Sacrament of Confirmation

My Dear Parishioners,

We welcome Archbishop Nelson Perez for the very first time to St. Joseph Parish this week as he confers the Sacrament of Confirmation on our young people.  We are very grateful that he is able to be with us and call down the Holy Spirit upon these 29 people (28 parishioners and 1 student from St. Cyril Parish).  This sacrament is essential to living life fully as a Catholic.  Please pray for these young people that they will remain open to the Holy Spirit as they continue their journey and that they will receive the support of their family and community to live out that faith.

Later this week we will be celebrating our annual Triduum to St. Joseph.  We take this time to offer our special prayers and intentions through the intercession of St. Joseph.  These three days are called a Triduum.  The word Triduum simply refers to three special days set aside for a particular purpose.  Usually the word is used when speaking of Easter, for example, the Paschal Triduum refers to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.  Our St. Joseph Triduum sets aside some extra time to pray to our patron.  In honor of the Year of St. Joseph, we have a small shrine set up in our sanctuary with an image of our patron and some prayer cards with various prayers and a litany to St. Joseph. Please feel free to make use of these prayers throughout the year.  St. Joseph is a great model for all people of faith, but especially for men, husbands, and fathers.  While we all know that Joseph was married to the Blessed Mother and the foster father of Jesus, he is venerated for multiple reasons.  The following are some of the titles attributed to St. Joseph:  Light of the patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster-father of the Son of God, Watchful defender of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most valiant, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of workmen, Glory of domestic life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families,  Solace of the afflicted, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, and Protector of Holy Church.  We turn to St. Joseph and ask him to intercede on our behalf.  The triduum envelopes which represent your intentions for St. Joseph will remain on the reredos (back altar) for the entire Triduum.  We invite all to join us for the 8:00 Morning Mass followed by some special prayers to St. Joseph on Wednesday, March 17^th, Thursday March 18^th, and Friday March 19^th.

We are hoping to restart our Monday evening rosary devotions as soon as possible.  We are in need of some people willing to take over some responsibilities.  We are looking for readers (people willing to lead the congregation in the Monday night rosary), Extraordinary Ministers (those willing to repose the Blessed Sacrament after the rosary, and then lock up the church and set the alarm), and finally someone willing to take over the organizational responsibilities like scheduling and communication.  If willing to assume any of these responsibilities please contact me at 215-672-3020.  We will also be in need of more adult altar servers for daily Mass and funerals, and someone willing to organize and schedule them as well.  Please contact me if you can help.

God Bless You,

Fr. Bordonaro