St. Joseph Catholic Community
2021

This year the light traveled from JFK by way of Chicago and Iowa, and then to the Franciscan monastery in St. Paul. The Bethlehem Peace Light was distributed
throughout the Twin Cities on December 18, including here at SJCC!
You can witness this beautiful and meaningful flame
in the Sanctuary at the Parish Center during the Christmas season.



Hosting the Bethlehem Peace Light is Beautiful Ecumenical Advent Event.

Each year, a child from Upper Austria is chosen and Austrian Airlines flies them and their family to Tel Aviv, Israel. They then travel to the grotto in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The child transfers the flame from the lamps there, which have been tended to for nearly 2,000 years, to two blast-proof miners’ lamps. Austrian Airlines then flies the family and the lamps back to Vienna, Austria. There the Peace Light is distributed at a Service of Dedication to delegations from across Europe who take it back, with a message of peace, to their own countries. Austrian Airlines then flies the miners’ lamps containing the Peace Light from Bethlehem to New York City.
The goal is to help the light spread like the branches of a huge tree rooted
in New York and spreading across the continent. 



The SJCC Bethlehem Peace Light is located in the Parish Center Sanctuary.
All are welcome to take a flame from the Peace Light and bring it home.
The Peace Light will continue to burn throughout the Christmas season at SJCC. 

Song of Sending Forth:  Prayer of St. Francis
(click the link for a beautiful video and to listen to the song of St. Francis)

Make me a channel of your peace, where there is hatred let me bring your love.  Where there is there is injury, your pardon Lord, and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace. Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope.  Where there is darkness, only light, and where there’s sadness ever joy.
O Master, grant that I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console.  To be understood, as to understand.  To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace.  It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, in giving of ourselves that we receive, and in dying that we’re born to eternal life. 

History of the Peace Light
at St. Joseph Catholic Community

2020
Sadly in 2020, Peace Light was not flown to North America. While we certainly wish we had received it, we understand the need to stay as safe as possible during the ever growing pandemic.

But there is good news!  Even though we did not share the 2020 flame, we continued to share the Peace Light's message of peace and friendship.

Virtual Peace Light Ceremony
Sunday, December 6, 2020 8:00p

Please offer a prayer of gratitude for the Peace Light,
for even during these trying, stressful times,
the Peace Light shines bright against the darkness.

Go to www.peacelight.org for more details.
 
May Christ’s Peace Flood Over Us All
 

2019
Remembering the Peace Light's Journey to
St. Joseph Catholic Community

December 14, 2019 - Transport to MN
The Cancino Family of St. Joseph Catholic Community received the Peace Light which originated from Bethlehem and then traveled to New York, Indiana, Illinois, and then to Wisconsin where Chuck Roach from Hudson, WI delivered it to Plymouth, MN.

December 17, 2019 - St. Joe's Reception

The Peace Light arrived at St. Joseph Catholic Community where it will burn throughout the Christmas season.  It will be available to all who want to receive the flame of peace.

For transporting the flame, a lantern fueled by smokeless paraffin oil is suggested.

December 17, 2019 thru January 5

The Peace Light glows peacefully in the St. Joseph's sanctuary as a sign of hope for peace throughout the world..