Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

This Wednesday we begin our 40-day Lenten journey. This provides us the opportunity to grow deeper in our faith, and to practice the disciplines of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For those of you who are available and able, beginning your day with morning Mass, at least one day in the week is a great blessing. Our Mass is at 9:00 am, if that is too late St. Mary Middletown offers Mass at 8:15 am and at Noon; St. Clement at 8:00 am; St. James in Red Bank offers a 6:30 am Mass; Our Lady of Fatima (Keyport) and Most Holy Redeemer (Matawan) have a more staggered schedule, so it is best to check their websites for details.

While we will continue to pray the Stations of the Cross on Wednesday and Friday, we are changing the time for both days to 5:30 pm. On Wednesday the Soup and Scripture series follows immediately after the stations.

On Ash Wednesday, of course, we are offering many opportunities to receive ashes, either at the 9:00 am Mass or by participating in any of the many Liturgy of the Word with Ashes celebrations throughout the day. In particular I would like to invite the school parents who are dropping off in the morning to attend the 8:00 am Service.

Please note as well the Lenten obligations and regulations as found further on in the bulletin. Wednesday is a day of Fasting and Abstinence. This means that all of us -- unless there is a serious health reason otherwise -- from the ages of 7-65 are to abstain from eating meat and to fast during the day. All Fridays of Lent are also days of abstinence, and while fasting is a good discipline, not required again until Good Friday.

It is also customary to make a sacrifice for Lent -- the so called “giving something up.” Here we deprive ourselves of something good that we enjoy -- a food product, or a leisure activity, perhaps -- and then, ideally, replace it with a period of prayer, service, or spiritual reading.

To that end, the Lenten meditation books are at the doors of the church and, through the generous gift of one of our parishioners, The Three Ordinary Voices of God, is also available for you to take.

Lent is a busy, yet very important time for our spiritual journey, providing a chance to slow down, to listen, and to fully engage ourselves for the great celebration of Easter to come.

Have a blessed week,
,Father Garry