Sacred Heart Appeal
Greetings!
The monks of Christ the King Priory – Benedictine Mission House are grateful for your interest in our ministries at home and around the world. With your help, we could again provide needed funding for projects of our international Missionary Benedictine family: e.g.: health care, education, renovations of churches, schools, and facilities. The support goes even further as we assist women communities and dioceses, especially in Africa, who collaborate with us in many ways. We reached out to our confreres and the people entrusted to their care who live in regions plaqued by famine due to lack of rain. Father Anastasius reported that our office, thanks to the generosity of so many, disbursed in 2025 almost $3,000,000 for projects and humanitarian aid.
Thank you for your loyal support, friendship and prayers.
The current appeal makes reference to the month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I therefore researched the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and found interesting information on Wikipedia. In summary: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque claimed in 1674 that Jesus requested to be honored under the image of his heart, appearing radiant with love. The First Friday Devotions, a practice that is still followed today, became popular. In the early 19th century, the month of June officially was dedicated in honor of the Sacred Heart. Church history shows that Popes Pius IX, Paul VI and John Paul II reiterated to the devotion of the Sacred Heart many times. In the last encyclical letter, Dilexit Nos, shortly before his death in 2025, the late Pope Francis states:
“Mission, as a radiation of the love of the heart of Christ,
requires missionaries who are themselves in love and who, enthralled by Christ,
feel bound to share his love that has changed their lives.”
Dilexit Nos, 209
The Missionary Congregation of St. Ottilien, founded in 1884, and its works were entrusted to the protection of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Thus, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart became the principal feast for our Congregation.
In his coat of arms, Pope Leo XIV, shows a flaming, pierced heart resting on a book, indicating his roots as a member of the Augustinian Order. St. Augustine’s spirituality can be summarized in the famous quote “Restless is our heart, until it finds rest in you, my God!”
In conclusion, let me share with you part of a prayer that Pope Leo gave to us and the world shortly after his election in 2025.
“Lord, I come to your tender heart today,
to you who have words that set my heart ablaze,
to you who pour out compassion on the little ones and the poor,
on those who suffer, and on all human miseries.
Grant all your children the grace of encountering you.
Change, shape and transform our plans,
so that we seek only you in every circumstance:
in prayer, in work, in encounters, and in daily routine.
From this encounter, send us out on mission,
a mission of compassion for the world
in which you are the source from which all consolation flows. Amen.“
Please check out our current appeal!
On behalf of Fr. Anastasius and my confreres, I thank you for your anticipated support as your financial resources permit to help us in providing care at our “mother and child clinics” offered at our hospitals and dispensaries. Care for vulnerable children is critical! Through early diagnoses, diseases can be prevented. Mothers are educated in caring for their children and families. – We entrust you and your loved ones to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Bro. Tobias, O.S.B.
Director of Development
News Release: Retreat with Fr. Mauritius Wilde
The Right Rev. Abbot Mauritius Wilde, OSB, PhD, will present a one-day retreat titled, On Human Dignity at Saint Benedict Center, four miles north of Schuyler, on June 6, 2026. We will spend a day with the German mystic Meister Eckhart. In his sermons and writings, he meditates on the immediate presence of God in the human soul. Eckhart particularly likes to stimulate our imagination by using metaphors. Above all, we will explore the question of the extent to which human beings are created in the image of God. Because this is where the dignity or noble essence of every human being derives from. Eckhart shows us how to get in touch with and to respect this dignity within ourselves and others.
Abbot Mauritius is the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach in Germany. Father Mauritius has been a Benedictine monk of Muensterschwarzach Abbey, Germany, since 1985. He studied Philosophy and Theology, then earned his PhD at Tübingen University with a thesis on Meister Eckhart. He worked as teacher and educator at the abbey’s high school and, for eleven years, was the director of the abbey’s publishing house, Vier Türme Verlag. For five years he was the prior of Christ the King Priory near Schuyler. Then he served as prior at Sant’ Anselmo, the Benedictine study house in Rome, Italy. Fr. Mauritius is the author of several books, including Be Yourself: The Call of a Christian (Paulist), and directs retreats regularly. His blog can be found at www.wildemonk.net. For his reflections on the Holy Rule of St. Benedict, listen to Spirit Catholic Radio or visit www.DiscerningHearts.com.
The retreat begins at 10:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m. The program fee is $50; lunch is available for $14.77 (includes tax).
Easter Homily
So here we are, early in the morning, at the tomb. The stone is still there, the grief is still there, and it seems like the story is over.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary aren’t going to the tomb expecting a miracle. They’re carrying loss, confusion, and the kind of heaviness we all know.
