Sixth Sunday of Easter
5/9/21
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Happy Mother's Day! I hope that all the mothers at St. Joseph's have a wonderful day and that all their families treat them to a great day. And remember to pray to Mary, the mother of Christ and of the Church. She is our model for motherhood and is always interceding for us as our spiritual mother.
This Thursday is Ascension Thursday, when Christ ascends to His heavenly throne. After Christ's resurrection, he spends the time from Easter until Ascension Thursday with His apostles and disciples, and on Ascension Thursday He ascends to heaven. 9 days later the Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles at Pentecost and the apostles then start to spread the Gospel and build the Church. For details, read the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.
We will have a Wednesday 7 pm Vigil Mass for the Ascension, and on Ascension Thursday we'll have the normal 12:10 pm daily Mass and a 7 pm evening Mass.
Also, if you've heard of novenas (prayers for 9 days in a row) these devotions originated in a prayer to the Holy Spirit prayed during the 9 days from Ascension Thursday to Pentecost Sunday. That's why novenas are 9 days of prayer! I encourage you to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit this year during the time from Ascension to Pentecost. There are many versions of this prayer that you can find online, but I've put a simple one below. Just pray it every day for the 9 days from Ascension to Pentecost.
In Christ,
Fr. Boniface
Novena to the Holy Spirit
Pray every day for the 9 days from Ascension Thursday to Pentecost Sunday:
Dearest Holy Spirit, confiding in Your deep, personal love for me, I am making this novena for the following request, if it be Your Holy Will to grant it:
(mention your request).
Teach me, Divine Spirit, to know and seek my last end; grant me the holy fear of God; grant me true contrition and patience.
Do not let me fall into sin. Give me an increase of faith, hope and charity, and bring forth in my soul all the virtues proper to my state in life.
Make me a faithful disciple of Jesus and an obedient child of the Church. Give me efficacious grace sufficient to keep the Commandments and to receive the Sacraments worthily.
Give me the four Cardinal Virtues, Your Seven Gifts, Your Twelve Fruits.
Raise me to perfection in the state of life to which You have called me and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life.
I ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
