DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 THE VOICE OF PROVIDENCE FEATURED STORY | PAGE 11 Feast Day of the Holy Innocents VOLUME 31, NUMBER 1 DECEMBER 2017–JANUARY 2018 PUBLISHED BY: THE VOICE OF PROVIDENCE The Pious Union of St. Joseph, Patron of the Suffering and Dying 1 ...... New Year’s Resolutions 953 East Michigan Avenue FR. JOSEPH RINALDO, SDC Grass Lake, Michigan 49240-9210 517-522-8017 voice 517-522-8387 fax 3 ......Joseph Most Valiant BISHOP KENNETH J. POVISH [email protected] www.servantsofcharity.org 5 ......The Dignity of St. Joseph www.pusj.org FR. SATHEESH ALPHONSE, SDC Editor In Chief: Fr. Joseph Rinaldo SdC Editing Team: Joe Yekulis, Kelly Flaherty, 8 ...... Shrine News Fr. Satheesh Alphonse SdC FR. SATHEESH ALPHONSE, SDC Photos: St. Louis Center Archives, Joseph Yekulis, 10 .... From the Inbox Kelly Flaherty and the Mailbox FEATURED STORY O St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus Christ and true spouse of the 11 .... Feast Day of the Holy Virgin Mary, pray for us and the Innocents suffering and dying of today. FR. JOSEPH RINALDO, SDC Now and at The Hour is a non-profit bi-monthly publication 13 ....Human Rights of the Divine Providence Province of the Servants of Charity, a FR. JOSEPH RINALDO, SDC Catholic Religious Congregation founded by Saint Louis Guanella, (1842–1915). 18 ....St. Louis Guanella Center: A House and a Multitude of Saints by St. Louis Guanella Attend EXCERPT FROM PRIEST FROM THE Let’s go back with our thoughts to what happened [two-thousand- MOUNTAIN seventeen] years ago in the cave in Bethlehem. There for the first mass time the Blessed Mother reverently gazed on her newly born divine infant. Then the holiest of personages, St. Joseph, joined in more 21 .... Unleash Your Gifts admiration the canticles of the angels who came down on earth KELLY FLAHERTY to sing with jubilation: “Glory to Go in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will.” Then the simple and good shepherds, 23 ....Christmas of the Poor exhorted by angles, came bringing their gifts to pay homage to the Messiah and Savior. What a spectacle! It is the admirable sight FR. JOSEPH RINALDO, SDC of a house of saints: Jesus, Mary and Joseph; it is the wonder of a group of people who set out to become in that house a multitude 25 .... Rebuilding a Church of saints... There is the Infant Savior. The heavenly Child has in His heart the in India stream of eternal blessedness; He sits on the lap of the Virgin who FR. VISUVASAM, SDC is a most holy mother and turns His little eyes around to receive the homage of the first-fruits of a multitude of saints... 28 .... My Best Friend Jesus We draw near. We ask for the grace of the Lord for our poor STELLA JOHN hearts, and it is granted to us... We have a house of saints in the family of Bethlehem. In its midst there is the Holy of Holies. Whoever draws near it immediately 31 ....Dedications & Memorials experiences the blessing of the greatest peace as a sample of perfection... 32 .... The Pious Union Library Let us take refuge in the most holy heart of the baby Jesus. Let us join our voices of praise to the angelic hymns and then let us 33 .... Adopt a Seminarian rejoice heartily in the Lord. Image: The Nativity, Perino del Vaga, 1534, National Gallery of Art New Year’s Resolutions BY FR. JOSEPH RINALDO, SDC The New Year is slowly approaching, and with the Christmas season already upon us many people are indulging in retrospection and reevaluating some of their life choices. New Year’s resolutions are the perfect opportunity for all those who have failed to start making the changes that they said they would make next week, next month, or perhaps when winter starts. It’s no surprise that New Year’s resolutions are not always effective. We make too many, or we don’t think them through or prepare for them very well. They often don’t have roots. Taking a cue from the Gospel, instead of making new resolutions, maybe we should think of making reflections at the beginning of a New Year. For example where is my life moving? There are many things I can’t choose. I can’t decide to live at some future date or in some past era, instead of now. But within the life I have, I can make choices. Attend Pray Eat Pray mass healthier rosary more more more FROM THE EDITOR | 1 As the life of Jesus unfolds, different people come and go, and all will make choices. Some accepted Him, “The best way to some