Here we are in the month of March, autumn is round the corner. We are half way through Lent and half way to Easter. But before all that there are a few important days to remember in March. To begin, March 17, the feast of St. Patrick, a sacred day for all the Irish and those with Irish connections. This is the day on which Lent stops for 24 hours and a glass is lifted to Ireland, St. Patrick and the green green grass of home. Be sure to phone your Irish friends and wish them a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Of course not everyone will be celebrating the 17^th, but for the others the 19^th is important. This is the Feast of St. Joseph. And we should remember that this is the year of St. Joseph. We all know that when the Father chose the Virgin Mary as the mother of his son she had to be someone very special.  And when he chose someone to accompany her and protect the child Jesus, he too had to be someone very special. That someone was St. Joseph. The March issue of the Southern Cross has good articles on St. Joseph. Here is a little testimony from Pope Francis:

I would also like to tell you something very personal. I have a great love for St. Joseph,   because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table, I have a statue of St. Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep he is taking care of the Church. Yes, we know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath St Joseph so that he can dream. In other words, I tell him about it: pray for this problem.

Later in the month on the 25^th we have the Feast of the Annunciation. This is the visit of the angel Gabriel to Our Lady, asking her to agree to be the mother of the Saviour. She consented with the famous words “Be it done unto me according to thy word” and the Word became flesh.

Finally, on the 29^th of the month we have Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Because of the partial closing of Churches it may be difficult to attend to the Holy Week ceremonies, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, but each parish will have its own arrangements for the Easter celebrations. I hope that in some way you manage to enter into the spirituality of Holy Week.

In the spirit of Lent, in case you have not been able to get to Church to support the Lenten Appeal, here are the bank details:

SACBC Lenten Appeal. Standard Bank. Account 010009744.

For all those who have not made a contribution to the Foundation for a long time. Here again are the EFT bank details for the Foundation.

Name of our account                      SACBC Foundation

Bank                                                    NEDBANK

Branch Code                                      160445

Account number                               1604879564

Type of account                                 Current

Your reference (full name or cell is helpful to keep track)     …………………………………………………………………                  

We will need your name for reference and acknowledgement of above.

Finally, last year we made a number of disbursements. Here is one of them. In Cape Town there is an organization called Mater Domini Home. This home offers moral and material support to women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies. It is a sanctuary for women who suffer abuse and have nowhere else to turn to in a time of great need. (Abuse takes different forms from assault, violence, brutality, rape, abandonment, eviction, no family support etc). The Home is run entirely on donations and is supported by the Archdiocese of Cape Town. By the way, Mater Domini is Latin and means Mother of the Lord. We gave them R50,000.