The invocation “Jesús, María y José” working as a magic formula saved that man who had no more merit than his ability to mention the names of the “trinity on earth.” In the same novena there is a consideration of this most marvelous favor, and that is, that in order to obtain some reform in our lives in view of the favor conceded by Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to their devotee, tho he be a confirmed sinner, it was only necessary to imitate an invocation so frequently repeated in all his days of malice, the words “Jesús, María y José” (p. 10). The man in question had no other merit nor is he enjoined to have one. It is enough that he utters the magic invocation and that he does as he pleases in the belief of being free from punishment. What a great incentive this is to crime!
Another Notable Case
Another notable case of the effect of the same invocation is that of a Dominican friar called Fray Juan Masias, who for more than twelve years stayed in his dark cell in prayer. He was visited by many devils who pulled and pushed him, treating him very badly in words and in deed. But he was freed from them by saying “Jesus Savior, Mary, and Joseph, be with me.” On other occasions the devils entered hurriedly and noisily catching him by the legs and dragged him from his room to the cloister. Some hit him and slapped him, others stepped on his stomach and on his head, still others scratched his face and sought to pluck his eyes, but invoking the names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they (the devils) vanished and left him (p. 14). And the strangest part of it is that the friar made the invocation after suffering the consequences of the punishment above mentioned; so that, in other words, he condescended to allow the devils to have some fun for a while at his expense.
An Economical Diversion
The same friar “at other times while going to church in prayer, was caught by the devils and was taken; and they threw him up in the air so high that, passing above the roofs of the capitular hall which divides the first cloister from the next, he fell in the latter. There other devils were awaiting him and receiving him they threw him anew in the same manner so that he landed again in the principal cloister without hearing from him a word of protest or suffering until invoking the sacred names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they left him (p. 15). Who on reading this would not envy a friar having a diversion so entertaining and so sane and economical? How can one help being grateful to the demons who received him in the other hall instead of letting him fall on the floor? With reference to these prodigies mentioned one reads in the same Novena the following considerations: “What trouble is there for us to habituate ourselves in repeating in our invocations the sweetest names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph? (p. 27).
The Infernal Power
At every step this infernal power is amplified and magnified in these Novenas. Not only is the devil deemed among the enemies of the soul, together with our body and the entire humanity, but at every moment we tremble at his snares, we consider ourselves weak to resist him and even at times seemingly fearing that the self same God will not know how to defend Himself from the devil because at every step it is sought to awaken God and place him as a sort of guard against this infernal power. “Help us Lord from heaven, our strong liberator in this struggle with the powers of darkness; and as other times thou hast freed thy son, Jesus, from imminent peril of life, so now defend the Holy Church of God from the snares of their enemies and from all adversity, and keep each one of us under thy eternal protection.” (Page 54, Ofrecimiento al Santísimo Rosario, Manila, 1905.)
Another Miracle
The following miracle shows clearly the work of the devil and shows at the same time that souls cannot be condemned so easily when a mortal beseeches the protection of a powerful patron. “A certain man,” it is said in the Novena of San Vicente (p. 15), “gave his soul to the devil with a certificate (cedula) signed by his own hand, and hearing the Saint preach, implored him to ask that the demon return it. The Saint fell to praying, and made the devil come and ordered him to return the certificate to the man, having as witnesses of this miracle many thousands of persons.”