Weekly Letter from the Pastor

July 14, 2024

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:
Happy Feast of St. Benedict! Well, while the universal church celebrated his feast on Thursday, we have transferred the celebration to this weekend so that as a parish we can reflect on and celebrate our patron, one of the seminal figures in the life of the church. Co-Patron of Europe -- along with St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Cyril, St. Methodius, St. Catherine of Siena, and
St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross -- St. Benedict has a notable twin sister, Saint Scholastica, who made significant contributions to the church in her own right.
Our statue, icon, and the window of St. Benedict all depict him as an “old man.” Benedict died in 547 at 67 years of age. Indeed it is not uncommon to think of many of our saints as older, for the same is true of our representations of the apostles and of St. Paul. The only figures who remain perpetually young are those like Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (23) or St. Maria Goretti (11) and the soon to be canonized Blessed Carlo Acutis (15) who died when they were still young, even by the normal standards of their days. Yet, Benedict was a mere twenty years of age when he embarked on his mission to transform and reform religious life and began to take on a following. Unlike many religious founders, St. Benedict had significant influence not just on the foundation of his order but on its development through several generations. The most well-known aspects of St. Benedict can be found on the
St. Benedict medal: his many victories against sin and Satan, symbolized by the raven, the broken chalice, and the words of exorcism.
Pope St. John Paul II, reflecting on Benedict’s youth, commented: [after] “solitude and difficult trials, 1,500 years ago, when he was barely 20 years old, he founded the first Benedictine monastery at Subiaco.” Benedict in his writings compared his emergence from the cave to a grain of wheat that planted itself in the ground, “becoming a fruitful ear of wheat.” Realizing that his own youthfulness was a challenge to many who were reticent to take him seriously at first, St. Benedict would later write in his Holy Rule, “All are to be called to council because it is often to a junior that the Lord reveals what is best.”
We have much to learn from our beloved patron.
The final week of our Summer Religious Ed Academy opens Monday. The Summer Camp-out continues, and the various projects around the school are about to begin.
The heat has been a tad unbearable, so I hope everyone has been managing and doing well. It certainly isn’t easy to get through some days.
A most blessed week to everyone -- hopefully it cools down a bit. Father Garry

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:
Happy Feast of St. Benedict! Well, while the universal church
celebrated his feast on Thursday, we have transferred the
celebration to this weekend so that as a parish we can reflect on
and celebrate our patron, one of the seminal figures in the life of
the church. Co-Patron of Europe -- along with St. Bridget of
Sweden, St. Cyril, St. Methodius, St. Catherine of Siena, and
St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross -- St. Benedict has a notable
twin sister, Saint Scholastica, who made significant contributions
to the church in her own right.
Our statue, icon, and the window of St. Benedict all depict him as
an “old man.” Benedict died in 547 at 67 years of age. Indeed it
is not uncommon to think of many of our saints as older, for the
same is true of our representations of the apostles and of St. Paul.
The only figures who remain perpetually young are those like
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (23) or St. Maria Goretti (11) and the
soon to be canonized Blessed Carlo Acutis (15) who died when
they we
re still young, even by the normal standards of their days.
Yet, Benedict was a mere twenty years of age when he embarked
on his mission to transform and reform religious life and began to
take on a following. Unlike many religious founders, St. Benedict
had significant influence not just on the foundation of his order
but on its development through several generations. The most
well-known aspects of St. Benedict can be found on the
St. Benedict medal: his many victories against sin and Satan,
symbolized by the raven, the broken chalice, and the words of
exorcism.
Pope St. John Paul II, reflecting on Benedict’s youth,
commented: [after] “solitude and difficult trials, 1,500 years ago,
when he was barely 20 years old, he founded the first
Benedictine monastery at Subiaco.” Benedict in his writings
compared his emergence from the cave to a grain of wheat that
planted itself in the ground, “becoming a fruitful ear of wheat.”
Realizing that his own youthfulness was a challenge to many
who were reticent to take him seriously at first, St. Benedict
would later write in his Holy Rule, “All are to be called to
council because it is often to a junior that the Lord reveals what is
best.”
We have much to learn from our beloved patron.
The final week of our Summer Religious Ed Academy opens
Monday. The Summer Camp-out continues, and the various
projects around the school are about to begin.
The heat has been a tad unbearable, so I hope everyone has been
managing and doing well. It certainly isn’t easy to get through
some days.
A most blessed week to everyone -- hopefully it cools down a bit.
Father Garry