Happy New Year

12-31-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Just like a dream, the year 2022 is just a few hours away now. I thank God for His blessings upon our families and our parish community through this year, 2021. The end of a year and beginning of a new year is generally a time of personal inventory and planning. As we count God’s blessings upon us through this year, let us also entrust all our plans and dreams for the year 2022 into His hands that He will see us through it all to the end.

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"He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them."

12-26-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

The Gospel of St. Luke presents for our reflection the story of the finding of the child Jesus (at that time, 12-years old) among Jewish teachers in the Temple after missing for three days. We are offered the example of the foster fatherhood of Joseph, the silent protector and responsible provider of the family and faithful husband of Mary. We see the loving, generous and caring motherhood of Mary, the trusting wife of Joseph. The young are in a special way presented with the exemplary obedience of Jesus who returned with His parents to their home in Nazareth where He (although Divine) lived under their human authority.

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Merry Christmas!

12-24-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Merry Christmas everyone! We thank God for the beautiful rain this morning. We surely need it. Looking at the current weather situation, we will hold all our Christmas Masses indoors tonight and tomorrow in St John Bosco Multipurpose Room (MPR). I apologize for informing you about the change at this last minute. The Mass times remain the same at: 4pm, 6pm, 8pm and 11pm tonight. The Christmas Day Mass is at 10am tomorrow. Please check our parish website and bulletin for more information about Christmas schedules.

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Blessed are You who Believed

12-19-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

We have arrived at the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday before we celebrate the Solemnity of the Lord’s Nativity. The Church invites us to bring to a climax our spiritual preparation for the celebration of Christmas. What better way is there to prepare than learning from Mary’s example of selflessness and practical charity.

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Advent Penance Service

12-17-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

I invite you and your family and friends to join us for our parish Advent Penance Service at 7pm on Tuesday, December 21 in the St. John Bosco Catholic School (SJB) Multi-purpose Room (MPR). We expect about 10 priests from our Deanery to attend. We will start with a Penitential Service which will then be followed by individual Confessions.

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What Should We Do?

12-12-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

We celebrate this weekend, the third Sunday of Advent, which is designated Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday. The Church invites all her children to rejoice and be glad because our salvation is near. The first and second readings reflect this theme of joy and gladness in anticipatory celebration of Christ’s arrival. In the first reading, the prophet Zephaniah invites Jerusalem and her inhabitants to rejoice because God, the King of Israel, is in her midst to remove judgement against her and instead renew her in His love. St. Paul repeatedly exhorts the Philippians to rejoice and have no anxiety because the Lord is near. We are privileged to be invited to experience today a foretaste of the joy and gladness that Christ brings at Christmas and ultimately at His second coming.

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Thank You

12-10-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

I would like to thank everyone who attended the Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday last week. All three Masses were well-attended, and more than we had expected. The noon Mass, in particular, was so well-attended that the Chapel was overflowing. Thus we created an additional concurrent Mass in Annex 1 to accommodate everyone. This was a good problem to have! Thank you to everyone who helped with setting up and tearing down for the Masses.

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Prepare the Way for the Lord

12-05-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

At a time when Israel was in exile and Jerusalem was a desolate wasteland as a consequence of the Babylonian siege and conquest, God sent the Prophet Baruch to prophesy a message of hope to the people of Israel on the brink of national despair. They sadly watched Jerusalem under siege, conquered and destroyed with its inhabitants taken as captives into exile and the remnants left in a city that had lost all its former glory. Baruch spoke words of comfort and hope, as well as a promise of restoration to personified Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The prophet urged Jerusalem to discard her garments of grief, replacing them with the splendor of glory from God, for its exiled children shall return at the Word of the Holy One. They were led away from Jerusalem on foot. God shall return them borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.

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Welcome to the New Liturgical Year

12-03-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

Welcome to the month of December and the beginning of the new Liturgical year, “C.” A new liturgical year is the beginning of a new step on our spiritual journey and an invitation to grow closer to Christ. The Church urges us to take the beginning of the liturgical year as seriously as we take the new calendar year. Just as we do for the calendar year, we are encouraged to consider making some new year resolutions at the beginning of Advent to help us grow in our spiritual life.

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Be Vigilant at All Times...

