Today’s Scriptures present two significant feminine figures: Sarah, wife of Abraham, and Mary, sister of Martha. Both lived with deep, unfulfilled longings—Sarah for a child and Mary for more time with the Lord God affirms their hungers and satisfies them. Like Sarah and Mary, God invites us to discern the spiritual yearning which reside within our souls.

Liturgical Commission Publishings, Diocese of Lansing, Lansing, MI

Marianna Moscato, Frank T. Wright ,John Bickel, Leta Knox, Josephine Licata and for our deceased soldiers, and all of our deceased relatives and friends.

3:30 to 9 pm

Carew Hall

Contact Outreach to schedule.

Rob Barello Susan Bateman Frank Belsito

Maureen A.Berdon John Biglin Matthew Boland

Jean Boland Mary E. Bowers Charles Bratisax

William J. Brodie Kathy Butler James Butler

Jennifer Carlisle Bob Catalano Mercedes Chipe

Emmanuel Coby Al Croce Josephine D’Agostino

Joan DeCicco Edward Delprete David DeParis

Rose Dicanio Dylan DiLauro Theresa Donnelly

Maggie Errico Anna Esposito Louis Fava

Keith Ferraro Robert Filce Mary Ellen Flynn

Michael Flynn Mary Forsythe Joseph Fortier

Catherine Gracey Ed Hansen David Hoffman

Patti Hunt Warren Johnson Wayne E. Kalish

Joseph F. Koenig Ashlee LaRocca Samantha LaRocca

Evelyn Lombardi Georgiana Lopez Kevin McCollum

Richard McKenna Juliana McLarne Brett Meyers

Marie Minto Rosann Moscato William Mytok

Anita L. Nanry Tom Nanry Sam Nettles

Timothy M. Nigro Christine Paglino Edward Percesepe

Grace Peshkur Molly Piccirillo Artie Plouffe’, Jr.

Eleanor Purcaro Michelina Raia Santo Rodriguez

Sal Romagnuolo Rose Russo Joyce E. Ryan

Diana Sacia Robert Safarian Cathy Savage

Louise Schaaf Theresa Schiano Mario Schiano

William Schmelzer Linda Stultz Stacie Tizzard

George Tizzard, Jr. Marlene Urban Adam Vaneron

Mckayla Vilsant Gladys Zapata

5:00 pm Fr. Liu 5:00 pm Fr. Thomas

7:00 am Fr. Boyle 7:00 am Fr. Liu

9:00 am Fr. Boyle 9:00 am Fr. Thomas

10:30 am Fr. Butler 10:30 am Fr. Butler

12:00 pm Fr. Thomas 12:00 pm Fr. Maffeo

5:00 pm Fr. Butler 5:00 pm Fr Boyle

7:00 Robert J. & Joseph C. Hennessy requested by Family

7:00 For The Intentions of the Celebrant

9:00 Julia Joyce requested by Debra Hartmann

9:00 Mary Aiello requested by The Spatola Family

10:30 Robert Christopher Ingoglia (living)

requested by Thomas DuBritz & Son

10:30 Lena Vero requested by Loving Friend

10:30 Lily Scuccimari requested by Mr. & Mrs. Restivo

12:00 For The People of the Parish

12:00 John Hale requested by Mr. & Mrs. Peter Klos

5:00 Joseph Rufino requested by the Buonpane Family

5:00 Diane Bretz requested by Joanne Sprague

7:00 Evan J. Conte requested by Mr. & Mrs. Michael Timo

9:00 John J. Mulligan requested by loving family

9:00 Mr. Maldonado requested by Mr. & Mrs. Coltelluccio

7:00 Vincent Picciano requested by Henry & Annette Mullaney

9:00 Maureen York requested by Judith DiGiovanni

9:00 Anthony Alfieri requested by Bill & Louise Schaaf

7:00 Gary Bennett requested by Mr. & Mr. Cauchi

9:00 Theresa DeFilippo, 17^th Anniversary

requested by Marie DeFilippo

9:00 Robert Edling requested by The Wilson Family

7:00 For Our Beloved Dead

9:00 Salvatore Valensisi requested by Mr. & Mrs. Michael Timo

9:00 Helen Antista requested by Barbara Reidy & Eugene Sicoli

9:00 Carolina Cavaliere requested by Loving Granddaughter

7:00 Rev. John Serrano

9:00 Harry Ballard requested by Loving Wife

9:00 Alfonzo Hidalgo requested by Angela Hidalgo & Paul Schwartz

8:00 Josephine Murray (living)

requested by Thomas DuBritz & Son

8:00 Harry J. Corcoran requested by Gale & Rich Ocenasek

5:00 William Ashley requested by Joseph Sheldrick

5:00 Mildred Fennessey requested by Maureen Brady

5:00 Kim Ruscito requested by Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Fey

