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Spirit & Verse is a monthly column of original poem-prayers composed by Cameron Bellm, a Seattle-based writer and mother of two whose “Prayer for a Pandemic” went viral, bringing solace and comfort to many struggling during COVID-19.

St. Joseph prayer

St. Joseph Prayer

St. Joseph, patron saint of the unexpected,

How freely you stepped into the unknown

With your unwavering yes.

St. Joseph, dreamer of dreams,

How attuned your heart was, waking or sleeping,

To the promptings of angels.

St. Joseph, nurturing father,

How openly you accepted your unconventional family,

Lighting the way for us, too, to embrace all.

St. Joseph, there is still so much we don’t know about you,

But maybe that is your gift to us,

That we may see in the father of Jesus a mystery

That sanctifies the hidden and untold in our own lives.

May we, too, live our days in the holy shadow of your son.

Amen.

Previous Spirit & Verse poem-prayers:
A Prayer for Ash Wednesday
A Prayer for the Feast of the Epiphany
A Prayer for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
A Prayer for the Month of the Holy Souls
A Prayer for Living “Fratelli Tutti”
Our Lady of Sorrows
A Prayer for the Beginning of the School Year
A Prayer for the Feast of St. Ignatius

Cameron BellmCameron Bellm is a Seattle-based writer of prayers, poems, and devotionals. After completing her Ph.D. in Russian literature at the University of California, Berkeley, she traded the academic life for the contemplative life, informed by Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching. She is the author of “A Consoling Embrace: Prayers for a Time of Pandemic” (23rd Publications, 2020). Cameron and her husband have two young sons, and, blessedly, playing with Legos often nurtures her spiritual life as much as reading the lectionary. You can find her at cameronbellm.com and on Instagram, @cameronbellm.