ICEMANforChrist
This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 8). This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God.
Prayers-Devotions-Information
- Operation-Purity
- First Saturday Devotion
- Militia of the Immaculata
- Daily: Seven Sorrows of Mary
- Prayer for the Troops
- Stations of the Cross: Thursday before First Frida...
- German Rosary
- You Need to Pray for those in Authority
- Iceman's Total Consecration to St. Joseph
- World Peace Rosary
- Character is Destiny
- Long Breastplate of St. Patrick
- The Manhood of the Master
- 54 Day Rosary
- Rosary
- Morning offerings plus four daily prayers(0900/1200/1500/1800 hours) that will change your life.
- Angelus
- Saturday Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
- Angelic Examination of Conscience
- 40 Days to Freedom from the Devil
- Liturgy of the Hours
- Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face
- Universal Man Plan (Phase III) "The St. Peter"
- An Hours Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament
- Universal Man Plan (Phase 2) "The St. George"
- 90 Days to Peace
- INTO THE BREACH
- Explanation of the Traditional Latin Mass
- First Friday
- Divine Mercy Novena
- Shoulder Wound of Christ
- Angelic Choirs Devotion
- Rosary the Roadmap of Salvation
- Universal Man Plan (Phase 4) The "St. Joseph"
- Novena of St. Joseph
- Time is a Gift from God
- Devotion to the Seven Joys and Sorrows of St. Jose...
- Novena to Pray for Strength, Humility and Resolve for Our Bishops
- Eucharistic Stations of the Cross
- Spiritual Warfare
- Iceman's 33 days to Eucharistic Glory
- EVENING DEVOTIONS Goffine's Devout Instructions, 1...
- Quo Vadis (Where are you going?)
- Fitness Fridays
- Chaplet of Divine Mercy
- Nineveh 90
- Peace through Strength
- Iceman's 40 hour devotion
- Our Lady of Sorrows: September Devotion
- Auxilium Christianorum
- Prayers Before and After Mass
- Total Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
- Patrolman's Fraternity of St. Michael
- PRAYER FOR HEALING THE FAMILY TREE
- Renewal of Baptismal Vow
- Prayer before Mass
- Novena to the Holy Face
- An Offering to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Universal Man Plan (Phase 1) "The St. Ignatius"
- A Method of Hearing Mass Spiritually
Featured Post
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Claire’s Corner · Colic Awareness Month -Get some Gripe Water o I was a Colic baby Mom and Dad found Gripe Water when my pa...

Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Dara’s Corner Try “German Recipes for Easter Week”
· Paella Valenciana (Chicken and fish with rice)
· Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955
· National Chocolate Caramel Day
· Bucket List Trip: Goa
· Spirit hour: Wine
MARCH 19 Wednesday-Solemnity of St. Joseph
Matthew, Chapter 1, verse 19-20
19 Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to
expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. 20 Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of
David, do not be AFRAID to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is
through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
Even righteous people become afraid at times but Mark Shea a catholic writer points out that Joseph being a devote Jew may have had Holy fear as the basis of his being afraid.
” Modernity assumes it was because he thought her guilty of adultery, but the typical view in antiquity understood the text to mean he was afraid of her sanctity — as a pious Jew would be afraid to touch the Ark of the Covenant. After all, think of what Mary told him about the angel's words: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God."[1]
We should follow the example of Joseph and be not afraid to take Mary into our home!
I know one small
way I have taken Mary in my home is to silently say a Hail Mary when I wash my
hands to eat-thinking Mary help me not to wash your son’s blood from my hands
as Pilot did. Help me to have no innocent blood on my hands. Let me not
wash off responsibility for others.
Solemnity of St. Joseph[2]
ST.
