Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Here we are, the Fourth Sunday of Advent yet there are only two more days left until we celebrate the great Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord.

I hope that everyone had a blessed Advent and that you were able to take advantage of the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the season and your own relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our Christmas Mass schedule remains the same as it has the past several years with two Masses being celebrated at4:00 pm. The Mass in the school gym follows the Christmas Pageant put on by the children in the religious education program and also features members of the children’s choir.This Mass takes on a more children’s tone. Mass is also celebrated in the church at the same time. Other Masses are at 6:00 pm; 8:00 pm; and Midnight. On Christmas Day Masses are at 9:00 and 11:00 am.

This Christmas Season also begins a special time in the life of the Church as Pope Francis has called a year of Jubilee which will officially open on Christmas Eve with the rite of Opening of the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter.

The Church looks toward the Jubilee Year 2025 (the 2,025th anniversary of the Incarnation of our Lord) Pope Francis stated in his February 2022 letter announcing the Jubilee 2025: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire..."

From this Christmas Eve and until Epiphany (January 6th) of 2026, the Church will celebrate the year with pilgrimages and special events. We have some events in the planning stages for the year here, and we all look forward to drawing our focus to hope in this time of uncertainty and confusion. Generally speaking the Church observes a jubilee year once every twenty-five years, though we are also gearing up for an extraordinary jubilee in 2033, the two-thousandth anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

I hope these next few days aren’t too stressful, and that you are able to attend Mass on Christmas and take in the beauty of the moment, and experience a sense of the presence of the Lord in your life.

Blessings,
Fr. Garry