Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Lent certainly has sped quickly past us. The enthusiastic response to the Parish Mission and Father Dave Dwyer was quite refreshing. This past week we were blessed to have the Franciscan Friars lead us in praise, worship, adoration, and penance. Now, as Holy Week quickly approaches, there are even more important moments that we want to draw some focus towards.

On Monday evening, March 19th, at 7:00 p.m. we will celebrate Mass in Honor of Saint Joseph on his Feast Day. We celebrate Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church. For the previous nine days we have held the Saint Joseph Novena in anticipation of his Feast. After the Mass on Monday, Father JM will offer a brief catechesis on Saint Joseph. We will also have a reception to follow. In the morning we will bless and enjoy the Saint Joseph Table. While this feast has a particular Italian flare to it, as St. Joseph is also the Patron of Italy, this celebration is for the whole of the church. If you are able, please join us for this special Mass, teaching, and celebration.

Next Sunday, March 25th Passion Sunday, the blessing and distribution of Palms will take place in the School Gym. We will then process outside and into the church. Please go directly to the Gym for all Masses next weekend.

Holy Week provides some of the most beautiful and singular Liturgical Rites of the year. One in particular is very special yet most Catholics never attend or know much about. The Chrism Mass of the Diocese of Trenton will take place on Monday, March 26, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. at the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine, 61 Georgia Road, Freehold. Here the priests gather with the bishop to make the annual renewal of the priestly promises and to commit again to service of the church. It is also here that the Holy Oils: the Oil of Catechumens, the Sacred Chrism, and the Oil of the Sick, are consecrated by the Bishop for use throughout the year in every church of the diocese. There is a light reception that follows. This happens but once a year, and it is a most moving celebration. I encourage you to attend.

The eighth grade students of SBS have been working prayerfully and diligently on the Living Stations which will be presented on Wednesday evening March 28th at both 5 and 7:00 p.m. Although this may seem like a theatrical production, please remember that it is first and foremost a prayerful reflection on the last moments of Jesus’ life. Stations of the Cross take us to the streets of Jerusalem and the events of Jesus’ Passion and Death.

As we prepare for the closing of the Lenten Season and the coming Triduum, may we enter ever deeper into the mystery of our salvation.

May the grace of Christ fill your minds and hearts.
Father Garry