Lent is Here! Deny Yourself! Carry Your Cross! Follow the Lord!

Dear Parishioners: Last Sunday’s “Blizzard” hit with a vengeance with freezing temperatures, whipping winds, and snow squalls. I was joyfully surprised to see so many made it to Mass on Sunday morning. However, as you can see from the budget results many parishioners were unable to make it to Mass. Please pray that this is the last we see of such snowy storms this year!

If the snow and cold is all that we must endure to practice our faith then we should indeed be grateful. For across the globe many of our brother and sister Christians face far worse with violent persecution simply because they are Christian. For them being a faithful Christian comes with a great cost including their lives. This fact was horrifically highlighted last week as ISIS terrorists executed 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt. These men were working in Libya as laborers and were killed because of their Christian Faith. The Pope condemned this murderous attack stating: “Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’ They were killed simply because they were Christians.” Simply because they confessed their faith in Jesus Christ they were brutally beheaded. The savagery of the ISIS Terrorists knows no bounds and is becoming increasing brutal. In their message to the world after killing these Christian men, they announced that “they will conquer Rome!”

It is truly a frightening proposition in light of the recent attacks across Europe. When so many of our brothers and sisters in the world face persecution and even death for practicing their faith, how blessed we are to be able to freely follow the Lord. We have ample opportunities to freely attend Mass weekly and daily, to confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and to celebrate the devotions of the season unhindered.These attacks upon Christians  must   never cause us to take our blessings and freedom to practice our faith for granted.

On Ash Wednesday we confessed our Catholic Faith in a very bold and public manner, ashes upon our foreheads. This confession of faith isn’t merely a onetime event but must be a daily act as follow Christ with greater conviction. We might offer our penance and sacrificial acts for an end to terrorism, hatred and violence. Lent calls us to repentance and conversion so that the obstacles of indifference and sin which prevent us from following Christ more closely might be removed. We pray. We fast. We give alms. We do so to refocus our lives upon the cross of Christ. These pillars of Lent are meant to deepen our spiritual life and strengthen our relationship with Christ and His Church.

In his annual Message for Lent, Pope Francis reminds us why we celebrate Lent. He says: “Lent is a favorable time for letting Christ serve us so that we in turn may become more like him. This happens whenever we hear the word of God and receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. There we become what we receive: the Body of Christ. In this body there is no room for the indifference which so often seems to possess our hearts. For whoever is of Christ, belongs to one body, and in him we cannot be indifferent to one another.”

One of pillars of Lent is alms giving. Next weekend this a great opportunity to practically give alms as we begin the Catholic Charity Appeal at Our Lady of Mercy at all Masses. I hope you continue to be as supportive and generous to this important charity of our local Church as you have been in the past. Your generous donations enable the Catholic Church in Rhode Island to bring the good news of Christ to the poor, the sick, the suffering, the refugee, the prisoner and all those in need. I offer our thanks to Kevin and Nancy McDevitt and Stephen and Antonia Zubiago for once again serving as our Parish Chairs of the Appeal.

Lent is here! I hope and pray that it is truly a time of renewal, conversion and faith for you and your family and our entire parish. Hope to see you at Stations of the Cross on Fridays. Hope you make your way to Confession in the next weeks as well. Remember to pray, fast and give alms! Remember Fridays are for fish during Lent! God Bless.

Beyond the Snow! Getting Prepared for Lent!!!

Dear Parishioners: “It’s like déjà vu all over again!” as Yogi Berra once famously stated. Another Monday and another snowstorm. Another Monday and no school. It seems that winter really wants to make an impact in 2015! Thankfully for our many school families this week also marks the annual winter school vacation. It arrives just in time for more snow and severe cold temperatures! I hope this time is truly a time of rest and refreshment for our school teachers and school children.

We begin Lent his week on Ash Wednesday. Our annual “retreat” from the ordinary routine of life into a robust conversion to Christ. It is a time of deeper prayer, renewed penance, profound sacrifice and bountiful good works in preparation of the celebration of Easter. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican Council II states, "The two elements which are especially characteristic of Lent -- the recalling of baptism or the preparation for it, and penance.” This Wednesday we begin the solemn fast of forty days as we: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” As ashes are imposed on our foreheads we are reminded that we “are dust and to dust we shall return.” A time of up penance and prayer with greater fervor begins. Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence and we are to refrain from eating any meat. Also Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast which require us to eat less. The guide to these important practices is found in the bulletin this week.

During Lent we strive to sacrifice in imitation of Our Lord. He prayed and fasted for forty days in the desert and so we are called to do the same. What should we fast from this Lent? Alcohol or candy? Television or tobacco? Dessert or junk food? What pleasure should be sacrificed from for forty days? It is the traditional practice of Catholics to “give something up” during Lent. It is a good practice but perhaps we also need to take something on this Lent. What should we take on this Lent? Attending Daily Mass at 7:30AM or 12:05PM? Extra prayer at home before we start our day? Reading the Sacred Scriptures daily? Praying the Rosary? Making the Stations of the Cross on Fridays at 7:00PM?

