Dear Parishioners:
"Christ is alive!" This is the great truth which fills our faith with meaning. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross, has risen. He has triumphed over sin and death and has overcome sorrow, anguish and the power of darkness! After the event of Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord, nothing remains the same!
We celebrated the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with great joy, solemnity and faith at OLM. The Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday were the highlight of our liturgical year. Easter Sunday was a joyous and faith-filled day for our parish family! For all of this we give thanks to Almighty God!
But we must also thank so many others who make all the beauty, reverence, devotion and solemnity of Holy Week possible at OLM. Our OLM Maintenance Staff worked so hard in cleaning, setting up and preparing for the celebrations, we owe them each our thanks. The OLM Decorating Committee under the direction of Celia Franzone, once again did an outstanding job making OLM the most beautifully decorated Church in the Ocean State. We offer them our heartfelt thanks! We also thank the Altar Guild who clean the Church and the Sacristans who work so hard behind the scenes readying all the vestments and sacred vessels.
Of course, we must thank our truly superb Altar Servers who did such a tremendous job serving the ceremonies of Holy week. They were reverent and dutiful and ensured the Sacred Liturgy was celebrated with great solemnity.
We thank Henri St. Louis and the OLM Choir for their magnificent gift of sacred music. The music for Holy Week and Easter was truly uplifting and truly raised our worship and praise to God. I thank them for their great work in providing such beautiful music.
We thank the great work of our Lectors in proclaiming the Word of God and also our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for reverently distributing Communion to the large crowds. We offer thanks our dutiful Ushers who do such great work with hospitality and keeping good order during Mass.
I wish to also thank our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, Sister Lourdes and Sister Emma, for all their hard work and their prayerful witness during Holy Week. And I wish to offer my deep thanks to Fr. Barrow for the tremendous job and all the hard work he did in making Holy Week so truly meaningful for our parish. He is an outstanding priest full of zeal and holiness and I am grateful for his presence here at OLM.
We rejoice with the four adults who were fully initiated into the Catholic Faith at the Easter Vigil. They along with thousands across the globe entered into the Catholic Church and received the Sacraments of Initiation on Holy Saturday. We welcome them and continue to pray for them. This great growth in our Church should lead us to sing with the Psalmist: “This is the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad!”
Easter is just beginning and is a season of fifty days, so let us continue to celebrate the Resurrection of Lord in word and deed. Let us proclaim the truth of the Resurrection of Christ by our lives led by Him. And let us continue to live our faith with joy and fidelity as we celebrate Easter each and every Sunday at Holy Mass.
Sadly on Easter morning while we were enjoying the Good News of the Resurrection, in Sri Lanka a coordinated series of bombings killed hundreds of worshipers in Catholic Churches and others of all faiths in nearby hotels. These acts of evil targeted these churches as they were packed full of worshipers who were celebrating Easter, the day in which Christians around the world celebrate the rising of the King of Peace from the dead.
Let us continue to pray for the victims and their families and for all of our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters. Let us loudly condemn these and all acts of terrorism and attacks upon Christians. This evil must never overcome the hope we find in our Lord and Savior’s Glorious Resurrection. May our Merciful God who raised His Son, fill the hearts of all people with the desire for peace and justice.
It’s Easter, we rejoice that the Lord is Risen, truly Risen! Be well. Do Good. A joyous Easter Season to all! Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! Alleluia He has Risen Indeed! Go Sox, Celts and Bruins!