JOSEPH was descended from the kingly line of David and was a kinsman of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (Matt. i. 1-16). The Gospel gives him the praise of being
just (Matt. i. 19), that is, a man distinguished for all virtues. And surely,
as he was chosen from all other men by God to be the foster-father of His Son,
he undoubtedly excelled, in virtues and sanctity, all saints then living. Of
his youth nothing certain is known to us, and of his later life we know only
what the Gospel relates. He was a carpenter (Matt. xiii. 55), and lived at
Nazareth, in Galilee (Luke ii. 4). Being espoused to Mary, he was inclined,
upon learning that she was with child, to put her away privately, not wishing
to expose her to public reproach but being instructed by an angel, he took her
to himself, in obedience to the command of God, went with her to Bethlehem, and
afterwards, with Mary and the new-born child, fled, without timidity, to Egypt
(Matt. ii. 13). At the command of the angel, he returned thence, and again
dwelt in Nazareth (Matt. ii. 23). From this place they went every year to the
feast at Jerusalem, where it happened that Jesus, then twelve years old,
remained behind them in the temple, and was anxiously sought for by them. More
than this is not told us. At the time of the marriage at Cana it would seem
that he was no longer living, since there is no mention made of him. Though
little is said of him, that little is rich in profitable instruction. How
worthy to be admired and imitated is his example his chastity, his tenderness
towards Mary, his forbearing to pronounce a judgment in regard to her condition
when he could not explain it, his quick and unreserved obedience towards God
and the commands of authority, his love for Jesus, and his care for both the
mother and the child. On account of his sanctity God has specially
distinguished him by miracles, and the Church honors him in a particular
manner. In the Litany of the Saints, he is named among the patriarchs, and the
feast of his patronage is celebrated on the third Sunday after Easter.
Venerate, therefore, St. Joseph choose him for your protector in life and in
death and make yourself worthy of his protection by following his example.
The Introit of the Mass is as
follows: " The just shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow up
like the cedar of Libanus, planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of
the house of our God. It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to Thy
name, O Most High." Amen.
Prayer.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we
may be assisted by the merits of the spouse of Thy most holy Mother, that what
of our selves we are unable to obtain may be given to us by his intercession. Amen.
EPISTLE. Ecclus. xlv. 1-6.
He was beloved of God and men:
whose memory is in benediction. He made him like the saints in glory, and
magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words he made prodigies
to cease. He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandments in
the sight of his people, and showed him His glory. He sanctified him in his
faith and meekness, and chose him out of all flesh. For He heard him, and his
voice, and brought him into a cloud. And He gave him commandments before his
face, and a law of life and instruction.
GOSPEL. Matt. i. 18-21.
When
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together,
she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband,
being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her was minded to put her
away privately. But while he thought on these things, be hold the angel of the
Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Ghost; and she shall bring forth a Son: and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for
He shall save His people from their sins.
Instruction
To
encourage us to veneration for St. Joseph St. Teresa wrote “I do not remember
to have asked St. Joseph for anything which he did not grant me. The great
favors which God has granted me through him, and the many dangers of soul and
body from which he has freed me, truly deserve admiration. It seems that God
has granted to other saints the grace of assisting, in particular needs, those
who invoke their intercession; but this glorious saint assists in all needs.
The Lord seems thereby to indicate that, as He was subject to Joseph on earth,
so now He grants him whatever he asks for. The same thing has been experienced
by persons whom I have advised to recommend themselves to him.” “I would gladly
advise everyone,” says St. Alphonsus, to have a great devotion towards this
saint, since I have experienced what graces he can obtain from God. For several
years I have asked him, on his feast, for some particular grace, and every time
my petition has been granted. As we all have to die, we should have a particular
devotion towards St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death for all
Catholic Christians consider him to be an intercessor for the dying, and that
he assists, at the hour of death, those who venerate him; and this for three
reasons
1. Because
Jesus loves him, not only as a friend, but as a father, on which account his
intercession is more powerful than that of any other saint.
2. Because
St. Joseph obtained special power against the evil spirits who tempt us at the
hour of death.
3. The
assistance which Jesus and Mary gave to Joseph at the hour of his own death
procured for him the right to obtain a holy and easy death for his dependents.
If in their dying hour they invoke his aid, not only will he assist them, but
he will obtain for them the assistance of Jesus and Mary. “Ought not these
words of a great saint encourage you to venerate St. Joseph every day? Should
not the hope of dying one day under the protection of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
move you to devotion to the foster-father of Jesus?”