Also we called to give alms during Lent as we are more mindful of poor and needy. There are many ways to support the good works of our Church through our charity and service to the poor. Traditionally we take up the Rice Bowl Collection for Catholic Relief Services during Lent. It is a way to help those who have no food. Placing these simple bowls on our tables and depositing not only our spare coins and surplus dollar bills in them but perhaps by sacrificing a costly pleasure to ensure food for the hungry is a good practice for any family. Also during Lent we can support the good works of our local Church through the Catholic Charity Appeal. We are to take up this collection beginning on the first weekend of March. We might also support the good works and efforts of OLM Parish Outreach. We have scheduled an Outreach drive for new blankets for the homeless at Emmanuel House during the month of March. All good ways to help the poor and needy with alms.

There are three Masses on Ash Wednesday: 7:30AM, 12:05PM and 7:00PM. Ashes are to be imposed at each of them. We begin the extra Lenten Daily Mass at 12:05PM on Wednesday for all of Lent. Consider adding Daily Mass to your schedule! We are encouraged to go to Confession during Lent. At OLM Confessions are heard Saturdays at 3PM and Mondays at 6PM. In Lent there are two priests available (one parish priest and a guest priest) on Mondays. Also Confessions will be heard from 11:45PM until Noon each weekday before Mass. Lent is a good time to get to Confession! Our Parish Lenten Mission is scheduled for the week of March 21st with Fr. Mike Najim, Spiritual Director at OLP Seminary and LaSalle Academy Chaplain, as our preacher. Lent is coming! Are we ready? Our time to pray, fast and give alms. Let us take up the cross for forty days and renew our faith! God Bless.

Superbowl Champs, Snow Storms and Praying for the Sick!

Dear Parishioners:Wow! What a Superbowl we had last Sunday night. The most watched event in television history. Fr. Connors , myself and a few brother priests watched in the Rectory. We were all on our feet for the last few minutes and watched the incredible ending. Congratulations to the New England Patriots on their Championship!

Soon after the Superbowl Game the snow came again! It caused schools to close on Monday and I am sure the school kids love that but I say enough snow already! Monday’s storm made a real mess and the cold temperatures don’t help either. According to the groundhog we have another six weeks of winter and without a doubt more snow.All that is left to do is pray for the end of snow, cold, winter and the quick arrival of spring! Again I offer our thanks and gratitude to Paul Anderson and our OLM Maintenance Staff for their continued hard work and tireless effort in cleaning up after the snow storms. During these winter storms they work long hours throughout the night and day ensuring the parking lots are plowed, the walks cleared of snow and the sand and salt applied to the ice.

Last week we blessed throats in honor of St. Blaise and we hope and pray we are protected from diseases of the throat and other ailments. This week we mark the World Day of the Sick. First begun twenty-three years ago by Saint John Paul II it is a day to “turn to all who are burdened by illness and are united in various ways to the flesh of the suffering Christ, as well as to professionals and volunteers in the field of health care. “ It is celebrated on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Lourdes is one of the greatest pilgrimage sites in the world and a place of prayer and healing for the sick, infirm and ill. Pope Francis reminds us on this day: “Today too, how many Christians show, not by their words but by lives rooted in a genuine faith, that they are “eyes to the blind” and “feet to the lame”!  They are close to the sick in need of constant care and help in washing, dressing and eating.  This service, especially when it is protracted, can become tiring and burdensome.  It is relatively easy to help someone for a few days but it is difficult to look after a person for months or even years, in some cases when he or she is no longer capable of expressing gratitude.  And yet, what a great path of sanctification this is!  In those difficult moments we can rely in a special way on the closeness of the Lord, and we become a special means of support for the Church’s mission.”

I hope you will spend time in prayer this week for all those who are sick and for those who care for them. There are many of our own parishioners and family members who quietly suffer in sickness and in solidarity we need to pray for them, for their healing and for their recovery. On Wednesday we should especially pray them on World Day of the Sick. The Prayer for World Day of the Sick is printed in this week’s bulletin. If you know of someone sick at home, a nursing home or a hospital please call the Parish Office and let us know. Father Connors and I are happy to visit and bring the Sacraments to them. Unfortunately due to privacy laws we are not notified by hospitals and other healthcare institutions and all too often we are never notified of a parishioner's hospitalization. Also, every Sunday our faithful Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion bring Holy Communion to those who are shut-in due to sickness or infirmity and those in our local nursing homes. If you know of someone who is ill at home, even temporarily, let us know and one of these faithful ministers will happily bring them Communion. In the meantime, we assure all of shut-ins of our prayer for them and our continued solidarity with them in their time of need.

