St. Joseph's feast day

[Forgiven :-)]

Is his feast day Friday, or do we observe it on Sunday?
Thanks.

[Estelle]

Hi, Barb, nice hearing from you again. Our parish is St Joseph and we're celebrating it tomorrow. The office will be opening later than usual so the staff can attend the Hospitality after the 9 AM mass.

In His arms,
Estelle

[David W. Emery]

The Solemnity of St. Joseph, foster father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is celebrated in the Latin Rite this year (2010) on Friday, March 19. It is not a holy day of obligation, so you are not required to attend Mass that day. And for that same reason, the celebration is not normally transferrable to Sunday. In addition, because it is a solemnity and falls on a Friday in Lent, the abstinence normally required on that Friday is abrogated; you can eat meat if you want to.

Sunday, March 21, is celebrated this year as the Fifth Sunday of Lent. It will be a special day for me, since I will be celebrating 47 years as a Catholic, having received baptism as an adult on that date in 1963.

David

[Forgiven :-)]

Congrats, David.  How blessed you are!

[Forgiven :-)]

Hi, Estelle!

I'm really getting scared.  Am I crazy???  Catholic???
I hope this is normal.

[Estelle]

Dear Barb,
I"m a revert not a convert so I really can't answer specifically. But what I do know is any transitional period is filled with doubts.  When you're at Point A everything is fine. When you get used to being at Point B everything will be fine (always allowing for the adjustment period). It's the getting from Point A to Point B that'll drive you crazy every time.

So as Monsignor Chris taught us breath slowly in and out repeating Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And remember to smile! Calm is the right of every child of God and this works very well.

Always in my prayers as we're all always
In His arms,
Estelle

[Intercessor]

I'm really getting scared.  Am I crazy???  Catholic???
I hope this is normal.

Barb, your feelings sound pretty normal to me.  I went through the same thing.  It helped me to spend extra time in Adoration and with Catholic friends.  Satan often makes a strong effort to discourage people who are getting close to coming into the Church.  I hope you can find peace just having a simple heart-to-heart talk with Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament.  (You'll perhaps need to go more than once.  I did.  )

Keep the faith,
Becky

[paddyspets]

Thank God he supplies grace to get us from Point A to Point Z!!  I'm a revert too, LOVE that turn of a phrase.  My hubby is a convert (being confirmed on Holy Saturday), so I deal with a lot of questions all day long.  He's had moments of being scared too, but talking with our Monsignor and others in our Faith, really has helped him see God's hand in all of this. 

We are caretakers for my parents, and the job can be so seemingly overwhelming--I don't really know how anyone survives a day without the Lord and saints to 'have thier back' so to speak.  We have been unable to go to church on a regular basis since having Dad at home, he is on a vent and needs our support 24/7; so the prayers of the faithful have been such a blessing during some of the long hours.   Some days dealing with hospitals, insurance, doctors, pharmacies can have me wanting to run for cover.  But Dad has been a rock thru all of it (as has my hubby!).  Today I was wondering down the halls from the ICU, feeling the pressure starting to get to me, I suddenly had a desire to cry out "Abba, Father"--such a short prayer, but I could feel God's grace fill me and help strengthen me. 

Sometimes I think we can get wrapped up in learning the saints lives, and all the rules and regs as I call them of the Church, that we forget what a loving and forgiving and strong Father we have!!

Grace and Peace, Paddy

[Intercessor]

Sunday, March 21, is celebrated this year as the Fifth Sunday of Lent. It will be a special day for me, since I will be celebrating 47 years as a Catholic, having received baptism as an adult on that date in 1963.

David

Congratulations, David, on 47 years in the Catholic Church.  I thank God every day for bringing me into the Church.  Though it has been almost half a century for you, you probably still have moments when you are just amazed by how God led you to the Truth.

Grace and peace,
Becky

[David W. Emery]

…you probably still have moments when you are just amazed by how God led you to the Truth.

I certainly do, Becky. He tapped my shoulder at such an early age that I had no real chance to deviate very far. It has to be grace.

David

[Dave Armstrong]

I have only 19 years as a Catholic, but I am certainly amazed, too, how the whole process occurred for me, in less than a year's time. I would have been like Chesterton said, before that: thinking it was no more likely that I would have become a Catholic than that I would become a cannibal.  And I wasn't anti-Catholic, but there were so many differences I wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams becoming a Catholic. Yet God made it happen.

[Talithacumi]

Sunday, March 21, is celebrated this year as the Fifth Sunday of Lent. It will be a special day for me, since I will be celebrating 47 years as a Catholic, having received baptism as an adult on that date in 1963.

David

Well, David, seems we have something in common. In Catholic years we're the same age - actually I'm a little older than you (in "Catholic years," that is)  ; I was baptized a Catholic in September of '62, a month after I was born.

JMJ
- Cheri

[Ruan]

David, - 47 years! How wonderful! Do you have a story of your conversion somewhere for us to see?

I was almost converted in 1961 but my parents didn't approve. The priest wouldn't even consider teaching me the faith without my parents' permission. And what would he have done with a 14-year-old American girl in Peru, when all other children were taught the faith in a very organized, progressive way in formal classes? I became Catholic at 42 instead. I wish I would have had more courage and been stronger in those early years. My life would have taken such a different path. The road I took is giving me difficulties to this day.

So congratulations! You have been blessed to have received the strenthening Sacraments all these years.

Ruthie

[David W. Emery]

I faced a similar situation to yours early on, Ruthie. And after I entered the Church a few years later, I had to contend with the wild times following the Second Vatican Council. Somehow, the Lord preserved my faith, and eventually life began to return to normal, only to be shattered once again by illness —first my own, then my wife’s. My journey of faith in those early years can be found in bits and pieces throughout the forum. Here are a few examples:

Link One
Link Two
Link Three

David

[Talithacumi]

David, I glanced at the links you put up and I just have to say... you must have been one very bright kid! To have been influenced by St. Thomas Aquinas at the ripe old age of... 12? I always knew you were intelligent, but dang! 

I guess it's no wonder I've always thought of you as one of the wisest people I know...

JMJ
- Cheri