Greetings in Christ, all!
On Friday morning I left for the Good News Cruise. I will be home to pray the Masses next weekend. The Good News Cruise is a real joy and a lot of work. Please pray that I am faithful and do a good job. Know that I will offer Mass every day with you all in my heart and prayers.
Please pray for Fr. Le too. It can be unnerving to be the only guy, especially in this month, when so many of the retired priests are away.
We’ve got some cool Catholic traditions coming up this week. First, is February 2nd. On this day we celebrate Candlemas. We invite you to bring any of your candles to the 8 am Mass to be blessed, along with the blessing of the candles we use in church.
On February 3rd, we celebrate the feast of St. Blaise, the patron saint of those afflicted with illnesses of the throat. Traditionally, we have a blessing after Mass for any who are interested. It’s a short and wonderful blessing.
I have some extra room here so I want to remind you that we have a Podcast and a YouTube channel where I do teachings and catechesis, as well as Question & Answer sessions. We have a very large podcast audience and it really is a lot of fun and an important ministry. You can find the podcast by searching “Joe In Black Ministries” on your favorite Podcast Provider and/or YouTube channel.
Final note, I am working on finishing my thank you notes from Christmas this year. I was so blessed by how many of you wrote to me or sent me gifts. Thank you so much. Please be patient with me as I finish up the thank yous!
I will see you all soon. Please know how much I love being your priest.
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