We welcome you to get involved with those in foster care by taking part in our Novena to Saint Joseph. The prayer can be said daily for nine days, using one of the intentions listed below for each day, or however you feel called to pray. We ask for prayers for children in the foster system, for the families that take them in, for the birth families who are working to bring their children back into their lives, and for all those who are discerning a call to foster care.
Novena Prayer to Saint Joseph
O good father Joseph! I beg you by all your sufferings, sorrows and joys, to obtain for me what I ask.
(Here name your petition).
Obtain for all those who have asked my prayers, everything that is useful to them in the plan of God. Be near to me in my last moments, that I may eternally sing the praises of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Amen.
(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be)
Saint Joseph, Foster Father of Jesus
Saint Joseph is the exemplar of a “foster” father because, along with Mary, he loved, nurtured and instructed the Child Jesus. Although he was initially concerned about how this Child came to be, Joseph trusted the message of the Angel to “be not afraid,” welcoming Mary and her Son into his home.
Thinking about fostering a child, and the sacrifice of our time and resources to serve them, can seem daunting, and a little scary. But if we follow St. Joseph’s example of surrender and trust, the Lord can change the world through our “Yes.”
Daily Intentions for Prayer
Day 1 Petition: For the more than 400,000 children in foster care to find loving families to open their hearts and homes so they may experience the love of God and the healing that only He can give…
Day 2 Petition: For young people who have aged out of the foster care system, that they might find spiritual mothers and fathers to love and encourage them and a community willing to support them…
Day 3 Petition: For all families: that they may prayerfully consider foster parenting and adoption as a means of extending God’s love through their family to children in our community…
Day 4 Petition: For courage, perseverance, and fortitude for those called to foster and/or adopt, and that they might find strength and support from their parish communities…
Day 5 Petition: For our parish community, that we may be more courageous in making space for God in our lives, so we may be better guardians of the vulnerable, especially children and their families seeking our care through the child welfare system…
Day 6 Petition: For Catholics to see that even temporarily fostering a child can forever transform that child’s life by giving them a new vision for what their lives can be…
Day 7 Petition: For our parishes to cultivate a culture of foster care and adoption by highlighting the call of Jesus to every Christian in James 1:27 to care for “orphans in distress” …
Day 8 Petition: For the establishment of Care Communities in our parishes to come alongside families at risk of losing their children to foster care, as well as families who are fostering and adopting to offer concrete love in action through prayer, meals, childcare, and support…
Day 9 Petition: For those who work in the child welfare system – judges, attorneys, guardians, social workers, support staff, therapists, and others – that they may shower God’s goodness and love upon the children and the families with whom they come in contact…
