Families of our St. Joe's School Community,

Happy new school year! I am so excited to be back! Though I won't

be in the classroom this year (the past two I’ve taught in our middle

school), I will now be working as the Campus Minister for SJS. This role

is a new development in our efforts as a school to provide the best

Catholic education possible. We recognize the immense responsibility

that accompanies the gift of teaching and caring for your children each

day. We also recognize that we do that best when we are working to

empower you flourishing as families. Pope St. John Paul II once wrote in

his 1994 letter to families, "Parents are the first and most important

educators of their own children." We succeed when we support you in

those efforts.

We are planning new initiatives during this inaugural year of our

Campus Ministry Program and a monthly newsletter is one! Our hope

is that this newsletter may be for you a source of inspiration – an aid in

living out our faith in the rhythm of day to day life - which can be busy,

wonderful, and sometimes overwhelming. Each month you’ll find

reflections and resources about our faith specifically related to the

current liturgical season with practical, easy ways to celebrate it, as

well as fun information about our community and the people that

make us so great. We believe that our faith is meant to be lived in the

ordinary moments of our life, with the people God has placed around

us. Faith lived like that changes the world. We want to help you do that.

And it’s an absolute joy to be on the journey together.

All for Him,

ISSUE #1 / / SEPTEMBER 2018

CAMPUS MINISTRY NEWSLETTER

JOSEPH'SWORD

P O P E S T . J O H N P A U L I I

Pope Francis' monthly intention

Scan the QR Code for a Bio and video about the life of JPII!

"That young people in Africa may have access to education and work in their own countries."

wordy wisdom

saint of the month

A F U N C A T H O L I C WORD Y O U

MA Y NO T H A V E K NOWN B E F O R E !

LAVABO DISH: small bowl that catches the water when the Priest washes his hands during the Eucharistic rite at mass. Its name comes from the opening word of Psalm 25, which the priest prays at that moment.

Corinne Gannotti

Renewing Your Faith. You know that moment after the ball drops each January when everyone is revved up about New Years

Resolutions? I've always felt a similar feeling when school starts each September. It's like another mini "new year"

when we can start again. And even though resolutions often focus on our physical or intellectual health, we

shouldn't forget to also check in on our spiritual well being. With the routine of a new school year in full swing

again, what about our routine of prayer? Maybe your reading this and your prayer life rocks. Praise God! I wish I

was more like you. Maybe you're reading this and thinking that cultivating time for prayer in your already packed

days seems daunting and impossible. I understand. Being spiritually healthy doesn't necessarily mean doing an

entire holy hour every day (if you can - amazing!). It's more about learning to place ourselves in the posture of

prayer throughout the ordinary moments of our schedule.

So ask yourself, what kinds of prayer do you find appealing? Do you enjoy listening to Christian radio when

dropping your kids at school or driving to work? Maybe you love reciting a certain devotion before bed or saying a

decade of the rosary throughout the day. Do you find peace in speaking to God in your own words each morning?

There are so many forms of prayer. You're allowed to love some and not others! That's our uniqueness come alive in

our spiritual lives. There's a reason there's no one official prayer we must pray every day to prove our faithfulness.

God sees and loves the individuality of our heart in the way that we find most fulfilling to commune with him.

Mother Teresa once called prayer a "surge of the heart". Beyond trying to choose forms of prayer that we

actually enjoy, building reminders into our days can make it easier for our heart to "surge" towards God. Maybe

even literally - like little alarms on your iPhone that ding and remind you to stop and thank Jesus. I love reading

short prayerful reflections sent to my email every morning. Below I've listed 3 of the daily reflections that have

really helped me grow. If you go to the link listed for each, you can sign up to receive them! As we start this "new

year", I hope you can find renewal in prayerful moments of peace with God.

"Motivation to be a saint direct to your inbox every morning". Short bullet points about the saint of the

day every Monday-Friday!

coffeewithsaints.com

C O F F E E W I T H S A I N T S T H E MORN I N G O F F E R I N G C A T E C H I S M I N A Y E A R

"Starting your morning off with God is the key to strength and success in

your day. Each morning you will receive: Meditation of the Day,

Daily Readings & Gospel, Saint of the Day, Liturgy of the Hours! A fast

and convenient way to start your day off right!"

catholiccompany.com/subscribe- morning-offering.tr

"Join the largest group in human history (120k+) to ever study the

catechism together! Get one email a day (MON-FRI) and cover the

entire catechism in a year!" A daily message with one or two

paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church - quick to read,

and so much to learn!

flocknote.com/catechism

G E T

T O

KNOWQ: How long have you been a priest?

Fr. Steve: I have been Ordained for 30 wonderful years, May 21, 1988

Q: What is your favorite thing about your priestly vocation?

Fr. Steve: Having the blessing of serving in twelve different parish communities since being Ordained, I have

to say my favorite thing about being a priest is the chance to meet, get to know and be involved in the life of

the people of each and every parish. It really does bring me such life.

Q: If you had to eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Fr. Steve: That is an easy one, PASTA (any kind, any sauce).

Q: Do you have a favorite Bible verse? What is it?

Fr. Steve: The Bible verse that was the “theme” (remember this was in the 80’s) for my First Mass of

Thanksgiving and is my favorite verse is Micah 6:8 – “You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what

the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Q: What are you most excited about for this upcoming year as our pastor?

