The Dream of St. Joseph

My Dear Parishioners,

This past week we celebrated our Triduum of prayers to St. Joseph, in which we remembered the intentions written on your St. Joseph Triduum envelopes.  We believe that St. Joseph is a powerful intercessor and that he is close to Our Lord in Heaven.  We pray for his continued protection and guidance.  This year I am very grateful to some parishioners who donated and arranged our shrine to St. Joseph.  It was made in honor of Pope Francis’ designation of 2021 as the Year of St. Joseph.  You will notice the beautiful picture of St. Joseph in our sanctuary, just to the left of the Pulpit.  The image is a reproduction of a work by Anton Raphael Mengs from 1773-74.  It is entitled The Dream of St. Joseph.  We are all familiar with images of St. Joseph with the child Jesus, or with a lily (the sign of purity), or with his carpenter tools (hammer, square, plane, or saw), but we don’t often see an image of him asleep.  The interesting fact is that when God communicates to St. Joseph in the scriptures, it is always in a dream.  Joseph was receptive to God in those dreams including when he told him not to be afraid of taking Mary as his wife, and also to flee into Egypt to protect the child and his mother from King Herod (the scene depicted in our image).  The angel is telling Joseph rather forcefully to go – flee into Egypt, and he did just that.  Alongside the picture you will see a basket with a couple of prayer cards with prayers to St. Joseph.  Please feel free to take them and use them often.

I have left the reproductions of the Memorial Plaques in the back hallway for more than the originally stated time.  I am asking now if there are any further changes to be made, to get them to me in writing (preferably email –Fr.Bordonaro@verizon.net) no later than March 26, 2021.

Please take this final opportunity to review the wording and the spelling of your inscriptions.  If you need to make a change, it must be submitted in writing.

Because of COVID-19 concerns we will not have our regular scone sale.  Instead I will send a donation from our Poorbox to St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia.  We know them as a soup kitchen, but they are more than that.  I went to their website and found this mission statement.  “St. Francis Inn Ministries is a Franciscan, Eucharistic community called to minister with the poor and homeless of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in the spirit of the Gospel and inspired by the life and compassion of Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi, we try to meet the immediate daily needs of the people we serve with food, clothing and hospitality. Furthermore, we empower persons to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty and address structural injustices. We seek to build relationships with those that we serve by respecting their human dignity and by helping them to restore hope in their lives, and by living simply among them.”

“In addition to the dine-in meals, we also provide food baskets for families and homebound seniors monthly. A mixture of fresh and non-perishable foods supply regular sustenance to those unable to come to our meals. Mail services, phone usage, and many intangible resources also support our guests.”

God Bless You,

Fr. Bordonaro