Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Finally it feels like we are back to normal. Typically I write these letters early in the week – the deadline for the printer is noon on Wednesday – but the early deadlines for the holidays meant that even last week’s letter was written before Christmas. Now, at least, I feel like we are current.

January draws our attention to several important issues. First among them right now is the precarious uncertainty in the Middle East. Our prayers at this time go with the leaders and leading voices on all sides of this conflict that synergy of peace will prevail over war. Muddling through all of the rhetoric makes it hard for us to be clear-headed. Let us pray for peace.

Several members of our parish, and Director of Faith Formation Melissa Dayton, are on a diocesan pilgrimage to the Holy Land this week, having left last Monday. As it is a tense time there we are confident of their prayers for us and for peace, but let us also be mindful to pray for them.

As January 22nd approaches we are reminded of the Right-to-Life initiatives and programs. Deacon Rich is speaking this weekend on the Baby Bottle Boom-a-Rang program that we inaugurated here last year. There is also a Novena for Life program which our Knights of Columbus are participating in with the Knight’s chapters from Our Lady of Fatima, St. Clement’s, and Holy Family Parishes. The annual Right to Life March in Washington is Friday, January 24th. Information on travel from Monmouth County can be found in back of the bulletin. On January 22nd we have the march on the State House in Trenton. Mass precedes the march at 9:30 a.m. at the Cathedral with the march at 11:00 a.m.

Also, of great importance and interest is the celebration of Catholic School’s Week which kicks off at the 5:00 p.m. Mass on Saturday, January 25th. Our school is a very important ministry of our parish, and certainly one that demands a great deal of time and resources. The 396 students who currently populate our school do not come exclusively from the parish. In coordination with our principal, Kevin Donahue, and the faculty and staff of the school, it is our hope and goal to see the enrollment in the school moving in a positive direction. Please consider a Catholic education here for your children or grandchildren. Tuition is not as burdensome as some imagine or expect, and the outcomes are very positive. Check the bulletin and website for open house times. Please take the walk through and experience Saint Benedict School: A Foundation for Life.

In support of the school the Polar Plunge is being held on Sunday, January 26th. While the past few years we have been slow to participate, and therefore did not actively participate with any vigor, this year we are putting on the push. When approached to donate, please be generous. If asked to take the plunge, well, use your best judgment. Hopefully we can raise some much needed capital through this event.

We had a very good Christmas Season here. Thank you again for your thoughtfulness and generosity. Now begins the slow march to Lent as Ash Wednesday is February 26th. We have some adult faith formation nights scheduled for the interim. At the same time, I have already been speaking with my Mother and doing some on-line searches for some new recipes for Soup and Scripture Wednesday’s.

Have a blessed week,
Father Garry

The Baptism of the Lord

The origin and foundation of Christian Baptism is Jesus. Before starting his public ministry, Jesus submitted himself to the baptism given by John the Baptist. The waters did not purify him; he cleansed the waters. “He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake . . . to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water” (St. Gregory Nazianzen, Liturgy of the Hours, I, 634). Jesus’ immersion in the water is a sign for all human beings of the need to die to themselves to do God’s will. Jesus did not need to be baptized because he was totally faithful to the will of his Father and free from sin. However, he wanted to show his solidarity with human beings in order to reconcile them to the Father. By commanding his disciples to baptize all nations, he established the means by which people would die to sin—Original and actual—and begin to live a new life with God.