Patron Saints Series: St. Joseph for Adoptive Families {guest post by Rita}

St. Joseph: A Patron of Adoptive Families

Early in our marriage, when we first started calling on St. Joseph, my husband and I were looking for new jobs. As the patron saint of workers, he seemed to have the corner on that market. As newlyweds, we were living in an area we didn’t like and barely making ends meet.

The new job opportunities came, and we finally found ourselves in a great town, in a home with plenty of room—and we had, in fact, turned to St. Joseph during our house hunt, as well. But, although we had been hoping and praying for children for years, we were childless.

Still, I had been talking to St. Joseph for so long that I just kept knocking at his door. And when we found ourselves pursuing adoption, it seemed appropriate that a saint who had become a patron of our family had devoted his life to raising Jesus, the Son of God, a child who was not his by birth.

When I think of St. Joseph, I am struck by the enormous responsibility God placed on him, asking him to care for the Blessed Mother and Jesus. The entire world depended on this child, and God selected St. Joseph to be his earthly father.

My husband and I don’t know what our children will accomplish in their lives, but their lives are full of possibilities. They are our children, yes, but they are also children of God, and we don’t know what the future holds. We are trying to raise them to be the best men they can be, whether they will be husbands or fathers or priests or soldiers or teachers or writers or scientists.

We remind them, again and again, that each of them has a role that only he can achieve here on earth. We are so honored and privileged to walk this journey with them and watch them grow to be all God intended for them to be.

The other day we were talking about how the Blessed Mother—the Immaculate Conception, actually—is the patron saint of the United States, and one of our sons asked who the patron of China is. Our sons were born in China, and so China often comes up in conversation here.

I couldn’t recall the patron saint of China, though, so I went to look it up and we discovered two patron saints of China: the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph.

Of course. There he is again, our dear friend and patron. We are so grateful to know he and so many saints in heaven are friends as we continue on our journey as a family.

After struggling with infertility, Rita and her husband were blessed to adopt their two sons from China. She’s a working mother who collects flyswatters and writes about family, fun, and faith at Open Window (http://catholicreview.org/blogs/open-window).

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