Welcome to the Guiding Star, a monthly newsletter sharing tips and activities to help build and strengthen your Domestic Church. What is your Domestic Church? “The family, is so to speak, the domestic church.” (Lumen Gentium #11) Visit the USCCB website on the Domestic Church for more practical ways to demonstrate and encourage a rich life of faith at home.
St. Joseph, Lent, and Liturgical Living...
In popular piety, March is a special month dedicated to St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Jesus Christ. By 1621 Pope Gregory XV extended a feast of St. Joseph to the entire Church, and it was elevated even more when Pope Pius IX declared Joseph the “Patron of the Universal Church” in 1870. For many decades March 19 was a holy day of obligation on par with other major feasts in the Catholic Church.
Since March 19 falls during Lent, and is a solemnity, it offers a rare respite from the rigors of Lent.
There are several traditional recipes that focus on St. Joseph. Here is an easy recipe for your family to enjoy: Saint Joseph Day pasta – pasta with breadcrumbs representing sawdust as St. Joseph was a carpenter.
Final thoughts for Family Discussion...
St. Joseph never speaks in Scripture, yet he is called the protector of the Holy Family. What is one way our family can imitate St. Joseph this week through quiet acts of love, responsibility, or service—without being asked or noticed?
St. Patrick's Day Prayer
"Father, I Adore You" is a suitable, simple hymn for St. Patrick’s Day because its structure mirrors the core theological focus of St. Patrick’s ministry: the Holy Trinity. The three-part round specifically highlights the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit, often used to teach the Trinitarian concept to children in a way that echoes Patrick’s traditional use of the shamrock.
March Saints & Feasts
March 3 - St. Katharine Drexel
March 7 - Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
March 17 - St. Patrick
March 19 - The Solemnity of St. Joseph
March 25 - The Annunciation of the Lord
March 29 - Palm Sunday