PAROQUIA – Nssa Senhora do ROSÁRIO
Residência Nssa. Sra. de Fátima July, 2026 LVI:1
Trav. Carlos Pontes, 171
62.900-000 Russas, Ceará http://www.egfbenya.com
BRASIL e-mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Dear Family, Collaborators, Benefactors, Friends and Colleagues,
The physical premises were exact, clear and attractive: a garden whose bucolic setting had welcomed peaceful and charitable prayer, meditation and discernment. Consultation was minimal; the Savior with the Father. However an intruder was also present. That Intruder had planned well the havoc and failure he required for his entire venture; the malignant One, the Tempter was also there. That bucolic setting now hosted a depth of temptation and violence that were of incalculable intensity. The essence of Malignance against the essence of Benevolence now met. There could be neither draw nor tie. Complete victory for one or the other was the only possibility.
This battle had actually been set through spiritual betrayal millennia prior to this encounter. That betrayal had caused our human fall and thus necessitated A Savior of the same nature as those who had fallen. However as those who had fallen were no match for the Tempter, a redeemer of matching prowess was necessary for Salvation. That Redeemer arrived in the Fullness of Time some 33 years prior to this encounter.
Those 33 years were of intensive preparation by the Savior. They now centered on between 18 or 30 hours of spiritual combat; brutal and violent from the malignant one, noble and generous from the Savior: beginning in that garden. The Savior questioned the entire dynamic. Might another method or “CUP” be possible? NO! This was the only possibility. Violent and intensive plodding had begun. In steps ever more savage the Malignant one pressed to impede this Salvific dynamic. In steps in the Way of the Cross, ever more noble the Savior proceeded to The One and only virtuous end.
At its most intensive violence the temptation to despair arises; “Father, Hast Though forsaken me?”, a question of temptation to despair. A solid affirmation of Union within the Trinity answers this question and the Son, the Savior emerges with victory.
The Victory is Complete and ABSOLUTE, nothing cordial or fancy; unknown to the vast majority of humanity at that time. The malignant One does NOT take it well and the result must be completely hidden. In Profane terms to some degree it still is.
Sacramentally it becomes known ever so slowly. Salvation had been won! We are Redeemed! The Work is complete. To this day it remains a sobering, mysterious Truth.
We celebrate it as the “Easter Triduum!” within the Lenten-Pascal Season, an annual commemoration whose dynamics extend well beyond Christianity. I invite you, your families and communities to join us in spirit for these celebrations. Wishing you:
“A Happy and Holy Lenten, Pascal-Easter Season!”
Gratefully in the Love of the Risen Jesus Christ, I remain
Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.