Create your own St. Joseph Day Tradition

The feast day of Saint Joseph has a strange history of changing dates according to the whims of Popes. Originally, it was a day declared in honor of Joseph, husband of Mary, mother of Jesus. As the story goes, it was a busy time of year when the couple set out on the journey to escape the mass killing of babies by King Herod. Joseph and Mary were turned away at the door of several inns until finally one offered shelter in the stable.

St. Joseph's Day is traditionally celebrated with acts of kindness, and is observed on March 19th, however, the Pope still allows the celebration to take place on another date if March 19th falls within Holy Week (the days surrounding Easter). Saint Joseph Day is celebrated in pockets around the world where there is a large Italian demographic. Originally a religious feast day, these celebrations have become community-wide events in those areas.

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Bertrand Piccard next adventure: Solar Flight around the world

In a hot air balloon, Dr Bertrand Piccard circled the world. He, and partner, Brian Jones, did this in twenty days in 1999. The trip broke records and was called the "last great adventure of the twentieth century." But that's not all.

What I found most interesting about Bertrand Piccard's TED Talk (below) is how Piccard expressed the adventure of the balloon flight as metaphor for his spirituality. The title of one of his lectures is called, Adventure is a state of mind: the metaphor of the first around-the-world balloon flight.

Bertrand had an interest in human potential before he embarked on the balloon flight. He was influenced by his mother's interest in philosophy and spirituality. He became a doctor specializing in psychiatry and psychotherapy. His father and grandfather were adventurers. His father reaching the deepest waters of the ocean and his grandfather being the first to reach the stratosphere in a balloon.

In this metaphor of life, the balloon is prisoner of the air currents, just as man is prisoner of his convictions, problems or fate. But in the same way as a balloon changes altitude to find the currents that will drive it in a new direction, man can rise professionally, psychologically, philosophically or even spiritually, to become responsible for the direction of his life.
- Bertrand Piccard

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