Dear Parents, May God’s peace be with you: Coinciding with the celebration of Easter, the month of April is the National Child Abuse Prevention Month. As Bishop Byrne has said, “the Easter spirit-filled celebration of prevention is a reminder of the God given responsibility which is entrusted to every Catholic adult throughout the Diocese to join in the cause to create and maintain nurturing environments for the children God has entrusted to our care and protection.” In conjunction with an invitation from Bishop Byrne to all parishes to join this national effort to bring an increased awareness, the Diocesan Offices of Catholic Schools, Faith Formation and Safe Environment and Victim Assistance have developed a few resources to promote child safety in our schools and faith formation programs. We have developed age appropriate, grade specific lessons and activities to raise awareness about child safety and well being that will be delivered through our Catholic schools and religious education programs. These will be made available to every family through our programs, Diocesan social medial channels, as well as a designated area of the Diocese of Springfield website. In addition, on Wednesday, April 14th the Diocese of Springfield will be recognizing Child Abuse Prevention Month. A special flag raising ceremony and prayer service will take place to honor those who have suffered abuse and raise awareness for child abuse prevention. St. Michael’s Cathedral will fly the Children’s Memorial Flag throughout the remainder of the month to honor and recognize National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month. We hope this event and the lessons prepared for our schools and programs will raise awareness of the role we play in providing a safe and loving environment for each child in our care. We hope the resources provided also encourage good conversations at home about child safety and well being. God Bless, Daniel Baillargeon, PhD, Superintendent of Catholic Schools

Pope Francis recalled the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To mark the occasion, the Holy Father has proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” from December 8, 2020, to December 8, 2021. Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows. Pope Francis notes how, “Every day, for over forty years, following Lauds [Morning Prayer]” he has “recited a prayer to Saint Joseph taken from a nineteenth-century French prayer book of the Congregation of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary. Pope Francis encourages all of us to pray: Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.

Thank you for all who donated to the beautiful Easter flowers!

Thank you to the 147 parishioners who have donated or pledged $26,628. Our parish goal is $35,000. We’re almost there! Please considering donating to help us reach our goal.

20/20 TICKETS If you need 20/20 tickets, please call the rectory at 413-445-5789.

Take out dinner will be held at St. Joseph Parish Saturday, April 24, 2021. It includes meatballs, pasta, salad and dessert. The dinner is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Council #103. This year our dinners are dedicated to our brother Knight and head chef, Phil Janchuk. All meals must be pre-ordered and pre-paid at St. Joseph Rectory. Meals will be delivered to you at the St. Joseph Church parking lot. Pickup times will start at 4 p.m. and end at 6 p.m. When you arrive, kindly give the attendant your name and number of meals. Each dinner is $15.00. All proceeds will go to St. Joseph Parish.

Question: Where did the feast of Divine Mercy come from? Answer: If you were born well before the year 2000, you know the feast of Divine Mercy has not always been celebrated in the Church. In the early 1900s, a young Polish nun began receiving private revelations. Jesus appeared to her during her times of prayer, speaking a message of mercy and love for the world. She received a set of prayers — the Divine Mercy Chaplet — and the request to have a feast day established to remind the Church of the mercy of God. St. Faustina died in 1938, on the cusp of war and in the midst of one of the most violent centuries in the history of the world. Her story and her diaries began circulating in Poland and beyond. It quickly became apparent that this was a holy young women, and the cause for her canonization opened. In the year 2000, she was canonized by the first-ever Polish pope, St. John Paul II. On her canonization day, he established the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, “a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind with experience in the years to come.”

They say seeing is believing. But if you’ve ever ordered a pair of pants online, you know that’s not always the case. Whatever the photos promise us, what looked like a perfectly nice shade of navy blue on our computer screens comes in the mail as an unusual shade of blue green that only appears in the giant box of Crayola crayons. The Apostle Thomas, who couldn’t bring himself to accept that Jesus had risen from the dead without seeing him, is such an utterly relatable figure in the Gospels. Thomas is still reeling from a loss — not only of his good friend but his Lord, who was taken prisoner and crucified before his eyes. Thomas is guarding himself. He’s not believing the hype. He’s going to be the only judge of what is real and what is fiction. Would any of us be any different? We’ve all had those thoughts. Can we believe it all — Jesus, salvation history, the Eucharist — when we haven’t seen it with our own two eyes? That’s when we need to remember that those two eyes were absolutely positive they had ordered a pair of navy blue pants. It’s easy for us to sit back stroking our chins in judgment at Thomas, “you didn’t believe the testimony of your friends!” But do we accept the testimony of our friends? The saints, the popes, the Church fathers themselves? Sometimes the things that are most worthy of believing can’t be seen with the naked eye.

At Easter, we celebrate that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, conquered death, rose from the dead, and remains very much alive. To the world of non-believers: what!? It is quite a big reality to swallow. But for the believer, it is a reality that inspires us to the point where we find ourselves constantly sharing the Gospel with everyone we meet! Right? So what does Easter mean to you? The question is not what do you believe. The question is what impact does Easter have on you? How do your actions demonstrate the power of Easter? What does it mean we you hear that we, the Church, are an Easter people? You may be saying right now that you have no intention of becoming an evangelist, passing out Bibles to all you meet. But I would like to suggest that you actually have a more powerful way of evangelizing others: everyday stewardship. Actions speak louder than words and the way you live your life can be a great testimony to all those you encounter. By acknowledging the gifts you have been given, cultivating those so they grow to an increase, and then sharing them fully with God and with others in God's name will give testimony to your belief that Jesus is alive and seeking a relationship with each of his people. If more of us won't live our lives in this manner, then non-believers and non-intentional disciples will ask the question, "What difference does Easter make anyway?" Jesus died and rose for you and me. To be sure, it DOES make a difference.

Why does the date of Easter change every year, while most other celebrations are celebrated on the same day? Answer: Every feast is celebrated at a certain time for a reason. Saints feast days are commonly the day of their death. While we don’t know Jesus’ exact birthday, we celebrate the “light of the world” around the time of winter solstice, as dark, wintery days begin to lengthen again. We have a historical clue, however, to when the Easter events occurred. We know that Jesus was crucified the day before Passover. The Jews calculated the date for Passover based on both the solar and lunar calendars. It corresponds to the first full moon after the spring equinox. The early Christians maintained this connection in their celebrations of Easter on the first Sunday after the paschal full moon. We don’t re-calculate the full moon every year. As astronomy developed, so too did the forecasts of when Easter would occur in future years. The Church has created a table of calculated dates, projecting the date of Easter decades in advance. The date of Easter also determines the date of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, as well as the feast days following in the Easter season, including Pentecost. So these feasts move, too! This tradition may seem complicated, but it connects our Christian faith now to what has come before — our Jewish roots and the real, historical reality of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.