A large, muscle-bound man walks into the bookstore, fresh from the gym. He looks a bit stunned. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here,” he says, shaking his head a little, in confusion. “Something just came over me and somehow I walked down here.” And he begins to sob, overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. His story is one of many lives touched by God’s work through Newman’s Bookshoppe.

When most people join the Church, they remember the exact moment they decided to become Catholic. Arlea Swager’s “aha” moment can be attributed to St. Peter. “Jesus giving the keys to the kingdom to St. Peter — that was it for me.” “Yep, it all started with Peter,” she says.

YES! If you ask a certain generation of life-long Catholics, most should be able to tell you a quick definition of a sacrament. They would tell you something like, “a sacrament is a sacred sign, instituted by God, to give grace.” You might also hear someone say that a sacrament is “an outward sign of an inward reality.” Either way, we could say that the seven sacraments of the Church are the foundation of our faith. These sacraments are, of course: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. Ordinarily, these sacraments are conferred by a priest. Two of them, baptism and matrimony, may be conferred by a deacon

“Prudence is the mother of virtues which depends upon the practical wisdom gained by experience matched with an agile mind to make decisions in the here and now. Each time Joseph knew the will of God, he acted decisively, swiftly and accurately. He acted neither rashly nor timidly, but prudently.”*

We are all familiar with the term “unsung hero,” but throughout the last eleven months of this worldwide pandemic, that term has taken on new meaning. We admire all those working on “the front lines,” fulfilling essential services for our local communities, all the while helping the rest of us to stay safe. Among those “unsung heroes” are all those in the medical field — doctors, nurses, EMTs; public safety officials and all “first responders”; educators, parents, as well as our clergy and community/parish volunteers and so many more. As I think about the characteristics of those individuals, we almost can’t help but acknowledge that St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, stands out as the primary example of an unsung hero, as he quietly, yet heroically, cared for the Holy Family.