Fr. Steve: New school year, new Religious Education year, all of the parish groups starting for the “new year”,

it’s all about meeting people and journeying with them for me.

Q: What is your best advice for an SJS student who wants to grow closer to Jesus?

Fr. Steve: Talk to Jesus, take time to listen to Jesus, pay attention to the wonderful people that Jesus puts in

your life: parents, teachers, others who help you to grow closer to Jesus each day.

Q: What's your favorite color?

Fr. Steve: Green, it makes me happy.

Fr. Steve Leva

JOIN US ON SEPT. 15 @ 5PM FOR FR. LEVA'S INSTALLATION AS PASTOR!

Michaelmas - Feast of the Archangels

Have you ever heard of Michaelmas? More commonly, at least in the Church in the US, we call September 29th the feast of St. Michael or the feast of the Archangels. But it's traditionally called "Michaelmas" in England. On this September Feast Day, we celebrate and honor the three major Archangels - Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. St. Michael, whose name means “Who is like God?”, fought against Lucifer and the fallen angels and defended the friends of God. St. Gabriel, whose name means “Strength of God”, announced the coming of Jesus to the Virgin Mary and also the coming of John the Baptist to Zachariah. St. Raphael, whose name means “God’s Healing”, is found in the book of Tobit. From fairly early on, Michaelmas was an important holiday beyond even its spiritual importance. It became a kind of Christian equivalent to the autumn equinox. In England, it was considered the start of a new quarter. It marked the beginning of a new business year, a time for electing officials, making contracts, paying rent, hiring servants, holding court and starting school. For our lives of faith, this is a great day to celebrate God's gift of the angels - protectors and sharers in His Divine Life, who can be powerful intercessors for us. So how can you celebrate? Besides reading about the angels in the parts of the Bible where we find them mentioned and maybe praying the St. Michael prayer written by Pope Leo XIII (printed below!) as a family, there are some really fun traditional foods and flowers that you can easily incorporate into your day!

There’s a legend that

says Lucifer fell into a blackberry bush after being expelled from

heaven by St. Michael, who spit on the

blackberries to make them bitter so they couldn't be picked after Michaelmas.

info and ideas from: carrotsformichaelmas.com & feastofstmichael.com

According to a Scottish custom,

women harvested wild carrots on Michaelmas by

digging triangular holes with a three- pronged mattock.

The holes represented St.

Michael’s shield and the mattock his

trident.

The aster flower is also known as

the "Michaelmas Daisy" and is in season in North

America at the end of September.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the

wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke Him, we humbly pray; and do thou O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl around

the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Thoughts or ideas?

Corinne Gannotti,

Campus Minister

cgannotti@stjosephrc.org

LITURGICAL LIVING

Feasts &Holy Days this month...3rd - St. Gregory the Great 5th - St. Teresa of Calcutta 8th - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary 12th - Most Holy Name of Mary 24th - Our Lady of Mercy 26th - Sts. Cosmas & Damian 29th - The Archangels!

Right now in the Liturgical Calendar, it’s Ordinary

Time. So, is there even much to say? Sometimes these

weeks can feel like the “in-betweens” of Catholic living.

We’re not knee deep in penance and fasting with the

glimmer of Easter ahead. We’re not gathered around

an Advent wreath kindling our hearts in hope as we

light each candle. Even though Christmas and Easter

are the big feasts the whole Liturgical Year hinges on,

Ordinary Time makes up most of the Sundays that

we’re in the pews. That’s 33 or 34 weeks each year! It

can’t be that these are just token weekends we have to

sit through until we get to the good stuff. Can it?

The truth is, this period in our cycle of worship is not

meant to be boring, or to leave us feeling like we’re just

waiting for what’s next. Calling it "ordinary" can throw

us off course if we’re not careful. We tend to use that

word to describe things that are plain, unexciting, even

dull. But boring is not what the Church had in mind

when titling these weeks on the calendar at Vatican II.

Ordinary Time can also be called Ordinal Time, which

gets us closer to its root meaning. Ordinal comes from

the Latin “ordinalis,” meaning “showing order,

denoting an order of succession”. So, Ordinary Time is

the standard, orderly time outside of the other

liturgical seasons.

Ordinary TimeOkay, standard and ordered. We’re still sounding a

little…bland. But we have to consider what standard we

are in fact ordering here. And that’s where we’ll find

the beauty and incredible grace in the rhythm of these

weeks in Ordinary Time.

These Sundays draw us into the narrative of Christ’s

life – what it looked and felt like in the world Jesus lived.

These are the stories of healing and grace, the

teachings of beatitude and calling to forgiveness that

show us what it means to be a disciple. What is

“standard” and “ordered” to the Christian is a walk in

the way of Jesus, and that is not ordinary looking to the

world we live in! During Ordinary Time, we're invited to

continue to grow with Jesus in the nitty gritty of our

real life so that we’re prepared to follow him to Calvary

and then rejoice in his Resurrection. This is why

it’s fitting that the liturgical color designated for this

season is green – a color of growth, life, and vitality. It’s

a visual reminder to us of what should be going on

in our hearts. If you’re tempted to believe that this is

just another week until we get to the real Catholic stuff,

look to the vestments of Fr. Rossi at mass. Be reminded

that we are growing closer to Jesus who says, “I am the

vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5) and wants to

give us his life every day of the year.