Then everything changes.
The earth shakes, the stone is rolled away, and suddenly what looked final, isn’t.
There is something here we really shouldn’t miss, the first people to witness this, the first ones entrusted with the news that Jesus is risen, are women.
In their time, their voices didn’t carry much weight. And yet God chooses them first. - That tells us something important. This tells us God doesn’t work the way the world works. God sees differently, chooses differently.
This is still true TODAY. This still matters today. We’re still figuring out how to listen to the right voices, how to honor people’s dignity, how to not overlook those on the margins.
The resurrection begins with people who simply show up in love.
The angel says, “Don’t be afraid… He’s not here. He’s been raised.”
The Marys are invited to see, and then they’re sent: go and tell.
So, they run off with what I can imagine was a mix of fear and joy. That feels right, doesn’t it? There’s a lot in our world that brings fear, uncertainty, division.
But there’s also real joy, because God is still at work, because death doesn’t get the last word.
But as the ladies are headed to fulfill the task they have been given, Jesus meets them.
Right in the middle of it all. Not when they’ve figured everything out, but while they’re still processing the whole thing, still running.
Jesus says: “Do not be afraid.”
We too need need to hear that. A lot. Just as the Angels spoke to the Shepherds, just as the Angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, just as God Spoke to Joseph in the Dream, and just as Jesus spoke to the disciples ; Don’t be afraid!
The risen Jesus sends the ladies on their way to TELL the others.
That’s how the Gospel moves forward, someone carries the message. And it starts with the women the world might have overlooked. The women who were just out to do the loving task of visiting the tomb of their beloved teacher and friend.
Today, on this Easter Morning God is asking us to carry the message out into the world.
But God is asking us to see differently. To listen better. We are asked: Who do we over look???
We are asked to recognize hope where we thought there wasn’t any. We are asked to discern the spirits. What voices give life to the world? What things and people give life? What things or people spread discord and violence and hatred? These last ones are not from God, are not part of the GOOD NEWS!
There are still plenty of tombs in our world, things that feel sealed, stuck, beyond fixing. Tombs of hatred, discord, and violence and war. Discrimination of minorities, people of color, the stranger, and of women.
But Easter says God isn’t finished.
Christ is risen. Hope is real. And it’s meant to be shared with all people… he died and arose ONCE…. And FOR ALL!
On this Easter Morning, as we celebrate this act of love, trust that Jesus will meet you along the way, in the in the Word, in the Eucharist and then go and tell the world by your words, but mostly by your lives, the Good News! And above all “do not be afraid”.
Jesus has been raised! Alleluia!
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Holy Saturday
Then comes Holy Saturday, a day unlike any other. The Church is quiet. The altar is bare. Christ lies in the tomb.
This isn’t simply a day of waiting or preparation, but a day to sit with the reality of death, with absence, with grief. It’s a day when we are invited to stand in solidarity with all who know loss: those who mourn loved ones, those who live in the midst of war and violence, those who carry silent suffering in their hearts. On this day, we don’t rush ahead, we remain in the stillness, trusting that even here, CHRIST is at work in ways we cannot yet see.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
News Release: Retreat with Father Larry Gillick
The Rev. Larry Gillick, SJ, will present an Ignatian Silent Retreat titled, The Many Births of Jesus at Saint Benedict Center, four miles north of Schuyler, on May 28 - 31, 2026. This retreat will have presentations about the many ways that Jesus took flesh in the lives of others. In these days of prayer, retreatants will be encouraged to spend time in imaginative contemplations of how Jesus came that we may have life. Prayer will focus not on self-improvement but on Christ-Centered intimacy.
Jesuit Father Larry Gillick was ordained a priest in 1972. His former assignments include Spiritual Director for the younger Jesuits, Rector of the Jesuit Community at Creighton Prep in Omaha, and Superior of Mulumba House. He currently serves as Director of the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Creighton University. He is a sought after retreat master around the country and spiritual director of students, faculty, alumni at Creighton University, and people from far and wide.
The retreat begins on Thursday, at 6:00 p.m. and ends on Sunday after Lunch. The program fee is $100; room and board charges are additional.
