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 young man who dreaded a military life, was according to the laws of France, obliged to present himself to draw lots for the conscription.

On his way to the office he stopped at a little chapel dedicated to St. Joseph-of-the-fields near Laval. Entering in he knelt down and addressing St. Joseph, said: “You know, O Holy Joseph, how greatly I fear a military life, not for the hardships or for the dangers of war, but on account of the idleness and immorality of a barrack life.”

Then placing a number on the Altar he said, “This is the number I wish to gain; help me.”

On reaching the office where the lots were drawn, before putting his hand in the box he again invoked St. Joseph. His prayer was heard, he drew the very number he had asked for and which exempted him from military service. With his heart overflowing with joy and gratitude he returned to St. Joseph’s Chapel to thank him for the signal favor he had obtained.

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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.