Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

The opportunity to attend the Forty Hours devotions was an inspiration and encouragement in faith for those who were able to attend some or all of the services, or to just spend that quiet time with the Lord.

On Sunday evening, Father Mariusz Eugene Koch, C.F.R., reflected on the tremendous faith and Eucharistic deviation of Servant of God Walter Cizek, S.J., whose twenty-five year imprisonment in the gulags of the Soviet Union are so beautifully recounted in his book, With God in Russia.

On Monday evening, Father Daniel Kirk, talked about the power and meaning of the Eucharist in his own life. He reflected on the experience he recently had while on a pilgrimage to Italy. He was privileged to celebrate Mass in the church in Lanciano where a Basilian monk experienced the first documented Eucharistic miracle around the year 750 AD. In his typical folksy manner, Fr. Kirk spoke of the need to be transformed by the Eucharist.

On Tuesday evening, Bishop O’Connell spoke poignantly about the struggles we all have in life, and especially in his own life as he lost part of his leg to amputation. Reflecting on the powerful presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the bishop said: “We are fortunate in our parish to have 40 Hours devotion, which provides us this opportunity ... to slow down, to calm down, to quiet down, to take a breath, to recognize and believe and adore and thank and beg. Let me invite you to deepen your Eucharistic devotion, your commitment to the Lord Jesus. Ask him to help you never to take his presence for granted again.”

So many people worked hard to put this devotion together: Deacon Paul, Nancy Arkin, Lori McCahill, Ellen Remick, Tom O’Brien and the Choir, Margaret Roddy, Eileen Cannarozzo, Lori Ulrich, and Patti Dickens handled the logistics of the ceremonies and the evenings. We are also grateful for the participation of the teachers and students of the school, and to Patrick Smith, the Campus Minister at St. John Vianney HS, and the students from there who also attended the services here. Thank you.

In March we will host the Exhibit of Eucharistic Miracles which will give us again give us an opportunity to reflect on our Eucharistic Lord.

Advent is just around the corner -- the annual Giving Trees will be in the narthex next weekend.

May the Lord continue to bless our parish and our world with his
peace.
Fr. Garry