It’s hard to believe but Lent is coming soon! Ash Wednesday is on February 18th. We are collecting old blessed palm branches to make our ashes. Please bring them to Mass next week and place them in the boxes at the doors. Thank you! Congratulations to our New England Patriots on a great win! Please pray for the sick and ill. God Bless.

Blizzards, Blessings and Superbowls!!

Dear Parishioners: As I write this column I am looking out the window at the Blizzard of 2015! It’s been snowing for over 24 hours, the winds are whipping, snow drifts are piling up, and the temperatures are dropping! Juno is sure leaving a mess to be cleaned up in the next few days. However, we can give thanks that nobody has died and electrical outages haven’t been wide scale. Fr. Connors and I have been hunkered down in the Rectory watching the snow fall and watching the local news and the Weather Channel for the latest developments on the blizzard. At the time of this writing schools have been cancelled for both Tuesday and Wednesday. It is a good thing because our crack snow removal team led by Paul Anderson have been working all day and night plowing and removing snow. They cannot seem to remove it quickly enough as it keeps falling and falling. They tell me the snow drifts are terrible and difficult to shovel. I am grateful for their tremendous hard work and dedication to keeping OLM clean, clear and safe!

Just in time for this time of the season for cold and snow we mark the Feast of St. Blaise. He is the patron of throat diseases and all ailments of the winter. In honor of his feast we are blessing throats this weekend at the end of all Masses. His feast is celebrated on February 3 but we will anticipate it this weekend. And so we turn to St. Blaise and pray: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness. Amen.”

I recently received a communication from Bishop Tobin about the spread of influenza conditions. He suggests ways for pastors to deal with the widespread effects of the flu and other seasonal illnesses. They include eliminating the Sign of Peace, asking those who are seriously sick and ill to stay at home and praying for the Lord’s protection from illness. They are all good suggestions for us to follow. However, my experience has shown when we eliminate the Sign of Peace from Mass, many people continue to offer it to one another. I think a more practical approach is simply to rely on your own good judgment and prudence when extending the Sign of Peace. So we will continue to offer the Sign of Peace at OLM but I urge you to use prudence in doing so. If you are sickly then simply offer it with words not with your hands. And if someone doesn’t offer you a hand to shake at the Sign of Peace then just assume they are exercising prudence not being rude. Also we urge everyone attending Mass to wash their hands prior to Mass, and also use a hand sanitizer before Mass. Hot water, soap and scrubbing still works on getting rid of germs!

I hope you were able to stop by OLM School for the Open House last Sunday. We had many new families stop by and take a look around. I met a Grandmother who graduated from OLM School in 1966 and she was bringing her grandchild for a look around and to register for next year! While some things in the school have changed since 1966 the commitment to excellence in academics and a strong Catholic environment have certainly not changed. If you didn’t get a chance to do so, just contact our Principal, Mr. Scott Fuller, to arrange a tour for you and your family.

Our own Fr. Connors has been bouncing off the walls all week in anticipation of the Superbowl. He has had enough of the so-called “deflategate” and is ready to move on to Phoenix. Not a day goes by when he isn’t talking about Bill Belicheck, Tom Brady and the Patriots. I’ve tried to get him to talk about theology, philosophy, and public policy but its all Patriots all the time! I don’t know what to do with him other than to join in! Go Pats! Let’s hope the Blizzard is the last of the season and let’s pray everyone is able to stay safe and secure during this terrible weather. May God protect us especially our first responders, snow plow operators and snow removal teams! God Bless. Good-bye Juno, Hello Superbowl!!

Catholic Schools Week, Celebrate the OLM Advantage!

Dear Parishioners: Across the country we celebrate “Catholic Schools Week” beginning this Sunday. It is always a great week of activities and celebrations of the great contribution our Catholic Schools make to our Church, our nation and our local community. Once again we begin the week with an Open House at OLM School where you can meet and greet students and faculty. OLM School offers an opportunity for parish families to consider educating their children in an disciplined environment that excels in academically, supports Catholic service and develops Catholic virtues. In age when God and religious faith are being marginalized in the public square, OLM School begins and ends every day with prayer. OLM School Students are taught in a loving, nurturing and truly Catholic atmosphere. Amidst the many sports programs, science programs, robotics programs, social clubs, musical clubs, and community service projects the Catholic Faith is passionately taught and boldly lived every day! There is tuition assistance available from the Diocese of Providence as well as from the Parish. In fact, last year we gave out nearly $75,000 in tuition assistance to parish families. So I invite you stop by and take a look around OLM School and discover the OLM Advantage!