Prayer
to St. Joseph
O
most chaste Joseph, who, by thy purity and other exalted virtues, wast worthy
to be chosen for the spouse of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus, I beseech
thee, by the great graces of which thou wast made partaker, that thou wouldst,
by thy intercession, obtain for all parents grace to rear their children
piously; for all married persons who are distressed and afflicted through
poverty and tribulations consolation and encouragement; for all unmarried
persons who have devoted their chastity to God the grace of perseverance; and,
finally, for all the dying the grace to come, after a happy death, to thy
fosterchild, Jesus Christ, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and
reigneth one God, world without end. Amen.
Meditate
on the humility of Saint Joseph this day; ask his assistance and special
protection.
Things to
Do:[3]
·
A table overflowing with good Italian food
honoring St. Joseph is a traditional Sicilian custom. The feast of San Giuseppe
began in the Middle Ages when Sicily was suffering from a severe drought and
the desperate people begged St. Joseph for rain. When they received rainy
weather in response, they held a huge "feste" in Saint Joseph's
honor. Even today, Sicilians go to Mass before their St. Joseph's day dinner
and then process to their festive tables, decked out in flowers, breads, and
all sorts of Italian foods. The priest blesses the food, and everyone shouts, "Viva
la tavola di San Giuse!" (which your children will readily do with
great gusto). After the meal is done, everyone present is given something to
take home, in the generous spirit of this day. Try some of our delicious
recipes linked here. We especially recommend the traditional Minestrone.
Italian sausage is always a favorite, as well. And you should have bread of all
kinds — this recipe for Italian
Decorative Breads can provide the traditional shape of your choice (St.
Joseph's staff, his beard, etc). Also a traditional must with children is St.
Joseph's Sfinge, (Cream Puffs). Plan a St. Joseph's potluck for this day
with other Catholic families — invite a parish priest and ask his blessing over
the food before you begin the meal. If you do not have the time or resources to
do this, plan a smaller affair with your own family, complete with prayers to
St. Joseph, a little procession with candles for the older children and your
favorite hymns, and then the father of the family ought to say a special
blessing over the food before you begin.
·
Check out this wonderful site that explains the St. Joseph
Altar more in detail, includes recipes, history, and allows virtual
offerings.
·
For further reading:
1.
Saint
Joseph Altars by Kerri McCaffety (Photographer).
2.
A
Table for Saint Joseph: Celebrating March 19th with Devotions, Authentic
Italian Recipes, and Timeless Traditions by Mary Anne Scanlan Grasso.
3.
The
Saint Joseph's Day Table Cookbook by Mary Ann Giordano.
4.
Read the section of Directory
on Popular Piety and Liturgy on St. Joseph.
5.
Read Pope Leo XIII's encyclical on Devotion
to St. Joseph.
6.
Interested in history? Read this article on the history
of devotions to St. Joseph, Finding St. Joseph, by Sandra Miesel.
·
Pray this prayer and litany
in honor of St. Joseph with your family rosary tonight.
·
Here is a link to several meditations
on St. Joseph — choose the one that is perfect for you and your family!
·
Here are some ideas
for teaching children about St. Joseph.
·
Young girls ought to pray to St. Joseph for
their future spouse.
St Joseph Facts & Quotes[4]
·
Joseph
is noted in the Bible for being a direct descendant of King David in the Old
Testament, which gives him a royal lineage (Matthew 1:1-16, Luke 3:23-38).
·
St.
Joseph actually has two feast days in the Roman Catholic Church. The
March 19 date celebrates him as husband of Mary. He is revered again on
May 1 as a worker. In the Orthodox tradition, Joseph is revered during
the Great Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord in September.
·
St
Joseph is the patron saint of the dying and of carpenters.
St Joseph Top Events and Things to
Do[5]
·
Practice
carpentry skills to build something. Jesus is known as the son of a
carpenter, or builder. Saint Joseph is the patron saint of carpenters.
·
Investigate
your lineage. Genealogy can sometimes yield interesting information about
where we came from. Maybe you come from royal lineage, too!
