My dear parish family:
Open yourself to Epiphany. Don’t just celebrate it, experience it. Don’t just watch the Maji; follow the light God is showing you. Let the Holy Spirit enable you to recognize the Savior, and let those fresh insights carry you onto new paths in this new year.
Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 as a Jubilee, a year dedicated to an intentional, collective pursuit of the reconciling, restorative power of hope throughout the world. We are, this year, called to be pilgrims who join hands to turn hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
My friends, let’s answer this call. Let’s realize that human hope changed its focus at Christ’s birth. From Bethlehem on, people began to understand that tangible redemption had come. The light around the Christ child was the long-sought deliverance from the darkness that fell over the human heart in the Garden. 
This light, this hope is not dimmed in our day. It pours out everywhere straight from God’s heart. It reaches every country, every city. It reaches Zephyrhills, and it is my personal hope that you will let it reach you and bring you peace.
You are always in my prayers.
Fr. Allan 
 

​My dear parish family,
 
              We love Christmas because our lives have shown us that we can depend on it to bring hope to worry-weary minds and lasting peace to once-troubled hearts. The quiet calm and brightness of this season is a welcome rest for our souls in a noisy, often dark world.
We know that Jesus wasn't long in the manger. He grew to be the man of sorrows whose sacrifice saves us. Yet, somehow, he is forever newborn and sleeping in Mary's arms as Joseph, our patron saint, looks on in wonder. The shepherds are always in their fields, and the Magi remain on their journey. When we sing of these things, we experience something beyond imagination. Our songs do more than recall these historical moments. They reconnect us with them as we continue humanity's long search for truth. They tie us even more tightly to the ongoing story of Christ's advent and presence on earth. They help show us that, this month, our altar is Bethlehem-the place where Christ is adored in the Eucharist through the same Spirit that gave the Christmas star its light.
I invite you, then, to come to Bethlehem. Plan to join us as we celebrate the energizing, child-like delights of Christmas. If you are lonely, let us be family to you. If you are happy, come be family to someone who needs your smile and the warmth of Christian love. The St. Joseph community will again this year be a gathering of angels, of messengers, announcing that Christ has come to bring peace to people the world over. Having your voice and your heart among us will strengthen our proclamation of this gloriously good news. And, as always, if you are able to contribute to our Christmas Offering, your gift will help us extend the depth and reach of our ministries as it enables us to maintain our buildings and grounds.
 
I wish you a most blessed Christmas.
 
Fr. Allan
 

My dearest Parishioners,
 
Please know even though I am many miles away, you are in my prayers constantly. Hurricane Milton, and its aftereffects is testing and stretching your limits, but God is with you. After the storm passes, the first thought is, “Everyone's safe, thank God.” When the damage is assessed, “thank God it wasn’t worse or thank God no one was hurt” Once power comes back on, the first thing said with a sigh of relief is, “thank God.”
 
Through the chaos and struggles that come without power, water, sewer and even the ability to communicate with one another, His Grace is what gives you the patience to endure and we express gratitude.
 
I am praying that our parish, community and neighbors find peace. I will be back to Zephyrhills soon, but remain with you spiritually until then.
 
May God bless you,
 
Fr. Allan Tupa 

​ 
My dear parish family,
 
I will be leaving soon to spend my vacation with my family in the Philippines. While I’m there, I will offer a Mass to commemorate the one-year anniversary of my mother’s death (she passed on October 6, 2023), and I will offer memorial Masses for two dear aunts whose deaths followed my mom’s by a matter of weeks. Sometimes, the valley of the shadow of death is deeper than we expect it to be. Sometimes, it is wider. For my family last year, it was both: Less than three months after my mother’s and aunts’ deaths, my brother died—just three days before Christmas. Still, the steady sunrise of grace during grief always returns us to light, and this is what my family and I will celebrate through these Masses while I am away.
 
How wonderful that our hope can be completely expressed in just eleven words:    
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” (John 6:54). This promise sustains the Catholic heart. This reality comforts us when we consciously meditate on our Communion together. This is why our parish is devoted to the ongoing Eucharistic Revival (which you can read more about by visiting www.eucharisticrevival.org. This revival is not about following a trend or merely having something to do. It’s about real people needing real hope; it’s about people seeking strength in trying times; it’s about creating mindfulness so burdened hearts can feel lighter in the presence of Christ; and, today in our parish, it’s about you: Whatever your sorrow, be assured that Jesus is here for you. Our community is here for you.
 
I know this from experience. Your thoughtfulness and expressions of sympathy last fall and winter helped me. Sharing the Eucharist—our tangible hope—with you week after week over the last year has lifted me, and I will offer thanks for this and for you during our family liturgies. Please pray with us, and I know that together God will bring us more completely into his light.
 
I look forward to being back with you in November.  
 
Fr. Allan     
 

My dear friends,
​
There is a short phrase in our gospel reading this weekend that may escape notice as we focus on sorting out the counter-intuitive things Jesus is teaching in the lesson. While he is saying that the “first will be last” and that the greatest among his followers will be those who willingly serve all, Jesus brings a child before him and puts his arms around it. Jesus—God the Son, the Word who formed all things—gives a kid a hug. This wasn’t needed to make his point. Jesus could have used just words. He had his disciples’ attention, and, beyond that, he didn’t need to embrace the child to use him or her as a model of what it means to be unassuming. So, why did he do it? 

I think Jesus hugged the child because the child needed a hug. Think about it: The atmosphere was tense. Jesus’s disciples had just been arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest, and Jesus was working to resolve their conflict. The child, who was right there with them, surely sensed all that. So, when Jesus calls this child into the center of that group at that moment, it’s nearly certain he or she was visibly nervous, and Jesus reacted by wrapping the child in the security and warmth of his arms. 

This is the heart of Christ. This shows you how Jesus feels when he sees your anxiety, the very unease you may be feeling as you read these words before Mass. It also tells you that Jesus will move to reassure you, and I pray you will find this moment of reassurance today during Communion, whether you are a guest among us or a long-established parishioner. I hope you will feel a warm, embracing spirit as you receive Christ. As scriptures so clearly teach us, nothing matters more than our experiencing and sharing love like this. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Fr. Allan  ​

​My dear parish family,
 
In this week's bulletin, you will find our annual Parish Financial Report. As you read it, think of it as an X-ray showing the structure of support that enables our church and its ministries to stand and move in service to God. I am grateful for every penny that you entrust to us, and I am grateful for our Business Administrator, Beverly Burgess, our Finance Council, our cash counters, and the other office volunteers who express their commitment to Jesus Christ and his Church through their tireless, conscientious efforts to ensure the sufficiency and integrity of our finances.
 
Our gospel reading this weekend tells of Jesus healing a man who suffered from deafness and a related speech impediment. Jesus touched this man’s ears and tongue. Then, he said “Be opened” and, just that quickly, the man was able to hear and speak plainly.
 
I see a connection between this sudden, startling display of God’s mercy and the repeated gesture of grace each of you performed over the last year as you placed envelopes in our offering baskets or donated online: Each act enabled someone to hear; each enabled someone to speak; each resulted in Jesus Christ being glorified as people witnessed God’s work and said “He has done all things well.” (Mark 7:37) Your generosity supported outreach, Christian growth, and the nearly 500 Masses and other liturgies we offer each year. When you give, you serve; and when you serve, souls live.
 
This is why we exist as a parish, and I remain humbled and thankful to be in service with you. 
 
— Fr. Allan