News and Events: Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  I hope your Easter  was a joyful celebration.  Our community gathered in Versailles to celebrate together.  We prayed together, played together and visited with each other.  I hope you and your family were able to make time for each other to celebrate our Risen Lord.


This week Sister Margaret Mary is heading to St. Paul, MN to visit with the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Clavier.  Those of you who know Sister, know that she is a talented musician.  She plays 13 different instruments and has a wonderful singing voice.  She is going togive music lessons the Sisters in St. Paul.  She is going to spend a week giving some pointers on how to sing.  Please pray that she has a safe trip.

Sister Margaret Mary giving a music workshop to students at Ave Marie University.

Sister Patricia Jean and I will also be traveling this week.  We are going to Mundelein, IL to attend the Institute for Religious Life.  The Institute has been supporting Religious Life since 1974.  Sister and I are looking forward to hearing the wonderful conferences.  We will also have a vocation table there as well.   If you are in the area, we would love to meet you.

News and Events: Holy Week

This week the Diocese of Covington is having the Chrism Mass.  It will be tomorrow, Tuesday April 11, at the Cathedral.  The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass begin at 7:00 pm.  It is a beautiful celebration and I hope that you will come.  We are blessed in this Diocese to have a beautiful Cathedral. I hope you are able to attend the Chrism Mass.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Stained glass windows of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, KY>

Beginning on Holy Thursday, the community begins a 3 day silent retreat.  The last pillar of Lent is prayer and what a better time to immerse yourself in prayer then during Holy Week.  It is a wonderful time to meditate on how much God loves us. Prayer is one of the pillars of Lent. This week would be a good time to turn off the internet and spend extra time in prayer.

May each of you have a blessed Holy Week.  While we are in silence we will pray for you.

News and Events: Vocation fair

This week Sister Margaret Mary and Sister Mary Faustina are going to Ave Maria University for the vocation fair.  If you are in the area, they would love to meet you.  Each year the sisters enjoy going to sunny Florida to attend the vocation fair at Ave Maria.  They have a beautiful campus, wonderful and prayerful liturgies.  And of course who can resist a trip to Florida.

Mother Mary Christina and Sister Margaret Mary with Dr. Treachy at Ave Maria

This week is also our last Fish Fry for the year.  Saint Joseph Academy could not survive without the proceeds from the Fish Fry.  The tuition the families pay covers the salaries for the teachers.  Everything else from the light bill to books for the library must come from other sources.  So thank you for all the support you have given us these past weeks.  And we look forward to seeing you on Friday.

News and Events: Alms giving and Lent

So there are three "pillars" of Lent; fasting, alms giving and prayer. In other words, there are three things to keep in mind during Lent.  Most of us are familiar with fasting.  Growing up we are taught to give something up for Lent.  And we are reminded by the Church to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

 You are probably deep into your lenten practise. But it's not too late to 'step it up' for the last few weeks of Lent.  How often do you think about giving alms?  Alms giving is a work of charity that everyone can do.  You don't have to be a millionaire to donate to the poor.  Alms giving is closely tied with fasting.  If we 'fast' from spending money on games, music,on-line shopping, fast foods, candy, or movies, we could give the money we save to the poor.  If we didn't down load that latest app we would have a little extra money to support a work of charity.  You would be surprised how much you would have to give to the poor if you think about all the little extra things you buy that don't really cost that much.

You can also give of your time.  Sometimes it is easier to write out a check and donate then to actually take time out of your schedule to help.  But lending a helping hand by volunteering teaches us selflessness.

Speaking of volunteering, the Saint Joseph Academy Fish Fry could not continue if it wasn't for the wonderful people who help out each week.  We appreciate all their hard work and we look forward to seeing you there on Friday.

News and Events: Lent and fasting

Happy Feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary.  St. Joseph only has two feast days so as Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker we celebrate both.  Our community feast day is May 1, Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, but we'll be celebrating today too!  May St. Joseph bless you.

So how is Lent going?  Have you been keeping up with your Lenten practice?  Did you know that there are three practices in Lent?  There are fasting, praying and almsgiving.   I don't know which one you chose do to this Lent but I'd like to explore the idea of fasting.

I'm not very good at fasting from food.  But there are other things that we can 'fast' from that might help us grow spiritually.  We can fast one night a week from television and spend the time together as a family.  We can spend the whole of lent fasting from movies.  We can fast from using foul language and putting other people down.  That would certainly help the overall tone of your workplace and family. We can fast from anger.  We can fast from gossip and make an effort to say something nice about the people we usually talk about.  We can fast from eating out all the time and give the money we save to a charity.  We can fast from alcohol, soft drink, junk food or snacks. A hard one would be to fast from the Internet and actually talk to be people around you.  You could fast from using your cell phone as a portable game station and maybe read a spiritual book instead.  There are so many options and ideas.

Then at the end of Lent you can evaluate whether or not you really need the thing you were fasting from.  Do you really need to go back to the way you were living before Lent?  Did fasting from your normal activities give you time to spend with your family?  Did it give you more time to spend in prayer?


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