St. Joseph Basilica

For lifelong Catholics, newcomers to the faith, and those simply interested in learning about Catholicism.

Tonight’s topic is AMAZED AND AFRAID: the Revelation of God Become Man!

Join us on Tuesday nights for Bishop Robert Barron’s acclaimed “Catholicism” video series that illuminates the timeless teachings of the Church using its art, architecture, literature, music, and treasures of the Catholic tradition.

Each session stands on its own, so no need to commit to the whole series!

It will be held from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in Notre Dame Hall. You can enter from Lafayette Street between San Antonio and San Jose.

Contact Anne Marie at [email protected] for more info.

Can you imagine? This is our fourth Sunday outside! And it seems people are settling in quite well. It can get sunny out there, so we’ve been seeing more people bringing out their wide-brimmed hats, we have families sitting on picnic blankets under the trees, and the church has added a number of canopies, too! We’re all learning together, aren’t we?

After every Mass at the quad, we love seeing the children run across the grass. We are happy that we have donuts and coffee as a constant. We love finding pockets of people gathering together given the wide open space.

This week was particularly special, too, because the Alameda Young Adults had their bake sale, and we saw their inventory practically get wiped out quickly, thanks to all your support! (Click on this link to support if you haven’t yet. https://secure.acsevents.org/site/STR?fr_id=111683&pg=team&team_id=2856878)

We are so blessed. Perhaps it is because we belong to a community that knows we are His people: the sheep of His flock. And when we listen to the voice of our Shepherd, we trust that we will always be found.

Getting ready for 10 am Mass.
Thank you volunteers!

High schoolers! Don't miss an exciting gathering tomorrow! Details in this week's E-news/E-Bulletin:
https://conta.cc/43vSYcz

Last Sunday, Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was brought out into the streets of Alameda during our annual tradition of the Corpus Christi procession. This year, we gathered for the exposition at St. Joseph at the high school quad, and found our way mostly along sunny Otis Drive, and back up to Washington Park where we stopped to kneel and pray before the Eucharist as one big community.

We then crossed the busy intersection of Central and Webster, guided by our Knights of Columbus who kept us safe throughout the procession, until we found our way back to our other home, St. Barnabas, for benediction.

Our altar servers and our priest, Father Mario, led the pack, as is tradition. We saw many people bring out their hats, comfortable shoes, walking sticks, and strollers! But most of all, we saw so many rosaries. We enjoyed praying it together, with different people, both adults and children, leading the prayers throughout the entire way.

That 1.5-hour walk felt pleasant—or at least it was mostly flat with a great view of our beloved city, but when we arrived at the food hall after benediction, let’s just say the pizzas and fried rice and bread vanished very quickly.

We could not thank enough all the people who have made this possible! It entailed a lot of planning, coordination, and a lot of carrying, too! Trust that God sees all that you do for Him. No act is ever too menial to give glory to our Lord.

The Lord was truly present in every sense of the word. And as Fr. Mario would say, aren’t we so blessed!

See you soon!!!

Father Mario opens his homily with a line from St. Augustine that so beautifully encapsulates the Eucharist: "God the Father, who is all-powerful, is able to give us nothing more. God, the Father, who is all-wise, knows nothing more He can give. God the Father, who owns all things, possesses nothing more He can give than Jesus Christ in the Eucharist."

So the Feast of Corpus Christi did not start right away. In fact, it took about 1,200 years until the Church started celebrating it, thanks to the revelations experienced by now, St. Juliana of Liege, who had a vision of a moon with a sliver that was missing. But it was a Eucharistic miracle that a priest named Peter of Prague encountered that propelled the feast forward.

Why does God send us these miracles once in a while? Perhaps God knows that life can get difficult, and it can get to a point where it feels like we are wandering through the wilderness. So He sends us these miracles to be a tangible reminder of our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus. But what does this gift of the Eucharist mean?

Jesus gives it to us because He desires for us to become saints. To become holy, to share in His image. And Father Mario shares that "if God has called you to become holy like Him, you must receive the Holy One. You must consume Jesus Christ, and live in a relationship with Him. 'Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you do not have life within you. But if you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have eternal life,' which is not just life that you experience at the end of your earthly life, when you pass on, it is a quality of life that you can begin to experience here and now, this very day, eternal life. It means the fullness of life. And yes, we will experience completely in heaven, but you can begin to experience it now."

When the world asks, "What's the most I can take?" Jesus invites us to ask, "What is the most I can give?" Because that is what He did. It is what He does every day.

So ask yourself, what is the most I can give today, at this moment, to the people in front of me? What is the most I can give?

The most I can give | Homily for Corpus Christi Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Here’s a checklist to help you prepare for the Corpus Christi procession! Because having things ready beforehand and having a comfortable body means we get to clear our minds to make space for what matters most—Jesus.

So bring Jesus. Bring Jesus in you.🙏🏼

We can’t wait to see you guys!!! Mass at 10AM, then procession at 1PM. Okay? Okay!!

All are welcome to the 7:00 PM Sunday Mass, now being celebrated at St. Barnabas while our church undergoes renovation!

Here is an excerpt from Fr. Mario’s homily last Sunday evening:

“We can say that God is community. St. John says that God is love. But God's love means a community, because one person cannot really love. If God only existed as one person from all eternity, what can he love? Love is always going out. To someone else. So we say that from all eternity, God is a community of three, and one God, that they love perfectly, they give themselves to each other perfectly. Father to the Son, Son to the Father, in that exchange, she's so powerful, that is a person. But it's God. God gives God to God. That's the Trinity.”

We are grateful to both parish communities and to all the volunteers whose hard work made this transition possible. We look forward to worshiping with you again the coming Sundays. God bless and have a blessed weekend!

Check out this week's E-news/E-bulletin for the latest news: https://conta.cc/3RDLr91