Good Friday
On Good Friday, we come face to face with the cross. We will venerate the wood of the cross, not as a symbol of defeat, but as the place where sin and death are conquered. In that solemn moment, we remember that Christ freely embraced suffering for our sake, and we bring to that cross all the suffering of our world, trusting that none of it is beyond His redeeming love.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Join us for The Easter Triduum at Christ the King Priory (St. Benedict Center)
You are invited…
…to celebrate with the monastic community and retreat participants
The Easter Triduum 2026
at Christ the King Priory – St. Benedict Center, Schuyler, NE
April 2, 7:00 PM
HOLY THURSDAY
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
April 3, 3:00 PM
GOOD FRIDAY
The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
April 4, 5:30 PM
Holy Saturday
Evening Prayer for Holy Saturday
No Eucharist today
April 5, 5:00 AM
Easter Vigil
Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection
Please note: There will be no Mass at 9:00 AM
All celebrations will be at St. Benedict Center, 1126 Road I, Schuyler, NE 68661.
1st Sunday Of Lent Homily: Jesus Stands for Us!
In the first reading from Genesis, we see humanity at the very beginning. God forms Adam from the dust of the earth and breathes into him the breath of life. It’s a beautiful image! We are not accidents. We’re not random. We’re personally shaped and personally loved. God breathes His own life into us.
God sets humanity into the garden of paradise. “You may eat of every tree…except for the one in the middle of the garden”. Our story with God begins in generosity.
But the serpent introduces a question: “Did God really say…?” The real temptation is the suggestion that God is holding something back. That God cannot be trusted. That we must take matters into our own hands to be fulfilled.
And that is where the fall happens—not simply in eating fruit, but in doubting God’s goodness, God’s generosity.
In the Gospel today Jesus is in another garden, the garden of the wilderness. Forty days of fasting. Forty days of hunger and of vulnerability and it is in such times and places that the tempter appears.
But this time the story ends differently.
When tempted to doubt God, Jesus does not fall for the tricks, he trusts.
Turn stones to Bread. Prove yourself! TAKE POWER!!
Where our first parents fell, Jesus stands!
And here is the good news for us on this first Sunday of Lent: Jesus stands for us, with us.
Lent is not about proving how strong we are. It is not a spiritual competition. It is not about holding on tight till Lent is over. Lent is about learning to trust again.
Most of our temptations are not dramatic. They are subtle. They are a whisper:
“God isn’t coming through for you.”
“You need to secure yourself.”
“You deserve this.”
“Just this once won’t matter.”
“I am a holier monk than he is! I am a better Christian than them.”
“They speak a different language so they cannot be trusted.”
But the Gospel tells us something joyful: temptation does not have to define us. Failure does not define us. Christ defines us.
The message is of HOPE!! Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. The desert is not outside God’s plan. The struggle is not a sign that God has abandoned us. Most of the time it is where we grow strongest.
Life can be a desert for some, and Lent is a desert, but both are a desert walked with Christ.
When we fast or abstain from things, we are not punishing ourselves. We are saying, “God, You are enough.”
When we examine our lives, when we examine our thoughts and feelings, we are not checking a box. We are saying, “I trust in you God, to remake me in your image”
When we give to the poor and needy, we are living God’s generosity.
When we recognize the humanity in people who are different from us, we live the life he created us to live.
Every small Lenten sacrifice is a yes to God and God’s original plan for us! A relationship of goodness and trust, a RELATIONSHIP of Love.
The Gospel story ends with angels ministering to Jesus. The desert is not permanent. Trust leads to strength, and relationship with God and leads to freedom.
Lent has begun, don’t be discouraged by temptation or failure. Expect it. But more importantly, expect grace. When temptation comes, it’s not an opportunity to prove yourself, but an opportunity to choose trust, an opportunity to stand with the one that stood, and stands with and for us.
This week, when something tugs at you: impatience, discouragement, self-reliance, anger, selfishness, racism, hatred, mistrust of the neighbor who is different, pause and say simply: “Lord breathe your life into me again!”
That pause could change everything!
Lent is not about the fruit in the garden or the stones in the desert, but about whether we will trust the God who has breathed His life into us.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Spring Newsletter from Fr. Thomas
Dear Friends,
Spring is the season of lengthening days. The light and the warmth of the sun bring forth new life. Spring is also the season of Easter when, at the Vigil, we carry the light of the Easter candle, representing Christ risen from the dead, into the dark church.
Sermon on the Mount, Thomas Ingmire, Copyright 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
One of my favorite illuminations of The Saint John’s Bible is the one on the Beatitudes with which Jesus opened his Sermon on the Mount. The text is written in golden characters. The print shown here does not fully do it justice because in the original (and also in our Heritage Edition) the gold leaf of the letters literally jumps off the page! Gold represents God at work in this bible, the light of God present in this biblical scene. It gives witness to Jesus, the light.
