St Joseph's Church

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him … ‘They will be Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:16–18)

Praying for the dead is an ancient practice. The Jewish community was doing it two centuries before Christ, as evidenced in the Second Book of Maccabees.  Inscriptions in the catacombs of the first five centuries – not to mention ancient funerary liturgies of the Church – attest that early Christians fervently followed this practice. Those who have gone before us need our prayers.  And someday we will likely need prayers ourselves.

Our belief in the communion of saints is an acknowledgment that death doesn’t break the bonds of our relationship with God or one another. The holy ones are praying for us, and we are praying for those still working out the details of their journey toward total union with God.  Because God is love, anything unloving must be left behind for that union to take place.  In the “economy of salvation,” the currency we use to assist our friends is prayer.

Throughout the month of November, a “Book of Remembrance” will be available in the church.  There, the names of our deceased loved ones may be inscribed and our prayers on their behalf, we implore, might be received by Almighty God in a special way during celebrations of Holy Mass.

With prayerful best wishes,

Fr. John Mahoney

Jesus asks us to reorient our priorities.  In embracing what the world sometimes values little, we find what has the greatest value.

In the early 1960s, former naval officer and theology professor, Jean Vanier, decided to do something personally about the conditions he saw in institutions for the developmentally disabled. He made a home with two men who had disabilities. Naming their house “L’Arche,” after Noah’s Ark, he and the others lived as a family, sharing daily tasks and relaxing together.  Since then, L’Arche communities have spread throughout the world.  They ask people of different abilities and disabilities to live in community with one another.  “Daybreak”, the L’Arche community in Toronto, attracted the priest and writer Fr. Henri Nouwen. Recovering from depression, Nouwen became Daybreak’s pastor and began helping Adam Arnett, a man with a severe disability.  Nouwen called Adam his friend, teacher, and guide.  Whenever he traveled or lectured, Fr. Nouwen invited a person with a disability to accompany him as a cofacilitator.

In honor of these visionaries, and in observance of October’s National Disability Employment Month, the St. Joseph’s Parish Outreach Committee, on behalf the parish community, has donated $500 to New England Disabled Sports at Loon Mountain.  There, boundaries are broken and nearly 600 athletes living with disabilities are able to enjoy adaptive sports.  It’s always a pleasure to see these athletes and their families at St. Joseph’s when they’re in town!