Not Our Last Gift Giving

Despite development in our community, we still carried on and fulfilled our previous commitment of Gift Giving at sitio Pag-asa and Singalong last December 28, 2011. We were able to packed 200 bags of groceries given to the families of the said sitios. Additional 200 pouches filled with candies and chocolates were given to the kids.

We had games for everyone and we end up with a gratifying lunch with the lay church worker of Pag-asa and Singalong community. It is in this meal that we decided to keep the spirit of St. Joseph the Worker Community alive and to have another outreach next Christmas season. Not anymore part of the parish but a group of friends… like when we were just starting and did our first outreach program in sitio Aduas and Pinugay because of the desire of one of our friend who wanted then to make her birthday more meaningful.

We thank those who gave generously their time and treasure to make our outreach possible.

St. Joseph, Pray for us.

Share for the Walls & Windows of St. Joseph

After carefull deliberation and consultation, as we enter the season of advent, we are launching the Share P600.00 for the Windows and Walls of St. Joseph the Worker Church. This is once again a tall order for St. Joseph the Worker Community but with intercercession of St. Joseph - the patron of our community and the prayers of the Lay Servants of St. Josseph who commit themselves to pray daily for intentions of our community and completion of the place of worhsip we are slowly building.

The estimates was submitted to us by our construction consultant who provided us with a detailed estimates for the materials and labor cost. To complete all the walls and windows of St. Joseph the Worker Church, it was estimated to be around P600,000.00.

We are calling faithfuls in our community to unite on this last phase before going to architectural works. We are almost there.... we just need 1,000 families to commit and Share P600.00 for the Windows and Walls of St. Joseph.

Please always ask for a receipt for your donation. This is to protect your donation for SJWC

St. Joseph, Pray of Us.

October is Month of the Holy Rosary

The St. Joseph the Worker Community encourage everyone to pray the Holy Rosary Daily for the month of October. SJWC will be open at specific time daily for this purpose of reciting the Holy Rosary as a group.

As advise by the Catholic church a plenary indulgence may be gained by those reciting five decades of the Holy Rosary in church, as a family at home, as a religious community, or a pious fraternity, or in general whenever several persons have gathered together for a good purpose.

Like many of our saints, Saint Padre Pio have great devotion to our Lady. We want to share an article taken from Fatima Network regarding Saint Padre Pio as a true son of our Lady.

As a true son of Our Lady, Padre Pio loved the Rosary and is reputed to have said a 15-decade Rosary as many as 35 times per day. In many photographs, he is shown with his right hand hidden within the pocket where he always kept his Rosary beads. Indeed, he urged all Catholics to "love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for the Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world."

When asked about the role of Our Lady in God’s plan for salvation, Padre Pio responded by saying that "all graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother." It was with that understanding that he almost daily offered the Mass of the Immaculate Conception in the last decade of his life on earth. He is quoted as saying of Our Lady that She "accompanies me to the altar and remains at my side while I offer up the Holy Mass."

Padre Pio daily expressed his special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima as he knelt and prayed at Her shrine within the monastery, before a large picture surrounded by burning candles. Indeed, he credited the Virgin of Fatima with saving his life.

In 1959, the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visited Italy. At the same time Padre Pio became very ill and was diagnosed with a fatal, cancerous tumor. On August 6, the statue of Our Lady arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo. Rising from his sick bed, Padre Pio prayed before the statue and kissed Her feet. As the statue left by helicopter, he said: "O Mother of mine, when you came to Italy, you found me with this sickness. You came to visit me here in San Giovanni and found me still suffering from it. Now you are leaving and I am not delivered from my illness!"

As Padre Pio spoke this prayer, a miracle occurred. High above the monastery, the helicopter with Our Lady’s statue suddenly circled the building three times. The pilot would later say that he could not explain why. At the same time, Padre Pio felt a shudder immediately run through him. His body was penetrated by a flow of light and he felt the tumor burst. He cried out, "I am healed! Our Lady has healed me!"

"Thank the Virgin of Fatima for me," he subsequently wrote. "On the very day She left here, I felt well again. I have been back to celebrate Mass since three days ago.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Pray for our Community.

May we become your true sons and daughters at St. Joseph the Worker Community

Typhoon Pedring at SJWC

Typhoon Pedring (International codename - Nesat) heavy rains and strong winds did not spare St. Joseph the Worker Church last Monday evening (Sept 26, 2011) and in the following morning of Sept 27, 2011. The plastic chairs used by the congregation during our liturgy was completely in disarray and water flowed inside the church. The door of our stockroom (for construction materials) was detached by strong winds.

