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.