Dear Friends of Joseph House: We are so used to thinking of the Joseph House Workshop as our newest ministry that we were surprised to realize this year marks its 20th Anniversary. The time has really flown by! The ribbon-cutting for the Workshop was in June of 2005. Sr. Connie did the honors along with…
The Joseph House Workshop turns 20 in 2025, although its beginning goes back further in time. In 1998, Mountaire Farms of Delmarva approached our founder, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, with an offer to donate an unused industrial building the company had acquired. Sister quickly said yes; she was a woman of vision and was never…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: In June of 1931, Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII (and canonized saint), spent time on retreat reflecting on his life. He was 49 years old and described himself as “a mature man on the road to old age.” His self-examination proved to be humbling, and he wrote in…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: A mother’s heart knows no bounds. It is deeper than the ocean and wider than the sky. It is the closest thing on earth that measures up to the unconditional love of God. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the model of all motherhood. She held her Child in her…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: For many people — us included — Fridays in Lent mean going to church for a service called the Way of the Cross. It’s also called the Stations of the Cross, and this devotion leads us prayerfully along the mile-long journey Jesus made from Pilate’s court to Mount Calvary and…
The Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary describe their way of life as being active-contemplatives. What does that mean? Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, the community’s founder, wanted the Little Sisters to be “people of deep prayer and silence,” and then bring this contemplative spirit to their work with the poor. It’s a way of life…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: March has arrived, and on the 17th many people, Irish or not, will be wearing green in honor of St. Patrick. But in case you forgot, there is another saint we celebrate this month who is also associated with the color green. That saint, of course, is our beloved patron,…
Fasting is one of the three traditional disciplines of Lent (the other two are prayer and almsgiving). These Lenten practices help us with the process of conversion, that is, of detaching ourselves from sin and turning toward God. Regarding fasting, there are prescribed days of limiting our food intake and abstaining from meat. It is…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: The Gospel has a freshness and clarity that never diminishes. It is always new and never antiquated, always relevant and never out of touch. It speaks to us because the words have the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus says, “I give you a…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: We love the changing seasons. Each time of year has its own beauty, and winter is no exception. The dormant earth, the pale light of the sky, the skeletal trees . . . the starkness of winter is a time to enlarge our perception of what is beautiful, to appreciate…