Memoria of St Joseph the Worker.
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The feast of Saint Joseph the Worker which is celebrated on Thursday was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955. This feast extends the long relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers in both Catholic faith and devotion. Beginning in the Book of Genesis, the dignity of human work has long been celebrated as a participation in the creative work of God. By work, humankind both fulfils the command found in Genesis to care for the earth (Gn 2:15) and to be productive in their labours. Saint Joseph, the carpenter and foster father of Jesus, is but one example of the holiness of human labour.
Jesus, too, was a carpenter. He learned the trade from Saint Joseph and spent his early adult years working side-by-side in Joseph’s carpentry shop before leaving to pursue his ministry as preacher and healer. In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II stated: “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”
Saint Joseph is held up as a model of such work. Pius XII emphasized this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Savior of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work.”

We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ…

During the Stations of the Cross in Lent we have used the traditional prayer “We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world”. 
 
However this isn’t the complete prayer which was actually composed by St Francis of Assisi who whenever he caught sight of a Catholic church in the distance, would kneel down and give praise to God. We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this church and all the churches of the world, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen
 
He  encouraged his followers to clean up churches physically and to ensure that the Blessed Sacrament and the Scriptures were reserved reverently, while also “not neglecting to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, work to alleviate the suffering of people suffering from leprosy, and engage in every possible corporal and spiritual work of mercy—never with the assurance that their best efforts would be enough to wipe out these and other pressing human needs. They did these things always with the confidence that their small contributions are precious in God’s eyes”
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In all of this, vowed Franciscans and admirers of Francis have been mindful over the centuries of our need to give the good example that God rightly expects of us. The “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you” prayer has kept them focused both on current needs and the heavenly banquet “where God will be everything in all of you,” as Saint Paul wrote

“Give hope, sow peace”
the Good Friday Collection 2025
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Hope is the central message of Jubilee 2025, the living and personal encounter with the Lord. A concrete gesture of hope is represented by the Good Friday Collection, also known as the Colletta pro Locis Sanctis, one of the collections in aid of the places and needs of the Holy Land. To know more about how it works, and to give straight away, the site www.collettavenerdisanto.it is available where, alongside materials and guides, the reader can also find the text of the Via Crucis prepared by the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, with the meditations and testimonies of the “Living Stones” of the Holy Land.
Now more than ever, the suffering populations of the Holy Land, the few remaining Christians, the religious communities, young people and children, who are the future of those communities, but also the sick and the elderly, are in need of concrete and immediate help, even just to “maintain their positions”, thus mitigating the damage that continuous conflicts are causing to the daily life of the people.
The Collection, which takes place on Good Friday, this year on 18 April, the day that commemorates the Passion of the Lord, has its origins in Saint Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Nobis in Animo, of March 1974. The Collection was established with the intention to strengthen the bond between Christians around the world and the Holy Places, and it is one of the official collections of the Catholic Church.
This collection represents the main resource for supporting the activities and life around the Holy Places. The donations gathered by the parish communities and the bishops are transferred, via the Commissioners of the Holy Land, to the Custody of the Holy Land. These funds are used to preserve the sacred sites and to support the local Christian communities, often defined as the “living stones” of this region.
The territories that receive support from the Collection include those where the Custody has been present for centuries: Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, along with countries where the eastern Christian communities are present: Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq and Türkiye.  The Custody has 270 missionaries from over 30 nations. The friars take care of the Holy Places and welcome pilgrims 
The Christian communities have been left without employment and the entire economy linked to religious tourism. As a result, most families suffer from the economic crisis and struggle to pay school fees. Schools, however, remain the place where the friars build Peace every day.
The Good Friday Collection, together with pilgrimages, therefore represents the main source of funding. The Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Francesco Patton, writes: “Thanks to your generosity, we will be able to care for and make the Holy Places places of prayer and welcome for the faithful and pilgrims; respond to emergencies; support schools, clinics, dispensaries, homes for the elderly and for young families; and promote humanitarian works for migrants, displaced persons and refugees. Help us to Give Hope and Sow Peace!”.

The celebration of Holy Week
 
Wednesday 16th April
1800     Confession & Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, concluding around 1845
 
Maundy Thursday 17th April
1900     Mass of the Lords Supper & watching at the Altar of Repose
2055     Night Prayer
 
Good Friday 18th April
0900     Children’s Stations of the Cross
1000     Morning Prayer
1030     Confessions
1200     Stations of the Cross
1500     Liturgy of the Passion & Veneration of    the Cross. 
 
Holy Saturday 19th April
1000     Morning Prayer
1900     The Easter Vigil
 
Easter Sunday 20th April
1100     Sung Mass for Easter Sunday
1800     Mass for Easter Sunday