St. Joseph Catholic Church

05/31/2026

Good Sunday morning 💟 Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and the Gospel reading is from John 3:16-18: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

The explanation for this reading is found online in the Morning Offering. It tells us this: "Today, it is good for us to hear John's Gospel words: “For God so loved the world...” (Jn 3:16), because in the festivity of the Blessed Trinity, God is worshipped, loved, and served —for God is Love. In Him we find an association with Love, and whatever He actively does, He does out of Love. God loves; He loves us. This great truth is one of those that transform us, that make us better, because it enters our understanding, becoming entirely evident to us. And it deeply affects our actions, honing them into total loving actions. And the purer love becomes, the greater and more perfect it is.

St. John of the Cross wrote: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.” And this is true, because this is what God always does. He “did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:17), thanks to Jesus Christ's life and to His love, unto His death on the Cross. Today, we contemplate Him as the only one that reveals to us authentic love.

We speak so much about love, that perhaps it has lost its originality. Love is what God feels for us. Love and you will be happy! Because to love is to offer our life for those we love. Love is gratuitous and simple. Love is emptying oneself, to hope for everything from God. Love is to diligently serve those who need us. Love is losing to regain a hundredfold. Love is living without keeping score of what one is doing. Love is what makes us resemble God. Love —and only love— is eternity already in our midst!

Let us live the Eucharist, which is the sacrament of Love, as it gives us God's love made flesh. It allows us to participate in the fire that burns in the Heart of Jesus, and it forgives and recasts us so that we can love with the very Love with which we are loved."

Take time to worship and to reflect upon these words about God and love. You are welcome to join us at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Rockdale, Tx. Our Sunday mass times are 9 AM in English and 11:30 AM in Spanish. May we each strive to live a life, showing love to one another as God would want us to do.
Have a blessed week ✝️

05/26/2026

Our parishioner, Jim Grametbauer, died this past weekend. Please keep his wife, Pat Garrison Grametbauer and their family in your prayers. Funeral arrangements are through Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home, Rockdale, Tx. and the obituary is included.

Share Memories and Support the Family.

05/25/2026

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit didn’t just show up… He launched the Church. The same apostles who were hiding in fear in the upper room walked out filled with fire, preaching the Gospel and baptizing in Jesus’ name. That’s why Pentecost is known as the “birthday of the Church” — the day the Body of Christ stepped into its mission.
Come, Holy Spirit. Do in us what you did in them.

05/25/2026

En Pentecostés, el Espíritu Santo no solo “apareció”… sino que lanzó a la Iglesia. Los mismos apóstoles que estaban escondidos por miedo en el cenáculo salieron llenos de fuego, predicando el Evangelio y bautizando en el nombre de Jesús. Por eso Pentecostés se conoce como el “cumpleaños de la Iglesia”: el día en que el Cuerpo de Cristo empezó de lleno su misión.

Ven, Espíritu Santo. Haz en nosotros lo que hiciste en ellos.

05/25/2026

05/25/2026

St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest saints and Doctors of the Church, had a profound love for the Holy Spirit. He taught that the Holy Spirit is the living bond of love between the Father and the Son — the perfect Gift and the sweetness of God’s presence in our souls.

In his writings, especially On the Trinity, Augustine described the Holy Spirit as the One who sets our hearts on fire with divine love and leads us into all truth.

One of his beautiful prayers still moves hearts today:

“Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,
that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,
to defend all that is holy.”

St. Augustine reminds us that true conversion and joy come only through the powerful, gentle action of the Holy Spirit.

🙏 Come, Holy Spirit — fill our hearts as You filled the heart of St. Augustine!

05/25/2026

✝ Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (John 20:21-23)

05/25/2026

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.

05/25/2026

Oración de Pentecostés

Espíritu Santo,
ven a nuestras vidas y renueva nuestro corazón.
Enciende en nosotros el fuego de tu amor,
danos sabiduría para elegir el bien,
fortaleza para no rendirnos en la prueba,
y piedad para vivir como hijos de Dios.

Ilumina a tu Iglesia,
sostén a nuestras familias,
consola a los que sufren
y haznos testigos valientes de Jesucristo.
Amén.

05/25/2026