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Sunday, January 6, 2008 * Excerpt from Preparing for Worship 1994 by Daniel Donovan The Epiphany of the Lord published by the Paulist Press A Papal Message of Peace for the New Year from Pax Christi NY A New Year has begun, and for the 40th year, it began in our Church with a World Day of Peace marked by a special message from our Pope. This year, Pope Benedict XVI entitled his Message for the World Day of Peace “The Human Family, A Community of Peace.” In it, he writes: “I invite every man and woman to have a more lively sense of belonging to the one human family, and to strive to make human coexistence increasingly reflect this conviction, which is essential for the establishment of true and lasting peace. I likewise invite A CORRELATION OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS believers to implore tirelessly from God the great gift of Isaiah 60: 1-6/Ephesians 3: 2-3a; 5-6/Matthew 2: 1-12 peace…. To all my best wishes for a joyful New Year!” Pax Christi Metro New York also wishes everyone a Unlike Luke, Matthew tells us almost nothing about the actual birth New Year blessed with peace and a commitment to of Jesus. He is much more interested, as the account of the magi in peacemaking. today’s gospel makes clear, in suggesting the impact that Jesus’ life would eventually have. Rejected by the likes of Herod, Jesus will be recognized by the Gentiles as God’s saving gift to humankind. Although intimately connected in the liturgy to the story of the magi, the world “epiphany” in itself has a much broader meaning. It Epiphany Brunch for All Parishioners suggests an appearance or manifestation. When applied to God it after 11:30 AM Mass points to something very similar to what we mean when we speak of Location: Casserly Hall God’s self-revelation. The New Testament uses it to describe the Date: Sunday, January 6, 2008 second coming of Christ. Time: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM In recalling the birth of Jesus, what we are celebrating ultimately is the deepest mystery of his person. He was, as the letter to the Hebrews puts it, a human being like us in all things but sin. He was our brother. And yet he was more than that. In Jesus the Word or Son of God embraced a human life and in doing so gave God a human face. In today’s second reading Paul speaks of a mystery, hidden from all eternity in God, but now made manifest in Christ. This mystery is God’s plan of salvation, God’s purpose in creating. To believe in God at all is to believe that behind the sound and fury, the chaos and violence of life, there is a divine purpose working itself out. The mystery as revealed in Christ is a mystery of forgiveness and reconciliation. Human beings are made for love and union with God and with one another. Christ came to destroy sin and to draw together all things and all people in himeself. He has torn down the dividing wall of hostility that separates us from one another and made it possible for us to become one with him, to form with him a single Everyone is invited for an Epiphany Brunch body. following the 11:30 AM Mass. This event is being Today’s first reading, from the third part of Isaiah, is full of hope sponsored by the St. Joseph's Pastoral Council and and promise of a future manifestation of God in Jerusalem. The glory and the beauty of God will transform the city and make it and will be a wonderful opportunity for you to meet new its inhabitants radiant and full of joy. God’s coming, like a fresh and members of our growing Greenwich Village Catholic bright dawn, will banish darkness and bathe everyting in its light. community. The story of the magi is bathed in a mysterious radience, the Our newly received Catechumens and Candidates radiance of the star, but even more importantly the radiance of God’s from our RCIA Program will also be attending this presence in human form, the radiance of Jesus as the manifestation of parish event. God’s saving will for us. The feast of the Epiphany invites us to renew our faith in the "…we are like the 3 Wise Men who journeyed to appearing of God in the life of Jesus Christ. It reminds us that Jesus. Now, like those Wise Men, we return to the individually and as the church we are called to share in and continue world from which we came, to the everyday life what he began. We are to be signs and sacraments of what he where we will witness