I was recently reminded when reading about the actor Michael Keaton about how many different people have benefited from a Catholic School Education. He just won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role in movie Birdman. I haven’t seen the movie but I did see his comments about Catholic School and I believe they reflect many Catholic School grad’s experience. Keaton was raised one of seven children with parents who worked two jobs to send him and his siblings to the local parish school. In the interview he said: “I liked going to Catholic school. It kind of builds who you are. It was a good experience for me. It does shape who you are and what you believe in.” I encourage you to take a look at OLM School during the Open House on Sunday. Also please read the message from our new OLM School Principal Scott Fuller on behalf of our great school and faulty.

I am grateful to Fr. Connors for organizing the Day for Prayer for the Protection of Unborn Children and the for the many parishioners who turned out to pray for life. This week we put our prayer into action as the RI Right to Life Committee holds its Annual Pro-Life Rally at the RI Statehouse. On Wednesday you can join the hundreds gathered to make the vulnerable voice of the unborn heard in the halls of power. You can join with local pro-life leaders, pro-life elected officials and area clergy as they remind our state leaders that the unborn have the right to life! I’ve attended this rally for many years and it is always a powerful witness for the state’s elected officials to see how many people still respect human life and are willing to stand up in protection of the unborn. It is a gathering of people of all ages, races and religions united with the common goal of ending legalized abortion. They pray, sing and shout for life! Won’t you join them? Again Pope Francis reminds us of the urgency of promoting life and standing against the culture of death. In a speech last year to group of Catholic Doctors he stated: “Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection. And every elderly person…even if they are ill or at the end of their days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the ‘culture of waste’ suggests!” Celebrate Catholic Schools Week! Discover the OLM Advantage! Rally of Life! God Bless. Go Pats!!!! Superbowl here we come! It was a great season!

Praying for Peace, Life and Priests!

Dear Parishioners:Last week we watched in horror as yet more innocents were killed by terrorists. This time it was in France but we have seen it in United States, Spain, England, Australia, Pakistan and across the Middle East. These horrific attacks by Jihadists should cause us all to pause and pray. We pray for the many victims and their grieving families, we pray for the police and military who protect us from such attacks, and we pray for peace and justice among peoples and nations. We even pray for the terrorists and all those filled with hatred and violence that they may have a conversion of heart. Praying for our enemies is never easy yet we know we must do so as Christians. So let us pray for all those who seek to do us harm, all those who kill in the name of religion, all those who persecute and oppress peoples and nations, that the God of love might guide them away from violence and hatred to His peace and justice. Prayer must be the weapon we use to wage war on hatred, violence, terror and injustice!

I invite you to join with us in prayer this Thursday as we mark the anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court Decision Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in our nation. This is yet another sad occasion that calls for our prayers, We join Catholics and many others across the nation in observing a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Thousands are to attend the March for Life in Washington, DC on Thursday to support the right to life for the unborn and rally in defense of life. Pope Francis reminded us of the great and urgent need to defend life when as Archbishop of Buenos Aries he said: “Defend the unborn against abortion even if they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you.” I hope you can stop in Church on Thursday and offer prayers in support of life.

This weekend we are privileged to have with us one of our outstanding young priests, Father Chris Murphy. Fr. Murphy serves as Chaplain at Hendricken High School and also as Assistant Vocations Director for the Diocese of Providence. These two important jobs keep him busy and so I am grateful that he was able to take some time to be with us at Our Lady of Mercy. Father is here to preach at all Masses about his important work in promoting vocations to the priesthood. We are blessed to have a vocation from the parish as Brian Morris of Our Lady of Mercy continues his studies at St. John’s Seminary in Boston. We continue to pray for him and his vocation. However, we must also take up prayers for more vocations to the priesthood for the Diocese of Providence. Presently there are twenty  young men preparing for the priesthood for our diocese. This June we are scheduled to ordain three young men to the priesthood. However, we may have as many as six priests retiring from active ministry this year. So you can see there is urgent need for more vocations! We are blessed at OLM with two priests, a deacon and even a seminarian from the parish. However, many other parishes have just one priest for two churches and sometimes even just one priest for three churches! There is a great need for more priests to serve God’s people here in Rhode Island. So I urge you to please pray for more vocations to the priesthood. Also please encourage your sons, grandsons, nephews, brothers and any young man you may know to consider the priesthood.

I hope you survived the cold and frigid weather over the last week. We saw temperatures below zero with cold, snowy and gusty winds! Thankfully the new gas boiler in church was working overtime. It is hard to keep the heat at a high level in our large church but the new boiler sure did a great job. The old boiler in the Rectory had a more difficult time but Paul Anderson, our crafty maintenance man, managed to apply some Band-Aids to it and keep the heat on for us! We hope to replace the Rectory boiler in the spring. Have a great week. Pray for peace, in defense of life and for vocations! Welcome to OLM Fr. Murphy! I am away on vacation this week. God Bless. Go Pats Go!!!