Welcome Fr. Michael Pawelko

My Dear Parishioners,

I am so happy to be with you and thank you so much for the warm welcome. Just a little about myself. I am 57 and was raised in the Upper Perkiomen Valley area of Montgomery County. I have a brother and a sister and one niece (who is in high school). Both of my parents are deceased.

I attended St. Philip Neri grade school in East Greenville and graduated from Upper Perkiomen High School in 1985. After high school I did quality assurance work for a company in Sellersville for many years.

After I started to feel the call to the priesthood, I entered St. Charles Seminary in 2002 and was ordained a priest by Justin Cardinal Rigali in 2010 at the age of 43.

My first assignment was as Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Southampton. This was followed by an assignment as Parochial Vicar at St. Eleanor in Collegeville. From 2014 to 2019 I served as Parochial Vicar of St. Joseph Parish in Aston. In 2019, I was appointed Pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Hilltown.

Now, I am so very happy that I have been appointed your Pastor. St Joseph Parish has a rich history and is widely known as a warm and friendly community. The people of this part of Bucks and Montgomery Counties are the best! I am certain that we will have many happy years together.

Just a little note on this weekend’s first reading. The reading comes from the Book of Job. The sufferings of Job foreshadow the sufferings of Christ. Moreover, the restoration of Job’s health and wealth foreshadow the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The version of this letter on our website includes a teaching by St. Zeno on the life of Job being a foreshadowing of the Life of Christ.

The version of the letter on the website also includes a Litany to St. John the Baptist, who’s Nativity we celebrate on Monday.

May the Good Lord, through the intercession of our Patron, St. Joseph, grant us many happy years together.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church, pray for us!
Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor.

From a sermon by Saint Zeno on Job

Zeno (d. 371) + Bishop of Verona, Italy, theological writer. A native of Africa, he was named bishop in 362 and proved an ardent opponent of Arianism. He also promoted discipline among the clergy and in liturgical life, built a cathedral, and founded a convent. Zeno wrote extensively on the virgin birth of Christ and other theological matters. He was the subject of numerous legends. Feast day: April 12. (From Catholic.org)

Is Job a type of Christ? If I am right, he is, and the comparison will reveal the truth of my claim. But while Job was called a just man by God, God himself is the fountain of justice from whom all the saints drink. See what Scripture says: The sun of justice will arise for you. Job was called truthful, but the Lord is, as he says in the Gospel, the way, the truth and the life. And while Job was rich, the Lord is far richer, for the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all who dwell in it. All rich men are his servants, and the whole world and all of nature as well.

But we may compare Job and Christ in many ways. As Job was tempted by the devil three times, so too Christ was tempted three times. The Lord set aside his riches out of love for us and chose poverty so that we might become rich, while Job lost all that he possessed. A violent wind killed Job’s sons, while the sons of God, the prophets, were killed by the fury of the Pharisees. Job became ulcerated and disfigured, while the Lord, by becoming man, took on the defilement of the sins committed by all mankind. The wife of Job tempted him to sin, much as the synagogue tried to force the Lord to yield to corrupt leadership.

Thus he was insulted by the priests, the servants of his altar, as Job was insulted by his friends. And as Job sat on a dunghill of worms, so all the evil of the world is really a dunghill which became the Lord’s dwelling place, while men that abound in every sort of crime and base desire are really worms.

The restoration of health and riches to Job prefigures the resurrection, which gives health and eternal life to those who believe in Christ. Regaining lordship over all the world, Christ says: All things have been given to me by my Father. And just as Job fathered other sons, so too did Christ, for the apostles, the sons of the Lord, succeeded the prophets.

Job died happily and in peace, but there is no death for the Lord. He is praised for ever, just as he was before time began, and as he always will be as time continues and moves into eternity.

Litany to St. John the Baptist

Courtesy of EWTN Global Catholic Television Network: Catholic News, TV, Radio | EWTN

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us, Christ, graciously hear us God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us

God the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us Holy Mary, pray for us

Queen of Prophets, pray for us. Queen of Martyrs, pray for us. Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, glorious forerunner of the Sun of Justice, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, minister of baptism to Jesus, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, burning and shining lamp of the world, pray for us. St. John the Baptist, angel of purity before thy birth, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, special friend and favorite of Christ, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, heavenly contemplative, whose element was prayer, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, intrepid preacher of truth, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, voice crying in the wilderness, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, miracle of mortification and penance, pray for us. St. John the Baptist, example of profound humility, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, glorious martyr of zeal for God’s holy law, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, gloriously fulfilling thy mission, pray for us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, hear us, O Lord Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us, Christ, graciously hear us

Pray for us, O glorious St. John the Baptist, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray:

O God, Who hast honored this world by the birth of Saint John the Baptist, grant that Thy faithful people may rejoice in the way of eternal salvation, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen.