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PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                              4 August, 2025                       LV:2

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                                                    http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                  e-mail: [email protected]          [email protected]

Dear Friends, Family, Collaborators, Benefactors and Colleagues:

Decades pass as do the centuries! The annual event receives recognition; a step for family, clan and group celebration. The birthday, the reference and the anniversary are dates of commemoration. Our life span has increased from what it was generations past. Our time space for service, labor and ministry has amplified. It was noticeably more limited in past ages. Our intensity of action may have been less, more pacific in the past than it is now.

Time is in constant flux. Demands, questions, problems, challenges emerge, appear, disappear then reappear. Dynamics characterize every scenario of our being. We tend to procure stable, changeless situations; invariable scenarios. However dynamic is the key. Almighty God defines and addresses that dynamic. He allows us to perceive according to our CAPACITIES rather than to our desires and He expands those capacities according to His Will.

Images, private and public arise and emerge. The private images are plethora, generally unique according to each observer. Public images are mysterious: inspired by vice and virtue. The negative images seem easier to comprehend since one recognizes them on a personal level. The benevolent images, especially as perceived by others, can be perplexing. They range from simple toleration up to and including a veneration of one who knows something of his limits. One wonders with what objectivity people use their powers of observation. Perhaps it is more a power of God`s inspiration.

Legitimate suspicions, questions, premonitions are crucial. Personal SURRENDER to the Divine Will is the key. That surrender was difficult for me to learn. The Savior guides! That is easy to say but far more difficult to understand, live and to realize.

Well into my sixth decade of religious life, approaching 41 years of Holy Orders and hoping to begin my 80th year in this world, my personal surrender to the Divine Will looms ever more crucial. Imperfect as it is, that surrender will be judged only by Almighty God when I finally arrive before Him. There is much to regret, but far more to celebrate, to thank the Almighty in gratitude.

As age marks it presence in body and mind, capacities diminish. I am noticeably slower physically, mentally and perhaps spiritually. Yet that Surrender continues to beckon, a dynamic that itself may well be immortal.  

I grasp it. I live it and celebrate it.  I invite you and your families to join in spirit for the celebration of these commemorations. In praise and gratitude

in the Love of the “ONE”, Jesus Christ

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                              17 March, 2025                     LV:1

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                                                    http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                  e-mail: [email protected]          [email protected]

Dear Benefactors, Family, Colleagues, Friends and Collaborators,

His arrival was humble, simple, lowly yet quite public. It included Jews and non-Jews. As an infant He was threatened with death. Jesus Christ was born into OBLATION. The major part of his life was hidden, subtle, relatively quiet and quite common; geographically regional.

The last three to six years of his life were intense and highly public. His goal was clear and exact;… our Salvation. He and He alone could realize that Salvation. He had a plan, an agenda. He called to himself disciples, established a hierarchy among them and formed them as ministers, extensions of Himself. Their training, education and formation was brutally intense. Many desisted. One denied Him. One betrayed Him.  Yet a public ministry took form. The last part of that ministry was tumultuous, fraught with misunderstanding, threats, false accusations against Him and constant danger. Born into OBLATION that oblation was becoming ever-more intensive.

The Messiah had been promised for our Redemption and that Redemption was taking form. Few realized it. Few wanted to realize it. The Promise as a hope was comfortable and convenient as a “wait”, maintained alive through the centuries by prophets dedicated to the prophesy. These also were poorly received. As a promise that “wait” presented a certain stability of reference, a solidity. Suddenly the Promise changed, it transformed to Dynamic with the arrival of the Messiah. The “wait” had ended.

If humble simplicity characterized the major part of His early life, intense sobriety was the distinct mark of those last 3 years. A promise was in the process of being kept.

The final 24 hours of that oblation, of His life, defined our Salvation through His Passion. The Dynamic of Redemption succeeded the Promise of the Messiah. That dynamic proceeded in steps as sharpness of intensity multiplied in those last 24 hours.