didn’t. We have the freedom to make choices like that. start is to make a I need to remember that my life good examination of is surrounded by and enfolded in conscience. We are all God’s providence, who has a direct hand in my life and in all that sinners and we can all surrounds me. God’s love ultimately become saints if we stop holds sway over everything. This love will see to it that all works are looking for excuses.” for good, not for evil, but in God’s own time. Not ours. The beginning of a New Year is also an appropriate time to reflect on God’s providential love in my life. These early days in 2018 are a good time to make these kinds of reflections. Well, now’s our chance to sit down and prepare a list of important lifestyle changes we want to make, and being the charitable and caring bunch that we are, we’ve decided to give you a bit of help; because since the majority of people fail to stick to their resolutions, we will need all the help we can get. We have resolutions committed to our souls and others that concern our bodies. Our souls and our bodies support each other. The most common resolutions in the spiritual area are related to church attendance and sacramental life. “I can’t miss Mass anymore. I will go to confession more often. I will invite my neighbor to return to church. I will ask my family members to pray before and after meals. I will spend 5 minutes of personal prayer every day. Our family will recite the Rosary once a week.” For our well being, the New Year’s resolutions could be: “I will start eating healthier food. I will eat what the rest of my family eats. I will stop procrastinating. I will meet new people, especially my neighbors. I will help to do the house chores. I will not spend money uselessly.” These lists can go on forever. The best way to start is to make a good examination of conscience and forget all the excuses we make when we think that what we need to do is too hard. We are all sinners and we can all become saints if we stop looking for excuses to live our Christian life. The good Lord gives us good thoughts, but we need to listen and follow through. Our efforts are all counted. At this level, the members of our family will benefit from our good Christian life and God Himself will be our reward. 2 | FROM THE EDITOR Joseph Most Valiant BY BISHOP KENNETH J. POVISH Valor is commonly considered a masculine quality, but it is often found in women too. Perhaps the most famous use of the word in modern times was by Admiral Nimitz in his praise of the US Marines at Iwo Jima in 1945, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” The classic comment comes in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar;” where the bard says, “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” Both “valor” and “valiant” come from the Latin verb “valere,” meaning to be strong, courageous or heroic. Heroic strength of mind or spirit has been found in women just as often as it has been demonstrated by soldiers. HONORING ST. JOSEPH | 3 Joseph of Nazareth displayed strength and courage in heroic ways in several episodes already cited in this series of reflections. We saw it in the flight into Egypt and the sojourn there amidst an alien culture. We saw it in the diligence with which Joseph protected and provided for his wife and her Holy Child. And the chastity required in his marriage called for heroism of a high order. Note that none of these instances, whether we think of an individual act of courage or a prolonged series, was very public or would have warranted a medal from an admiral or praise from a poet. Joseph of Nazareth was a valiant man in his role as husband and foster father in his own home, as a workman who earned a living with his hands, as a layman who was conscientious in his religious duties, as one who drew little attention to himself. The carpenter of Nazareth becomes a model, then, for men and women who, like him, have had to struggle and often suffer silently in the affairs of everyday life. One thinks of men and women who have addictions, who work one day at a time to maintain sobriety and retain control over their lives. One thinks of chronically ill persons whose days are marked by medication and discomfort. One thinks of the unemployed and underemployed who are constantly absorbed in making ends meet. One thinks of widows, widowers, or single parents who must make it alone without the support of a spouse.