Pastor’s Corner

Dear Sacred Heart Family,

 

This weekend we begin our novena to Saint Joseph, leading to his Solemnity on March 19th. Already prayers are being answered and we haven’t even officially began. A parishioner came to me about their job search and I recommended he pray to Saint Joseph. He came back, very excited, to tell me he had interviews lined up. He asked for more prayers and I said let’s keep asking Saint Joseph. Then he returned to say he was a finalist for the job. We continued to pray. Then he returned last week with the good news. He had the job and did I want to guess what day he was starting? Of course, March 19th, the marvelous day of Saint Joseph’s Solemnity.

 

As we begin this weekend, our nine days of prayer, let’s make our motto: Go to Joseph — Ite ad Joseph. This phrase is from the Old Testament tale of Joseph, who was blessed with his coat of many colors and sold into slavery by his brothers. His sufferings led him to become a leader in the house of Pharaoh in Egypt, where he providentially fed the chosen people from the wheat stores of Egypt in their time of famine. The Old Testament is full of figures who prepare and prefigure the Lord Jesus and the New Testament. The Old Testament Joseph is the prefigurement, in many ways, of Saint Joseph.

 

Saint Joseph was led by providence to be the adopted, foster-father of Jesus and the spouse of Our Blessed Mother. God could rely on this good man and so can we. Joseph went to Egypt, as did his predecessor, where providence led him there in times of danger. Joseph brought the Bread of Life out of Egypt when his Son was brought back after the threat of Herod’s murderous rage was outlasted.

 

How are we like the Josephs of old and new times. Have you and I suffered in life? In our years growing up, did we suffer at the hands of others and were we led mysteriously into times of pain and yet times of providence? Did we learn to see the hand of God in all the mysteries of our life? When we can see God’s providence in all things, we are very much like Saint Joseph.

 

This week, let us join our parish family and believers around the world in our novena. Bring him all of your needs; big and small. Most importantly, let us ask him to increase our reverence for the Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist which unites us a parish family of disciples at worship, at the foot of the Cross, and at the Last Supper at each Holy Mass. St. Joseph, pray for us!

 

In Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart,

Fr. Bjorn Lundberg