On the right side we see the paradoxical word “Blessed,” written many times in bright colors. How can the poor, the mourning, and the meek be called blessed and favored by God? Jesus knew about their preciousness, their dignity, and proclaimed it. He also knew that those not attached to material things are often more open to the gifts of God. Jesus’ transgression of boundaries in order to make known God’s love for all and solidarity with all, led him to the cross. But his resurrection from the dead showed him as the Light that the darkness has not overcome. – A retreat at St. Benedict Center is an opportunity to open our hearts anew to Christ, to his Good News, and to God’s amazing gifts to us.
At St. Benedict C33enter, we are happy that often a friendly monk welcomes you now (again): Br. Moses spent some time in Germany but is back with us! – Especially worth noting among the upcoming events of our program schedule is the marriage retreat titled, Blessed are the Merciful with Deacon Dr. Steve Doran and his wife Sharon on April 10 – 11. – Also, I’d like to point you to the one-day retreat with Abbot Mauritius Wilde on June 6. Abbot Mauritius, of Maria Laach Abbey in Germany, was formerly our prior here in Schuyler. – I am looking forward to seeing you again soon!
Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB, Administrator
Ash Wednesday
Today, on Ash Wednesday, we begin Lent not with guilt, not with dread, but with an invitation.
Listen to the tenderness in the first reading the prophet Joel: “Return to me with your whole heart.”
Not, “Return to me once you’ve fixed yourself.”
Not, “Return to me once you’ve proven you’re worthy.”
Just: RETURN
Lent is not about impressing God. It is about turning back.
Saint Paul tells us: “Now is a very acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.” That’s the good news. Not tomorrow. Not after we get our act together. Not after we’ve conquered our worst habits.Now.
In Latin the word is Hodie. TODAY…. NOW…. THIS MOMENT! God is ready NOW - Today.
In the Gospel, Jesus talks about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But notice something important. He doesn’t say if you pray. He says when. He assumes we want relationship with the God. And Jesus tells us: do it in secret.
Why? Because Lent is not a performance. It continues the love story that is Christianity, the love story of being a Christian. This last weekend we had a group at the retreat house of Retrouvaille. It is a program to help troubled married couples. Lent is kind of our Retrouvaille with God.
Non of us are perfect, none of us doing everything right, but we have chances every year, EVERY DAY to work on our relationship with God and with those around us. If you think you are perfect, see me after Mass and we will have a talk! 😊
In a few moments we will hear the words:
“Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
It is an invitation to trust the good news, if you remember GOSPEL means GOOD NEWS!!
Repentance doesn’t mean beating ourselves up. In Scripture it means turning around, changing direction. We turn not because we are rejected, but because we are wanted.
Joel says, “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” In other words, don’t just make outward gestures, let God reach your heart. Let God soften what has hardened. Let God heal what has grown tired. Let God rekindle what has cooled.
The beautiful thing is, that God is eager to do this. Joel says God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness.” That is the God we are returning to.
Lent, then, is not forty days of spiritual misery. It is forty days of clearing space, cleaning house. Space so God can love us more deeply. Space so we can learn to love God, but especially OTHERS more deeply. Space so joy can return.
It’s not about giving up chocolate. It’s not about eating less. It’s not about making promises we will not keep. It is about repenting, turning, making things new, making them right. Things like what Pope Leo invited us to do: Fast from harsh words. Turning our language into love and friendship. Fast from judging others. Turning our thoughts to love and service.
God who sees in secret sees all of it. And God delights in it.
Today, receive the ashes with hope. Walk into Lent with the intent to TURN BACK TO THE GOSPEL. BELIEVING MEANS NOT JUST THINKING BUT DOING AS WELL! IT TAKES THAT TURNING!
We can have confidence that God will give us grace to repair where there has been less than Good News, and Love.
God already is near, waiting for us.
“Repent and believe in the Gospel” GOOD NEWS!
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Saturday Reflection: Jesus Feeding the 4000
In today’s Gospel, a crowd has been with Jesus for three days. They are hungry, tired, and far from home. The disciples see a problem: there is not enough.
Jesus sees a possibility: someone must be fed.
Seven loaves. A few fish. A wilderness. Thousands of people.
From the perspective of the disciples, scarcity.
From the perspective of Christ, mission.
Jesus does not simply drop bread from heaven. He takes what the disciples already have. He blesses it. Breaks it. Gives it back to them, and they distribute it.
The miracle is not only multiplication.
The miracle is participation.
That is exactly why today the Church remembers Saints Cyril and Methodius.
They looked at the Slavic peoples and many Christians of their time thought: they don’t have the right language, the right culture, the right preparation.
Scarcity thinking.
But the saints saw what Christ sees: God already planted seeds there. So instead of forcing people to come to the Gospel’s culture, they brought the Gospel into the people’s language. They took what existed ( words, sounds, stories)blessed it, and handed Christ back to them in a way they could receive.
