THE APPRENTICES OF ST. JOSEPH
The Covenant
[An Early Draft]

God created man in His image. In the divine image He created him. Male and female He created them.

(Gen 1:27)

Each man is created in the image of God. Yet we are not identical, we are not merely parts of a whole. We are united in belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ, and yet each of us is a completely unique expression of the Infinite Love. With each person God creates, He shows His face to the world in a way He never has before, and never will again.

The Eternal Father, having created all beings, saw fit to give the protection of His only begotten Son and His masterpiece of human perfection to a humble carpenter. The ideal of Christian manhood was achieved by this quiet married man who spent his life making things out of wood and caring for the future Queen of Heaven and God Incarnate. Jesus Christ learned how to be a man from Joseph. “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” (Lk 3:52) In raising and building up this little boy who would be “the rise and fall of many”, this young father helped to prepare the child Jesus to be a strong man in character. Humbling Himself, Jesus sought St. Josephýs guidance. We pray we will do the same.

About here, something happened.
Perhaps the pizza ran out.

We, of our own free will, place ourselves in loving apprenticeship to St. Joseph. We eat pizza in our Apprenticeship as we rewrite Counting Crow songs in subjection to our Musical Call. We will do dancing, singing Apprentitelegrams for the Campus. “Itýs been a LOOOOOONNGG Semester, and thereýs reason to believe.” This oneýs for you, Father Dave. Please donýt miss our upcoming Improv Apprenice Concert, held in the Fireside [Lounge] from 7 until they kick us out. All for St. Joseph. All. Period. Bye now.

THIS SPACE FOR RENT. CALL 284-3541 and ask for the Paladinýs Secretary. Weýll be standing by, fighting over who gets the big piece of pizza. We are true Christian men, right here. Right now. Yep. Thatýs us. Bye now.

PAPA JOHN’S UNIVERSITY SPECIAL. THIS PIZZA–SAVE 50 cents WITH THIS COVENANT COUPON. ALSO, GET FREE PICTURE OF THE BIG THREE WEARING CHEAP HOUSEHOLD SHIRTS.

And then, suddenly, we’re serious again…

His mother said to the attendants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

(Jn 2:5)

In another version of this covenant, the first half is almost identical, but then at almost the same point we veer off again…

We, of our own free will, place ourselves, like Jesus, in loving apprenticeship to St. Joseph. We feel this is the true way to become men—the men whom God created us to be.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Don’t miss next weekýs exciting installment of THE COVENANT.

And now, stay tuned for excerpts from next weekýs covenant . . .

“Real Men date frequently and well. As apprentices, we consider this unique ýdiscernmentý as one of our special charisms . . .”

“As apprentices, we need to remember that, since we are the humble ones, we always will know what should be done. Therefore, we will have a special ýKnow Whatýs Best” ministry, as we minister our Rightness to the other men on campus.”

“A characteristic of a true apprentice is to admit when he has been wrong. Fortunately, we are never wrong.”

This version ends with the same scripture quote from the wedding at Cana. As you can see, writing a covenant is a taxing job.