We exist to
love God,
love others,
and make disciples of Jesus

Friends,
What you see here is our new parish logo! We are doing many new things here at Holy Family and I wanted us to commemorate our new direction with a new logo. The logo depicts the hearts of the Holy Family. I had it commissioned by an independent graphic designer.

In the middle is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the left is the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and to the right is the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph. Above each of the hearts is a blue inscription. “IHS” is a monogram for Jesus which stands for Iesus Hominum Salvator, “Jesus, Savior of the World.” The intertwined letters “AM” is a monogram for Mary which stands for Auspice Maria, “under the care of Mary.” Finally, “AJ” is a monogram for St. Joseph simply meaning Sancti Joseph, “Saint Joseph.” At the bottom of the circle the letters “J+M+J” stand for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Each heart is burning with love for each other, the Father, and us; this is depicted by the flames shooting from the top of each heart.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is surrounded by woven thorns and is pierced and bleeding. These details call to mind Jesus’ crown of thorns and the piercing of his heart after he had died on the Cross producing blood and water. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted in this way to show his immense love for us and his desire to suffer for our sins.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary is surrounded by roses and is bleeding from being pierced by a sword. Roses have for centuries been closely associated with the Blessed Virgin and often accompany her apparitions. The primary devotion to Mary is also named after roses, the Rosary. The white rose represents Mary’s joy, the red rose represents her sufferings, and the yellow/gold rose represents her glory in heaven. The sword piercing the heart is an allusion to the prophecy of Simeon when Jesus was presented as a child in the Temple by Mary and Joseph. Simeon says to Mary: “’Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will pierce, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed’” (Luke 5:34-35).

The Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph is surrounded by white lilies to represent his purity and chastity. White lilies have a long history of depicting purity and chastity. Because St. Joseph took the Blessed Virgin as his spouse while protecting her perpetual virginity, St. Joseph’s outstanding character and virtue in chastity is highlighted.

Human hearts are a symbol of love. The ancients would refer to “the heart” as the center of all human activity – intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Hearts also symbolize the center of things, “heart of the city.” Likewise, the three hearts of the Holy Family represent the center of perfect human love: divine love flowing from Jesus’ heart, received perfectly by the sinless heart of Mary, and shared and protected by the ironclad chastity of St. Joseph. The love of the Holy Family is not just a love for themselves, but for us. We are invited to learn to love like them so that our hearts will be enflamed with love, too.

May this new logo for our parish deepen our appreciation and devotion to the love of the Holy Family so that we can love God and others as they did. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; pray for us.

AMDG,
Fr. Stephen