St. Joseph of the Lakes

When we emptied the baptismal font  during the COVID moments we established a holy water holder in the gathering space. It has seen great use since we installed it.

Steve Berry, (Santa Claus) has made a beautiful cabinet for the holy water container to rest on. Being a master carpenter he carefully thought through the gift he has given to the parish and he passes on to us what went in to the table’s construction.

He writes:

“I have a small statue of St. Joseph the Worker inside my tool chest in our woodworking shop. I greet him every time I open the chest and ask him to guide me while I’m working. We’ve had a few interesting conversations. I owe everything I did on that cabinet to his guidance. The mistakes I made are all mine, not his.

So, why did I choose the woods that I used?

• The frame is Red Oak. I think of St. Joseph with that wood: strong and sturdy.
• I chose Padauk (pa-duke’) for the top of the cabinet. (It’s an orange-red exotic wood from Brazil.). The Danish Oil makes the Padauk a more red color. As I thought about the color of the wood, I recalled the scarlet cloak the soldiers put around Jesus’ shoulders as they crowned Him with a crown of thorns (Matthew 27:28).
• The front panel is Black Walnut flanked by American Cherry. The Walnut symbolizes to me Jesus’ cross, flanked by the crosses of the two thieves (Matthew 27:38).
• The right side panel is made of Birch. The color makes me think of the dawn sky that Jesus saw as He left the tomb on Easter Morning. (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1)
• The left side panel consists of three Maple boards. The two flanking boards make me think of the sky that the Apostles saw as they watched Jesus ascend into Heaven.  The center board, lighter in color, is the cloud that hid   Jesus from their sight (Acts 1:9).
• The back panel of Baltic Birch plywood is just the back panel.
• The scallop shell and the falling water pattern symbolize the Sacrament of Baptism. To me it also symbolizes     Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. I also thought of the Baptism of the Church as blood and water flowed from His side.

My son, Sean, carved the shell and water with his laser equipment. He said it took about a month to find the shell and water patterns, and 10 minutes to carve it. I am very grateful for his help in this project and his skill in the carving.”

My thanks to Steve and his family for this beautiful addition to our Gathering Space.