Dear brother and sisters, 

Praised be Jesus Christ! Hosanna to the Son of David! As we begin Holy Week, the most sacred time of the year for us Catholic Christians, let us ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to draw us more deeply into the salvation won for us in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. 

For our inspiration, I’d like to look at a feast we celebrated this past week: the Solemnity of St. Joseph! The feast easily gets lost in the intensity of Lent and the grandeur of Easter. 

This is much like the man himself. There are no words of his recorded in the Scriptures, he is only written about in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. 

However, his actions are so powerful that, if we let them, they can inspire us to be even more transformed and healed and converted to the peace of the Christian life.

 The way that the Scriptures describe him are also powerful: “he was a righteous man.” Righteous means “in right relationship with God and neighbor.” The Scriptures don’t say “he was trying to be righteous,” or “he was righteous but here are the ways he messed up,” or “he wasn’t righteous then he repented and become so.” They simply say, “he was a righteous man.” 

Because St. Joseph isn’t mentioned in the Gospels during Jesus’ public life, an ancient tradition holds that he died before Jesus began his ministry at the Wedding Feast of Cana. He would have died with Jesus and Mary with him. Because he died with the Eternal Son and the Immaculately Conceived, he is the Patron of a Blessed Death, as we are called upon to pray to leave this world with Mary and Jesus by our side. 

Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, a French priest who died in 1850, said this: 

Who gave life to Jesus? It was Mary. Who saved his life? It was Joseph. Be silent, patriarchs; be silent, prophets; be silent, apostles, confessors, and martyrs. Let St. Joseph speak, for this honor is his alone. He alone is savior of the Savior. 

Let us ask St. Joseph to pray for us this Holy Week, that our eyes and hearts would be opened to Jesus, who he served daily with righteousness and fidelity, that we would happily do the same. 

Peace, 

Fr. John

Worthy of the the Call Teen Volunteer Training, 14-17 years of age. 

Teens 14 or older who have not had a chance to do the training and would like to volunteer for Parish Ministries or YM Outreach Projects, etc. Please setup a Training Session by contacting Mrs. Rachel at rbittner@stmaryspylesville.org  

On Good Friday, our Ministerium will host an ecumenical prayer service at 11:00am at Slateville Presbyterian Church in Delta. Eleven local members of the clergy and laypeople have volunteered to lead the service.  A light luncheon will be held afterwards. 

Please join us!

The Knott Scholarship Funds have been providing merit based, full-tuition scholarships for academically talented Catholic elementary and secondary school students for 41 years. Awarded in the 4th grade for grades 5 through 8, or 8th grade for grades 9 through 12, scholarships are awarded to Catholic students in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who wish to attend a Catholic school. 

Applications are available beginning in January and are due in March for awards for the following year. For more information, please visit www.knottscholar.org Knott College Scholarships are also available for the three Catholic universities in Maryland. 

Please visit its website for more information www.knottscholar.org

Perhaps you have a loved one's cremated remains that you desire to provide the Corporal Work of Mercy of burying the dead. The Archdiocese of Baltimore provides a final resting place for those who are cremated but not buried at the time of cremation.

This includes cremains of the recently deceased, but also urns of grandparents or great grandparents that may not have been buried and subsequently were misplaced and forgotten over years and decades. Each November, the Ministry of the 14th Station of the Cross buries the urns containing the deceased in sacred ground at Holy Cross Cemetery for a minimal fee of $350 for the burial. Urns are placed in one vault. The deceased may rest in peace while families gain peace of mind, as they know where their family member is perpetually buried. Contact Fr. Patrick Carrion, Office of Cemetery Management, 410-547-5375 or pcarrion@archbalt.org.