7:00 For The People of the Parish

9:00 Knights of Columbus & Columbiettes

9:00 Knights of Columbus & Columbiettes

10:30 Edie Ryan requested by The Reberio Family

10:30 Edwin Anderson requested by Jim & Cathy Foy

10:30 Vincent Suppa requested by Michael & JoAnn Turkovich

12:00 Dorothy Kind requested by Loving Daughters & Family

12:00 Glenn Seaman, Sr. requested by Jim DeMaio

5:00 Joseph Rufino requested by Natalie & Yan Buonpane

5:00 Robert Hiller requested by Mr. & Mrs. Giralto

IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO BRING UP THE GIFTS AT THE MASSES ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY, PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF THE USHERS WHEN YOU ARRIVE FOR MASS.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be denied her.” Every time this gospel passage is read, I always think of all those who have hosted a dinner party and how upset they get with Jesus. How dare Jesus give Martha that response when all she wants is Mary to help her. Doesn’t Jesus realize all the work Martha is doing and its all for Him? Of course, He does, and Jesus appreciates that it is a great art to host a dinner and make everything right. After all its more than just the food and drink, it’s preparing the right atmosphere, and the guest must be made to feel that they are right at home. Martha certainly fits the definition of a great hostess, and she does want to make sure everything is just so-who could blame her? For her special guest in none other than Jesus and she will never have a more important person share her table!

But that is the whole point, and that is why Jesus answers Martha, the way He does. Yes, Martha you will never have a more important guest than Jesus, so don’t fuss so much about unimportant things that you let this great opportunity pass you by. Don’t focus on the meal that you do not hear a word that Jesus says. Mary has indeed chosen the better part, and she will not allow anyone or anything to come between her and Jesus.

We see this same principle at work in our 1^st Reading, when Abraham realizes that the one who is walking by his tent is God Himself. Abraham tells God that since He has come so close to His servant, not pass by so quickly but to spend some time with him. Abraham begs God to stay and let him bring out some food and drink, and of course, God accepts. God accepts because He too wishes to spend time with Abraham and share with him the news about Isaac’s future birth and what He plans to do about the cities on the plain. Abraham, unlike Martha, knows what is important, gives God his undivided attention, and won’t let God pass him by.

This is a great lesson for us to take to heart. How often do we focus on the things of this life that we don’t pay attention to God? How often do we sometimes pay so much attention to the practices of our Faith that we truly forget that they are here to bring us closer to the one we just let pass by because we were not paying attention-just like Martha? How many times do we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and don’t appreciate whom it is we just received into our souls, or perhaps fail to act like Jesus when we leave Mass (especially in the parking lot)? How many times have we failed to see Jesus in one another and at times not truly helped Jesus in the least of our brothers and sisters as commanded in Mt. Chapter 25? Martha, Martha you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing and that is Jesus. Please, do not let the great opportunities when Jesus comes into your life pass you by, don’t get so caught up with that which is so unimportant that you let the unimportant interfere with that which is truly important.

This Wednesday the Summer Family Festival begins, it seems like last year’s just ended, and here we are starting all over again. Please come out and support this major parish event. Please come out and share in all of the fun, the rides and game, and all of the excitement. Please come out and help support our beloved St. Joseph’s. You will have a great time-would I lie?

Remember the Monday Evenings of Prayer on the Rectory Lawn at 7 PM during the month of August. Bring your love for the Lord, your voice to add to the great power of prayer, a lawn chair and maybe a dessert. See you there for what hopes to be an annual event in the parish.

We are still taking requests for the Memorial Bricks in the front of the church. The donation for the bricks is $1,800 and it can be paid over a period of 3 years. All of the proceeds will continue to go to the Parish Preservation & Restoration Fund, and will be used to maintain the buildings of the parish over the course of the years. This is a wonderful way to remember a loved one or show your continued support for our parish. If you have placed orders previously we are working on them-at times we need to compile enough in order to send it in to the manufacturer. Thank you, as always for your continued prayers and support for all we do for St. Joseph’s.

Please continue to remember them in your prayers.

Cpl.