Temptation to desist, withdraw, escape and hide were continuous. The temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane is the best known. Temptation continued as indicated by the three falls as He carried the cross. Temptation through the thief crucified at his left (to save Himself and those crucified with Him iff He is the messiah). At the end a temptation to despair arose as He asked if the Father has forsaken Him. Success was in no way guaranteed. He overcame all temptation. Our Salvation emerges solid and immortal.

We celebrate that Salvation and the Glory of His Resurrection as we commemorate the entire Pascal Mystery in the Easter Solemnity. Lenten preparation runs its course. I invite you and your families to join us in spirit for this solemn commemoration of the Lenten-Easter Season celebration. In praise and gratitude

in the Love of the “ONE”, Jesus Christ

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                              30 November, 2024               LIV:3

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                                                    http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                  e-mail: [email protected]          [email protected]

Dear Friends, Colleagues, Family, Collaborators and Benefactors,

Sacramental dynamic is a constant, a part of the Divine Call. It is unique for each of us as each of us is called to be a unique, distinct saint by Almighty God. It is a call to EXIT one-self. Because of our situation as sinners, fallen from “Original Grace”, (disoriented and lost), it is a call of which all of us have a distinct fear and resistance.

Sacramental dynamic is a component of “Sacramentality”. Saints of the Old Testament had it as do the Saints of the New Testament. Some people try to ignore it because it is challenging. Challenging and Powerful it is, but NEVER FORCEFUL.

This dynamic finds its beginnings with Original Sin when we became disoriented and confused, “incomplete” in our being, in need of Salvation. Thus each of us is conceived in “totality” but born “incomplete”. We carry a frailty, a weakness, a proclivity to confusion. We experience temptations to error and sin. We have a vulnerability that we must recognize and face. By the Grace of God, through Salvation, we can become complete as we trod this life, falling at times but recovering whenever we fall and continuing to trod, overcoming our vulnerability and navigating to Eternal Life. That navigation presents its mysteries and doubts. Almighty God mercifully guides us through that navigation by means of Salvation, through the hazards of this life in distinct steps of maturity, clarity, wisdom and charity.

“Total yet Incomplete”; thus, we are vulnerable, easily confused and disoriented. In need of Salvation, we are incapable of attaining Salvation on our own. Our Salvation had to come and does come from the ONE who is ENTIRE (Total, Complete and Eternal), the ONE who is completely beyond us in Being and in Virtue. In order to realize our salvation, HE and only HE had to become one of us; Vulnerable and Frail open to temptation as we are, yet WITHOUT our proclivity for confusion, completely clear in His Revelation and Manifestation. He could have rejected the entire scenario of Salvation with NO COST to Himself but leaving all of us confused and lost. He had to become “Incarnate”. He did!

We celebrate that Incarnation and Arrival in that ONE, our Savior Jesus Christ, one of us in the human, transcendental nature, yet also completely “ONE” in and as Almighty God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Each year the Yuletide season marks that celebration. I invite you, along with your families and communities to join us in spirit for these celebrations as I wish you a:

Happy Hanukkah-Yuletide-Christmas season and Blessed New Year of 2025!

in the Love of the “ONE”, Jesus Christ

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                                          27 June, 2024             LIV:2

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                                                    http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                  e-mail: [email protected]          [email protected]

Dear Family, Benefactors, Friends, Colleagues and Collaborators,

Navigating the United States at this time, this letterhead still serves as a reminder of my geographic residence in this world.

With 20-20 HINDSIGHT I can say that the passage never was slow. Each step, unique in itself, seemed to follow a prescribed interval of timing that appeared quite normal. The specifics leading to these celebrations (50 years of religious life and 40 years of ordination) are to be found in previous postings. Presently the emphasis seems to be on confirmation, perseverance and renewal. Half a century has passed; another half century begins; subtle and rapid.

 Since the initial dynamic was never slow, I must admit that its continuation seems even more rapid especially as my age continues to mount. Surprises are most abundant; some pleasant and some unpleasant.

