September 24, 2023
Twenty-fifth sunday of ordinary time
by Fr. Boniface Endorf, OP
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
The parish is full again! I always get a bit nervous by the end of summer wondering whether the parish will fill up again, but it always does. It great to see everyone back at St. Joseph’s!
Fr. Jonah and I are planning a lot of new and exciting ministries for this year. We’re working on a homeless outreach program, an evening evangelization ministry, a catechetical ministry run by the friars to help people go deeper in the Faith, new music and art ministries, and many others that we hope to start up throughout this year. We’ll make sure to publicize them as they start so you’ll be able to take part. Many of our already established ministries have restarted as well so make sure to stay abreast of all the great things happening in your community at St. Joseph’s!
God Bless,
Fr. Boniface
Mass Tidbit:
After the consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ, the priest says: “The mystery of faith” and the people respond with “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.” In the U.S. there are two alternative responses: “When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again” or “Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.”
Here we stand at the center of our Faith: Christ has died for our salvation and offers us the grace to be healed and transformed, to walk with Him to the Resurrection and eternal life. All the responses point to the Eucharist and the first two also point to Christ’s return at the second coming, the end of the world. The Eucharist is the food that sustains us as we await Christ’s coming and the fulfillment of His work of salvation. The last response also mentions that Christ has set us free: free from sin and death and the evil that followed in the wake of Adam and Eve’s original sin. We are free to be fully alive and human again, and more than that, free to be raised above our own humanity as children of God journeying to our new homeland in heaven. Here we give thanks to God for the gift He has given us—a gift we would never have dared even ask for is now offered to us in the Eucharist, the gift of receiving God Himself.
