Information about St. Joseph - Patron of Buffalo NY

St. Joseph is the "principal patron" of the Diocese of Buffalo! Everything you need to know about St. Joseph, whose Solemnity we celebrate on 19 March, is available at http://www.churchyear.net/stjoseph.html.

For those who want to go deeper into the theology of St. Joseph, we highly recommend Blessed John Paul the Great's "Redemptoris Custos" http://bit.ly/xwJhld





Here is a short video highlighting the beauty of St. Joseph's Cathedral of the Diocese of Buffalo:

Music Notes for March 18

        Today’s first reading is the thrilling conclusion of the books of Chronicles, which recap the genealogies of Genesis and then narrate a history of the kings of Israel and Judah. This is the backdrop against which the lives of the prophets unfold (the “messengers” which the kings failed to heed). Some of the kings were reformers who were able to fend off the influence of their pagan neighbors. Others were weak and corrupt and gave in to foreign influence.  In the end, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were exiled to Babylon for 70 years. Their liberator was King Cyrus of Persia, who defeated the Babylonians. We last heard about Cyrus in the liturgy of October 16, when Isaiah makes clear that even gentiles have a role to play in God’s plan.

       Psalm 137 is one of the great laments of the Babylonian exile. It is one of the better-known psalms because it was set to music in Godspell as “On the Willows,” though a footnote in my Bible assures me that they were aspens!  Perhaps we can reflect on the sense in which we as Christians live as exiles in an increasingly worldly culture in which many feel alienated. How can we sing the Lord’s songs in a foreign land?  Do we hold up to scrutiny the underlying assumptions of our economy, our politics, our entertainment?  Here again, resurrection – the return to Jerusalem – is preceded by death. Since we are “God’s work of art,” as St. Paul tells the Ephesians, God is only too ready to provide a second chance, and not because of any project of ours. John 3:16 is probably the most famous gospel passage of all, but those who love to quote it stop too soon: “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.” How often do we hear words of condemnation and judgment from politicians and preachers?

       Perhaps we should pray that St. Patrick drive the snakes from our country!  Three of our hymns this weekend use Irish tunes. “Lord of All Hopefulness” also alludes to Jesus’ presumed training under Joseph’s tutelage: “[his] strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe.” At our 11:30 celebration, the choir will sing Sir John Stainer’s setting of “God So Loved the World,” from his oratorio The Crucifixion, and a setting of the Irish blessing as a special benediction on the occasion of Fr. Fifagrowicz’ 50th jubilee and 75th birthday.

Christmas basics

Here is a list of some of the basic words, images, facts, and practices of Advent and Christmas.

*the word "Christmas" is a combination of two words "Christ" and "Mass."

*the word "Nativity" is often used at this time of year.  It means "birth" and refers to the Birth of Jesus.

*the word "incarnation" is used to describe the fundamental Christian belief that the Son of God (the second Person of the Trinity) became a man. John's Gospel begins with a beautiful prologue that tells us that "the Word became flesh."

*Advent is the preparation period before Christmas.  We prepare for the coming of Jesus 1) in time, 2) at the end of time, and 3) into our hearts here and now.

*the four Sundays of Advent are marked by an Advent Wreath.  It is common in the United States to have three purple candles and one pink candle.  The pink candle is lit on the 3rd Sunday of Advent. The 3rd Sunday of Advent is sometimes called Gaudete Sunday which means "rejoice" Sunday.

*Jesus (a form of the name Joshua) means "savior."

*Messiah is a Hebrew title meaning "anointed one."  The Greek title for "anointed one" is CHRIST.  It is NOT Jesus' last name.

*a commonly used title for Jesus during Advent is "emmanuel."  This means God-with-us in Hebrew.

*the stories about the birth of Jesus are found in two Gospels - Matthew and Luke. These are sometimes called the "infancy narratives." We encourage you to read the first two chapters of Matthew and the first two chapters of Luke.

*in ancient Nativity icons, like the one above, Mary is often shown with three stars on her clothing (her two shoulders and her head). These stars symbolize her perpetual virginity. She was, by God's grace, a virgin before, during and after the birth of Jesus.

*the Eucharist figures in the stories of Jesus' birth.  He was born in Bethlehem which means "house of bread;" He was placed in a manger which is the feeding place for cattle.  He is our Bread of Life.

*a 14 point silver star now marks the spot where Jesus was believed to have been born.  It is in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The number 14 is "David's number."  That is why 14 is mentioned so often in the beginning of Matthew's Gospel.

*the swaddling clothes of Jesus at the beginning of His earthly life are meant to prefigure His burial garments at the end of His earthly life.

*the Bible never says how many Magi visited Jesus and Mary. Traditionally, since three gifts are mentioned in Matthew's Gospel, three Magi are shown in art. They were later given the names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. Catholics will sometimes mark their doorways on the Feast of the Epiphany (when the visit of the Magi is celebrated) with the year and the Magi initials.  Here's an example:  20+C+M+B+15.

