Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of Saint Benedict:

It has been a whirlwind of an Advent Season and with all of our watchfulness, preparation, and joyful hope, that day is just about upon us. I hope that in the midst of the baking, shopping, decorating, wrapping, and family visits, that we have all had the time to genuinely prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Last weekend we hosted Bishop O’Connell and the seminarians. He sends his blessings to all members of our parish community. All of us were very pleased at the turnout of parishioners in support of our seminarians and, of course, the Bishop. The seminarians were also very grateful and appreciate of your prayers and support, as well as the gift we were able to present to them through your generosity to the Adopt-a-Seminarian initiative. Let us continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood.

This is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, yet it lasts but a few hours. The way the calendar falls we miss the beauty and anticipatory chants that accompany the fullness of the Advent Season. What is envisioned as four weeks was really only three this year with a few hours of the fourth. This makes us feel a bit rushed liturgically and it also seems to make me feel rushed personally.

This makes for an especially busy day in the parish as we have very little time to change from our Advent theme to the festive Christmas colors. In advance I wish to thank Bob and the maintenance crew, the parish staff and the volunteers who will make this turn around happen in short order. There is a lot of work that goes into making sure that everything is ready for these celebrations, and our staff here is thorough and professional in the completion of these tasks.

While the Fourth Week of Advent may just be a day, Christmas is a Season and not a day. We can often forget that. The stores turn their attention now to Valentine’s Day and Christmas becomes a distant memory. By Tuesday people will begin so take down Christmas by putting away the decorations only to make a reappearance next December. However, Christmas is just beginning! We will celebrate Christmas intensely for one week and then continue until Epiphany, (celebrated this year on January 7th) and then ending on the Feast of the Baptism on Monday, January 8th . In times past Christmas was a forty day celebration much like Easter. The traditional Christmas ends on February 2nd.

So, as brief as it may be, let this Fourth Sunday of Advent fill you with joyful hope, as we await the coming of the Lord.

Blessings,
Fr. Garry Koch