According to Father Anthony Pham, the monastery is trying to bring St. Joseph’s spirituality and intercession to the faithful and encouraging them to pray to the Saint. Further, the celebration is an opportunity for the monastery to promote St. Joseph’s way of life, because he is the patron of the Universal Church and a role model for all the faithful.
The celebration began outside of the monastery in front of a 19-foot statue of St. Joseph. The faithful gathered behind the processional cross led by seven altar servers and elders dressed in traditional green and yellow gowns hitting gongs and drums. Women dressed in Vietnamese traditional gowns called áo dài were faithfully praying through songs.
Also, there were men dressed in black suites carrying the shrine of St. Joseph the Worker. Fr. Pham and others priests initiated the celebration by lighting candles and burning incense. Fr. Pham carefully climbed up to the base of St. Joseph’s statue and placed incense in front of it while the elders continued to hit the drums and gongs to the rhythm of the song from the faithful. After the initiation, the faithful again gathered behind the processional cross and walked toward the church while singing and praying with intensity.
This was not a typical Sunday Mass. The faithful, consisting of children as young as three years old to adults in their late eighties, filled the church. They also sat outside on both sides of the church due to overflow. Everyone was very focused on the Mass. Even with approximately 1,500 people attending, the environment in the desert was peaceful.
Fr. Pham’s homily tied the history of Phuoc Son Abbey and St. Joseph the Worker to the Gospel message. He compared the hardship of the Phuoc Son Abbey to that of St. Joseph. In addition, he shared his views about Jesus Christ by asking the faithful, “What is new in Nazareth?”
Prior to leaving the monastery, the faithful had a lunch together and shared their experiences.
St. Joseph Monastery was established by Phuoc Son Abbey in Vietnam through Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. St. Joseph Monastery was officially accepted into the Diocese in 2005. The church was dedicated in 2013. Currently there is a plan to build an amphitheater at the monastery.
Van Hoang is a guest writer and photographer for the Inland Catholic Byte.