So you have completed your consecration to St Joseph. Great! But now what? Do you still want to grow your relationship with St Joseph and dive deep into your relationship with the MAN OF OUR TIMES – THE IDEAL FATHER ? If your answer is yes, then do not just stop after you finish your consecration. Try reading these books every month and grow in spirit with St Joseph.

Here is a list of some of the best books that you must read to strengthen your relationship with St Joseph.

Every Day with Saint Joseph – by Dr Mary Amore

As Guardian of the Holy Family and Patron of the Universal Church, Saint Joseph is a model and friend for all of us. Building a personal relationship with Joseph can have a profound impact on our spiritual life, for Saint Joseph always leads us to Jesus.

Every Day with Saint Joseph is the perfect place to start building that relationship. With a timely and relevant meditation for each day of the year, this book will help you connect with Joseph even in the midst of your busy life. This daily devotional is divided into twelve months, with each month highlighting a particular spiritual gift or charism that Saint Joseph exhibited as the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. You’ll begin each day with a quotation from Scripture, followed by a brief reflection, a question or act to consider, and a short prayer to Saint Joseph to carry through your day.

This companion to the daily devotional Every Day with Mary enriches us with the spiritual presence and intercession of Saint Joseph, needed now more than ever in our Church, in our families, and in the lives of the faithful.

Through The Heart Of St. Joseph – by Fr Boniface Hicks, OSB

Though he speaks no words in Scripture, St. Joseph’s message to us is resounding: he wants to lead us to Jesus. In Through the Heart of St. Joseph, Fr. Boniface Hicks reveals the path St. Joseph has laid.

Discover how St. Joseph’s vulnerability, littleness, silence, and hiddenness can transform and heal us. Fr. Hicks also looks to the saints who lived the “Joseph Option” to show how we too can embrace a life of humble trust and steadfast courage.

Through the Heart of St. Joseph proves with quiet conviction that if we entrust ourselves to the foster father of Our Lord, he will give us his love and protection―just as he gave it to Jesus.

Through the Heart of St. Joseph is an invaluable resource for discovering, or deepening knowledge and love of, St. Joseph, particularly during this 150th anniversary year of his proclamation as Patron of the Universal Church. Benedictine Fr. Boniface Hicks’ gracious accompaniment of the reader takes the form of an extended lectio divina of St. Joseph’s portrayal in the Gospels, specifically his primary role in the lives of Jesus and Mary and thus in salvation history, that is both accessible and profound. This lectio is informed by insights gleaned from prayerful study of and ruminative meditation on Sacred Scripture, from a variety of spiritual traditions (Benedictine, Carmelite, Salesian, etc.), and from the author’s priestly ministry, especially as a spiritual director. In sum, this timely book on the Husband of Mary, Earthly Father of Jesus, and Patron of the Universal Church is spiritually rich and enriching, particularly when approached in a reflective and prayerful manner.

St. Joseph, Tender Father: His Life and His Care for Us Today – by Louise Perrotta

St. Joseph was an ordinary man who was chosen to celebrate the extraordinary. A devout husband, tender father, and skilled worker, he was completely dedicated to both his family and God’s will. In this book, Louise Perrotta invites you to meet and learn from this largely unnoticed saint who was called in a unique way to reveal God’s glory to the entire world. Encounter him in his struggles and triumphs and find how a simple life lived with integrity and faith can be the most impactful. Come to understand in a new way how St. Joseph is an excellent example of living a devout Christian life today.

Discovering St. Joseph as a person, family man, and father is like uncovering a hidden treasure. It is a joyful surprise to meet him as a real human being whose example speaks to every aspect of the life of our lives, no matter where we are in our journey.

It has been my pleasure to come to know him as a leader and tender guardian of the Church. When God called St. Joseph to take the lead, he stepped forward and threw himself into new and uncharted territory. When he was called to support both Mary and Jesus, he fully embraced his role as earthly father to the Son of God.

He teaches us so much from his example, and there is much to gain from getting to know him. He put his faith in God and continually said “yes” to a plan he did not fully understand.

Whether you know him well or not at all, this book will encourage you to follow St. Joseph’s example and do the same!

