This Week's Message
from Fr. Amesse
April 28, 2024

In a month, we will have the procession, Monday, May 27 - Memorial Day.  It will start at 5 pm.  We leave from the Shrine.  Then we walk to and from The Immaculate.  To prepare, we will meet this coming Saturday, May 4, at 2 pm down by the Gift Shop, for an hour.  You are welcome to attend.

The procession will underline 2 aspects of our lives.  The first is to honor the priesthood, of particularly those who minister at St. Joseph’s. The second is participation in the National Eucharistic Congress.  This is a pivotal moment in both American history and the legacy of the Catholic Church.

This happens July 17 - 21 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  All we want is for us to grow deeply, more in love for Christ, present in the Eucharist.  Now, I’d like to turn to St. Eugene de Mazenod.  He founded the Oblates, who serve you here.  Listen to what he wrote to his grandmother in 1810:

“Another mistake people only too frequently fall into is to imagine that one has to be perfect to receive Communion often.  We will not be perfect until we get to heaven; and the one and the only way to come anywhere close to it here below is to receive Communion often.  This Divine Sacrament is a remedy to heal us of our daily failings.

"Let us go as often as we can to the sacrament where our Lord’s love spent itself on our behalf.  Let us recall His command.  Let us thank Him a million times for giving it to us.  May the sight of Him beneath the species of bread bring us to the knowledge that it is frequent nourishment that our soul, to sustain itself, needs to return there OFTEN.”  

I remember you at Mass!

THE SAINT THAT CAME TO LOWELL

As previously announced, the Holy Father, Pope Francis has approved the final miracle for the Canonization of Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis, Founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family of Sherbrook, Quebec.  Although the date of her Canonization has not yet been determined, the Shrine will honor the future saint on her Feast Day, Saturday, May 4. Br. Richard Coté, Shrine Historian, will give a reflection on the life of St. Marie-Léonie after Mass has concluded at both the 8am and Noon Masses.

St. Marie-Léonie’s Cause is very dear to the Missionary Oblates here in Lowell and in Tewksbury. Mother Léonie came to Lowell in 1900 to establish a Convent of her Sisters at St. Jean Baptiste Rectory. From these humble beginnings in the rectory attic, the sisters followed the Oblates when they established rectories at Notre Dame de Lourdes and St. Jeanne d’Arc parishes, and at the Oblate Retirement home in Tewksbury. They also served here at St. Joseph Shrine in the 1970’s and 80’s. The sisters soon saw American women so interested in their two-fold ministry of prayer and domestic service to clergy and religious, that they opened a Novitiate house on Andover Street. With the decline in religious vocations to their kind of ministry, the sisters returned to their Motherhouse in Canada in 2004.

Shrine patrons are welcome to venerate the Relic of St. Marie-Leonie Paradis after Mass.  Br. Richard will also be available for any who would like more information on the Saint that came to Lowell.

Legion of Mary
at the Shrine

Meetings are held in the downstairs Conference Hall each week after the Sunday 12:00 noon Mass.

The Legion of Mary is a Marian movement founded in Ireland in the 1920’s. It is currently the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis’ April
Prayer Intention
is for the role of women

Let us pray that the dignity and worth of women be recognized in every culture, and for an end to the discrimination they face in various parts of the world.

Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Brazil

Four young Oblates from the Eastern U.S. arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1945, after difficult travel in the immediate post-war period.  The Superior was Lowell native, Father Walter Mooney, OMI.  Beginning with ministry to the English-speaking colony of the area, they and succeeding U.S. Oblates were assigned to outlying priest-less districts and the desperately poor urban favela slums of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Belen in the Amazonian north.

Several Oblates were targeted by the authoritarian regime for imprisonment and even torture because of their championing the interest of the indigenous people and the poor of the city of Recife whom they served.

Joined the 1960’s and 1970’s by Oblate missionaries from the Central U.S., Canada, France, Belgium and Ireland and an increasing number of Brazilian Oblates, the Brazilian Province now numbers 65 priests, Brothers and seminarians in four districts.  They work to extend the Word and Work of the Gospel through pastoral ministry, social services, and the formation and support of Basic Christian communities throughout the vast country.

The vast favela slums of the cities where Oblates have lived and served.

On that Good Friday, standing at the foot of the Cross, you were led to understand your vocation to give yourself to the service of your Savior through the gift of your whole life as a priest.

 St. Eugene, guide us to the Savior in our time of need!

St. Joseph
Foster Father of the Son of God
Pray for us!

Litany of St. Joseph

Praying with the Stained Glass Windows of
St. Joseph the Worker Shrine

Part I - The 100 Year+ Windows Series
Part II - The St. Joseph Windows

Self-Guided Tour
St. Joseph the Worker Shrine

View Twilight Stations of the Cross March 29

Ring the Bells of the Shrine

Everyday of the year, the “Bells of St. Joseph” ring-out God’s praise for all to hear!

Our Carillon can play Special Hymns of your choice any day of the year. At your request, our chimes will ring in honor of loved ones for the entire community to hear and prayerfully remember.Your offering of $20.00 will be greatly appreciated and will assist us in maintaining the Shrine and its ministries. Thank You!

Bell-ringing selections may be reserved for specific days & times throughout the year(s) in the Shrine Gift Shop/Bookstore.

St. Eugene de Mazenod’s Prayer to the Sorrowful Mother

 O Lord, Almighty God, you endowed the Blessed Virgin Mary with the fullness of every gift and grace. By allowing her heart to be pierced with the deepest sorrow, you crowned her merit and placed her at the head of countless legions of martyrs who, for love of your Son Jesus Christ, have shed their blood. Through the painful martyrdom endured by this gentle Mother seeing her beloved Son dying as a Victim because of his love for us, grant us the grace to bear with fortitude the disappointments and setbacks in our life, and not to fear torment or death itself, when we are called to confess our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

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Thank you!

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Click on the Image to view the prayer of Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Archdiocesan COVID protocols lifted
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Confession

Mon - Friday
10:00 am - noon
4:30 pm - 5:15 pm

Saturday 
10:00 am - 1:00 pm

First Wednesday of the month

Eucharistic Adoration

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration on -

Saturday after the noon Mass until the 4:00 pm Mass
First Fridays after the noon Mass until the 5:30 pm Mass

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