Events of a sobering, animating, enlivening, challenging and invigorating nature were present from the beginning and will continue. Among these is a public denouncement that implies a lack of sobriety and/or addiction, or some other degeneracy on my part. Received and accepted by at least one superior, objective medical examinations disproved these implications and accusations. I am grateful for these findings but the denouncement stands and must still be judged.

Among the more pleasing of surprises are those of an unexpected public interest in publications and presentations whose viable presence, I had assumed had placed them in a “literary ditch”. Regional, national and international attention and publication being rather mysterious, one never has exact certainty what is acceptable, will be acceptable or will draw much interest. Surprises are plethora!

Most blessed also as retirement makes its presence felt, is a gentle yet definite shift in ministries. Daily Eucharist continues to dominate my life, but the ministry of Anointing of the sick, elderly and infirm plus the ministry of Reconciliation, all receive new emphasis at this stage of my life. These know no bounds; as the Spirit of God calls, directs, indicates and sustains.

The MOST pleasant of surprises are students, former students, family, friends, benefactors, colleagues, collaborators; all of you who have been and remain with me these decades of years.

The formal celebration will be in September in Saint Louis. I invite you and your families to join us in spirit iff you wish. With praise and gratitude I remain humbly

in the Love of Jesus Christ

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                              9 February, 2024                    LIV:1

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                           http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                                                     e-mail: [email protected]

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues, Benefactors and Collaborators,

The Promise of The Redeemer was made shortly after our human fall. It remained a promise for centuries. It was confirmed with the arrival of The Redeemer. He led a quiet life for some 30 years and then began a public ministry carefully calling followers, disciples.

That public ministry was intensive from the beginning. Salvation was the goal and time was of the essence. The disciples were being trained, educated and FORMED not as employees and followers but as MINISTERS of Him who would become the Savior. The disciples were in Challenge and the Savior was in Temptation, almost continuously to reject the entire venture.

Temptation was present from the beginning, as a child. It continued into adolescence (in the temple in Jerusalem), in youth and adulthood. Satan knew, at least something of the goal that was in play. At the beginning of His public life, temptation of the Savior was profane (the riches and honors of this world). In the garden of Gethsemane it was violent and mortal (agony and torture). He was tempted to Abandon the entire venture and asked the Father, if possible, that such abandonment be realized. It was NOT possible. He continued.

During the 24-most intensive hours of the Passion, temptation continued. Bearing the cross, He fell three times: manifestations of continued temptation to QUIT (?); quite possibly. Yet He continued and so did the agony, the torture.

The final temptation was to DESPAIR…had he been Forsaken by The Father? NO! However he had been tempted and tempted most brutally. He died the Savior’s death. We received the sinners’ Redemption.

We celebrate those intensive 24 hours and the following Glory of Resurrection as we celebrate the entire Pascal Mystery in the Easter Solemnity.

I invite you and your families to join us in spirit iff you wish for this solemn celebration during the Lenten-Easter Season. In praise and gratitude

in the Love of Jesus Christ,

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                                          11 July, 2023              LIII:2

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                           http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                                                     e-mail: [email protected]

Dear, Friends, Collaborators, Family, Benefactors and Colleagues,

The years accumulate. They pass with remarkable rapidity; the decade, quarter century, ruby (40-year count) and half-century. None are highly notable in themselves but in their sequence they mark a life. Finally Almighty God will judge that life.

Steps of passage mark each life. I prepare to enter my fortieth year of ordination to the priesthood and fiftieth year in Religious Life, the half-century mark. In themselves they are not particularly rare, but as a whole they embrace the major part of my life.

Beginning the half-century mark holds a singular meaning; Joy and Gratitude for a Happy life, yet sobriety in the reality of problems and difficulties survived during these 49 years. The point of sobriety draws attention. In August of 1974 a group of 18 of us entered what was then the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus. A definite fraternity, a Communion was born.

Our numbers actually began dwindling within a few days after entry as the first of the group discovered that he was not called to this life. Over the 2-year period of novitiate a further 10 departed. Seven of us took vows. Over the next 6 to 10 years, five of us were ordained. During the next 39 years, departures continued. This, in fact, is the projected run of any dynamic in this life. We arrive, discern a Call, try to follow as best we can, our limitations notwithstanding, while in continuous preparation for Eternity.

