On March 22, 2018 the Valle Catholic 1st Graders with direction from Mrs. Mary Joggerst planned the Mass for the Feast of St. Joseph.
Fathers, grandfathers, godfathers, stepfathers, uncles or any special man in the lives of the students were invited to celebrate Mass together.
Father Edward Nemeth was the main celebrant. The 1st Graders filled all the liturgical roles including readers Carter Frentzel, Ava Seib, Jayce Bieser, Khloe Jones, and Braxton Schwartz subbing for Gage Fallert.
Gifts were presented by 1st Graders Leo Pfaff and Teagon Peterson. Mr. Gene Operle and Mrs. Lynn Terry provided the music.
After Communion the 1st graders led by Kyrah Babbitt, Braxton Schwartz, Tessa Roth, Brady Gansner, Coyer Sutton, and Sophia Van Elzen recited a special blessing for our guests.
Blessing:
We ask God to shower many blessings on all the dads and grandpas in the world. By giving Jesus such a gentle and kind man as St. Joseph to care for Him, it tells us how important God thought fathers and grandfathers were.
Bless my dad’s eyes that he may see all the love around him.
Bless my dad’s lips that he may speak only words of truth and wisdom.
Bless my dad’s ears that he will listen to God’s holy words.
Bless my dad’s feet that he will not tire of serving his family.
Bless my dad’s heart that he will love all God’s people.
Bless my dad’s hands that he will touch with kindness everyone he meet.
Bless my dad’s thoughts that he will think happy thoughts and bless my dad’s patience that he will always be patient with me.
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Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture. We know Joseph was a carpenter, a working man, kind and compassionate, and a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him without knowing the outcome.
Joseph is also patron of fathers and carpenters. We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph, the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker.
St. Joseph was the patron of the sisters who taught at Valle from the early days of the school’s existence (1838) until the late 1990’s.