Prayer is an important way to experience God as the religious believer can communicate with Him. By bringing their problems to God, or asking for forgiveness and help, they come closer to Him. Christians believe they can speak with God in prayer and were taught to pray by Jesus himself.
Churchgists has provided a well detailed information on the aforementioned and so much more. You will find these details very useful in whatever course you intend to use them for.
Joseph of Arimathea
St Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man who lived in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. He donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus’ body. He is described in the Gospels as, “An honourable counsellor” (Mark 15:43) “waiting for the Kingdom of God” and a disciple of Jesus. (Matthew 27:57)
Image of Jesus being removed from the Cross
St Joseph’s actions were bold. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Once the soldiers permitted it, he and Nicodemus removed it from the Cross, wrapped it in fine linen, applied the myrrh and aloes that Nicodemus had brought, and transported it to the prepared tomb.
St Joseph’s Feast Day is either 17th March (West) or 1st August (East). He is the Patron Saint of Funeral Directors.
St Joseph of Arimathea:
Pray for us that our hearts will not be troubled by the burdens of this life; instead, that we will place all our trust in Jesus.
My Crucified Jesus, wash me with your most Precious Blood.
Calvary: Three crosses with women at the foot of Jesus’
Look upon me as the good thief, who hung on the cross next to You at Calvary. A sinner, paying for his crimes but recognizes your divinity and begs for mercy and forgiveness and asks: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”
Dear Lord, look upon me like the Good Thief and I should be so lucky, full of Peace. Amen.
THE HOLY SOULS
Souls In Purgatory
“Eternal Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen”.
(Prayer was given to St Gertrude during a vision from Jesus with the promise that 1000 souls would be released from purgatory when prayed.)
Sts. Joseph Of Arimathea and Nicodemus
In the latest edition of the Roman Martyrology, the Church has coupled the feast of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the two holy men who took the Body of Jesus down from the Cross, wrapped it in cloths, and placed it in the tomb.
Joseph is unknown to us except for the information that is recorded when he is mentioned in all four Gospels. He was a disciple of Christ from Arimathea, a place probably to the northwest of Jerusalem. He was a well-to-do, devout member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel, who was awaiting the Kingdom of God that had been foretold by the Prophets. However, out of fear, he remained a secret disciple.
Joseph did not take part in the resolution of the Sanhedrin to put Jesus to death. Then after the crucifixion of our Lord (at which he was present), Joseph summoned up the courage to go to Pilate and ask for the Body of the Savior.
With the aid of Nicodemus, another secret disciple of Christ, Joseph took down the Body, wrapped it in cloths, and placed it in his newly hewn grave (in which no one had been placed) in a garden near Calvary. This fulfilled the words of Isaiah (53:9) that the tomb of the Messiah would be among the rich. Legends that cannot be authenticated have made Joseph a heroic figure in the spread of the faith to France and England.
Nicodemus is known to us through the Gospel of John. He was a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who was convinced by the miracles of Christ that He was sent from God. In a nighttime interview, Christ told this wealthy and learned inquirer that faith and baptism were necessary for eternal life.
Nicodemus did not then understand but was deeply touched, although he did not yet have the courage to stand up for the Lord. Later, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Jewish authorities were planning to kill Jesus, Nicodemus spoke up—though timidly—in the Sanhedrin, reminding them that the Law did not condemn a man until he had been heard in his own defense.
After Christ’s death, Nicodemus came boldly with about 100 pounds weight of merrh and aloes and assisted at Christ’s burial.
Nothing else is known with certainty about Nicodemus, but legends about in the Apocryphal works, The Acts of Pilate and The Gospel of Nicodemus.
PRAYER: God, You alone are holy and without You no one is good. Through the intercession of Sts. Joseph and Nicodemus, grant that we may so live as not to be deprived of Your glory. Amen.