Dear Friends of Joseph House: Our days at the Joseph House are usually pretty full. In addition to overseeing the Crisis Center and the Workshop, we attend to any number things that often pop up without notice. We might need to deliver food to someone whose car is inoperable, buy a week’s worth of milk…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: The last few months have been tough for our Joseph House family. Our Sr. Clare died of cancer last May, and in July we tragically lost Gregory Dennis, a Crisis Center staff member, in a hit-and-run accident. Two sharp blows, one after the other. We carry on (we have no…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Our actions bring to life our beliefs, values, commitments, and convictions. If our actions were the pages of a book, what would the story tell? Reflecting on the life of Sr. Clare, her book would tell a story of sacrifice in order to care for others, of being generous with…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Nine years after starting the Joseph House, our founder thought it needed a change in focus. The year was 1974 and Sr. Mary Elizabeth had just begun forming our community, the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, in Baltimore. She thought it was time to provide conferences and days of…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: When our founder started our community in 1974, she wanted it to be counter-cultural. But her understanding of what that meant was counter-cultural itself. Emulating Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is what Sr. Mary Elizabeth had in mind. She was inspired by the Holy Family and the life they lived in…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: A few months ago, three of us were at a gas station on a rainy morning in late winter when a familiar face appeared. It was Gregory, looking cold and a little down. The Sister at the wheel rolled down the car window.“Hi Gregory, how are you doing?”“Hi Sister. You…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Feed the hungry…Give drink to the thirsty…Clothe the naked…Shelter the homeless…Visit the sick…Visit the imprisoned…Bury the dead. These are the Corporal Works of Mercy, the basic acts of charity and kindness found principally in the Parable of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and elsewhere in the Bible (Is 58:6-14 and…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Here it is November already, and another year is flying by. It’s a special year, too, the “Year of St. Joseph,” which was declared by Pope Francis as a way to promote this saint whose example offers hope during our troubled times. St. Joseph, of course, is very dear to…
We are anxiously waiting to hear when Charles de Foucauld will be canonized. The date should be announced soon. To help you know more about our spiritual father, here are the main points of his spirituality, as written by our founder Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling: There are four basic elements of the spirituality of Br….
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Living under harsh circumstances does not mean we ourselves have to be harsh. Charles de Foucauld is proof of that. For fifteen years, from 1901 until his death in 1916, Charles made his home in Algeria, surrounded by the moonscape of the Sahara Desert. Famine, loneliness, exhaustion . . ….