Cpl. Jason Bertran Cpl. Michael Bruno

Cpt. Kevin Connolly Spc. Thomas E. Corcoran

Cpt. Edward Cuevas Col. Stephen Czerwinski

Sgt. Stephen DiGirolamo Pvt. Matthew DiNardo

Lt. John DiNero SFC Raymond Fulton

SSG Jeremy Garcia Cpt. Evan Gotkin

Cpt. Jennifer Gotkin Sgt. Steven Knight

PFC Brian Lawson SPC Adam Mackey

GM2 Gerard McGarity Sgt. Patrick McNally

Andy Mezador Spc. Tristin Mortensen

Cpt. Gregory Mueller SSG Joey Napolitano

L/Cpl Michael Napolitano L/Cpl. Thomas Napolitano

L/Cpl. James Neubauer COP Johnathan Norris

PFC Anthony Notaroberta SPC. Brian Pacella

PFC Christopher Reid Sgt. Edwin Rivera, II

SRA Jason Schiavo PO2 Roger Schoverling

Spc. Rudy Schoverling SSG Thomas J. Valentino

Maj. Edward Ward Cpl. Mark Ward

Cpl. Zachary Wilga SSG Dusty Williamson

Every Monday evening at 7PM we will pray the Rosary, sing songs of Glory & Praise, hear the word of God and share fellowship. Where? On the Rectory lawn (bring your own chair and maybe a dessert) In case of rain, we will meet in the church.

We are nearing completion of entering the survey information in to the computer. We hope to have an overview back to you early in August (please remember that next week is the festival). One of the big things we are learning is that we have not done a sufficient job in getting information out to the parish. Demographics explains much of this ( about 1500 of the 5500 families attend mass on a regular basis. This makes it very difficult to get information out to everyone).

This week we would like to talk about the Convent. A number of people have commented our “our decision about the convent.” First, we must say, there is no decision about the convent. Our original intention was to move the Religious Education Office out of the backyard and into the convent with the chapel and dining room fixed up as meeting space. When we took out the walls and ceiling, we discovered that work done when the original church was converted into the convent would require more work than the originally planned insulation and wall board. Msgr Midura felt that the roof (which needs replacing) should be done before any money be spent inside. He did not want to waste the parishioners’ money should the roof fail before replacement. The estimates for the new roof ran about $150,000.

As those moneys were being put aside, the heating system in the rectory failed, in a major way. Repair was not an option. The pipes throughout the building were rusting through. To fix the original leak, six and a half feet of pipe had to be removed to insure a proper repair. The only way to remedy the problem was to remove and replace the entire system back to the boilers in the church basement. This extraordinary job used all the moneys being put aside for the convent roof. The good news was that we did not have to go the parish for the $150,000, the bad news is that it didn’t go into the convent roof.

And so here we are, the maintenance dept has been told that they are to clean up the grounds around the convent (it bothers you when you see it on weekends, it drives us crazy everyday of the week). We are investigating the most cost effective and prudent use of this building, which is so much a part of our history. One possibility is to turn it into the priests’ residence and move the Religious Education offices into the rectory building. This would be less expensive than the required changes to make the convent “office space”. And so, as I said, we continue to dream, plan and hope.

One thing that has become clear is that we can not keep going to “the well”. This means we must all start to pitch in with our time and our talents. The parish can not afford to hire outside companies and is finding it increasingly difficult to pay those presently on the payroll. The future is up to us all. Many generations have struggled to make St Joseph the unique parish it is. We must step up and shoulder our part of that legacy.

FOOD SUPPORT—Your donations of food and staple items is always appreciated. Kindly leave them in the front of Mary’s statue in the Church before or after Mass.

687 envelopes $12,024

Loose collection 2,139

Total Last Sunday $ 14,163

Same collection last year 14,091

Poor Box last weekend 100

American Mission Collection ‘04 1,124

‘03.1,158

Thank you to those who have upped their pledges. We received a total of $ 6,620 in increases this year.

Pledged to date $1,126,830

Paid to date 993,438

Scrip sales last week $9,745

Same period last year 11,465

Gross Profit 462

Congratulations to this week’s winners!!!

July 04 $50 #656 V & C SanFilippo

July 05 $25 #726 Louis & Georgian Lopez

July 06 $25 #061 MaryAnn Schaudel

July 07 $25 #165 John Fox

July 08 $25 #464 Sam & Michael Ferrara

July 09 $25 #280 Joseph F. Kessler

July 10 $25 #256 Karen Mulligan

(Third Time)

Parishioner, John Jauregui was recently elevated to the rank of Eagle Scout. John, who began Boy Scouts in our parish troop and is now a member of Troop 439, was presented with his Eagle Badge and given fitting testimony to his character and achievements at his Eagle Court of Honor last month on June 4th.