Dear Parishioners,
I am sad to tell you that we will not be having public Mass this weekend at Our Lady of Mercy (March 14th and March 15th) and until further notice for the week of March 16th. This decision comes after much prayer, consultation, and thought. We do not make it lightly. It comes after the Governor's and Health Director's request. We will still have confessions today, March 14th at 3:00pm and on Monday March 16th at 6:00pm. The Church will be open March 15th at noon for private prayer and throughout the week. Please spread the word.
Spiritually we train ourselves to desire Christ in the Eucharist. Yet, there may come a time in our lives when we cannot attend Mass (whether due to sickness, age, political turmoil, and so on). Our Lord warned us that the bridegroom may be taken away from us. We call to mind that the Mass and the Eucharist are a supreme gift from God that we should not take for granted. At times like these we look forward to the day when we can once again go to Mass and receive our Lord. Until then, we ask our Lord to increase our desire for Him and not to let this be a time when our devotion decreases. We pray like the Psalmist in Psalm 63: "O God, you are my God—it is you I seek! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts; like a dry, weary land without water." (http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/63). As St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans: "What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us."
We encourage the faithful to watch the Mass, continue one's prayers, and to make an "Act of Spiritual Communion." Please be assured of our prayers for your health and safety.
In Christ,
Fr. Healey and Fr. Barrow