Dear Community of Saint Joseph’s;

 

I hope you will accept my invitation to join us for our parish mission. It is in this week we welcome Sister Patty Bruno and Father Jude Siciliano to lead us in a week of prayer and spiritual exploration. 

 

Now, there will always be obstacles to attending such an event – you might tell yourself that you are too busy, or too tired or there is something interesting on television you would rather watch.  But if you make that choice, you will miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – an opportunity to grow and expand your encounter with God, Jesus and the Spirit in this moment.  We simply do not know whether a chance like this will ever come again and even if it does, it will not be this particular moment in your life. 

 

So come to Saint Joseph’s this week in the morning and evening for our parish mission, “A Retreat for Busy People,” and be prepared to be enlightened, connected and fed.  The retreat is set up in such a way that if you miss a day or two, you can still join in, although Sister Joan Derry has promised a special gift to anyone who attends all eight sessions this week.  If you can only attend in the morning, then attend in the morning – if only at night, then only at night and if you can be present for morning and evening there will be two separate presentations each day. 

 

We will always be busy people with a multitude of responsibilities but we will not always have a chance to pray together in such a rich and concentrated fashion.  I look forward to being with you this week and pray that God will bless us all this Lent with an expansion of hope, wisdom and compassion.

 

Father Matt Pennington

Pastor