11-28-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

Welcome to the First Sunday of Advent and the beginning of “Year C,” the new Liturgical Year. The season of Advent begins the Liturgical Year and has its origins in the early Church as a short period of intense preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, also known as Christmas. Advent slowly came to be structured into four Sundays with proper readings and prayers. It is now a season of devout and joyful expectation as we recall the first humble coming of the Lord at Bethlehem about two millennia ago. We are invited to prepare our spiritual selves in joyful expectation of Christ’s promised second coming in glory at the termination of time. This is well-expressed in the Scripture readings, in the prayers, and in the two parts into which Advent is divided.

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Thanksgiving Week

11-22-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

I wish you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving “in advance.” We thank God that, with the low rate of COVID this year, we look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving in a “normal” way with our families. As we all know, the Thanksgiving celebration is not a Church Liturgical celebration such as a feast day or solemnity. However, it is good to note that we Christians do celebrate Thanksgiving differently from nonbelievers. While we celebrate Thanksgiving by thanking God and acknowledging that all we have and all our blessings come from Him, non-believers may not involve God in their Thanksgiving celebration.

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Testify to the Truth

11-21-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

The Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI for the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church as the Church’s response to growing nationalism and secularism that plagued society at that time. In his encyclical, “Quas Primas,” the Vicar of Christ recognized that these related societal ills would breed erroneous practices, inspire despair and cause increased hostility against the Church. The universal Church celebrates this Feast on the last Sunday of each liturgical year to remind the faithful that Christ’s reign is universal and enjoys permanent duration; nations, governments and philosophies however, are ultimately transient.

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Congratulations!

11-15-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

Congratulations on our groundbreaking event last weekend. What a historic day for our parish community. I thank everyone for your prayers and support that made it possible for us to reach this great milestone. My special thanks to Bob Prezkop and Deacon Ed for their great leadership of the Building Committee and the transition process. Thanks also to Lani Gore and members of the Events Ministry for coordinating the reception. My special thanks to our parish staff for working so hard behind the scenes to ensure that every detail was taken care of; to Eamonn and Karen and members of the Building Fund Committee; to our SJB school community, the Finance Council, Parish Council, and everyone who helped with planning the event.  

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"Know That He is Near"

11-14-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

The calendar year is coming to an end as we are in November, its penultimate month. The current liturgical year is also about to be completed. Next weekend, we shall celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe, the Solemnity that marks the end of a liturgical year giving way to a new one. The readings of today reflect the mood of the liturgical “subseason”, they speak of the anticipated end of time and the judgement of humanity that would follow.

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At the Threshold of the Groundbreaking

11-08-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

Finally, the long-awaited Groundbreaking Ceremony is now just hours away. I am so excited and looking forward to it. I invite you and your family and friends to come and join us to witness this historic moment for our St. Benedict parish community. Everything is now ready and set for the event, thanks to the incredible teamwork of our Building Committee, Event Committee, Parish Staff, and volunteers who worked so tirelessly to ensure that every detail of the preparation is addressed. We anticipate beautiful warm weather throughout the day, and a good turnout for the event.

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"The Jar of Flour Shall Not Go Empty..."

11-07-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

Experience has shown that the most generous people are not usually the wealthiest. King Ahab had married Jezebel, a foreigner who brought with her a foreign god Baal that corrupted Israel with idolatry. In response, Yahweh commissioned the prophet Elijah to predict extreme drought in Israel until God would command rain to fall. Israel was scourged with drought which naturally brought famine, and soon the prophet himself needed nourishment. So God directed him to Zarephath where he met a widow at the city gate. The prophet requested water. As the widow left to fetch this now scarce yet essential commodity, he added that he would appreciate some bread as well. The widow reviewed her already precarious situation: she had only a handful of flour left in her jar and a little oil, she had in fact been collecting sticks for firewood to make the last meal for her and her son, beyond that she saw only death. The prophet encouraged her to make the sacrifice prophesying, “the jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” She did as Elijah requested, and if we read beyond the text of our first reading, we find she never lacked nourishment until rain finally came.

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The Closing Mass

11-01-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

It is hard to believe that we have come to the last weekend before we move out of the existing building to the St. John Bosco Multipurpose Room (MPR) for our weekend Masses. This is a bittersweet historical moment for us. While we are excited about beginning our building project, we also face the challenge of missing the comfort and memory of the existing building.

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