Dear Parishioners:
We were pleased to welcome Mother Josephine, the Superior of the Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, for her annual pastoral visit to our convent and with the FAS Sisters who serve at Scalabrini Villa. She assures me that our good Sisters, Sister Emma and Sister Lourdes, are to remain here working with us. That is great news for OLM as they are a true blessing to our parish.
On Sunday we welcome many of our friends from the Dominican Community. As you read last weekend, OLM Parishioner Laura Makin is entering the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville. Some of these wonderful Sisters are joining us in praying for Laura at the 10:30am Mass. Also some Dominican Friars will join us at the Mass. Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP from St. Pius V Church in Providence is preaching at the Mass. I ask for your continued prayers for Laura and for her Dominican Sisters in Nashville. These religious sisters are all a blessing for our Church and provide a profound witness of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. Let us pray for more vocations to the consecrated life from our parish and in our Diocese.
Next weekend we welcome Father Victor Ramesh from the Archdiocese of Madras in India. Father is coming to preach at all the Masses on behalf of the missions in his diocese. I know you will give him your usual warm welcome to OLM. The Missionary Cooperative Weekend is our time to support the good works of the Church in the Missions. Each summer missionaries come to parishes in Rhode Island reminding us of the important work they do and to seek our prayerful and financial support. Next week’s Second Collection goes directly to support the mission work in the Archdiocese of Madras. I thank you in advance for your generous support. There is more information in this week’s bulletin about the Archdiocese of Madras.
I remind you that this Wednesday, August 15th, we honor our Blessed Mother on the Solemnity of the Assumption. It is a holy day of obligation for all Catholics, which means you must attend Mass. A complete schedule of Masses for the holy day are in the bulletin. Please join us in celebrating our Blessed Mother, our patroness, on her special feast day.
Over these few weeks we have been hearing from the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John has rightly been called the Eucharistic Gospel. It is filled with Eucharistic images and language intended to help us move deeper into the mystery of Christ’s Body and Blood. It is the fruit of decades of spiritual reflection on this gift by Jesus’s Beloved Disciple, the last of the Gospel writers.
Last week our talented parish musicians, Deirdre and Henri, sang the beautiful Eucharistic hymn, "Adoro te devote." It was written by St. Thomas Aquinas over 800 years ago and has been faithfully sung in honor of our Lord truly present in the Eucharist throughout the centuries. The lyrics provide a wonderful reflection for us, and read:
“O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee, who truly art within the forms before me; To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee, as failing quite in contemplating Thee. Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived; The ear alone most safely is believed: I believe all the Son of God has spoken, than Truth's own word there is no truer token. God only on the Cross lay hid from view; But here lies hid at once the Manhood too: And I, in both professing my belief, make the same prayer as the repentant thief. Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see; Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be: make me believe Thee ever more and more; In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store. O thou Memorial of our Lord's own dying! O Bread that living art and vivifying! Make ever Thou my soul on Thee to live; Ever a taste of Heavenly sweetness give. O loving Pelican! O Jesu, Lord! Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood; Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt, Is ransom for a world's entire guilt. Jesu! Whom for the present veil'd I see, What I so thirst for, O vouchsafe to me: That I may see Thy countenance unfolding, And may be blest Thy glory in beholding. Amen.”
Prayers and well wishes to Laura Makin! Do good. Be well. God Bless. Go Sox! Did you see the Sox sweep the Yanks!!!