My Dear Parishioners,
Next week we will celebrate our special days of Eucharistic Adoration known as “40 Hours.” The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops says, “The importance of Eucharistic Adoration is shown in the fact that the Church has a ritual that regulates it: the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction. This is an extension of the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament which occurs in every Mass: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament flows from the sacrifice of the Mass and serves to deepen our hunger for Communion with Christ and the rest of the Church. The Rite concludes with the ordained minister blessing the faithful with the Blessed Sacrament.”
You are invited to join us for some quiet prayer or for the communal evening prayer as the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed in the monstrance on our altar during the day and evening starting Sunday Oct. 14th, and continuing Monday the 15th and Tuesday the 16th. Please take the opportunity to sign up to cover a 30 minute or 60 minute period of time praying before the Blessed Sacrament. The sign-up sheets are at the 3 church exits. This year we are having a Traditional 40 Hours celebration with Evening prayer on each night beginning at 7:00 p.m. followed by Benediction. Please note that we will not have the regular Monday Night Rosary on the 15th. Tuesday our evening prayers will also include a procession with the Blessed Sacrament. The procession is a symbol of the Church on pilgrimage. We are all hopefully making our way towards God’s Kingdom and the short walk reminds us that we are called to be moving in faith towards heaven. This year we welcome again my friend Fr. Timothy Christy as our guest preacher at all three evening prayer services. Fr. Christy was a pastor for a number of years and now he is the Episcopal Vicar for Evangelization and Communication and the Moderator of the Curia, as well as the Vicar General for the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.
Respect Life Sunday is today. You’re invited to join Catholics nationwide in celebrating Respect Life Month this October with the message “Every Life: Cherished, Chosen, Sent”! Learn more at www.usccb.org/respectlife. St. Joseph is once again participating in the 40 Days for Life campaign which is a peaceful witness across the street from the Planned Parenthood Office on Louis Drive in Warminster. Our parish date to be present is Monday October 22nd from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Please consider signing up to spend one hour that day with us in Warminster, praying for an end to abortion. The sign-up sheets are on the tables in the back hallway.
We have some fantastic news to announce about our grade school. National Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos announced on Monday that St. Joseph/St. Robert (SJR) grade school was named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for 2018. This is a tremendous honor recognizing our school for its overall academic excellence and achievement. This honor is even more exceptional when you consider that the distinction was only given to 349 schools across our country and of those, only 49 were bestowed upon private (including parish) schools. This honor simply confirms what a great job our principal Mrs. Debbie Jaster, and her superb team of faculty and staff are doing. Thank you to all the parishioners who support our school, and keep up the excellent work SJR!
God Bless You!
Fr. Bordonaro