in Rome, will provide a visual tour de force of Josephological art from the 200s AD up to present day, exploring how Joseph is “a beacon” today for godly fatherhood, masculinity, and chastity as she writes in her book Silent Knight.

Free Registration

Online Event

March 20, 2025

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A Light in the World

Prayer is the light of the soul

True knowledge of God, a mediator between God and men. Prayer lifts the soul into the heavens where it embraces God in an indescribable way. Prayer is the desire for God, an indescribable devotion, not given by man but brought about by God’s grace. As St Paul says: For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself intercedes on our behalf in a way that could never be put into words.

If God gives to someone the gift of such prayer, it is a gift of imperishable riches, a heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. Whoever tastes that food catches fire and his soul burns for ever with desire for the Lord.

To begin on this path, start by adorning your house with modesty and humility. Make it shine brightly with the light of justice. Decorate it with the gold leaf of good works, with the jewels of faithfulness and greatness of heart. Finally, to make the house perfect, raise a gable above it all, a gable of prayer. Thus you will have prepared a pure and sparkling house for the Lord. Receive the Lord into this royal and splendid dwelling — in other words: receive, by his grace, his image into the temple of your soul.

St John Chrysostom

He will always be with you

the Way to Eternal Life

In the book of Proverbs Solomon tells us: If you cry out for wisdom and raise your voice for understanding, if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord.

We must begin by crying out for wisdom. We must hand over to our intellect the duty of making every decision. We must look for wisdom and search for it. Then we must understand the fear of the Lord .. For us the fear of God consists wholly in love .. Our love for God is entrusted with its own responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his laws, to trust his promises.

We must ask for these many ways, we must travel along these many ways, to find the one that is good. That is, we shall find the one way of Eternal Life through the guidance of many teachers. These ways are found in the law, in the prophets, in the gospels, in the writings of the apostles, in the different good works by which we fulfill the commandments. Blessed are those who walk these ways in the fear of the Lord.

Saint Hilary of Poitiers

St Cyril and Methodius

At one point during his extended illness, he experienced a vision of God and began to sing this verse: “My spirit rejoiced and my heart exulted because they told me we shall go into the house of the Lord.”

When the time came for him to set out from this world to the peace of his heavenly homeland, he prayed to God with his hands outstretched and his eyes filled with tears: “O Lord, my God, you have created the choirs of angels and spiritual powers; you have stretched forth the heavens and established the earth, creating all that exists from nothing. You hear those who obey your will and keep your commands in holy fear.

Hear my prayer and protect your faithful people, for you have established me as their unsuitable and unworthy servant. “Keep them free from harm and the worldly cunning of those who blaspheme you. Build up your Church and gather all into unity. Make your people known for the unity and profession of their faith. Inspire the hearts of your people with your word and your teaching. You called us to preach the Gospel of your Christ and to encourage them to lives and works pleasing to you.”

From the Life of Saint Cyril

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