HAPAG NI SAN JOSE
(Saint Joseph’s Table)
The Parish of the Holy Sacrifice launches today, on the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, the Hapag ni San Jose or Saint Joseph’s Table.
Saint Joseph’s Table originated in Sicily in the Middle Ages during a time of drought and famine. People prayed to Saint Joseph and as a form of gratitude they created large table altars where they put food and bread and opened them to the poor and hungry.
In the midst of the global pandemic, our Parish desires to continue our outreach of providing food for our needy families in our Basic Ecclesial Communities in a more regular and organized way. We are putting up three Saint Joseph’s table in three stations of our Parish. We hope to be able to serve a minimum of 150 families in each station every week. Our newly established Society of Saint Joseph will assist in the Hapag ni San Jose to ensure order and avoid abuses.
We enjoin our parishioners, mass goers and friends to share their food by bringing their donation of rice, bread, eggs, food complements, etc. to our Parish Church every Sunday when they go to Mass. The donations will be gathered and put in our Hapag ni San Jose the following day, Monday, from 2 to 4 in the afternoon, for distribution to our beneficiaries.
With this act of kindness and sharing, we express our compassion and solidarity with the poor and the needy during this time of crisis and more essentially, linking spiritual devotion and work of mercy, faith, and justice. In this way, we can celebrate the Year of Saint Joseph and the Jubilee Year of Christianity in the Philippines more meaningfully and more pleasing to the Lord.
