Holy Week Message from Fr. Sebastian

Dear Parish Family,
 
I pray that during this Holy Week you and your families are staying safe and healthy. Our Lenten journey is culminating this week and truly, we have been thrust into a new type of isolated wilderness. Just as our Lord traveled the Judean wilderness, experiencing the barrenness and loneliness of that place we too have been shut off from friends, work, play and most importantly the celebration of the Sunday Mass as a Parish Family. Please know that Fr. John, Fr. Bernie, our Deacons and myself are praying for all of you and anxiously awaiting the day when we can all worship together again on Sundays.

Below you will find information regarding the live streaming liturgical celebrations of the Holy Triduum and Resurrection of the Lord. At the Easter Vigil we will be blessing Holy Water to be distributed in 1,500 bottles. I invite you to come to the main church on Easter Sunday between the hours of 9:00am and 1:00pm to pick up a Holy Water bottle. It has been weeks since the fonts in the Church were emptied and we would like all of you to have a bottle of Holy Water in your homes in which to bless yourself with Easter water to remind ourselves of our Baptism and our commitment to the Baptismal waters. The bottles will be on a table in front of the main doors to the Church. When you come by this weekend to pick up your Holy Water bottle, we invite you to drop off your rice bowl donations. Boxes will be placed outside the main doors of the Church for their collection.

I want to thank the many Parishioners who dropped by the Historic Church last weekend to pick up their palms. We are happy that you were able to participate in this ancient custom of the Church that is so important to all of us. I also want to thank all those who have continued to financially support the Parish during this time of absence. The generosity of our Parish never ceases to amaze me.
In the days since the suspension of the public Masses the exterior renovation of the Main Church continued and finished on schedule and under budget. I want to thank the Building Team members who guided this project from start to finish. I want to also thank the School teachers and aids, the RCIA leaders, PREP staff and volunteers, Youth Ministry and Office Staff who have continued the work of keeping the Parish alive and active during this time of social distancing. I want to especially thank the volunteers at our Food Bank who have continued to supply those in most need with food and other essentials.
 
We would like to welcome Deacon Clay Ludwig to the Parish! Deacon Clay is scheduled to be ordained to the Priesthood for our Diocese this June and will be in residence at the Parish until he returns to Rome in the Fall.
     

• Each livestream will begin 5 minutes before the scheduled start of the liturgy and will appear both on our Facebook page and our website: www.stjosephsjax.org. You may want to refresh the page a few minutes before the start of a broadcast to find the post.

                      NOTE: A Facebook account is NOT required to watch
 
Daily Reflections with Fr. John Sollee:
Posted every day on our parish social media platforms and on our YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/c/StJosephsCatholicChurchJacksonville?sub_confirmation=1

We encourage you all to subscribe to our YouTube channel. If we reach 1,000 subscribers, we can livestream using this outlet as well!
 
Let us stay close to the risen Jesus, the Divine Physician and implore the intercession of the Blessed Mother and our beloved patron St. Joseph to overcome our sufferings with their love. In Christ the victory will be ours.
 
A Blessed Easter to all of you!
 
Fr. Sebastian