·
Joseph
raised a child that was not his own. Thank a man who has served as a
father for someone else's children.
·
Enjoy
Italian food in St. Joseph's honor. He is one of the most beloved saints
in Italian American communities.
·
Visit
an Italian Bakery and pick up some delicious St Joseph's bread (Pane di San
Giuseppe). St. Joseph's Bread is typically made with egg and has a
thicker crust. It is often marked or shaped in a cross.
·
30 Days with St. Joseph (Start on Feast
of St. Joseph)
Joseph
the Warrior
https://stjosephnovena.com/day-22/
All of us have heard the phrase,
“Nice guys finish last.” There is this idea in the world today that
“Meekness equals weakness,” and humility so often implied that you will get
walked on. Unfortunately, in many cases the meek and the humble do very well go
unnoticed in their accomplishments and may not get the same attention, job
opportunities or as many “likes” on their latest social media
sites. Instead of encouraging men to be meek and humble, the world teaches
men to go out into the world and dominate. We are encouraged to
out-perform others so as to prove ourselves through our bank accounts, our
possessions and our record of achievements. As someone once said, “Money
is just a way of keeping score.” Many men are totally dedicated to winning
the game, as if life were a game to begin with.
Nevertheless, Christian men are called to be meek and humble. “Far from being
weak, however, the meek possess an inner strength to restrain anger and
discouragement in the midst of adversity” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible).
We can practice these ideals in the simple ways in which we respond to the
challenges of everyday life. Whether our wives snap at us at the end of a long
and frustrating day, or a guy rudely cuts us off on the freeway, our responses
define us. It is inevitable that life will provide us with major adversities in
which to practice these difficult virtues! How you respond to God’s grace can
truly make or break these experiences. We are called to be charitable, to love
others and even pray for our enemies. It takes heroic strength and defining
virtue!
Courage is also needed in order to withstand the storms of life that come our
way. I can’t help but call to mind one of my favorite speeches from the classic
movie, The Count of Monte Cristo:
Life is a storm my young friend,
you will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next.
What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into
the storm as you shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst for I will do mine.
Then the Fates will know you as we know you as Albert Mondego, the man.
There is something compelling in a man that seems to be calling us to fight and
compete; but where is our ultimate battle? With whom are we fighting?
Joseph is our ultimate example of what it means to live authentic masculine
Christianity. He was quite possibly the meekest and most humble of all. Yet at
the same time, he was without question a warrior and a fighter. He participated
in the greatest battle of all time. However, it was precisely his humility and
meekness that allowed him to trample over the Evil One rather than faltering
before him.
St. John Paul II proclaimed, “The family is placed at the heart of the great
struggle between good and evil, between life and death, between love and all
that is opposed to love” (Letter to Families, #23). Pope John Paul II insists
that at the core and heart of Satan’s attack is the family. We see this vividly
played out in the book of Revelation. “And the dragon stood before the woman
who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought
it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations
with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne” (Rev
12:4-5).
The Church understands this passage to have multiple meanings, but it is
particularly clear that evil is attacking Our Lady and the Christ-child. This
verse strikingly illustrates the attack of Satan at the very heart of the
family. This is both a spiritual and a practical truth.
God chose Joseph for this battle because Joseph was a warrior for God. When
Joseph said “Yes” to take Mary as his bride and Jesus as his Son, he was
avowing “Yes” to engage in the most epic battle in human history. He was
prepared to fight to the end to keep his family safe. From the beginning of
Christ’s life, the powers of darkness wanted Joseph’s child dead and were
willing to go to extreme lengths to accomplish their ambition. It’s
incredibly ironic that Herod needed to take the life of an infant, the weakest
and most helpless of mankind, in order for him to remain in a position of
absolute power and strength. Herod represents an icon of what men who desire
power over humility are willing to do and what men of humility are up against.
On the other hand, Joseph was willing to do whatever the Lord asked of him no
matter what the personal cost. What strength! Most men lack the strength
because most men lack the meekness.
Lenten Calendar
Read:
During Lent, it is important for us to remember the corporal
works of mercy, which are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a
model for how we should treat all others: as if they were Christ in
disguise.
