Dear Parishioners:
I hope and pray you had a nice celebration of Thanksgiving with family and friends. It is a day to give thanks for blessings of the bounty we enjoy from God. We thank the Almighty for our food, shelter, family and faith. I had a wonderful celebration with my family at my sister’s home in Saratoga, New York. Our family is growing with an additional newborn grand niece and nephew and a third on the way at Christmas time! God is good and we thank him. I also wish to thank the many parishioners who supported the Our Faith, Our Future Capital Campaign last weekend. We are off to a great start of meeting our goal of $2 Million.
In September, Our Lady of Mercy kicked-off the “Grateful for God’s Providence; Our Faith, Our Future” Capital Campaign to raise $2,000,000. To date, we have received over $800,000 in pledges, and we are very thankful for the support we have received from those parish families that have already donated to the campaign! Although this is a significant accomplishment for our parish, it is of greater importance that we have the participation of every family that considers Our Lady of Mercy their spiritual home and close to their hearts. We hope that we can count on your support.
Our Campaign is being conducted on the simple premise that not everyone can make the same size gift but everyone can make the same size sacrifice. Although each household is being asked to consider a pledge of $4,000 or more payable over the next four years, every pledge of every amount is welcome and is vital to the success of this project. Please return your pledge today if you have nto yet done so! This is an exciting time in our parish history. With your help and that of all those associated with Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, we will be able to complete our improvements.I thank you for your support and sacrifice for Our Faith and Our Future.
We begin the month of December this Sunday and so we enter into the Solemn Season of Advent. During Advent we prayerfully prepare for the coming Feast of Christmas when we remember with joy and faith the First Coming of the Son of God, the birth of Jesus Christ. But it is also a time for us to anticipate with faith and hope Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. It is a season of “devout and expectant delight!” We wear the violet color of the season and bless and light the Advent Wreath as we pray:
“Lord Our God, we praise Your Son, Jesus Christ, He is Emmanuel, the hope of the peoples, He is the wisdom that teaches and guides us, He is the Savior of every nation. Lord God, let Your blessing come upon us as we light the candles of this wreath. May the wreath and its light be a sign of Christ’s promise to bring us salvation. May He come quickly and not delay.”
Advent is time to pause and prayerfully recommit and convert our lives to Christ. We recall the ancient cry of the early Christians: “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!” During Advent let us all ask how can we welcome Christ into our lives? More faithful attendance at Sunday Mass? More time in prayer and reflection? Making a good Confession of our sins? Helping the needy and the poor with greater generosity and charity? During Advent 2019, let us cry out in both our words and works: Come Lord Jesus!
Reflecting upon this solemn season, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI teaches us: “Advent, this powerful liturgical season that we are beginning, invites us to pause in silence to understand a presence. It is an invitation to understand that the individual events of the day are hints that God is giving us, signs of the attention he has for each one of us.”
Next Sunday is December 8th which is normally the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, as it falls on the Second Sunday of Advent, the solemnity is moved to Monday, December 9th and therefore the Immaculate Conception is not a Holy Day of Obligation this year. Please join us this Friday at 9:00AM for the OLM School Mass for the Feast of St. Nicholas! I hear St Nick might make a appearance!
Thank you for your support of the Our Faith, Our Future Campaign. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats! Oremus pro invicem!