Prayers to St. Joseph
Prayer to St. Joseph for Employment
Dear Saint Joseph,
you were yourself once faced with the responsibility
of providing the necessities of life
for Jesus and Mary.
Look down with fatherly compassion upon all
who are suffering anxiety
over their present inability to support their family.
Please help each one of them to find gainful employment very soon,
so that this heavy burden of concern will be lifted from their heart
and so that they will soon be able to provide
for those whom God has entrusted to their care.
Help them to guard against bitterness and discouragement,
so that they may emerge from this trial
spiritually enriched
and with even greater blessings from God.
Amen.
Prayer to St. Joseph, as Patron of Workers
This beautiful prayer, composed by Blessed Pope John XXIII (1958-63), places all workers under the patronage of St. Joseph the Worker, and asks for his intercession so that we may regard our work as a means of growing in holiness.
Blessed St. Joseph,
patron of all working people,
obtain for me the grace to labor in a spirit of penance
for the atonement of my many sins.
Help me to be conscientious in my work
so that I may give as full a measure as I have received.
May I labor in a spirit of thankfulness and joy,
ever mindful of all the gifts I have received from God
that enable me to perform these tasks.
Permit me to work in peace, patience, and moderation,
keeping in mind the account I must one day give of time lost,
talents unused,
good omitted,
and vanity of success,
so fatal to the work of God.
Glorious St. Joseph, may my labors be
all for Jesus,
all through Mary, and
all after your holy example in life and in death.
Amen.