St. Joseph Parish

10/31/2026

Living For Sunday - Father Leo Gajardo
October 31, 2026 - November 1, 2026
Dear Friends,

I have been thinking about and praying for Pope Leo XIV a lot over the past few weeks. Like many of you, I was shocked by the news of the pope’s recent surgery and cancer diagnosis. I was also very relieved when it was announced that the surgery had gone well and that the pope would need no further treatment for cancer.

I have also been thinking about Pope Leo because I recently read a wonderful new biography of the pope that was published in early October. The biography is entitled American Pope: Leo XIV’s From the South Side of Chicago to Vatican City and was written by Daniel Burke and Scott Detrow. Burke and Detrow work for National Public Radio and they spent a whole year researching and writing the book. What came through for me in their biography of Robert F. Prevost is what an incredible man he is and what an incredible life he has lived. Incidentally, Father Bill Stenzel, who many of you know, is quoted in the book because in the 1970’s he helped run a ministry for families of people experiencing alcoholism in which Robert Prevost served when he was a seminarian.

All this thinking about and praying for Pope Leo led me to look up the homily that he preached at the Vatican last year for the Solemnity of All Saints, which we celebrate this Sunday. At that Mass last year, the pope welcomed pilgrims to Rome who work in the field of education. While some of the homily was directed specifically to those involved in education, a lot of it was meant for all disciples, including you and me.

Toward the start of the homily, Pope Leo said, “The lives of the saints teach us that it is possible to live passionately amidst the complexity of the present, without neglecting the apostolic mandate to ‘shine like stars in the world’ (Phil 2:15).”

Later, commenting on the gospel reading for All Saints, the pope said that the Beatitudes are:
..both the path and the message of Jesus the Teacher. At first glance, it seems impossible to declare as blessed those who are poor, or those who hunger and thirst for justice, the persecuted or the peacemakers. Yet, that which seems inconceivable in the world’s thinking is filled with meaning and light when brought into contact with the Kingdom of God. In the saints, we see this kingdom approaching and becoming present among us. Saint Matthew rightly presents the Beatitudes as a teaching, depicting Jesus as a Master, who transmits a new perspective on things, which is reflected in his own journey. The Beatitudes, however, are not just another teaching; they are the teaching par excellence. In the same way, the Lord Jesus is not just one of many teachers, he is the Master par excellence. Moreover, he is the Educator par excellence. We are his disciples and are in his “school.” We learn how to discover in his life, namely in the path he has travelled, a horizon of meaning capable of shining a light on all forms of knowledge.

I imagine that speaking these words to educators was particularly meaningful for Pope Leo since both of his parents were educators, as well as one of his brothers, and himself.

But my sense, after reading the book American Pope, is that Pope Leo spoke these words to the congregation gathered at the Vatican last November 1 primarily as one disciple of Jesus speaking to a group of fellow disciples of Jesus. After all, his identity as a disciple of the Lord is central to who he is.

Which is one way for us to recognize the meaning of the feast we celebrate this Sunday. The saints are those disciples of the Lord who journeyed before us and who allowed the Lord to teach them “a horizon of meaning capable of shining a light on all forms of knowledge” in their lives. That included intellectual knowledge, without a doubt, but it also included spiritual knowledge, emotional knowledge, relational knowledge, moral knowledge, and more.

As we come together this Sunday to celebrate All Saints and as we join the Lord Jesus and all the saints in giving praise and thanks to God the Father, may we allow the Lord to teach us his divine knowledge, leading us to recognize “that it is possible to live passionately amidst the complexity of the present, without neglecting the apostolic mandate to ‘shine like stars in the world’”

Peace,

Father Leo

10/24/2026

Living For Sunday - Father Leo Gajardo
October 24, 2026 - October 25, 2026
Dear Friends,

If you have read my bulletin article with any regularity, you are probably aware that I usually try to focus my words on how the readings for that Sunday invite and challenge us to live out our faith. That is why I have title my weekly column “Living from Sunday.” This week however, I would like to do something a bit different. Rather than to write to you about the readings for this Sunday, I would like to share some thoughts with you on last Sunday’s Gospel.

In the past, I have written about and quoted David Brooks, who, until recently, was an opinion writer for The New York Times. He left The Times because he wanted to write longer pieces and now writes in The Atlantic magazine. He also recently started a new podcast called The Permanent Questions, in which he spends an hour each week conversing with a wide range of thinkers and social commentators. Last Sunday, as I was getting ready for Mass, I listened to an episode of the podcast that had just been released that morning entitled, “Are We Too Political?” Given that I was going to preach on Jesus’ words to his opponents, “repay to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar, and to God what belongs to God,” (Matt 22:21) I was intrigued by the podcast title.

Brooks’ guest on this episode was Jeffrey Goldberg, who is editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Both Brooks and Goldberg are Jewish, although Brooks converted to Christianity just over a decade ago. They have both been political commentators for several decades, and they have been friends for many years.

