The book, The Month of St. Joseph, presents daily considerations for the month of March in the form of meditations and practical examples. The example for today is as follows.
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EXAMPLE
A pious young man was studying for the Church with the Parish Priest of the village in which he unfortunately, he experienced such difficulty in learning Latin, that his teacher losing all patience was inclined to give up instructing him. The youth, however, redoubled his efforts; and a longer trial was allowed him.
“My good boy,” said the old Priest one day, “I see but one way out of the difficulty, and that is for you to put yourself under the protection of St. Joseph, and to pray and beseech him to obtain for you the talents that are wanting in you; otherwise you will never make any progress. Come, have a little courage; I will join my prayers to yours, and I feel confident our prayers will be heard; for perseverance in prayer obtains everything.”
The youth followed the advice given and prayed so fervently that the results proved his petition had been granted. His mind seemed to open little by little and his talents to develop in a wonderful manner, so that he finished the course of his studies successfully, and entered the Seminary, where he was distinguished not only for virtue but for talent; and after a time taking honors he was ordained Priest.
In later years he was named Professor of moral and dogmatic Theology, and finally was appointed Vicar-General, which post he occupied for many years, proving himself to be a prudent and enlightened Director of the clergy. But the one thing for which he was remarkable was his unbounded confidence in St. Joseph and his gratitude to his generous protector. Let us learn from this example the power with God of humble and persevering prayer, when addressed to Him through the intercession of the Holy Spouse of Mary.
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This anecdote comes from the Month of St. Joseph by Abbé Berlioux, originally published in English in the year 1887. This book contains meditations and an example story for each day of the month. In an effort to preserve short inspiring stories from our Catholic past, every day for the month of March you can find the example story for the day published on the website under people/stories.
The same author also published similar books for the months of, May (Our Lady), June (Sacred Heart), and November (Holy Souls). We are planning to post the stories for these months in the future and are working with Mediatrix Press to re-publish these as a four book collection, so be sure to check back. The Month of St. Joseph is available now.