We thanked Bro. Larry Reyes (our chuch administrator), who immediately came to SJWC in the early morning of Wednesday to clean the place together with some volunteers. They picked up all the chairs blown away by strong winds and removed the waters that accumulated in the congregation area and in the altar area. Late in the afternoon the faithfull start to gather for the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the Holy Mass at 7:00 p.m. which is also the Feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and companions. Everything was in order and clean as if no typhoon passed-by SJWC.

We want to recognize the people behind the scene in every liturgy in our community who comes earlier just to make sure that everything is clean and in order. After our celebration yesterday, I decided to stay for awhile and thank Bro. Larry and company for their effort. We left SJWC after checking everything was kept in place and secure... after everyone left except for the volunteers who came earlier to prepare for the liturgy.

Like San Lorenzo Ruiz, a lay worker silently working in the background but when time came to stand for his faith... San Lorenzo Ruiz courageously professed " If i have a thousand lives to offer, I will offer them to God ".

San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, Pray for Us.

Our First Salo-Salo sa Mainit na Kape at Tinapay ni San Jose

Last Sunday, we have our first "Salo-salo sa Mainit na Kape at Tinapay ni San Jose". Besides the members of St. Joseph the Worker Community, we are glad to see new faces attending for this gathering.

We began, by giving our personal meaning to the SJWC IMAGE which was displayed to us. We discover new meaning as we listen to the volunteers sharing their interpretations.

We reported that we have now 85% savings for the payment of our loan of P250,000 for the flooring. This is attributed to the generosity of the faithful who continue to help us financially.

We also discuss our concern about SJWC. One is when rain comes together with strong winds... water flows inside the congregation area because of the big opening on both sides of sjwc. We asked our construction consultant who was present then to provide us cost estimates to enclosed the area so we have an idea how much funds to put up after paying our loan. The big opening of both sides are for the proposed stairs and balcony of SJWC.

Also,we distributed the St. Joseph the Worker Community Prayer and ask everybody to prayfully recite it regularly because we believe in the protection and intercession of St. Joseph in our endeavor. Together with the copy of prayer is a rosary given to each one of us courtesy of an old lady because of her advance age have difficulty walking and spend most of her time making rosaries.

We were reminded of the importance of prayer more than anything else. We hope that this will be the start of a new prayerful community... joined in prayers as we continue our journey in building a house of prayer in honor of St. Joseph.

We end up our simple salo-salo reciting the prayer of our community. We hope to see more new faces next time.

SJWC SIGN

This sign will be displayed at SJWC. The churchgoers will soon see this sign when they go to Mass. We encourage the faithful to give their interpretation of the message or meaning of this sign. This is to include the passers-by in the vicinity of SJWC. As visitors of this blog you are also invited to give your own interpretation. You can also e-mail at joseph_the_worker@yahoo.com regarding your comments or interpretation. Thank you and may St. Joseph continue to intercede for us all.

Salo-salo sa Mainit na Kape at Tinapay ni San Jose

During one of our meeting, a cup of coffee was offered and the meeting took a little longer than the usual, enjoying the coffee that was served. This lead to the idea of Salo-salo sa Mainit na Kape at Tinapay ni San Jose – an invitation to members of our Christian community to have a cup of coffee after the mass. The purpose is to be informed about the things that is happening in our community and most especially about SJWC. You will also have the opportunity to know more about the members of St. Joseph the Worker Community. This will be held every last Sunday of the Month after the 7:30am Holy Mass. We are inviting everyone to have a cup of coffee with us and also to share your ideas and thoughts about SJWC.

May I have another cup of coffee, please……

The Importance of Brown Envelop for SJWC

The Brown Envelop (previously called Pledge Envelop) is given to the faithful in our Christian community in Robinsons Homes – East to continue saving for the construction of SJWC.

The Brown Envelope was previously distributed to every home in our community and was collected monthly as a pledge or donation for the construction projects of our church but because of the lack of volunteers to collect, it was temporarily stop. But on February 8, 2008, we brought back this Brown Envelope to help save for the permanent roofing of St. Joseph the Worker Church. The faithful were encouraged to pick a Brown Envelope and to bring the same of the next Sunday together with their donations.

Fifty percent (50 %) of Mass Collections goes to our parish - San Antonio de Padua Parish and the fifty percent share of SJWC goes for our operation and maintenance.

With this information, the faithful is encourage to share a little more for our Brown Envelope.

At present, we give the Brown Envelope again to the churchgoers in SJWC to encourage them to help once more for the next stage of our construction - The Wall and Windows of SJWC. As posted in the gate of St. Joseph the Worker Church - “We bring back the Brown Envelope to continue what we have started”.

It worked for the Roof and Flooring. We believe it will work for the Wall and Windows ... for every donation counts for SJWC. Maraming Salamat po!