Yet, that Fraternity remains, continually taking a new form, structure and dynamic. Its maximum was defined at the entry date and remains as such for all time. However its spread or distribution varies; fewer are in this life, more in Eternity. That distribution took a definite tone of Reference this year as the penultimate of that original entry group who actually remained in the Order, Father Stephen Campbell, S.J., passed to Eternity. For better or for worse I find myself the lone member of that original group, still in this life.

I am a sole survivor, not lonely by any means, but a solitary figure. Dynamics of the situation as it has developed in no way guarantees my physical presence for the Golden anniversary. Yet that is secondary to the Original Call.

One way or another, there will be a celebration, and YOU, a most diverse and beloved group of Friends, Collaborators, Family, Benefactors and Colleagues will be included. My parents and many others are already in Eternity. Many of you are fairly recent to the group. Some actually precede the formation of the group. All of you show a SINGULAR dedication to Almighty God through the ministries, apostolates and works in which I am or have been involved. For this I humbly thank God and I thank you as I remain

Gratefully in the Love of Jesus Christ,

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                  6 February, 2023                    LIII:1

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                             

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                           http://www.egfbenya.com    

BRASIL                                                                     e-mail: [email protected]

Dear Collaborators, Family, Colleagues, Friends and Benefactors,

Shortcuts are most attractive. In many circumstances they are a legitimate alternative to a prolonged, drudging, tiring venture where time, patience and assets might well be spent in more efficient ways. However, under some circumstances shortcuts are a temptation to avoid application of necessary assets to a project that demands minute attention. Both circumstances merit careful consideration. Wasting time has no merit, neither does wasting resources.

The temptation to apply wasteful shortcuts has been with us since time in memoriam. Consciously or subconsciously we tend to crave things simple, immediate, clear and short; quite laudable in itself. Yet when that craving interferes with sacramental discernment and virtuous procedure, it becomes a temptation and can be most vicious.

A temptation to shortcut the divine hierarchy within creation led our ancestral “first” parents to commit the “original sin”. It took the presence and action of Almighty God Himself as Savior in human-and-divine natures to rectify the effects of that original sin, and that rectification was nowhere near as simple as was the original fall.

Salvation required promise, message, preparation, delivery, discipline, execution and Love in a dynamic that to this day continues its vigor. It met resistance; human and demonic at every step. The realization of Salvation was anything but guaranteed. A false step, presented and executed as a shortcut, anywhere could have sabotaged the entire venture, and there were plenty of temptations to “shortcuts”.

The Savior Himself encountered temptation to shortcut the Passion of Redemption in the garden of Gethsemane. In His dialogue with The Father Jesus asked that if possible “this cup might pass without my partaking of it”. Suffering for the sake of suffering has no merit. Yet that suffering was necessary. He accepted! He won! We won! We are saved.

Resistance to Salvation continues to this day. As a species we are ENTIRE at conception, yet INCOMPLETE in our form. We are continually challenged to transcend (go beyond) ourselves, arriving at COMPLETION in Eternity. That challenge is mysterious and at times frightening. The process is unique for each of us because the sanctity of each of us is unique. The temptation to a shortcut (to “quit”) is ever-present. Yet we are not alone. We hold Communion with the Savior and with each other.

We celebrate that Communion each year at the Lenten-Easter Season. Join us in spirit iff you wish for this celebration as we thank God in universal communion of Praise and Glory. Grateful to you and for your presence, I wish all of you:

 “A Happy and Holy Lenten, Pascal-Easter Season!”

Gratefully in the Love of the Risen Jesus Christ,

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                        10 November, 2022                        LII:3

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                          fone:              (55 088) 2145 0990

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                                  http://www.egfbenya.com 

BRASIL                                                                    e-mail: [email protected]        

Dear Family, Benefactors, Friends, Collaborators and Colleagues,

Messages abound! We encounter them in our families, our jobs, our ministries, our works. Messages of calling, of introduction, of advice, of warning, of confirmation, messages of one form or another are continuous in life; messages of matter, messages of spirit, benevolent or vicious. Voice, published or public messages present definite dimensions and are difficult to ignore. Spiritual messages, mostly unnoticed, we seem to perceive subconsciously, respond, forget and continue navigating life.

