Spirituality
of the
Daughters of St. Joseph

 A spirituality is the way a person or community approaches God and the things of God.  
It looks at the saints that exemplify that spirituality and the virtues that help make it
visible.  If you look closely at yourself and your  way of praying you can identify your
spirituality.  Answering the following questions can give you a start;
  • Which person of the Blessed Trinity do you most easily speak with?
  • Which saints are you most drawn to?
  • What mystery of the life of Christ most appeals to your heart?
  • What attracts you most: beauty, truth or goodness?

   Religious Communities like people have a specific way of approaching God - a
spirituality.  One good way of identifying where God is calling you is to look at a
community's spirituality - does it tug at your heart strings?  Does it resonate with what
you know of your spirituality?

Vita Consecrata,  an Apostolic Exhortation by John Paul II, speaks of a specific
spirituality this way: "All these elements, which take shape in the different forms of
consecrated life, give rise to a specific spirituality, that is, a concrete program of
relations with God and one's surroundings, marked by specific spiritual emphases and
choices of apostolate which accentuate and re-present one or another aspect of the one
mysteries of Christ." (VC #93)


  The community of the Daughters of St. Joseph
is in its infant stages, we are still being formed by
the Holy Spirit.  
Therefore it is difficult  to say what the full grown
tree will look like, but we do hold the acorn which
shows forth some elements which
will be present in the adult tree.

Our way to God includes:
  • Our motto:  Being for Jesus - which means for us that the most important thing in
    our lives is not what we do - but who we ARE - who we are in our relationship with
    Jesus and our community.
  • Embracing our weakness - "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect
    in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)  "Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
    hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am
    weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:10)
  • Spirituality of Communion - Vita Consecrata states "Consecrated persons are asked
    to be true experts of communion and to practice the spirituality of communion as
    'witnesses and architects of the plan for unity which is the crowning point of
    human history in God's design.'"
  • Trust in God.  This is an absolute trust.  God continually
is asking us to allow him to stretch us through our
stepping out to follow Him even in
the midst of darkness.  It means that we allow
Him to be our everything - that He is our enough.
  • Humility - a realization that we are God's creatures,
His children and we gratefully acknowledge that
all we receive comes from Him.
  • Hospitality - We joyfully open our home and lives
to all those God brings to us that they might feel welcome in the household of God.


The mystery of Christ's life which we feel called to re-present is
His Hidden Life at Nazareth.
As in the Holy Family, Mary and Joseph centered their whole life around the person of
Jesus, so we too make Him the center of our very existence.

Our Patron Saints include:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel
St. Joseph, the Spouse of Mary
St. Teresa of Jesus
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
St. Ignatius of Loyola


Our choices of Apostolate include:

1.  An overarching emphasis is a focus on the gifts given to each sister.
In Matthew 25, Jesus speaks of the gift of talents and how each receives
a special gift.  And it describes the master's expectation that the gift will be
put to fruitful use.  We desire to assist each sister to develop that talent
and put it into service of God and His children.

2.  We desire to fulfill the call of Pope John Paul
to the New Evangelization - through Christian
formation which includes; education, catechetical
instruction, retreats, youth ministry and
spiritual direction.

3.  We also strive to fulfill the call of Christ to serve
the poor through works of mercy.


This is our spirituality in its acorn form.  We are clay in the hands of the Holy Spirit and
He continues to mold us as each day progresses.

Do not surrender your confidence; it will have great reward.
You need patience to do God's will and receive what He has promised.
                                        Hebrews 10:35-36