Reflect:
What small changes would allow you to perform corporal works of
mercy: Can you allocate your time differently, so you have a couple extra hours
to volunteer? Do you discard food that could instead be donated to a local soup
kitchen? When was the last time you participated in a blood drive?
Pray:
With mercy on your mind.
Act:
Pick one of the seven corporal works of mercy and do it this
week!
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day
276 2118-1126
Irreligion
2118 God's
first commandment condemns the main sins of irreligion: tempting God, in words
or deeds, sacrilege, and simony.
2119 Tempting
God consists in putting his goodness and almighty power to the test by word or
deed. Thus Satan tried to induce Jesus to throw himself down from the Temple
and, by this gesture, force God to act. Jesus opposed Satan with the word
of God: "You shall not put the LORD your God to the
test." The challenge contained in such tempting of God wounds
the respect and trust we owe our Creator and Lord. It always harbors doubt
about his love, his providence, and his power.
2120 Sacrilege
consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other
liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God.
Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist, for
in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for us.
2121 Simony is
defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things. To Simon the
magician, who wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the apostles,
St. Peter responded: "Your silver perish with you, because you thought you
could obtain God's gift with money!" Peter thus
held to the words of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without
pay." It is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and
behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in God.
One can receive them only from him, without payment.
2122 The
minister should ask nothing for the administration of the sacraments beyond the
offerings defined by the competent authority, always being careful that the
needy are not deprived of the help of the sacraments because of their
poverty." The competent authority determines these
"offerings" in accordance with the principle that the Christian
people ought to contribute to the support of the Church's ministers. "The
laborer deserves his food."
Atheism
2123
"Many . . . of our contemporaries either do not at all perceive, or
explicitly reject, this intimate and vital bond of man to God. Atheism must
therefore be regarded as one of the most serious problems of our time."
2124 The name
"atheism" covers many very different phenomena. One common form is
the practical materialism which restricts its needs and aspirations to space
and time. Atheistic humanism falsely considers man to be "an end to
himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of his own
history." Another form of contemporary atheism looks for the
liberation of man through economic and social liberation. "It holds that
religion, of its very nature, thwarts such emancipation by raising man's hopes
in a future life, thus both deceiving him and discouraging him from working for
a better form of life on earth."
2125 Since it
rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the virtue of
religion. The imputability of this offense can be significantly diminished
in virtue of the intentions and the circumstances. "Believers can have
more than a little to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are
careless about their instruction in the faith, or present its teaching falsely,
or even fail in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to
conceal rather than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion."
2126 Atheism
is often based on a false conception of human autonomy, exaggerated to the
point of refusing any dependence on God. Yet, "to acknowledge God is
in no way to oppose the dignity of man, since such dignity is grounded and
brought to perfection in God...." "For the Church knows full
well that her message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the human
heart."
Every Wednesday is
Dedicated to St. Joseph
The Italian culture has
always had a close association with St. Joseph perhaps you could make
Wednesdays centered around Jesus’s Papa. Plan an Italian dinner of pizza or
spaghetti after attending Mass as most parishes have a Wednesday evening Mass.
You could even do carry out to help restaurants. If you are adventurous, you
could do the Universal Man Plan: St. Joseph style. Make the evening a family
night perhaps it could be a game night. Whatever you do make the day special.
·
Do the St.
Joseph Universal Man Plan.
·
Devotion to the 7 Joys and Sorrows of St.
Joseph
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Conversion
of Sinners
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
[2] Goffine’s Divine Instructions, 1896
[3]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-03-19
-
We Are Facing Our Lepanto Thursday, October 7, marks the 450th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto and the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosar...
-
Introduction to Joel In the two speeches that make up this book, Joel uses an agricultural crisis to measure his audience’s knowledge ...
-
Candace’s Try “ Jabugo ” · Phoenix Home & Garden ’s Garden Tour April 20 o The pages of PHOENIX ’s sister publication co...
-
Dara’s Corner Try “ German Recipes for Easter Week ” · Paella Valenciana (Chicken and fish with rice) · Bruce Wil...