Dear Parishioners:
Last Sunday night's Confirmation Mass was a joyful celebration of faith and hope. We thank God for this great occasion in the life of our parish family. We are also grateful to Bishop Henning for celebrating the Mass and offering a powerful homily to our Confirmation Class.
We thank the OLM Faith Formation Directors, past and present, Doug Green, Mickey St. Jean, and Jeremy Long, for their hard work and dedication in preparing our students. The music for the Confirmation was majestic, and we thank our OLM Music Director, Henri St. Louis, the OLM Choir, and our guest musicians for providing such beautiful music for our worship. The OLM Altar Servers did a superb job serving the Mass reverently, and we thank them.
Our good Franciscan Sisters worked tirelessly preparing the Church, the vestments, and all the sacred vessels for the Mass, and we are truly grateful for their service. I thank our OLM Ushers for their good work in welcoming our guests and ensuring Mass went smoothly from start to finish.
We thank the newly Confirmed and their families. We thank their parents who first brought them to Christ and the Church at baptism and have these many years helped them grow in the faith. We thank their sponsors for their witness of faith and for continuing to spiritually guide these young adults.
And finally, we thank the newly Confirmed for choosing to publicly and sacramentally confirm their Catholic faith. Please pray for them. May they continue to grow in faith, hope, and charity and remain close to Christ and His Church. We will be calling upon them in the coming weeks to take up a ministry and help serve God and their parish. As St. Catherine of Siena said: "Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire."
As we begin this All Souls Month of November, we take up the Spiritual Work of Mercy as we pray for the dead. During this month we remember in our prayers our own beloved dead, the dead who have no one to pray for them, and the souls in Purgatory. The All Souls envelopes with the names of your beloved dead have been placed by the altar so we might remember them in our prayers at Mass.
Pope Francis teaches: "Church tradition has always urged prayer for the dead, in particular by offering the celebration of the Eucharist for them: it is the best spiritual help we can give to their souls, particularly to the most abandoned ones. The foundation of prayers of remembrance is found in the communion of the Mystical Body. Remembering the dead, caring for their tombs, and prayers of suffrage are testimony to confident hope, rooted in the certainty that death does not have the last word on human destiny, as humanity is destined for a life without end, that has its root and its fulfillment in God.”
During this month visit a cemetery where your loved ones lie in rest. These sacred grounds are an extension of our Church and a place not only for burying the dead but also a place of prayer. Indeed, the cemetery is a place where we reflect on the lives of the dead who are buried there and pray for their souls.
At the 10:30am Mass today, we remember forty-five OLM parishioners who have died over the last year. Their families join us as we offer our prayers for their consolation and for the repose of the souls of their beloved family members. In your charity, please pray for them all today and throughout the month of November. This week beginning on Monday night until Wednesday afternoon, Fr. Mahoney and I, along with most of the priests of the Diocese of Providence, will be at the priests’ convocation in Newport.
It is an opportunity to gather with our new bishop in prayer, discussion, discernment, and fraternity. Bishop Henning is our scheduled speaker and will share with us his vision as our new shepherd and spiritual father. He recently wrote in his weekly column about the convocation. He wrote: "These good men accompany me as the diocesan bishop, and I rely upon them. I need this opportunity to consult with them, to hear them, to learn from them, and to encourage them."
I thank the priests covering Masses in our absence this week. Pray for Bishop Henning and the priests that our time together is fruitful and productive. Do good. Be well. God Bless. Go Pats? Where????