Happy St. Joseph Day!

Happy St. Joseph Day! 

(Or more formally, Happy Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary) :) 

My fondness of St. Joseph, while a strong devotion for many years, has grown stronger while working at a school whose patron is St. Joseph.  I'd love to share with you how we celebrated this special day.

My class was charged with creating an activity/assembly/prayer service that would bring the whole school together.  The other teacher and I who made the plan tried to think outside of the box a bit.  On Monday, we had a brief assembly saying that we would be celebrating St. Joseph this week.  We reminded the kids of his role as Mary's husband and Jesus' foster father, his virtuous life, and his work as a carpenter.  Each class was sent back with a set of wooden popsicle sticks (the wide kind).  The kids had to write a word (or sometimes words) that gave a title/role for St. Joseph or a word that described him. 

We collected all of the sticks, and then my students had to plan how to incorporate all of the the students' words into one mural.  We had to keep it simple, and had to decide between many different symbols to represent St. Joe.

This was the final result, and all of us were pretty pleased.  The kids then wrote a script explaining their ideas and the symbolism in the mural.  You can read their words below.

For St. Joseph Day, our 5^th Grade class created a project in honor of St. Joseph.  This mural is made out of the wooden popsicle sticks that you wrote words about St. Joseph on.  Remember that he worked with wood as a carpenter.  Some of our favorite words that you wrote were virtuous, Terror of Demons, protector, servant of God, and faithful.

We used these wooden sticks to create symbols that stand for St. Joseph’s life.  On the left, there is a house because St. Joseph built a home for the Holy Family.  The heart represents that St. Joseph loved his family and provided for them.  The JMJ inside the heart stands for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

On the right, we created a church because St. Joseph is the Protector of the whole Catholic Church. The shield inside the church represents that St. Joseph protects the church with his prayers.  The cross inside the church shows that St. Joseph helped take care of Jesus here on earth so that He could die on the cross for us.

St. Joseph is important to the whole Church, but is especially important to us at St. Joseph School.  As we end this Feast Day of St. Joseph, please join us in prayer.

 

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

St. Joseph, you protected Jesus when He was here on earth so that He could die for us.  Thank you for protecting the Holy Family and the Church.  Please pray for us and help protect us and our families as well.
Jesus, help us to be more like St. Joseph every day.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

For a copy of the students' script, click here.


My class also celebrated with the school by planning and having special jobs at Mass this morning.  We colored and passed out these St. Joseph Holy Cards to everyone in attendance:

When the students walked back into school, they were greeted by these posters that matched the holy cards.

(our school colors are blue and white...)

A school tradition is to share bread on St. Joseph's Feast Day, reminding us that he provided for Jesus and Mary.  The ladies in our cafeteria work hard to bake some delicious bread.  Each class has a large loaf that we passed around after Mass.  Each student broke off a piece and shared something that they were grateful for about St. Joseph School.  Every child is also given a mini loaf of the same bread to take home and share with their families.

O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Prayer from EWTN's Litany to St. Joseph