Mass Times
Monday - Friday
8:00 AM - 12 Noon - 5:30 PM
Weekend Mass
Saturday
8:00 AM - 12 Noon - 4:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM - 12 Noon
Holiday periods may affect these times
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.
Weekly Bulletins
View the current presentation displaying on
The Fr. Terry O'Connell Memorial
Digital Bulletin Board
Anointing of the Sick
The Sacramental Anointing of the Sick will be offered after each Mass next Saturday and on the First Saturday of every month.
Mass Times are: 8 AM, 12 Noon & 4:00 PM.
Upcoming Holy Hours
Holy Hour to End Human Trafficking
On Wednesday afternoon, February 8th, at 4:00 pm, a Holy Hour will be conducted in honor of St. Josephine Bakhita. The intention of this Holy Hour is to seek St. Josephine’s help in eradicating human trafficking. We will pray for those enslaved in this terrible social structure of sin.
Pure in Heart
Pure in Heart (young adults ages 18-35) meets at 7pm in the Shrine Conference Room on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month. The next meeting will be Tuesday, February 14th. It will be our 3rd session. Learn more
This Week's Message
from Fr. Amesse
February 5, 2023
“Do not be afraid, for I bring you tidings of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). It was an angel who brought joyful news to terror-stricken shepherds that first Christmas. Today, however, God generally uses us to be angels of joy for others. As a young nun, St. Teresa of Calcutta remarked of those she visited in the slums: “I do not have anything, but I go to give them joy.”
One of the impoverished mothers exclaimed, “Oh, Mother Teresa, come again! Your smile brought sun into this house.” Proverbs, Chapter 31, lists the qualities of the ideal woman. Many see Mother Teresa as the epitome of an ideal woman.
A long time ago, a woman said she came home from Mass, always a bit sad. She felt that she was not living up to God’s expectations. Who of us do live up to God’s ways? God’s Word is a double-edged sword. It convicts and convinces. The revealed Word of God convicts us when we are not living the way we ought to live.
Jesus, the Word of God, always convinces us that He is Savior. He will convince us to never lose hope in God’s grace. We must never get discouraged. God asks for effort, not success. Success will come when He wants it. By effort, we exercise our faith, hope and charity. We return home from Mass with Hope, convince of God’s love for us. I will remember you at Mass.
Pope Francis’ February prayer intention is for
Parishes
We pray that parishes may increasingly become communities of faith and fraternity,
welcoming those most in need.
St. Josephine Bakhita February 8th
St. Josephine Bakhita was born in 1869, in a small village in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was kidnapped while working in the fields with her family and was subsequently sold into slavery. Her captors asked for her name but she was too terrified to remember, so they named her “Bakhita,” which means “fortunate” in Arabic.
St. Josephine was beatified in 1992 and canonized shortly after on October 2000 by Pope John Paul II. She is the first person to be canonized from Sudan and is the patron saint of that country. Her feast day is February 8th. She has been named by USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) as the Patron Saint interceding for the success of the efforts to end human trafficking.
From: catholic.org
St. Josephine, pray for an end to human trafficking and for those trapped by its evil snare
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
Our Lady of Lourdes February 11
Facts about Lourdes, France
The most visited pilgrimage shrine in the Christian world, Lourdes is not an ancient site but one of more recent development. Lourdes is the site of a Marian apparition in 1858. Four to six million pilgrims from around the world visit the shrine each year and it is estimated that more than 200 million pilgrims have come to Lourdes since 1860.
from: sacredsites.com
February 11th is World Day of the Sick.
World Day of the Sick is the day when prayers are offered in the Catholic world on behalf of all who are suffering physical and spiritual maladies.
At the Shrine we will join those prayers and offer Sacramental Anointing for Healing after each Mass that day. All are welcome.
Oh ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfortess of the Afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles and my sufferings. Look upon me with mercy. When you appeared in the grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where you dispense your favors and where many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. I come, therefore, with unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. My loving Mother, obtain my request. I will try to imitate your virtues so that I may one day share your company and bless you in eternity. Amen.