*Although the Feast of the Epiphany is now celebrated on a Sunday in the Christmas Season, formerly it was fixed on 6 January.  From Christmas to Epiphany was called the "Twelve Days of Christmas."

*the Gospels do not call the Magi "kings."  The notion of calling them "kings" comes from Psalm 72:10.

*gold symbolizes the kingship of Jesus, frankincense symbolizes the divinity of Jesus, and myrrh symbolizes the death of Jesus.

*to show that the Magi represent all people coming to Christ, artists and creche figurines often show the Magi as men of different races. Another way of showing this "universality" is to show one magus with a long beard (old), one with a short beard (middle aged) and one without a beard (young).

Children's Pageant at St. Benedict's
Christmas Eve, 2014

*since the time of St. Francis of Assisi, we often combine the two Gospel stories (Matthew and Luke) into a creche scene.  Sometimes these creche scenes are live ("Living Nativity Scenes"), with children playing the roles of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, etc.  Note, for example, that only Luke's Gospel mentions shepherds and only Matthew's Gospel mentions the Magi.

*often, many types of animals are included in creche scenes; however, two animals are symbolically important and should never be absent from a creche scene - the ox and the donkey.  They are included because of a prophetic verse in the Book of Isaiah (1:3): The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

*the Christmas Season ends at the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

ADVENT 101 - Preparing for the Birth of our Savior

Statues of St. Benedict's

St. Benedict - transept
explanation below

We are blessed with many beautiful works of art in our parish. Our windows are truly spectacular, as is the Gothic architecture of our church building.  However, for Catholics, it goes without saying that all art pales in comparison with the glory of God and the glory of His people.  We Catholics surround ourselves with sacred images to remind us of our family. We never worship images; we worship only God. But we never worship alone.

Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about sacred art : 

2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."(Heb 1:3; Col 2:9). This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.

Our statues of Jesus are the most important of course. Here is the crucifix over our altar. Jesus is the center of our Church and the center of our parish.



Crucifix in natural light

On the right side of the main altar, we have a side altar dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  As you know, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is also shown in the western transept window as well. It is a presentation of Jesus, accenting his humanity, that comes from the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. 

Perhaps the one statue of Jesus that needs explanation is the small Infant of Prague statue in the transept.

Here the Child Jesus is shown crowned and holding a globe surmounted by a Cross. This signifies Christ's Kingship over all. His right hand is shown in the traditional symbolic gesture used on icons and art work of Christ. The two fingers symbolize the hypostatic union (Jesus is BOTH God and man). The three fingers symbolize the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Mary, whose titles include the "Blessed Virgin" and "Theotokos" (Mother of God), is well represented at St. Benedict's.  Here are some photos of our statutes of Mary...

Mary statue with Butterfly plant - Main Street

snake at base of Marian statue - detail
see Genesis 3:15 - the protoevangelion
and Revelation 12 - "the moon under her feet"

face of Mary - side altar statue, detail

Mary with Christ Child - rectory garden

We have a wonderful statue of St. Joseph in our transept.  St. Joseph is the Patron saint of the whole Church and of the Diocese of Buffalo.  That is why Joseph gets a special place opposite our parish patron, Benedict.

St. Joseph - transept



St. Joseph and the Child Jesus - detail



Our patron, Saint Benedict, is also one of the patrons of Europe and of monks.Our transept statue was the first one in this article. He is shown as an abbot carrying a crozier and the Rule of his Benedictine Order (the book he carries).  Benedict is often shown with a dove as well.  He saw the soul of his sister, St. Scholastica (we have a window of her in the sacristy), rise to heaven like a dove.

Here is our outside statue of St. Benedict on the Eggert Road side of the church.

St. Benedict - outside, Eggert Road

St. Francis of Assisi, Il Poverello (the little poor one) also has statues inside and outside of our church. Here is our inside statue of Deacon Francis:

St. Francis - inside

skull from base of St. Francis statue - Sister Death
  

St. Francis, school garden
in remembrance of the Franciscan Sisters who taught in our school


St. Anthony of Padua has a statue in our transept. Here he is shown with the Child Jesus. He is often invoked to help find lost objects.

St. Anthony of Padua - transept statue

The two patron saints of missionaries are represented in St. Benedict's. There is a transept window of the great Jesuit, St. Francis Xavier (who did mission work in Asia).

There is a statue of the great Carmelite, St. Therese of Lisieux (who wanted to be a missionary but could not).  St. Therese is sometimes called the "Little Flower."  Known for her great humility, her statue is an obvious place to end this presentation.