They trusted the same truth revealed in the Gospel today:
God does not wait for perfect conditions.
God multiplies what is offered.
We often think, I don’t have enough faith… enough patience… enough courage… enough holiness to help anyone.
But the disciples didn’t have enough bread either.
Christ never asks us for abundance.
He asks us for availability.
When we place our small kindness, our listening ear, our imperfect prayer, our limited energy into his hands, he feeds someone with it. Maybe a family member. Maybe a stranger. Maybe someone quietly starving for hope.
We receive Christ so that someone else may receive Christ through us.
At this Eucharist, the Lord again takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, and then sends us out.
Like the disciples.
Like Cyril and Methodius.
What we have is small.
What Christ does with it is never small.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Lenten Appeal
Lent invites us into deeper prayer and gratitude as we reflect on Christ’s journey to Easter. This holy season reminds us to live with joy and spiritual longing, just as St. Benedict encouraged us to prepare our hearts for the Feast of Feasts.
This year’s appeal focuses on the growing needs of House St. Bernard in Kipili, Tanzania — a mission foundation of Holy Spirit Abbey that serves young families and children. As families settle in this beautiful but rapidly changing region, there is a pressing need for a kindergarten and qualified teachers where children can learn, play, and grow in both education and faith.
Kindergarten teachers are urgently needed to help lay a strong foundation for these children’s futures. Your support, through prayer and, if you are able, a financial gift, will help educate teachers, provide nutritious meals, and ensure a safe space for learning and community growth.
Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of the young, the vulnerable, and their families. Thank you for your generosity and for keeping this mission and its people in your prayers.
News Release: Father Joel Macul to Speak at Saint Benedict Center
Fr. Joel Macul, OSB., STL.
The Rev. Joel Macul, OSB, STL, will present a retreat titled, He Gave His Life to Set Us Free: The Passion according to Matthew at Saint Benedict Center, four miles north of Schuyler, on February 27 – March 1, 2026
At the beginning of Holy Week, we will hear Matthew’s Passion on Palm Sunday this year. We will look at what Matthew focuses his attention on. He introduces Jesus as one who saves us from our sins, that is what his name means. He understands Jesus as the Messiah who does not crush what is already bruised and broken and instead, he becomes the ransom for many. That is how he serves. And what is the significance of the other people in the story: the disciples, Peter, Judas, Pilate, even the crowds? Is there any of them in us? Reflecting on this passion story for these days may be one way of obeying Jesus’ command to “keep watch,” of touching the truth of our hearts and allowing Jesus’ death to heal and free them.
Benedictine Father Joel Macul was the prior at Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, Nebraska, from 2017 till 2023. Prior to that, he served as abbot of St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, New Jersey, and taught Scripture at Tangaza College and Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. He now lives again in Newton, New Jersey.
The retreat begins on Friday, at 7:30 p.m. and ends on Sunday after Lunch. The program fee is $80; room and board charges are additional.
News Release: Retreat on Spiritual Goal Setting
Lisa Kelly, MA, and Steve Titus, PhD, JD, will present a retreat titled, The Spiritual Path: Embarking on the Journey of a Lifetime, at Saint Benedict Center, four miles north of Schuyler, on February 14 – 15, 2026. Make this the time for you and God to walk your spiritual path together. Discover the benefits of using a structured process to name how you are being called to live out the healthy desires of your heart. This workshop, adapted from the best-selling life coaching program, Your Best Year Yet, offers a process rooted in Ignatian Spirituality to gather wisdom from the challenges and joys of the past year, to uncover and attend to perceived limitations, and to set goals for the coming year. You will leave with a practical one-page plan of goals and objectives. Couples are invited to celebrate Valentine’s Day by making a Spiritual Path plan together. Mass is included (optional).
Lisa Kelly, the author of The Spiritual Path: Embarking on the Journey of a Lifetime (Loyola Press), is a 20+ year Ignatian Associate. She holds a Master from Harvard and a Master in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University. She and her husband, Tom, have raised four kids while living in Omaha and abroad and remain dedicated to serving marginalized communities globally.
Steve Titus, JD, PhD, is a trained spiritual director and executive coach and holds an MA in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University. Steve and his wife, Sara, live in Tucson, AZ, and have two daughters. – Both Lisa and Steve support Catholic leaders to implement synodality through the Discerning Leadership Program.
The retreat begins on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and ends on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. The program fee is $100; room and board charges are additional. Register at www.StBenedictCenter.com or call (402) 352-8819.
2025 In Review
Greetings!
