Every year before Christmas, the Joseph House Crisis Center distributes gift bags to hundreds of children in our area. Each bag has two toys, a few stocking stuffers, an activity or coloring book, crayons, pens, and pencils, and a knit hat for winter or a pair of gloves. This is possible only because of the…
We all know Christmas is commercialized and the real meaning of the feast day is lost in the materialism that consumes modern life. Christmas at the Nativity, a new book by Pope Francis, brings the focus back to where it belongs, the birth of Jesus. The book is a collection of the Pope’s thoughts on…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Setting up the nativity scene is always one of the highlights of our celebration of Christmas. Our set was made by Rose-Anne Monna, a Canadian artist and friend of our community (photo below). We have the stable, the sheep and donkey, Mary and Joseph, and then front and center, the…
The end of the year is always a busy time at the Joseph House. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring out an abundance of goodwill, and we see it in all the ways people share with those in need. We are grateful to be a part of the season of giving, as we help bring people together…
This reflection was written by Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, our founder, in 1979: When we prepare for the mystery of Christmas, what are our days of preparation filled with? Most of us have thousands of things to do and for many it is the busiest time of the year. What we really should be doing…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: We’re all familiar with Christmas carols but some of our favorite songs of the season are Advent hymns. They tend to get drowned out because Christmas music starts playing on the radio at Thanksgiving and stops on Christmas Day. This doesn’t make a lot of sense unless Christmas is just…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: In 1944, a letter was printed in the Stars and Stripes newspaper that contained the following: It is 0200 hours and I have been lying awake for an hour listening to the steady even breathing of the other three nurses in the tent, thinking about some of the things we…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: In depicting the birth of Christ, Byzantine icons sometimes show St. Joseph sitting away from the manger, either resting with his eyes closed (symbolizing his dreams) or facing the devil (symbolizing the temptation to disbelief). Art in Western culture places St. Joseph inside the stable, usually holding a lantern or…
Christmas today has something in common with the very first one: the baby Jesus is still hidden. We all know why the “reason for the season” gets forgotten in our day and age: the birth of Christ has become, if you’ll excuse us, a God-send for fourth quarter profits. The modern situation is so odd;…