November 19, 2023
Thirty-Third sunday of ordinary time
by Fr. Boniface Endorf, OP
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Have a blessed Thanksgiving this week! This season is always busy, but make sure to give thanks to God for all the blessing He has given this year. If the year has been good to you, then make sure to give thanks to God for all those good things that came your way. If the year has been difficult, also make sure to give thanks to God for helping you through those difficulties. Gratitude is essential to happiness—those who fall into resentment and anger never achieve inner peace or joy but rather are consumed by their resentment. So let us find the joy and peace of gratitude and thanksgiving this Thursday.
God Bless,
Fr. Boniface
Mass Tidbit:
Continuing with the 2nd list of names in the Eucharistic prayer, we have:
Felicity: She was martyred with Perpetua, our next person in the Canon. They were north African martyrs who died under the persecution of the Roman Emperor Severus. Their story was written by their teacher, Saturus, who wrote “The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicity, and their Companions.” It was a very popular book in the early Church. Felicity was a slave and was arrested with Perpetua and three others for being a Christian. Felicity was eight months pregnant when arrested and gave birth just before her martyrdom (it was illegal to execute a pregnant woman because the Romans considered it shedding innocent blood). She was murdered by gladiators in the coliseum at Carthage. Her newborn daughter was adopted by local Christians.
Perpetua: She was martyred with Felicity. Perpetua was noble born yet underwent martyrdom with, and is always remembered with, Felicity, a slave. Christianity broke the normal social order because Christ taught that we are all made in the image of God and are fundamentally equal in dignity. For the Roman world it was inconceivable that a slave and noble would be remembered as equally valiant and glorious, but at every Mass we declare it with these two saints. What makes us great is not the station of our birth, but our faith, and in that both Felicity and Perpetua were champions.