I am writing these lines shortly after the Solemnity of the Epiphany when the Church commemorates events of Jesus’ manifestation to the world .
Magi were led by the light of a star to the Newborn in Bethlehem. Before starting out his public ministry, Jesus was baptized by his cousin John at the River Jordan and God’s voice declared: “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him!” The first miracle that Jesus performed was changing water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana.
As I reflect on these stories from Sacred Scripture, I ask myself, “are my eyes open to see the light of the star leading me to Jesus?” We all come up with our unique answers. It is my prayer and hope that we can bring the “Light of Christ” to all the people we encounter in our daily lives. The darkness in the world is overpowered by the light of Christ!
There is a beautiful custom, especially in Europe, when children go from house to house offering a blessing for the inhabitants and then sign the lintel of the door with numbers and letters 20+C+M+B+26
We monks do the house blessing at the monastery on the Eve of Epiphany. The initials can be associated with the names of the three Kings: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar but also with the Latin phrase: Christus Mansionem, Benedicat - that Christ may bless this House in the Year 2026.
This is our wish for you and all your loved ones as we start navigating through the year as it unfolds. We pray for peace, for health, and for protection from any harm, but also that God may shower HIS graces and blessings upon all HIS children, regardless of color or race.
LET US BE A BEACON OF HOPE – A SHINING LIGHT EACH AND EVERY DAY OF 2026
A WORD OF THANKS
You, and so many other friends and supporters gave us Missionary Benedictines a helping hand throughout 2025 as you responded to our various appeals, helping us to build up funds so that we could respond to the applications the mission office received or as requested by the Conference of Mission Procurators:
Appeal Projects and amount raised – thanks to your help!
Our Lenten Appeal assisted us in outreach to graduates of our vocational training centers to give them simple tool kits to start their own careers: $117,761.76
In celebration of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart we asked to help us educate future monastics – sisters, brothers, priests $ 65,269.70
The Novena Appeal in honor of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven dealt with the needs of renovating churches, facilities or building new churches $736,296.84
In commemoration of all the deceased, especially family members and loved ones, you helped us provide funds for training crisis counselors and spiritual directors: $ 66,887.72
At Christmas time, we received through your generosity assistance for any pressing needs and support of our monasteries and convents (as of January 7, 2026) $ 176,537.32
Part of this amount, $9,876.00, helps us with outreach to orphans in our care.
Your contribution brings hope and light!
The grand total in 2025 reached $3,036,053.40
This includes Mass offerings, enrollments in the Mass Association, designated gifts to missions and projects, and bequests.
We are aware of the many obligations that you have and as always, your needs have priority. We pray that the Lord grants you good health, answer your intentions, and shower graces upon you every day of 2026. I assure you that, as promised in the Christmas mailing, the first nine days in January are days of prayer and thanksgiving for your help as we celebrate the daily Holy Mass for you.
Thanks for showing your interest in our work and for reading this long report, giving account of our stewardship in 2025.
On behalf of all the community:
Br. Tobias OSB
Director of Development
Christmas Day Homily - 2025
On Christmas morning, the Church gives us one of the most beautiful lines in all of Scripture: “The Word became flesh and made its dwelling among us..” Not “visited.” Not “observed from a distance.” God pitched his tent among us. The translation is literally, “TABERNACLED WITH US.”
That image would have meant something very concrete to the people who first heard it. A tent is not a palace. A tent is temporary, vulnerable, and close to the ground. When you pitch a tent, you choose to share the same weather, the same dust, the same dangers as everyone else. And that is exactly what God chose to do.
At Christmas, God does not solve the world’s problems from heaven. He enters them. He pitches his tent in a world that is poor, politically tense, and unsettled. He is born under occupation, into a family with no security and no room at the inn. From the very beginning, God’s tent is set up among people who know anxiety, fear, and uncertainty.
That matters for us today. Because many people come to Christmas tired. Some are worried about the state of the world. Some are anxious about grain and beef prices, health issues, violence, division, or whether compassion still has a place in public life. Some are grieving or carrying private burdens no one else sees. Christmas does not deny any of that. It simply says: God is here.
God pitched his tent not among the powerful, but among ordinary people. Not in safety, but in vulnerability. Not in certainty, but in trust. Which means there is no human experience where God refuses to dwell. No boundary he will not cross. No darkness he will not enter. No life he considers unworthy of his presence.
And this changes how we see God. God is not distant. God is not impatient with our struggles. God does not wait for us to get our lives together before showing up. Christmas proclaims a God who moves in, who stays, who shares our condition from the inside.
It also changes how we see one another.