St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower - transept

Pastor's Sabbatical - 3rd Post - Israel



Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth



26 March 2011
Time seems to go very quickly here. They are keeping us busy with classes on a variety of topics and with going to the station churches around Rome. They are early morning walks to the churches and back for classes. It has been great. There are thirty priests taking part in the program I am in. Most of them are from around the United States and a couple from Canada and two from New Zealand. They bring a nice mix to the experience.


Ancient Mosaic from 4th-5th Century ruins of Sepphoris



In the middle of the program they offer a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and that is what I am on right now. We flew down to Tel Aviv on Thursday and we started traveling around to the different Holy Sites. On Friday we traveled along the Mediterranean to Ancient Ceasarea Meritima ruins which was the site of the first Gentile baptism by St. Peter. St. Paul was also imprisoned there for two years while awaiting a ship to Rome for his trail as a Roman citizen. Then we went on to the tel site of Meggido. A tel is a mound or a hill that has been created over the centuries by one city being destroyed and another one built on top of it. At Meggido there was twenty six cities built on top of each other. It is amazing to see the excavations that have been done over the years and to history they uncover. After that we went to Haifa and Mt Carmel, which was the foundation of the Carmelite Order and the site of Elijah's showdown with Jezebel's prophets. We celebrated mass over the Cave of Elijah's cave. It sometimes is referred to as the cave of the Madonna for one tradition said the holy family stayed there on the way to Nazareth from Egypt. As you can tell there is a lot of history and powerful religious experiences that we are having.

This morning we got up early and packed up the bus and headed out from Mt Carmel and traveled to Haifa to the Mt of Beatitudes near the Sea of Galilee. On the way we celebrated mass at Cana, the site of Jesus' first miracle of water into wine, and then on to Seogirus (Zippori) which was an ancient Herodian style city. There were some great mosaics there that go back to the 4-5th century.

Dormition of St. Joseph

After lunch in Nazareth we went to the Basilica of the Annunciation. I came to the Holy Land once before, about 20 years ago, on a Catholic and Greek Orthodox pilgrimage and remember this church as well as the church next to it dedicated to St Joseph.

The Basilica of the Annunciation is a modern church built in the 60's very modern and large but not impressive as a building but only impressive to me as a place where Mary gave her Fiat, "let your will be done." It has brought back many great memories of my first experience and my thoughts and prayers have gone out to Fr Nick Raffael who put my first pilgrimage together. He has passed on a few years ago but I still hear his passion and excitement for being in this Holy Land. If you would, please remember Fr Nick in your prayers and all of us who are on pilgrimage this time, that this journey continues to deepen our faith and enlivens our passion for the gospel message and our ability to share it with others.


Celebrating Mass at the Church of St. Peter's Home, near Sea of Galilee


We end our journey today at the Church of the Beatitudes and the pilgrim house on the grounds which overlook the sea of Galilee. It is beautiful to be here.



Excavation St. Peter's home, Galilee

  Tomorrow (Sunday) we go to Capernaum and to Ceasarea Philippi. I am sure it will be a busy and powerful day. I have good a internet connection today so I am able to send this out, I hope tomorrow night to be able to write more. Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and at the Mass I celebrate each day.

God Bless
Fr Joe Porpiglia

this Sabbatical Blog post - http://bit.ly/f2SW3P
second Sabbatical Blog post - http://bit.ly/fjOok3
first Sabbatical Blog post - http://bit.ly/e9U9eS
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fourth Sabbatical Blog post - http://bit.ly/eGqwHK
fifth Blog post - http://bit.ly/epVav4

St. Joseph's Day Table March 20

The St. Joseph's Day Table was a huge success!

Thank you for joining us.

Please make plans to join us again next year.

A special "thank you" to all our volunteers!

The photos are in...

The St. Vincent de Paul Society (http://bit.ly/f7egIy) is sponsoring a St. Joseph Table on March 20th 2011 at 4:00 pm at Saint Benedict Church, 1317 Eggert Rd. Amherst, NY. There will only be one seating at 4:00 pm. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $5.00 for children who are having spaghetti only. There will be only 200 tickets sold, but we will offer take out service for families of 4. Tickets will be on sale after all Masses and in the rectory.

For information or tickets please call Agnes at 832-2086 or email mattandag@mac.com

Here's the menu:
*Zuppe- Lentils and Rice
    (A time honored St. Joseph's Day tradition to start the meal)
*An Intermezzo of Hard-boiled Egg, Orange, and a Relish Tray.
*Pasta Consardi
    (A full flavored red sauce with sardine over spaghetti - red sauce available)
*Insalata-
   (A fresh, Italian fully dressed salad.)
*Entree
   (A Loin of Cod, Stuffed Hot Peppers & Fritattas of Spinach/Artichoke)
*Desserts of Cannoli, Cookies and Coffee

THANK YOU and Viva San Giuseppe!
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