St. Joseph the Worker

Parishioners of St. Joseph the Worker:

Can you believe October is nearly over?  It will be Christmas in less than two months! 

This is a busy week for Catholics.  Why, do you ask?  Because we celebrate two special liturgies—All Saints and All Souls.

On November 1^st, this coming Wednesday, is the Holy Day of All Saints.  What a wonderful time to remember and celebrate all those men and women who have gone before us, those holy disciples of Jesus Christ.  Throughout our history in the Church, so many people have risen to be examples of how we are to live our Catholic faith.  From the time of St. Peter and the Apostles, down to our time today of St. Mother Teresa, we have been inspired with lives of true witness to the Lord.

Wednesday’s Holy Day should move us to see how we are doing at living holy and saintly lives each day.  Do we ask the intercession of our Saints in heaven?  Do we open our eyes to those saintly people in our own midst?  Do we truly believe in the Communion of Saints, meaning that we on earth are able to ask those in heaven to assist us in taking our prayers and needs to God?  How much holier will we be next weekend than this weekend?  Let us use our Saints as role models to challenge us to be better.

Masses for the Holy Day, a Holy Day of Obligation, will be at 8:30am and 5:30pm.

On Thursday, November 2^nd, is the Feast of All Souls.  Mass that evening will be at 6:30pm. It has been our tradition in the Church to pray for the dead.  We pray for their salvation and entrance into heaven.  We pray that they are taken from purgatory into heaven.  And we are able to ask them to pray for us, too, that here on earth we may live faithfully to join them, hopefully, in eternal peace.  The Mass on Thursday will be a Mass of Remembrance, as we especially pray for and call to mind all those parishioners who have died over the past year.

Let us come as a faith community in prayer for our deceased.  It is a beautiful action of believers coming together in worship of God and asking that He grant eternal peace to those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.  Let us pledge to the Lord that we will pray daily for the dead, so that one day when we are deceased, faithful Catholics will remember us in prayer.

Your Pastor, Father Joe