The Saintly Six - Part I
Mother Mary Lange was born Elizabeth Clarisse Lange in the 1790s in Cuba, where she lived in a French-speaking community. She left Cuba in the early 1800s and settled in Baltimore, where she opened a school for Black children in her home.
In 1828, Mother Lange founded St. Frances Academy – the first Catholic school to educate African Americans – in Baltimore. A year later, Mother Lange founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious community for African-American women. She also helped to nurse the sick during a Baltimore cholera epidemic in the early 1830s and in the mid-1840s. The Oblate Sisters of Providence served as teachers and ministered in African-American parishes and remain active today.
Mother Lange died on Feb. 3, 1882. Her Cause for Beatification was opened in 1991 and she was given the title Servant of God.
Black History Month
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role these individuals have played in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, since 1976 every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.
Black History Month is also a time for U.S. Catholics to recognize and pray to what has become known as “The Saintly Six”.
Six African American candidates on their long journey toward Canonization. They are: (Venerable) Mother Henriette DeLille, (Venerable) Father Augustine Tolton, (Servant of God) Julia Greeley, (Venerable) Pierre Toussaint, (Servant of God) Mother Mary Lange and (Servant of God) Sister Thea Bowman.
Br. Richard Coté, O.M.I., Museum Curator and Historian, will introduce each of the “saintly six” in forthcoming Shrine bulletins
The Saintly Six - Part I
Mother Henriette DeLille was born in 1812 in New Orleans as a free woman of color. When she was 24, she experienced a religious awakening, declaring her newfound fervor by writing in French on a page of a book on the Eucharist: “I believe in God. I hope in God. I love God. I want to live and die for God.”
Mother DeLille founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1842 in New Orleans after previously establishing a confraternity of women. They cared for the sick, helped the poor and instructed free and enslaved children and adults. They took into their home some older women who needed more than visitation - thereby opening America's first Catholic home for the elderly. They are still active today.
After her death on November 16, 1862, one obituary noted that she “devoted herself untiringly for many years, without reserve, to the religious instruction of the people of New Orleans, principally of slaves.” Mother Henriette was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.
Shrine Memorial Plaques
Since 1868, this holy place - dedicated to the honor of St. Joseph - has been a treasured oasis of prayer and serenity in the heart of the city of Lowell. For generations, many have found great solace and experienced healing and reconciliation for themselves and their families within this holy sanctuary.
In testimony to their answered prayers and remembrances, many have chosen to memorialize their loved ones by inscribing their names on the very walls of this grace-filled place. Over time, the Remembrance Wall in the confessional lobby has been completely filled with these memorials. For that reason, we have installed and illuminated new mounts for additional memorials on the inside back wall of the Shrine. The mounts can be expanded to accommodate additional remembrances throughout the coming years.
To inscribe the names of loved ones on our newly expanded Remembrance Wall, please make arrangements in the Gift Shop/Bookstore – at the same desk where Masses are registered.
Light Up Shrine Candles Online
Click to Light a Candle
Thank you!
Please choose your donation amount. $5.00 is the standard donation per candle online
Confession and Adoration
Confession
Mon - Friday
10:00 AM - Noon
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM
First Wednesday of the Month
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Eucharistic Adoration
The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration on -
Saturday after the noon Mass until the 4:00 PM Mass, approximately 12:45 PM - 3:45 PM
First Fridays after the noon Mass until the 5:30 PM Mass, approximately 12:45 PM -5:15 PM
Office Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
9:00AM - 4:00PM
Closed Thursday
Bro. Craig Bonham, Business Manager
Ed Wilk, Office Manager/Bulletin Editor
Gift Shop & Bookstore
Aurea Torres, Gift Shop Manager
Hours
Monday - Saturday 9:00AM - 5:00PM
First Sunday of the Month
9:00 AM -1:00PM
If for any reason you're still unable to visit the Shrine or Gift Shop and you'd like to book a Mass Intention request please call the Gift Shop Manager at 978-459-9522 x213 or email [email protected]
Oblate Historical Museum
Saturdays 10:00AM - 2:00PM
Sundays 8:30AM -11:30 AM
