e are a Roman Catholic community of believers in Jesus Christ in Lincoln Park and surrounding areas, located in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey. Our Bishop is Bishop Arthur Serratelli. Please feel free to visit the pages of our Parish site, learn about who we are as a community of faith and the services our parish provides. If you are thinking about moving to the Lincoln Park area, we cordially invite you to make St. Joseph's your parish home.
Please join us for the annual CROP WALK on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1:30 pm. Starting at St. Joe's. See below, left, or click HERE for additional information!
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
In today’s Gospel Mt 22:1-10, the para
ble of the wedding feast, Jesus offers an image of the kingdom of heaven using the symbol of a wedding banquet. In today’s first reading from Isaiah, the Lord’s goodness is apparent in the symbol of a feast of good food and wine. Jesus’ listeners would have been familiar with the image of a wedding feast as a symbol for God’s salvation. They would consider themselves to be the invited guests.
The king twice sends his servants to invite guests to the wedding feast that he is planning for his son. But each time, the invited guests mistreat and kill the servants.
With the invited guests now considered unworthy to attend the king’s wedding feast, the servants are sent out to invite whomever they can find on the roadways.
The guests arrive, but accepting the king’s invitation brings certain obligations. The guest who did not dress in the proper wedding attire is not accepted. The point is, many are invited to the kingdom of heaven, not all are able to meet its requirements. The parable also teaches about humility. Those who assume that they are invited guests may find that they have refused the invitation, and so others are invited in their place. To accept the invitation is also to accept its obligations. Like Matthew’s Jewish and Gentile converts, we too must enter the feast with appropriate wedding garments; that is with repentance for our sins, and a life lived doing good works.
e in a prayer filled day at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There are two options to participate, a two-day trip which includes visits to the St. Jude Shrine, the Baltimore Basilica and the National Shrine in Washington or the one full day trip to National Shrine in Washington that includes Mass, Confession, Rosary, Divine Mercy, and Catechetical presentations. We ask that you sign up by July 31st. Signup sheets are in the back of church.