We are a species that is ENTIRE when conceived, but born INCOMPLETE. We are called for the rest of our worldly lives to develop and thus arrive COMPLETE (The Saintly Dynamic) at Eternity. This is a complicated process. Besides the benevolent messages we receive, many false messages (temptations) are plentiful. These are ideas that can confuse, confound and disorient us. Almighty God cares for us and keeps us close to Himself. Messages (and messengers) are crucial for that care.

The subtlety of messages varies with their gravity of importance. A gentle hint can be enough to inform the wise of a timely error. A startling shock may be necessary to quickly move an individual from the immediate threat of catastrophe to safety. In His benevolence, God keeps us informed of our sacramental progress through gently hints, although at times our density of spirit demands a SHOCK.

The Savior Himself, Jesus Christ, had messengers. The promise of a Redeemer was true and would be realized with time. The prophets announced Christ’s future arrival and the time of that arrival. These were numerous, continuous and coherent in their presentation.

Delivery of that message was specific, exact, but always perilous. People of this world were impatient and not necessarily interested in a Redeemer whose specific being is defined by Almighty God and NOT by the false gods of humanity.

To this day, the world refuses to fully accept the arrival of the Redeemer. However that arrival is confirmed, verified and documented in His continued presence among us. We celebrate His arrival in the Hanukkah-Yuletide-Christmas season. All of you, as most integral parts of my life and vocation, I invite, along with your families and communities to join us in spirit for these celebrations as I wish you a:

Most joyous Hanukkah-Yuletide-Christmas season and Blessed New Year of 2023!

In the Love of Jesus Christ,

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.

PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO

Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima                     29 July, 2022              LII:2

Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171                      fone:          (55 088) 2145 0990

62.900-000 Russas, Ceará                   http://www.egfbenya.com  

BRASIL                                                    e-mail: [email protected]      

Dear Colleagues, Family Collaborators, Benefactors and Friends,

Time marks its presence and passage, usually in a slow, profound, pacifying manner, but at times in a brutal, threatening and destructive presence. The benevolence of time is chronicled in the quality of certain foods; cheeses and wines see their quality improving with age of maturity or vintage. Many fermented products in fact gain quality with age as the fermentation process runs its course. Impeding that course of time can, in fact, impede the envisioned quality of the product, desired and planned in and through the fermentation process.

Time can have a brutality of effect. Mariners, miners, navigators, soldiers, police, firefighters, explores and investigators can attest to the harshness of days, hours, moments and even seconds as the intensity of a crisis unfolds. Vengeance and intensity seem to mount as a crisis unfolds “…the waves turn the minutes to hours…”, as Lightfoot put it in his classic dirge on a shipwreck.

In those who are wounded, bruised and injured time can be a healer, a remedy in itself promoting and driving recovery whose possibility at one time seemed impossible.

The effects of time are present in our lives, sometimes recognized but at time not apparent. The beneficial effects are Divine, the malicious are not. Initial effect can be quite misleading. What one initially perceives as injury, over time may actually be virtuous. What at first seems as blessing may in fact be malicious. Time and the Emergence of Truth play their part; PEACE arrives.

Marking and celebrating these 48 years in Religious Life and 38 years in Holy Orders, I have had the experience of time as violence and as virtue. They are distinct although initially they may have been quite confusing. Maturity of vocation has been marked by time.

Your presence in my life, vocation, ministries, works and apostolate has been a support that is distinct to me for each of you. Different times, epochs and eras associate each of you with me, some already in Eternity, others still navigating this life with me.

I continually thank God for YOU, your families and your presence in my life and vocation. That presence is a distinct aspect of the Communion of Saints. I remain most gratefully as I remain

In the Love of Jesus Christ,

            Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.