The Catholic Charity Appeal, Thanks for Your Generous Support!

Dear Parishioners: Yes another Sunday and another snowstorm! It seems to be a constant refrain in this column. Yet another snowstorm arrived last weekend! Let’s hope and pray that spring weather comes soon! I don’t know about you but I am more than ready for warm sunny weather!

I am grateful to Kevin McDevitt for his fine job last weekend helping us with the Catholic Charity Appeal In-Pew Solicitation. This method has proven to be successful across the Diocese of Providence. There is only one parish left that still collects for the CCA by going door to door. A few others only do mailings to collect donations. Since we have begun the in-pew solicitation our total raised for the CCA has increased by nearly $50,000! But more importantly the number of donors has increased and includes nearly 150 new donors. If you have made your pledge or given your donation to the CCA, I thank you for your generous support.

Last weekend we were able to raise $32,000 toward our parish goal of $193,000. As has been said these funds are the major source of funding for the many chartable works of our Church. Everyday thousands are served and helped by our many Diocesan agencies and your donations make it possible. We invite every parish family to consider pledging a gift of $250 over 10 months. Your gift of $25 per month (that’s just $5 a week!) goes a long way in ensuring that our many brothers and sisters who are in need, who are suffering in sickness and who live in poverty are served. We are blessed at Our Lady of Mercy that many of our parishioners are so generous in supporting the CCA. Some are very generous in supporting the CCA by becoming Bishop’s Partners in Charity. There are about 70 parishioners who are members of the BPC and generously donate $1,000 and many who donate much, much more. If you have been greatly blessed in life, we ask you to consider sharing your blessings by becoming a Bishop’s Partner in Charity and donating $1,000 or more.

Whatever amount you are willing to donate, please know of my gratitude for your generosity. But also know of the gratitude and thanks of the many people whose lives' you impact with your donation. The homeless, the refugees, prisoners, the dying, the sick, the addicted, and the poor are indeed grateful for your generous support of the CCA. If you have not yet made your pledge or given your donation, please take the envelope provided in the pews home and return it next weekend. You can simply place in the regular collection baskets in the coming weeks, put it in the mail or drop it off at the Parish Office. We are steadily making our way toward our parish goal but need all 2,500 families at Our Lady of Mercy to support the CCA in order to reach it.

I thank Mrs. Grace Murphy who organized this weekend’s new blanket collection for the homeless. Your generous donation of a blanket or two helps a homeless person stay warm during these cold and snowy days. Any blankets can be dropped off in the collection box in the vestibule. Thank you for your support.

Lent is coasting along as March has arrived and we enter our third week of this holy season. We continue to pray, fast and give alms as we attempt to deepen our conversion to Christ. This conversion to Christ can only lead to a life of more fulfillment, deeper meaning and greater happiness. At his weekly Angelus message last Sunday, Pope Francis reminded us: “The way of Jesus always leads us to happiness—do not forget it. The way of Jesus always leads us to happiness. There will always be a cross, and there will be trials along the way, but it will always lead us to happiness. Jesus does not deceive us. He has promised us happiness and he will give it to us, if we follow his ways.” Lent marches on and so must we as we continue the solemn fast of forty days toward Easter. We continue to carry the cross of Lent in order to truly enjoy the glory of the resurrection at Easter. Don’t forget Fridays are for fish and Stations of the Cross. God Bless.

Pope Francis' Homily for Ash Wednesday

Pope Francis delivered the homily at Mass in the Basilica of St. Sabina on the Aventine Hilll in Rome on Wednesday afternoon – Ash Wednesday – the beginning of the great penitential season of Lent. Below, please find Vatican Radio’s translation of the text the Holy Father prepared for the occasion. As God's people today we begin the journey of Lent, a time in which we try to unite ourselves more closely to the Lord Jesus Christ, to share the mystery of His passion and resurrection.

The Ash Wednesday liturgy offers us, first of all, the passage from the prophet Joel, sent by God to call the people to repentance and conversion, due to a calamity (an invasion of locusts) that devastates Judea. Only the Lord can save from the scourge, and so there is need of supplication, with prayer and fasting, each confessing his sin.

The prophet insists on inner conversion: “Return to me with all your heart” (2:12). To return to the Lord “with all [one’s] heart,” means taking the path of a conversion that is neither superficial nor transient, but is a spiritual journey that reaches the deepest place of our self. The heart, in fact, is the seat of our sentiments, the center in which our decisions and our attitudes mature.

That, “Return to me with all your heart,” does not involve only individuals, but extends to the community, is a summons addressed to all: “Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. (2:16)”

The prophet dwells particularly on the prayers of priests, noting that their prayer should be accompanied by tears. We will do well to ask, at the beginning of this Lent, for the gift of tears, so as to make our prayer and our journey of conversion ever more authentic and without hypocrisy.

This is precisely the message of today’s Gospel. In the passage from Matthew, Jesus rereads the three works of mercy prescribed by the Mosaic law: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Over time, these prescriptions had been scored by the rust of external formalism, or even mutated into a sign of social superiority. Jesus highlights a common temptation in these three works, which can be described summarily as hypocrisy (He names it as such three times): “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them ... Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do ... And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men ... And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites. (Mt 6:1, 2, 5, 16)”

When you do something good, almost instinctively born in us is the desire to be respected and admired for this good deed, to obtain a satisfaction. Jesus invites us to do these works without any ostentation, and to trust only in the reward of the Father "who sees in secret" (Mt 6,4.6.18).

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord never ceases to have mercy on us, and desires to offer us His forgiveness yet again, inviting us to return to Him with a new heart, purified from evil, to take part in His joy. How to accept this invitation? St. Paul makes a suggestion to us in the second reading today: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20)” This work of conversion is not just a human endeavor. Reconciliation between us and God is possible thanks to the mercy of the Father who, out of love for us, did not hesitate to sacrifice his only Son. In fact, the Christ, who was righteous and without sin was made sin for us (v. 21) when on the cross He was burdened with our sins, and so redeemed us and justified before God. In Him we can become righteous, in him we can change, if we accept the grace of God and do not let the “acceptable time (6:2)” pass in vain.

With this awareness, trusting and joyful, let us begin our Lenten journey. May Mary Immaculate sustain our spiritual battle against sin, accompany us in this acceptable time, so that we might come together to sing the exultation of victory in Easter.

Soon we will make the gesture of the imposition of ashes on the head. The celebrant says these words: “You are dust and to dust you shall return, (cf. Gen 3:19)” or repeats Jesus’ exhortation: “Repent and believe the gospel. (Mk 1:15)” Both formulae are a reminder of the truth of human existence: we are limited creatures, sinners ever in need of repentance and conversion. How important is it to listen and to welcome this reminder in our time! The call to conversion is then a push to return, as did the son of the parable, to the arms of God, tender and merciful Father, to trust Him and to entrust ourselves to Him.

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!!