During their conversation on the role that politics plays in the lives of people today, the got around to the topic of religion. I’d like to share a bit of their discussion with you.

Brooks: “But my theory is that people are emotionally and spiritually quite disturbed right now. And they don't go to church or whatever. And so politics has become the religion for a lot of people.”

Goldberg: “And that's why I stopped a long time ago falling in love with politicians. Falling in love with anything human, any movement or anything that's human created is going to lead to disappointment.”

Brooks: “So I still want to believe in politics and I still do believe in it. And I think most politicians are in it for the right reasons. The problem comes to me when people say they wouldn't marry somebody from the other party. And that's a very high percentage right now.”

Goldberg: “Well, this is why religion is important. One of the many reasons religion is important is it says humans are limited and humans are broken and humans are deeply imperfect. And any system of thought that demands some level of humility. This is what I can't stand about politics is the certainty of everybody. Because, you know, everybody needs religion. Human beings need religion. Some people just make politics their religion. Some people make all kinds of things their belief system.”

Brooks: “But my argument is that it gives you the simulation of religion without the actual religion. So it gives you a simulation that you belong to a group, but you're not really in a community. You're just hating the same people.”

Goldberg: “Well, you're not in a community, and you're accepting only half of what religion has to offer you. You engage in judgment, but you don't really engage in mercy, right? I mean, that's what our politics is like. It's judgment without mercy. And I just... It matters to me so little now what a person's positions are on a set of issues compared to their character and to their core beliefs about themselves, their family, their community, their country, the world system that we have.”

It seems to me that the point that Brooks and Goldberg made about the temptation to turn politics into religion resonates with the words Jesus spoke to his opponents about rendering to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar and to God what belongs to God. While politics has an important role in our life and society, our faith and worship should only be rendered to God. Only in that way can we live at peace with God and one another.

Peace,

Father Leo

09/24/2026

. FR. TOM MCCARTHY &
OUR PARISH MISSION‼️
FR. TOM WILL BE CELEBRATING ALL OUR MASSES AT ST. MARIA GORETTI AND ST. JOSEPH PARISH THIS WEEKEND ...
AND WE ARE EXCITED TO HAVE HIM LEAD OUR PARISH MISSION BEGINNING MONDAY NIGHT AT SMG ...

"WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CATHOLIC TODAY?"

WE ARE VERY EXCITED TO HAVE FR. TOM RETURN TO DYER AS HE HAS LED TWO PREVIOUS MISSIONS AT ST. JOSEPH THAT
WERE VERY WELL RECEIVED.

COME MEET FR. TOM AFTER BOTH OF THIS SUNDAY’S MASSES AT OUR FELLOWSHIP BRUNCH (SMG) AND JOIN US BEGINNING MONDAY EVENING FOR OUR MISSION.

YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS!!

09/24/2026

. BEATIFICATION OF
ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN
The Emmy Winner Who Pointed to the Eucharist: Why Blessed Fulton Sheen Matters Today 🕊️✨

History was made today, and the entire Church has cause to rejoice. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has officially been raised to the altars in beatification.

To many, he was simply the charismatic bishop who conquered American television during the golden age of broadcasting. But the counterintuitive beauty of his life goes so much deeper than vintage black and white screens.

In the 1950s, television executives thought placing a Catholic bishop in prime time against entertainment royalty was guaranteed failure. Instead, armed with nothing more than a cassock, a piece of chalk, and radiant conviction, he captivated up to thirty million viewers every single week. When he accepted an Emmy Award, he famously and humbly thanked his writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Yet the real secret of his life was never his natural charm.

On the morning of his priestly ordination, he made a private promise to spend one continuous Holy Hour in Eucharistic adoration every single day of his life. Through decades of relentless travel, international fame, and exhausting demands, he never broke that covenant. He often knelt before the Blessed Sacrament late at night on cold chapel floors, reminding us that any voice addressing the culture will quickly run dry unless it first drinks from the silence of God.

Even more remarkable for a national celebrity, he kept none of the fortune. The massive sums generated by his television contracts and bestselling books were quietly routed to help the poorest missions around the globe. He proved that one can speak to the modern world with brilliance while remaining spiritually detached and generous to the core.

His beatification comes at the exact moment we need him most. Blessed Fulton Sheen shows our digital generation how to sanctify technology rather than be consumed by it. He reminds us that genuine holiness does not need hostility or compromise, only radiant truth, deep joy, and a heart shaped by daily prayer ✝️

Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, pray for us 🙏

09/20/2026

GETTING TO KNOW OUR DEACONS ...

09/16/2026

THIS SATURDAY ...
PLEASE JOIN US‼️

09/14/2026

Today we wish a very happy birthday to our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV!

O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful,
look favorably on your servant Leo XIV,
whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd;
grant, we pray, that by word and example

he may be of service to those over whom he presides
so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care,
he may come to everlasting life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

09/13/2026