Announcements

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” People have been asking, seeking and knocking for thousands for years, only to have their prayer go unanswered. How then, can Jesus say that we will receive? The question of why prayer goes unanswered has been the source of countless sermons, homilies, books and doctoral dissertations. Some think that the person’s belief is not strong enough. Some think that God tests us by having us wait. Some think that God has something better in store for us than what we are asking for. If a loved one is not cured, if a job does not come, if a house is not sold, we may think that God is not interested in these minor issues or that these issues are not important on a worldly or galactic scale. As Tevya sang in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Would it spoil some vast eternal plan, if I were a wealthy man?” The answer to prayer may be part of all of the above. The most important thing is to realize how receptive are we to the answer. AN answer may come and we don’t recognize it because we think it should come another way. This is like the person on a rooftop during a flood who prays to be saved. A person in a row boat comes by and the person refuses rescue because he is praying to God. Then a helicopter comes by, again the person refuses rescue. The flood waters rise and the person drowns. In heaven, he asks God why didn’t God rescue him after he prayed. God said, “I tried. I sent you a row boat and a helicopter!” When we pray, let’s be open to all possibilities of answers!
Have a good week! Peace, Father Bill

SPECIAL THANKS to the Parish Council and the Rosary Society for their organization of the Parish Picnic.

Get well wishes to Russ Schmader. His address is : Allegheny General Hospital 320 East North Avenue, Pittsburgh Pa. 15212

Wedding Banns: I Melissa Dale and James Cyphert

SPONSOR OF THE WEEK: Ochs Building Supply. Please patronize those who advertise in our bulletin.

MISSIONARY CO-OP APPEAL At all Masses the weekend of August 7 & 8, Brother Terence Skorka, C.P., a Representative of Passionist Overseas Missions, will be speaking to us about the vital work being done by the Passionist Priests and Brothers serving in their overseas Mission territories. Brother Terence’s visit to our parish is in conjunction with our participation in the Annual Mission Cooperative Program for the Diocese of Erie. Kindly welcome Brother Terence, C.P. to Saint Joseph’s and please give this important appeal your attention.

St. Joseph Church, Oil City, will host its Annual Summer Festival on the grounds (corner of Washington and Seeley Avenues) on August 6th and 7th, 2010 from 6 pm to 11 pm each evening. Food Booths, Baked Goods and Parish Raffle Booths will open at 6 pm. Games and other activities will begin at 7:00 pm. Food, games and prizes. Our Refreshment Booth will serve chili dogs, hamburgers, hot sausage and meatball sandwiches. We will also feature, Maria‘s Mexican Booth, chinese auction, and baked goods booth. There will be plenty of games and prizes. Raffles include, Rosary Quilt, Bed and Bath Accessories, One Year Golf Membership to Cross Creek Resort, Sunday Brunch Raffles to Cross Creek, Bacon/Ham/Roast Beef Raffles. There will be a Grand Prize raffle of $2,000.00. Plan to attend each evening and bring the family.

An Icon for Our Century It is Mary Magdalene, the evangelist John details, to whom Jesus first appears after the resurrection. It is Mary Magdalene who is instructed to proclaim the Easter message to the others. It is Mary Magdalene whom Jesus commissions to “tell Peter and the others that I have gone before them into Galilee.” And, then, the scripture says pathetically, “But Peter and John and the others did not believe her and they went to the tomb to see for themselves.” It is two thousand years later and little or nothing has changed. The voice of women proclaiming the presence of Christ goes largely unconfirmed. The call of women to minister goes largely unnoted. The commission of women to the church goes largely disdained.  Mary Magdalene is, no doubt about it, an important icon for the twenty-first century. She calls women to listen to the call of the Christ over the call of the church. She calls men to listen for the call of the Christ in the messages of women. She calls women to courage and men to humility. She calls all of us to faith and fortitude, to unity and universalism, to a Christianity that rises above sexism, a religion that transcends the idolatry of maleness, and a commitment to the things of God that surmounts every obstacle and surpasses every system. Mary Magdalene is a shining light of hope, a disciple of Christ, a model of the wholeness of life, in a world whose name is despair and in a church whose vision is yet, still, even now, partial. Sr. Joan Chittister Saint Mary Magdalene’ s feast day is July 22nd. 

Faith is the perspective which enables human beings to recognize God's actions in human history. Other persons could have been aware of the exodus of a small band of Hebrews from Egypt and their subsequent entering into the land of Canaan ... but only those with the faith of Israel would know that those liberative events were God's self-revelation. James Cone, from his book A Black Theology of Liberation 

The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom. bell hooks from Outlaw Culture.  What struggles have given me a deeper insight into the workings of the Holy Spirit? 

The best thing that I can possibly do as a teacher/preacher is to help people to recognize and trust their own deeper spiritual intuitions. I am convinced this is what we would call the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We are not alone; guidance is always being offered. My great disappointment in so much of institutional religion is that I don’t think it helps people to trust their deeper spiritual intuitions. So often it appears to be doing a non-stop flight over all of that. Often we give people answers to questions they have not yet struggled with or suffered for. So the answers that they finally have are not deeply understood or deeply felt. They are not their own answers, and are forgotten easily. Fr. Richard Rohr 

St. Joseph School Scrip Gift Certificate Program:
Scrip is a term that means "substitute money."  When you purchase scrip, you're purchasing negotiable gift certificates and prepaid cards that are used just like cash.  For each scrip purchased, St. Joseph School earns two to fifteen percent or more in profit.  Participating businesses are:

Merchant Denom. Advance Auto Parts $25 Aeropostle $25 American Eagle $25 Applebees $25/$50 Arby's $10 Bass Pro Shops $25 Bath & Body Works $10 Bob Evan's $10 Bon Ton/Elder Beerman $25 Boscov's Dept. Store $25 C & A Trees $20 Cabela's $25 Captain Loomis $20 Claire's $10 Comet $25

Merchant Denom. CVS Pharmacy $25 Destinta Theatres $6.50 Domino's Pizza $10 Dunham's $25 Eat 'n Park $10 Game Shop $25 Home Depot $25 iTunes $15 J C Penney $25 Jerry's Grocery $10 JoAnn Fabrics $20 Kentucky Fried Chicken $5 Kmart $25 Kohl's Dept. Store $25 Long John Silvers $5

Merchant Denom. Lowe's Home Improvement $25 Marshalls/TJ Maxx $25 Old Navy/GAP $25 Pizza Pub $10 Pizza Hut $10 Radio Shack $25 RRR Roadhouse $25 Red Lobster/Olive Garden $25 Sears $25 Sheetz $25 Staples $25 Starbucks Coffee $10 Subway $10 Toys 'R Us $20 Walmart $25/$100 Wendy's $10