Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

We embark on the most somber and liturgically rich week of the year, as we walk the procession from Palm Sunday to the tomb on Good Friday. Please check the bulletin for further details regarding Mass times as well as the other events that occur throughout the week.

I am well aware how difficult it can be to participate in all of the celebrations around the Triduum in particular, nonetheless, it is a beautiful and rewarding progression for those of you who can attend each of the services.

I invite you to attend the Chrism Mass, celebrated by the Bishop, tomorrow evening at the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine in Freehold. On Tuesday evening Nancy Arkin will present the final night in the series on the Triduum with a reflection on the liturgy of Good Friday. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we will pray the Morning Prayer of the Church (Lauds) at 9:00 a.m. each day as a community. As there are no morning Masses on those days it still affords an opportunity for the community to assemble and pray for the intentions of our world.

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday concludes with the Eucharistic Procession to the Altar of Repose which will be in the school gym. Adoration continues there until midnight and it concludes with Night Prayer (Compline.) Veneration of the Cross is at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Later in the evening (7:00 p.m.) we will have the “Seven Last Words” reflection. The Easter Vigil will begin in the courtyard in front of the church at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. Unfortunately we have no RCIA candidates this year, so no baptism will be celebrated then. Easter Day begins with the 6:00 a.m. Sunrise Mass in the courtyard of the church, followed by the usual Mass schedule. We hope to see all of you here this week.

The Good Friday Liturgy includes extensive prayers of petition for the church and the world. Our bishop has directed that prayers for peace in Ukraine and throughout the world be included in those prayers. The news of the atrocities committed there by the incursion is heartbreaking and evil. Our prayers for the end of this war, and all wars being waged in our world, are necessary and important.

In keeping with our parish's history of support for our military, we are partnering with the Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski, II Foundation to send necessary supplies to the men and women of our armed forces who are now deployed in Europe in light of the war in Ukraine. Our military is undersupplied for personal hygienic and first aid supplies. A list of needed supplies will be forthcoming. The Zilinski Foundation will handle the shipping and logistics. We have worked with this foundation in the past in procuring supplies and also in the training of service dogs to assist veterans suffering from PTSD. (Dennis, a 2002 graduate of CBA and 2005 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, was killed in Iraq on November 19, 2005.

His family established a memorial foundation to “support and improve the morale and welfare of the members of the US armed forces and their families and to aid and assist our wounded warriors.”)

Let us continue our prayers for one another and, as we bring our Lenten journey to an end, let us all celebrate together the great blessings and peace that the Lord has bestowed upon us.
Father Garry