It’s great to be back at St. Joseph’s! The parish is now getting back up to speed after the summer as all our ministries are again up and running. It’s exciting because our parish attendance is up from this time last year and our ministries are much larger.

t’s been a great joy to see how consistently people are in the adoration chapel (now just over a year old). Most hours of the day (and many hours of the night) there is someone there adoring our Lord. At present, we have enough people committed to being in the chapel continuously to have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every weekday.

Fr. Jonah here, filling in while Fr. Boniface is away. Today is the first class of the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA). We have a large class this year - over 40 people have reached out to us (maybe more by the time of this printing), and we give thanks to God for drawing more and more people to his Church. 

Fr. Jonah here, still filling in for Fr. Boniface while he’s away. We just celebrated the feast of St. Augustine on August 28. We Dominicans call him “Holy Father Augustine,” an honor reserved only to St. Dominic (our founder) and St. Francis (whose order, the Franciscans, was founded around the same time and has similar characteristics).

Fr. Jonah here, filling in while Fr. Boniface is away. On September 8, classes for OCIA (the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults, formerly RCIA) will begin. This is the period of instruction and preparation for adults seeking to become Catholic. It’s also for baptized Catholic adults who have yet to receive the sacrament of Confirmation.

This past Tuesday, August 13th, is my 6th year anniversary as pastor of St. Joseph’s! It’s been a great six years that I have greatly enjoyed. I never thought I was about to undertake so many construction projects!

This Thursday, August 15th, is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, and it’s a holy day of obligation. We’ll have a vigil Mass on Wednesday at 7pm, and on the day itself we’ll have our regular 12:10pm and 7pm Masses. On the Assumption our current Dominican novices will take their initial vows as Dominicans and begin their training as student brothers. Please keep them in your prayers.

This Thursday, August 8th, is the Solemnity of Holy Father Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers (aka: the Dominicans). He’s, of course, the patron of the Dominican friars serving at St. Joseph’s, but also your patron too as parishioners of a Dominican parish. It’s good to have many patrons! Make sure to celebrate this important feast day.

I’m back in town and happy to return to St. Joseph’s! Fr. Jonah is now on tour for the next few weeks playing with the Hillbilly Thomists. Please keep them in your prayers as they spread the Gospel through music.

In the Christian life, we are pilgrims, that is to say: we are not yet where we want to be. Heaven is our home, and we have to keep going to get there. We can make our way there with hope, though, because of the grace of Jesus Christ, who said of himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Call on him in times of distress, and keep going.

Fr. Jonah here, filling in while Fr. Boniface is away. Let’s talk about incense. Why do we use incense at Mass? Psalm 141:2 has us say to God, “Let my prayer arise before you like incense.” Smoke moves upwards. So, seeing the smoke of burning incense emanate from the thurible (that metal thing on a chain that holds the coals and incense), we’re reminded of where our thoughts and prayers are supposed to move during Mass (and at other times, too).

I’ll be away the next two weeks on vacation with my dad. Fr. Jonah will be here running the parish and writing a ‘vicar’s letter’ for the bulletin. When I return, Fr. Jonah will be on tour for the Hillbilly Thomists, so we’ll be playing tag team the rest of the summer.

Happy Independence Day! We should celebrate all the freedoms safeguarded by our nation, especially religious liberty. Under British rule, when New York was a colony, England outlawed Catholicism and it was illegal for a priest to even enter New York. St. Peter’s, the first Catholic parish in New York City, was founded just as the last British soldiers were departing at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.

Our new parish business manager has begun her new role here at St. Joseph’s. Her name is Marie Viola and she is taking over for Linda Jones, who will retire at the end of this month. Linda has been here for the last ten years and has played a pivotal role in the restoration of St. Joseph’s. If you have the chance, stop by the parish offices and welcome Marie and thank Linda.

Last Tuesday we celebrated the Confirmation of this year’s Religious Education children. Bishop Whalen was the celebrant and it was a beautiful Mass. Please pray for those just confirmed, that God’s grace will lead them as they begin to enter into adult life.

Today we celebrate Corpus Christi, the celebration of Christ’s Body and Blood given to us in the Eucharist. Today we celebrate the means of our salvation. The Eternal Son, the second Divine Person of the Trinity, united to His Divine Nature our human nature so as to become one with us, both fully Divine and fully human.

Happy Pentecost Sunday! Today we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming down as tongues of flame upon the apostles. From that moment the apostles start to evangelize the world and the Church starts to dramatically grow. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to live the Christian life and follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit is still with us, still operating within the Church, so let us follow His inspiration and seek the holiness He offers each one of us.

We’re now in that in-between time when Christ has ascended into heaven but we’re awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Let us pray for the Holy Spirit’s arrival. We’re able to live the Christian life because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives—He makes it possible for us to follow Christ to the Father.

This week we celebrate Our Lord’s Ascension, when, after His resurrection, Jesus ascends to His Father’s right hand in heaven. His promise, our hope, is that we too will ascend with Christ to live with God in our true homeland in heaven. Our lives here on earth are a preparation for that true and eternal life in heaven. We seek to grow in holiness on our pilgrimage to our final destination in God’s house. Ascension Thursday is a Holy Day of Obligation, so we’ll have an Ascension Vigil Mass this Wednesday at 7pm, and Masses on Ascension Thursday at 12:10pm and 7pm.

This Wednesday, Fr. John Baptist will be back at St. Joe’s to give a presentation with Daniel Meola, the founder of Life Giving Wounds. You may remember that ministry: they specialize in helping the adult children of divorce and held a retreat at the Catholic Center a few years back. They just published a book together and will give a presentation on the book this Wednesday at 6pm in the parish hall. Come support Fr. John Baptist.