Have you ever noticed how dirty our cars can get over time? Since recently I had picked up some dirt, mulch, and other things for gardening in the back of my car, played beach volleyball which left sand in the front of my car, and just general dirt throughout, I realized that my car needed a nice vacuuming. It was just amazing how much sand, dirt, and mulch ended up throughout my car, and it took almost ten minutes to finish vacuuming so the car looked good again. I think we all have similar stories in our own lives. Maybe it is our bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, cars, office, and who knows what else. Over time our impact on those areas definitely leaves its mark, and they need a good cleaning to get them back to looking good.
The truth is that in many cases the messiness that accrues over time is not just a physical messiness, but it is also a spiritual one. We all know that in order to clean the messiness of our souls, we have the sacrament of confession. But what do we do with the impact that our spiritual messiness has on the world around us? Thankfully the wisdom of the Church helps us with these also. There are prayers to bless and protect not just ourselves but also those places and things around us (homes, cars, etc.)
Since I have been at St. Benilde, we have not really had a parish-wide spiritual re-dedication, and I feel that now is a beautiful opportunity to call on God’s grace in a very special way upon our parish. After speaking with the pastoral council, we have decided that on August 6th following the 8:30am morning Mass, we will have a parish-wide Spiritual blessing.
We are inviting all of our parishioners to be present in two very important ways. First, to spiritually prepare yourselves. In order to do this, I am asking all of our parish families to pray a Novena to the Transfigured Lord as August 6th is the Feast of the Transfiguration. We will be praying this novena made available through EWTN beginning Thursday, July 28. Click the green button below to have the daily prayers emailed to you each day.
Second, I am encouraging parishioners to attend the 8:30am morning Mass on August 6th and join for the Eucharistic Procession and Blessing of our whole parish. We will be walking with the Eucharist not just around the perimeter of the property but also into each and every room on campus.
Please join us in this spiritual rededication of St. Benilde Parish to the Our Lord.
Your Servant in Christ,
Fr. Matthew Johnston, Pastor
All school aged parish children (regardless of what school they attend) are invited to join us for our annual Blessing of the Backpacks Mass on Sunday, August 7 during the 11:00 a.m. Mass.
A donut social will be hosted in the Cafeteria afterwards, hosted by our St. Benilde Home and School Association.