From the Foreword by Fr. Larry Richards

“This great book is filled with stories, prayers, devotions, and insights into the life of St. Joseph. St. Joseph is not just a historical figure, but a saint of God who is alive and who can pray for us and help all those who come to him. This book makes St. Joseph so real and so close—and of course, in Jesus, he is! “

From the Foreword by Fr. Larry Richards

The Life and Glories of St. Joseph – by Edward Healy Thompson, M.A

No words of St. Joseph are recorded in Scripture. In fact. little mention is made of him there. Yet. despite these seeming limitations. the Church nonetheless possesses an indescribably rich knowledge of St. Joseph and of his cultus. This book will astound most readers both with its scope and with its profundity. Based mainly on Scripture. but supported also by Tradition and the depositions of saints. it is a carefully reasoned analysis of the entirety of that great saint’s role in the history of Salvation and the life of the Church. Includes details about his spiritual life and noble lineage; how he was prefigured in the Old Testament; his relationship to Mary and Jesus; why he has been named by Pope Pius IX “The Patron of the Universal Church;” and so forth. Many beautiful insights. 

Befriending St. Joseph: Finding Faith, Hope, and Courage in the Seven Sorrows Devotion – by Deacon Greg Kandra

After Pope Francis declared 2020 the year of St. Joseph, interest in the patriarch of the Holy Family and patron of the Universal Church was heightened worldwide.

In Befriending St. Joseph, popular blogger Deacon Greg Kandra leads you on a journey of imaginative exploration and spiritual renewal rooted in the few Bible stories where Joseph is written about. This book offers a fresh take on the centuries-old devotion known as the Seven Sorrows of St. Joseph and provides an opportunity to ponder Joseph’s role in our salvation and to become more like him.

Although the Bible doesn’t record St. Joseph saying a single word, we know he became what God wanted him to be with patience, attention, trust, and prayer. The biblical account of Jesus’s life shows us that St. Joseph had faith in times of uncertainty and courage in times of danger. Kandra shows us Joseph as a gentle man, pure of heart, trusting in God, and a role model for those who feel unworthy or unready.

Through guided reflections, Kandra helps you imagine what life may have been like for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus and offers guidance to help you better navigate your own life, with particular attention to trust, purity of heart, courage, and persistence in faith. Kandra invites you to:

• trust the mystery of God when life seems shattered;
• persist in caring for those you love, guide, and protect;
• be courageous and compassionate in the face of suffering;
• find strength to comfort others;
• attend to those on the margins;
• pray for the grace of endurance; and
• expect to find Christ in unexpected places.

Each chapter of Befriending St. Joseph includes a scriptural verse about Joseph that lies at the heart of the devotion, original prayers by Kandra, and questions for self-reflection, journaling, or faith sharing. The appendixes include additional prayers to St. Joseph and an adaption of the Seven Sorrows devotion for group prayer.

The Truth about Saint Joseph: Encountering the Most Hidden of Saints – by Fr Maurice Meschler

Joseph is the most hidden of the saints a simple, retiring, and humble man of Nazareth. His exterior life reveals nothing extraordinary or striking. Yet he is exalted by the Church as, next to Mary herself, the greatest of all the saints and even Patron of the Universal Church.

Do you know why?

Apparently, the Church knows more about St. Joseph than most of us do. This remarkable book finally breaks the silence.

Drawing not on private revelations or pious legends, this beautiful and edifying work unearths many truths about St. Joseph hidden in the Gospel, to bring them to light and make use of them in Joseph’s honor.

Here you’ll encounter surprising details about the life Joseph led on Earth in the most intimate companionship of Christ as well as the role he is playing even today in the life of the Universal Church.

Among the things you’ll discover:

• Why it’s essential that Joseph be descended from King David
• Why this descendent of Kings was fated to live in poverty and obscurity
• How Joseph was glorious even in his poverty and humiliation
• What his daily life in Nazareth was like
• Why toil and suffering were constant companions to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
• How he sanctified his daily labor, and how you can sanctify yours
• Why, without Joseph, Mary could not have become the Mother of God
• Why Joseph particularly welcomed the visit of the shepherds
• How and why Joseph was essential to the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth
• How Joseph was able to remain calm and courageous in affliction and danger; and how you can, too!
• The three ways in which St. Joseph is an image of the Heavenly Father Himself
• Why he’s known as God’s right-hand man
• How even now St. Joseph is a benefactor to all members of Christ’s kingdom, including you!
• Why his death was the happiest a man has ever endured (and three ways he can help yours be happy, too)
• Why, in times of perplexity, St. Joseph is best the saint to turn to
• Four reasons St. Joseph particularly deserves your devotion today
• And much more!

So these were the list of books that you should read post consecration to Str Joseph- every month pick up one book, read and meditate on the virtues of St Joseph. May your relationship with St Joseph prosper each day each moment.

Amen.