to what we have seen." brought into human life. The radiance of our churches at - Epiphany Homily of Pope John Paul II, 2001) Christmastime should find an echo and an extension in the radiance of the goodness and kindness of our lives. * FEAST DAYS, SCRIPTURE CITATIONS AND SPECIAL INTENTIONS FOR THIS WEEK SATURDAY, Jan. 5 A Letter to the Parish from 1 John 3: 11-21/John 1: 43-51 The Office for the Cause of Father Isaac T. Hecker 12:10 PM 5:30 PM Nancy French Father Isaac Thomas Hecker C.S.P. (1819-1888), the SUNDAY, Jan. 6 – The Epiphany of the Lord founder of the Paulist Fathers, preached a mission from 9:00 AM Jane Bruce the pulpit of St. Joseph’s Greenwich Village Parish from 11:30 AM George Cannon (deceased) April 6th to April 20th 1851 according to the records of 6:00 PM the Paulist Archives in Washington, D.C. MONDAY, Jan. 7-St. Raymond, Penafort, priest On Sunday, January 27, 2008, Edward Cardinal Egan 1 John 3: 22-4:6/Matthew 4: 12-17; 23-25 will open Father Hecker’s cause for sainthood in the 12:10 PM Donald Bazzurro Archdiocese of New York at the church Father Hecker 5:30 PM Mary Gonsalves Dias founded, Saint Paul the Apostle in Manhattan. TUESDAY, Jan. 8 As an extension of that celebration, we would ask that 1 John 4: 7-10/Mark 6: 34-44 your parish pray on Sunday the 27th for his canonization. 12:10 PM Manus McGeady (living) 5:30 PM Warren (Mel) McLaughliin As Father Hecker, in his pastoral concern, directed his WEDNESDAY, Jan. 9 ministry to our parish, you are invited to join in asking 1 John 4: 11-18/Mark 6: 45-52 God to make him a saint. The Church in North 12:10 PM American needs his hope, his passion for a Catholic 5:30 PM America and his great devotion to the work of the Holy THURSDAY, Jan. 10 Spirit in our midst. 1 John 4: 19-5:4/Luke 4: 14-22a (For a biography of Fr. Hecker go to 12:10 PM Rhe Kennedy www.wikipedia.com ) 5:30 PM Mary Jane Lappostato (1st Anniversary) FRIDAY, Jan. 11 Who’s Who at St. Joseph’s Parish 1 John 5: 5-13/luke 5: 12-16 12:10 PM Mary Duffy (living) 5:30 PM Etta Reynolds SATURDAY, Jan. 12 1 John 5: 14-21/John 3: 22-30 12:10 PM Anna Papalia 5:30 PM Rebecca Stewart SUNDAY, Jan. 13 – Baptism of the Lord Isaiah 42: 1-4; 6-7/Acts 10: 34-38/Matthew 3: 13-17

Dr. Marsha Heather Long  1st. Thurs. of the mo. Pax Christi Bd. Mtg. – 6:30 p.m.- in the Pax Christi Office Music Ministry  1st. Fri. of the mo. Novena to the Sacred Heart after the 5:30 p.m. mass Marsha Long is proud to have been working with the  1st. Sat. of the mo. Blessings for the Sick after the 12:10 mass New York Dominican priests since 1996 beginning at St. Catherine of Sienna, where she was music director and  2nd. Wed. of the mo. Altar Rosary 7:00 p.m. - Library organist. It is our joy to hear Marsha every Saturday at the 5:30 mass here at St. Joseph’s. PARISH ACTIVITIES THIS WEEK Trained at the Juilliard School and the Conservatoire de Paris in France, Marsha has been playing in Catholic For NYU Catholic Center Events please see the new website: churches since she was seven and professionally since she washingtonsquarecatholic.org was ten. Having a great love for the Catholic liturgy, she MONDAY has spent her life studying new ways to enhance her 6:30 PM Centering Prayer Music Room musical contributions to the mass. Her favorite WEDNESDAY instruments for the liturgies are harp, piano, organ and 7:00 PM Altar Rosary Library handbells. FRIDAY Marsha’s CD “Ava Maria, the Universal and 6:15 PM St. Egidio Prayer Church Timeless Hymn” is an ALBA HOUSE bestseller and 8:00 PM Narcotics Anonymous Casserly Hall winner of several awards. She has performed live in the SATURDAY great cathedrals and basilicas around the world including 10:00 AM or 1:00 PM Soup Kitchen Casserly Hall St. Peter’s in Rome. Her Ava Maria Show on EWTN’s 6:00 PM Alcoholics Anonymous Casserly Hall BACKSTAGE series has been broadcast over twenty times SUNDAY around the world. She has recorded many CD’s available 9:15 AM Children’s Religious Instruction Farrell Hall in Catholic catalogues such as St. Ignatius Press and 10:00 AM Adult Scripture Discussion Library also at her personal webpage and on-line store www.marshalong.com. Catholic Digest calls her latest CD “Angel Christmas” “soothing and soulful” and "A CD NEW PARISH WEB SITE: that will have believers and music lovers alike soaring www.washingtgonsquarecatholic.org with the angels.". Thank you for your ministry at St. Joseph’s, Marsha.