If God pitched his tent among us, then every human life becomes sacred ground. Every neighbor becomes a place where God is already dwelling. The child, the stranger, the immigrant, the poor, the forgotten—God has chosen to live there. To welcome them is to welcome him. To ignore them is to walk past the tent where God has chosen to stay.
Christmas morning is not about escaping the world for an hour of beauty. It is about seeing the world differently because God is in it. God pitched his tent among us—and he has never taken it down.
So today we rejoice.
Not because life is perfect, but because God is present. Not because all is calm, but because God is close. The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us—and that means we are never alone.
That is the good news of Christmas. May it fill our hearts and give us hope.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Midnight Mass Homily - 2025
For many years, Fr. Germar and Bro. Andrew, both of blessed memory, would re-entact at our Christmas Eve table the same game. The question went out what song shall we sing? Bro. Andrew would always answer, “Wer Klopfet an!” (Who is knocking!?) Fr. Germar always sang the bass part of the Inn Keeper. The song depicts Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay for the night, and the Inn keeper asking many questions, and finally turning them away.
Tonight, in the quiet of this holy night, the Church dares to proclaim something astonishing:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Not armies.
Not policies.
Not power.
But, a little child brings the light.
Tonight, when the world is still, when fears grow louder and divisions seem deeper, God does not shout. God whispers. God comes not as a ruler demanding entry, but as a child needing welcome. The Gospel is familiar: Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem, tired, displaced, and unwanted. “There was no room for them in the inn.” The Son of God is born not in safety, but on the margins, laid in a feeding trough. Before Jesus ever preaches a word, before He heals or teaches or forgives, His very birth makes a statement: God chooses to enter the world as the vulnerable one. And that choice matters, it matters especially now, today!
We live in a time of a lot of unease. Our societal climate is marked by fear anger, and hardened hearts. Few issues reveal this more clearly than immigration. Across our nation and our world, families flee violence, poverty, and desperation. They walk in darkness and are uncertain, exhausted, and afraid. Often, they are met with suspicion, rejection, or indifference. And here is where Christmas speaks, not with slogans, but with a child in a manger. Jesus knows what it is to be displaced. Within days of His birth, He becomes a refugee, fleeing violence, crossing borders, depending on the mercy of others to survive. The holy family is not sheltered by power or privilege. They are protected only by God’s quiet presence and the courage of those willing to help. Christmas does not tell us that every difficult question has an easy answer. But it does tell us something deeper and more demanding: The message is that when God comes to us as a stranger, our response reveals whether we have room for Him. The tragedy of Bethlehem is not that there was no inn. The tragedy is that there was no room. Doors closed. Hearts stayed busy. Fear won out over compassion. But there is good news! God did not, God does not, turn back. God enters anyway! Light shines even when doors are shut.
That is why the angels do not appear to kings or lawmakers, but to shepherds, ordinary people living on the margins. “Do not be afraid, for today a Savior is born for you.” Not for the powerful alone. Not for the comfortable alone. For you. For me. For ALL. The message of the Christmas angel is that God’s answer to a fearful world is not more power, but deeper love. Love begins small. Fragile. Easy to overlook. But once it’s welcomed, it changes everything.
Christmas does not ask us to solve every injustice. It asks us something more personal and more challenging: Will we make room? Will I make room?
Room in our hearts for compassion instead of fear.
Room in our conversations for dignity instead of contempt.
Room in our communities for mercy instead of exclusion.
Every time we make room for the vulnerable, the displaced, the stranger, we make room for Christ Himself. That is what makes Christmas truly hopeful. Darkness does not have the final word. Fear does not get the last say. n a world that often defines worth by wealth, status, or productivity, Christmas proclaims a different truth. The truth that EVERY human life is sacred because God chose to live as one of us.
So tonight, let us kneel, not before an idea, but before a child, a stranger. Let us allow this holy night to soften what has grown hard, to widen what has grown narrow, to remind us that God is still at work, not in noise and outrage, but in quiet acts of welcome and love.
The light that dawned in Bethlehem still shines. And it shines brightest wherever someone decides to make room. That is why we hold these candles tonight! We are children of the good news! We are children of the Light. Will we make room? May we allow the light to transform our hearts and make room.
Merry Christmas.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB
Homily - November 30, 2025
Mt 24:37-44
Is 2:1-5
Rom 13:11-14
focus: The Lord is coming.
function: We are called to be vigilant and prepared.
During their training future airline pilots have to go through practices involving simulators and simulation exercises. One reports: “I had never piloted a plane in my life. So, I was nervous when I took control of a commercial jet in Miami and prepared to fly it to Washington, D.C. The trip was far more eventful than I or my experienced copilot had anticipated. One engine burst into flames. A fuel line sprang a leak. And the plane’s rudder kept sticking.
