We had a most excellent St. Joseph's Day!  The heart of our day was found in St. Bernard Parish, where we celebrated the feast in a rebuilding home in Arabi.  The strength and devotion of the people who gave the altar in their home, where we ate in an unfinished room covered in fresh drywall, where the hostess of the altar carried on despite the recent death of her husband of 47 years, where the beauty of the red gravy surpasses any tomato sauce to be found in any restaurant, the hospitality and blessings offerred by such people to us, strangers allowed to walk into their world on the basis of love and devotion, is the richest gift I can ever receive.  It just doen't get any better than that.  Especially nowadays when so much has been shattered in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, it has been a constant source of strength how so many people from all walks of life have given their time and energy to come down here and fix stuff up, and how proud I am of the local people who've had to rebuild their lives despite incredible mountains of frustration.  The simple act of sharing food and memories, which is the calling card of St. Joseph's Altars, is still profoundly moving to me, particularly the home altars.  I know I'm a heathen when it comes down to what I call the hmmmana hmmmana -- the church rituals, but a deeply felt prayer is an honest thing capable of changing the worlds, both interior private realms and hostile reality.  I'm spiritual, not religious, and I'm probably a voyeuristic food tourist at some level when it comes to the altars, but I do feel a kinship with the intimacy of the cooking for the masses because that's my waking, working world.  The purity and sense of purpose behind the altars recharges my batteries.  The generosity and joy presented in the beautiful displays and copious quantity of food reminds me that truly good food is more spiritually nourishing than it is about calories and food costs.  It's a fantastic holiday, easily my very favorite day of the year.  I know that since finding out about St. Joseph's Altars that slowly I am turning out to be more grounded in my faith.  It's not Catholicism, but I do have a catholic sense of spirituality -- it doesn't matter to me if it's Shinto or Buddhism or evangelical Christians who have come down to New Orleans to help us rebuild -- if it gives you peace in your heart and propels you to give a damn about your fellow beings, then that's alright with me.  If your religion tells you to scheme against somebody who has a different viewpoint, then you're a hater and your religion is utter crap, the worst plague of stupidity on the planet.  

We're all here to give it our very best, to do whatever we can to celebrate life, love, and joy.  I really don't have time for anything else because if I'm not totally focused on doing my best, I won't be in place to truly "be there" when the good things in life come rolling along.  I embrace St. Joseph because he was humble, he worked to protect his unprecedented blessings as we should all work to protect our unprecedented blessings.  We're here!  We gotta roll HARD every day to keep it going in the right directions, ya heard me!  It's taken me a lifetime of work to get to where I don't screw up something as simple as a creme brulee, so I'll just keep on "sawing" so I can finally learn to do even better stuff.  I guess that's some kinda religion, but whatever it is it does make a big difference in my life.  Thanks, St. Joseph, for leading by example, for answering prayers, for teaching us how to make a better world.