fire with the pure flames of the most ardent charity, and whose life was a constant prayer and continual contemplation! deign to accept me as thy protege, and to teach me the perfection of the interior life. Teach me how to model my heart in accordance with the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Direct me in the way of salvation/ and obtain for me that I may, day after day, without interruption, live and labor for God and my neighbor in the rigorous observance of my vows. From the height of thy throne, where thou reignest in heaven near Jesus and Mary, cast thy paternal and compassionate looks upon all Religious, and especially upon those of our own Order, who are filled with the most profound respect and tender veneration for thee. Be a father to us all; inspire our Superiors; protect our interests; shield us from danger and aid us in the spread of God's kingdom on earth. Obtain for all Religious the graces of which they stand in need, in order to arrive at the sanctity to which God calls them. Especially obtain for them the spirit of prayer, the gift of piety, that fervor of which thou art the perfect model. Teach them to pray as thou thyself hast learned it from Jesus and Mary.
May they be always animated with the same sentiments of humility, purity of intention, respect, docility, faith, confidence, and love, with which thou thyself wert inflamed and actuated, when in thy hidden life, in the silence and seclusion of thy poor house at Nazareth, thou didst offer unceasingly with Jesus and Mary the most fervent and acceptable prayers to the divine Majesty. Amen.
Novena to St. Joseph.
(Feast March 19th. Novena begins March 10th and ends March 18th.)
DEDICATION TO ST. JOSEPH.
O GLORIOUS descendant of the King of Juda! inheritor of the virtues of all the patriarchs! just and happy St. Joseph! listen to my prayer. Thou art my glorious protector, and shalt ever be, after Jesus and Mary, the object of my most profound veneration and tender confidence. Thou art the most hidden, though the greatest saint, and art peculiarly the patron of those who serve God with the greatest