But the biggest problem came when we prepared to touch down for our landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. All of a sudden it became obvious that the runway was coming up at too steep an angle. Bam! We hit the runway hard, bounced up, came down and hit it again. My copilot shouted at me to hold on. Then he hit the brakes hard and we came to a screeching halt, just a few feet from disaster.
My heart was pounding. But then I began to relax. I remembered that we had never left Miami. We were in a flight simulator. The experience was so vivid and real that it took me several minutes to get myself back together again.”
Simulators and simulation exercises play an important role in modern life. For example, hospitals simulate disasters to see how doctors, nurses, and equipment react to an overload of patients. Schools simulate fires to find the fastest way to evacuate the students. They all want to be prepared in case of an emergency.
In today’s gospel, Jesus also speaks about preparedness. The Son of Man is going to come suddenly—like the flood in the days of Noah, or like a thief at night. We don’t know the day or the hour of this coming and, therefore, need to be ready always.
The parable that follows in Matthew’s gospel after today’s text, namely that of the faithful or unfaithful servant, gives us a clueas to what this preparedness means. Like the good servant, who distributes to his fellow servants their food allowance at the proper time, so must we live a good and upright life. Then we are ready for the day and the hour of the Lord’s arrival, which, for most of us probably coincides with the hour of our death.
Today’s second reading provides further interpretation. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul says, “Let us throw off the works of darkness.” He calls upon us to examine ourselves and try to see where works of darkness have found their way into our lives. St. Paul’s message, however, doesn’t stop with moral conversion. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” he says. Let your lives be shaped by the person of Jesus and let your lives be conformed to his.
We stand at the beginning of Advent. Advent is a time of waiting for the arrival of Christ. St. Cyril of Alexandria, in the 5th century, spoke a out the threefold arrival of Christ. Christ arrived in his birth 2000 years ago. With him the great prophecies, like the one by Isaiah that we heard today, have begun to become true. He instructs us in his ways! He IS our peace! He has brought us light and hope! That’s what the Advent candles symbolize. However, we still await his second coming when the fulfillment will be complete. And we wait for his arrival in our own hearts.
My sisters and brothers, the Lord is coming. We are called to be prepared and ready. It isn’t easy in our day and age to live the season of Advent as a time of waiting. Too many bargains attract us at the shopping malls or online; and it makes sense to take advantage of them. Too many gifts for loved ones need to be selected, too many decorations need to go up, too many letters need to be written; these are good things to do. And yet, we would do well to take a quiet hour on occasion during these days, to read some of the Advent liturgy’s Scripture texts, especially the prophets,and to ask ourselves: What do I wait for? What do I long for? For myself—is it total security and being accepted? For our country and our world—is it peace, swords beaten into plowshares, respect for all human life, safety for immigrants? These hopes and longings then we may hold out in prayer to God who alone can fulfill our deepest longings.
The great 11th century theologian, St. Anselm of Canterbury, described Advent waiting for God in this way: “Escape from your everyday busyness for a short while. Be less concerned about your tasks and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in Him. … Say [to God] with your whole heart: I seek your face; your face, Lord, I desire.” Such quiet hours prepare us and assist us in letting the light of Christ, the light of the advent candles grow stronger in our hearts and through us in our world. AMEN.
~Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB
Father Joe Miksch to Speak at Saint Benedict Center
Fr. Joe Miksch, OSB
On December 12 – 13, 2025, Father Joseph A. Miksch will come to St. Benedict Center, four miles north of Schuyler, and present a seminar titled, A Way to Live and Enjoy Life More Fully!
This program will help you to attain a positive attitude about yourself, to accept yourself, to feel free to be yourself, and to forget about what others might be thinking about you. You will learn to think less about yourself, to reach out to others, and they in turn will accept you as one who really cares. Come and see how to embark upon the journey to enjoying life more and to becoming fully alive!
Father Joe, pastor of St. Isidore Parish in Columbus and St. Joseph Parish in Platte Center, NE, was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha in 1966 and holds a Master from Creighton University. He first learned about rational emotive therapy about 45 years ago and uses it every day. It has truly changed his life and has helped him to become more fully alive. For that reason, he wants to share what he has learned with others. Since 2020, he has had the privilege of having daily Mass in St. Isidore’s Church televised on NCN-TV, and through Facebook and YouTube reaches people throughout Nebraska, throughout the Nation, and at places as far away as Africa, Switzerland, Spain and Japan.
The seminar begins on Friday, at 9:00 a.m. and closes on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The program fee is $ 80; room and board are additional.