Happy Feast of the Holy Family!

Happy Feast of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph!


I hope and pray that your Christmas is going wonderfully! I have been very blessed this year with many graces from God. He has encouraged me and given me more hope and peace than ever. I do have joy in my heart. Praise God for that! 


I received a file from a parishioner in the last couple of days of a video. The video is short and it is at the beginning of the Midnight Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Two seminarians from my parish, Jamie Baxter and Michael Bower, are in the midst of the crowd as Pope Benedict XVI moves in procession. Also, other seminarians from the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana are in the crowd (Kyle Neterer, Stephen Geer) and Jeff Bower, the father of Michael. Of course, where our seminarians are so is our vocation director Fr. Brian Doerr. Look carefully at the video below to see these familiar faces. It must have been so amazing to be in Rome for this Christmas Mass. This experience will be something they will never forget. Enjoy the video!

I also wanted to encourage you this Christmas with the gift we have been given from our God... His Son Jesus, our Emmanuel, God is with us!


In my homily this year, I explained that God did not give us the gift of His Son in wrapping paper or in a gift bag, but rather, Jesus was placed in a manger filled with hay. I also pointed out that the original purpose for the manger or crib was a feeding trough for animals. It is interesting that Jesus Himself would become food, spiritual food, for our souls. He gives Himself in the Eucharist so that we could have life and grace. What a gift we have to be able to bring Jesus Christ into our hearts in the Eucharist. Please read my Christmas homily if you have time! 


God bless you and Happy Feast of the Holy Family,


Fr. Joshua

Mary Christ Mass and Happy New Year!

Dear Family, Friends & Visitors of my blog,

We hear in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” 

We are the people that this message from the angel is directed. We are the people who Jesus was born for. We are the people who are loved by the child’s mother Mary and step-father Joseph. We are those who He would give His life for on the cross. 

I am thankful to all of you for being part of my life. I continue to minister to the people of Saint Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church in Zionsville. I have been blessed beyond my imagination since I arrived here almost three years ago. At my parish, I keep quite busy with celebrating Masses, hearing confessions, performing baptisms, helping with wedding and funerals, supporting the women of Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP), helping with Women’s Cursillo, hanging out with our high school students in the Temple Knights and the Daughters of the Immaculata to name just a few things. I was blessed this past year to also be an assistant cross country coach at Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville, IN. Through that experience, I was able to get ready for the 2010 New York City Marathon which I finished successfully on November 7th. I also made a pilgrimage in the summer of 2010 to Rome and Assisi Italy, which was a joy to do as a priest. The pilgrims did great and yes we did get to see Pope Benedict XVI.

This time of year is one of my favorites most especially because God so loved us that He gave us the greatest Christmas gift - His Son Jesus, our Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”

Please know of my prayers for all of you. I hope to continue to keep this blog updated and interesting for all who would visit it. May the blessings of this Christmas Season come upon you all and may this New Year 2011 be even more amazing that 2010.

God bless you,

Father Joshua

Long time... So Much Going On!

Finally... we have snow and cold temperatures. Brrrrr. There has been so many wonderful things going on. Thanksgiving was a blast with my Dad and some wonderful friends, the Lunsfords. Thank you for inviting us! I had the blessing of celebrating Mass at my parish of Saint Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church. This year, we had a nice turn out and the gift of the Eucharist for us all continues to bless us. People even brought some of the items that they would have at their Thanksgiving dinners, so I did a blessing for those food items.

Since Turkey Day, it has been wonderful entering into the Season of Advent. This past weekend, the Second Sunday of Advent has come and gone. I cannot believe how quickly it is all going. And, as most everyone around us are already celebrating Christmas, let's hold off a bit and wait to the actual day... DECEMBER 25TH! Remember that Christmas is a whole liturgical season which lasts from Vespers of December 24th and continues with the Traditional 12 Days of Christmas concluding with the Feast of Epiphany. Christmastide continues on until the beautiful Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 9th this coming year. I hope your Christmas trees survive this lengthy Season because we cannot just celebrate the gift from God - His Son Jesus Christ - in just one day. We continue to celebrate and give God thanks for loving us so much that He sent His only Son to be our Savior and Lord for an entire liturgical season.

Today, I am excited for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This solemn feast gives us so much hope as we are called to remain as immaculate as we can each and everyday. As I shared in my homily last night, we became immaculate in our baptism, so there is an opportunity for us to reflect and pray at the Baptismal Font. That place is where we became Sons and Daughters of God. The grace of the Almighty poured into our hearts and souls and forever we became different in the eyes of God. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is our opportunity to frequently return to the grace of God and be restored to friendship with Him. I encouraged people with the idea of having "Immaculate Confessions" so that we can become more and more like Mary our Mother - the Immaculate one. Mary has played and continues to play such an important role in salvation. She is a model for us of how we are called to cooperate with God to truly fulfill our role as disciples of Jesus Christ. Here is a link to read and reflect upon some of the passages of Sacred Scripture that deal with Mary: http://www.picturingmary.com/about_virgin_maryA.php.

Enjoy these Advent days folks. Remember the more effort we put into preparing, the more we will get out of the Holy SEASON (not just one day) of Christmas. You are in my prayers. I will try to blog more frequently, especially since there are so many wonderful things going on. God bless you, those that you love and those that you are working harder than ever to love.