Text Box: PARISH NEWS Last Sunday Plate Collection– May 4 :  $ 4,119.84 Weekly Goal $ 5,750.00 Thank you for your continued support of our Parish

Text Box: Pentecost Sunday May 11, 2008         THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT          Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety, Fear of the Lord.

Text Box: My dear Parishioners, These past weeks, since Easter Sunday, we have witnessed amazing growth in the early disciples of our Lord. We witnessed an early church gathered behind locked doors, because of fear, doubt and hesitation. On this feast-day of Pentecost, we commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. Equipped with the Holy Spirit the disciples found the courage to expand their evangelization, their preaching of the good news to all people. Equipped with the Holy Spirit the church grew into a multicultural, global, and truly Catholic community. Today, all of us gathered here at St. Joseph the Worker are encouraged to continue what the Holy Spirit began in the early church: the building of a diverse, multicultural and inclusive community of sisters and brothers, proclaiming and living Christ’s message of peace, love and justice. Inspired by that wonderful Spirit of courage and love, one of our Pastoral Council members, Norma Lopez, shared with us this beautiful prayer. I am reprinting it here, because it showed to me a glimpse of what Pentecost is all about:   Let us pray, O Lord, let our dreams soar.  Let all our inhibitions and fears disappear as we strive to make our hopes come into being.  Give us the strength, courage and insight we will need as we work to bring our vision the reality.  Let your spirit guide us in our imaginations and our fantasies so that worries and anxieties will not overcome us, for it is only through dreams that the beauty and wonder of your kingdom will be made known to all humankind.  Be with us, Lord, as our minds wander, as we dream your dreams.   Sincerely, Fr. Stephan Kappler

Text Box:    A mother’s love is something That no one can explain, It is made of deep devotion And of sacrifice and pain, It is endless and unselfish And enduring come what may For nothing can destroy it Or take that love away…   It is patient and forgiving When all others are forsaking. And it never fails or falters Even though the heart is breaking…   It believes beyond believing When the world around condemns, And it glows with all the beauty Of the rarest, brightest gems…   It is far beyond defining. It defies all explanation, And it still remains a secret Like the mysteries of Creation…   A many splendored miracle Man cannot understand And another wondrous evidence of God’s tender guiding hand.   Anonymous

Text Box: A Mother’s Love