Thank God for the Freedoms and Blessings

My Dear Parishioners,

I hope that you are having an enjoyable Fourth of July celebration. It is a good time to thank God for the freedoms and blessings we enjoy as citizens of this great country.  Happy Fourth of July!  We have a tendency to think that freedom means we can do whatever we want, but freedom means much more than that.  Freedom first of all presupposes free will and this is a gift from God.  With this gift comes great responsibility.  As human beings blessed by God with free will we are to respond to His great love by loving Him and others.  It is truly an honor and a privilege that God wants us to freely choose Him.  Of course the fact that we are free does not guarantee that we will make the right choice, only that we can choose.  As we celebrate all the wonderful freedoms that this country affords us, we recognize that our greatest freedom and most important one is to choose for God.

As we are in the midst of vacation season although a different one because of coronavirus, I thought a reminder might be helpful.  As of the publishing of this column, the obligation to attend Mass remains lifted.  If however, you choose to attend Mass when traveling, a useful website is, www.masstimes.org. You can input a city or zip code and it will list all the nearby churches and their Mass times.  I have used it and it is very convenient.  I also want to thank you for remembering to support your parish whether staying home or enjoying some vacation.  One way to do that is by signing up to make your regular weekly donation online.  It is very easy, just go to our parish website and click on the “Online Giving” button.

This weekend we are collecting your non-perishable food donations for our annual Manna Food Drive.  Thank you for your generous support in the past.  A special thank you to our dedicated volunteers who transport the food not only this week but every month for our monthly food collection.  Their support is vital to our commitment to feed the hungry.  Our food is taken to the Coordinating Council of Health and Welfare, which supplies the Warminster Food Cupboard located at 75 Downey Drive in Warminster.  They continue to tell me that St. Joseph is the largest contributor of food and they are very grateful for our support.   This Manna Food Drive is especially important because it helps to stock their shelves during the summer months when donations typically are at their lowest because of summer vacations.  The Coordinating Council is anticipating hosting a “Christmas in July” where those in need, or simply suffering because of the Coronavirus could pick up a bag of food from Nativity Parking lot.  Details still need to be worked out, but if any volunteers would be willing to deliver bags to our homebound, please let me know.

I also want to thank again some parishioners for helping to beautify our property.  Mr. and Mrs. John and Marie Kolimaga purchased flowers for our planters.  I have received multiple compliments on them.  Not only did they purchase the plants, Marie took the time to plant them for us as well.  I know that this is not an easy task.  Thank you to all those who help contribute to making St. Joseph a welcoming presence.

God Bless You!
Fr. Bordonaro

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