Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Happy New (Liturgical) Year -- the First Sunday of Advent marks a shift each year in the liturgical calendar. This year we return to the “A” Cycle of Sunday readings and the Year 1 of the weekday readings. For Sundays this means that during the up-coming year we will hear primarily from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. During the weekday Masses the Gospel remains the same each day of the year, but the First Reading is different from Year 2. Obviously the other feasts move along according to the secular calendar.

As it is the First Sunday of Advent, we are blessing our Advent Wreaths at all Masses this weekend. This custom, which comes to us from the German home traditions, reminds us of the passing of the time in preparation for the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. We think of the long time of waiting from the dawn of creation until the Incarnation and Nativity of Jesus Christ. The violet colored vestments remind us that we are in a penitential period, seeking forgiveness of our sins as we await the coming of the Lord, both as we commemorate His birth and especially as we anticipate His coming again in Glory. On the Third Sunday we wear rose colored vestments and as we recognize that our time of waiting and penance is nearing its joyful conclusion.

We have a very busy Advent calendar here this year. It is good to have the various activities from the pre-pandemic days returning, especially the school Christmas concerts. These are
events that everyone enjoys; and the children do enjoy these kinds of events the most. The school students have been practicing enthusiastically since October. Because we switched
the location of the music classroom this year, I have been hearing Christmas music when I go to the middle school wing for months now.

The second grade students in the school will receive First Penance this week and the students in the religious education programs will receive theirs at the parish Advent Penance Service (December 18th).

As you have noticed, the Giving Trees have been in the narthex since last weekend. The ever-increasing need in our community makes our generous response to this initiative even more critical this year. Thank you for your generosity to all of the available charities this year.

I am happy to report that the net proceeds from the 60th Anniversary School Gala come to: $60,084.68. Of this, $30,000 was given to the GRACE Foundation and PTA, for their support of the various school programs that they service. The school has placed the remainder in a restricted account with no immediate plans for its disbursement. Fortunately we do not need these funds for ordinary expenses. Now that we know how much we have made, we are investigating what programs or upgrades to the facilities we can make. We still have monies from the various state funded programs so that we can continue to expand the security of the school facilities. We are in pretty good shape with our ability to utilize these funds to their maximum potential for the school.

Please consider joining us on December 10th for some music and entertainment as we light our parish Christmas tree. Festivities begin after the 5:00 pm Mass that evening.

We have certainly had a taste of the winter weather, hopefully this is not a sign of a nasty and cold winter ahead. We still have a few weeks before the official start of winter. As the days grow ever shorter over the next few weeks, let us be ever-mindful that in even a few more weeks, the days will be gradually getting longer again.

I trust that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday, and were able to spend good and quality time with those whom you love. I also hope that you all survived the Black Friday rush; fortunately Cyber Monday is just around the corner!

Blessings,
Fr. Garry