Dear Parishioners:
Merry Christmas! This year we are blessed to have the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord on a Sunday. This means we’ve had an extra week of Advent prayer and preparation for Christmas. So celebrate the birth of our Savior!
Just took weeks ago in Rome on the Third Sunday of Advent Pope Francis offered his greetings after the Angelus to the large crowd of Romans gathered at St. Peter's Square: “Today my first greeting is reserved for all the children and young people of Rome who have come for the traditional ‘Bambinelli’ Blessing.”
The Bambinelli Blessing is a great tradition at which the Holy Father blesses Baby Jesus figures. Thousands of children gather in the square with the Baby Jesus figurines from their home Nativity sets held aloft. This year was no different and Pope Francis said to the children gathered for the blessing: “Dear children, when you pray before your crèche with your parents, ask the Baby Jesus to help all of us to love God and our neighbor.”
The very tradition of setting up a Nativity in our homes and Churches goes back to the 
1223. Christmas was coming and St. Francis of Assisi longed to do something to help the people of the small Italian town of Greccio to feel close to the infant Jesus who born for them in a stable in Bethlehem. The Saint knew these good folks would never have a chance to visit the Holy Land so he wanted to make the Nativity a real and personal experience for the faithful.
He persuaded a friend to bring straw, hay, an ox and an ass to a cave overlooking the town. There, St. Francis did the best that he could to recreate the scene within the stable at Bethlehem. The news spread throughout the neighboring countryside and so, on 
Christmas Eve, people came from miles around for Midnight Mass, all of them willingly climbing the steep and rocky hillside in the bitter cold.
As St. Francis was a Deacon, he sang the Gospel telling the story of the first Christmas. He hoped and prayed that the congregation would see his makeshift manger and imagine the Baby Jesus lying in the hay, with Mary and Joseph on either side.
One man later reported that, during the 
Mass,he had a vision in which he saw a baby asleep in the manger. As he watched, he saw St. Francis pick the baby up, holding Him very lovingly in his arms. The man understood this to mean that the child Jesus had been forgotten by many people, but through St. Francis, that Christmas night in Greccio, the Baby Jesus came to life in the hearts and minds of all those who saw the crib.
St. Francis later explained why he created the crèche, suggesting: “I wanted to do something that recalled the memory of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, to see with bodily eyes the inconveniences of His infancy, how He lay in the manger, and how the ox and ass stood by.”
In the spirit of such a religious pilgrimage inspired by 
Saint Francis, I invite you to enter on a journey on this
Christmas 2016, a journey to Bethlehem. We may not be able to make the physical pilgrimage to the land of the Savior’s birth, but we can make the journey interiorly, that is, in our hearts, praying before the Nativity sets displayed in our homes and here at Church as spiritually we travel to Bethlehem to adore Him.
Our encounter with the Child of Bethlehem whose birth we celebrate this Christmas Day should fill us with great joy and renewed enthusiasm to live our Catholic faith. As we make our spiritual 
journey to Bethlehem to behold the face of God in Jesus Christ, I note that the word Bethlehem means “House of Bread.” The child Jesus came not only to redeem us through His death and resurrection, but to nourish and sustain us with His very Body and Blood, as He does at every Mass we celebrate and each time we worthily receive Him in Holy Communion.
On behalf of Fr. Barrow, Deacon Dowd and
myself we wish you all a Happy and Holy Christmas! May it be a time of great joy and hope, a time of renewed faith and love, for you and your family. May you grow ever stronger in your Catholic faith and in your relationship with our Lord and Savior born Christmas Day. As Pope Francis suggests, “may the Baby Jesus help all of us to love God and our neighbor.”
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!!!
One of the most popular songs of this time of preparation for Christmas is the hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” The word ‘Emmanuel’, as you know, means “God is with us.” This is the great message of Christmas. Christmas is not just a remembrance of a past event where God was with us when He was born and then for the next 33 years. Nor is it just our hopeful anticipation of His coming at the end of time. Christ is with us here and now, at all times and in every circumstance.
remain with us. His birth has brought a great light to “the people who walked in darkness.” As we hear in the Gospel on Christmas morning, that “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” No darkness can ever overcome the light of Christ dwelling among us. Christmas is a time for us to renew our faith in that promise and to remain steadfast in following that light which leads us to Him in Heaven. During this final week of Advent, let us open our hearts that we might be prepared to welcome Emmanuel, God with us, at Mass, at Christmas, and every day of our lives. Let us truly believe in the meaning of Christmas, that God is with us yesterday, today and forever.
we have added an extra hour of Confession time at Our Lady of Mercy. Beginning at 6:00pm until 8:00pm there will be two priests available each hour to hear Confessions. We’ve invited some guest priests to help. So take the time to examine your conscience, confess your sins, and receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is the best gift you could get for Christmas!
I offer my gratitude to the many parishioners who were so generous to the OLM Outreach Collection this month. These funds help us serve the poor and needy locally with Christmas food and gift cards. Also we are able to financially support the homeless and hungry across our state through various Catholic Charities like Emmanuel House and McCauley House.
nothing but the clothing on their backs. The generosity of our school families is greatly appreciated.
On Friday night we celebrated the Annual OLM School Christmas Pageant. It is always a joyful and happy occasion as our talented students gather to sing songs of the seasons. The Church is always overflowing with smiling parents, siblings and grandparents. The highlight of the evening is the reenactment of the Nativity Story by the students. It is always a great event for our parish and school. It really is inspiring to be able to sing beautiful Christmas hymns with the students in a spirit of faith, hope and love. Far too many around us have pushed God out of our culture and removed Christ from Christmas.
Rejoicing. We rejoice because Christmas is coming soon. We have put away the dour purple vestments and wear the bright rose vestments. This is a sign of our rejoicing in Christ who was born on Christmas Day. We do not rejoice because we believe Jesus came to bring Heaven down to earth. Rather, we rejoice because we rejoice because we know that Jesus, the Son of God, came to open a path from earth into Heaven. The joy of the Christian is the joy of a hope guaranteed by God Himself. This is true joy, the joy of hope, and Christ is its source.
This Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday, "Gaudete" being the Latin for "Rejoice!" The given entrance antiphon for this Sunday begins, in Latin, with "Gaudete in Domino semper" or "Rejoice in the Lord always.” Here's the English translation of this beautiful antiphon, a hymn to rejoicing: “Rejoice in the Lord always: I say again, rejoice: let your modesty be known unto all: The Lord is at hand. Let nothing upset you: but in all prayers make your needs known unto God. “ So let us rejoice! This is the instruction we are given at the beginning of Mass today. In these last weeks of Advent, we might become weary and distracted. That’s why the Church tells us to rejoice. Christ is coming! There’s no doubt that the gospel is demanding, but we have the great joy of God’s grace and our community of faith spurring us on toward true repentance and total joy!
Program and the students of OLM School celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Of course, Confession is a great way to prepare for the coming of Christ. Cleansing our souls of sin and receiving God’s powerful grace of forgiveness and mercy is perhaps the best Christmas gift you can give yourself.
certainty help you to truly rejoice in the season.
Christmas is here already! Or is it? If you look around you see the signs of Christmas everywhere. But by the time December 25 arrives, most people are "Christmased" out — too many parties, too much rich food and stretched budgets. We Catholics don't need to sit idly by while the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas in advance. Instead, we are called to celebrate two seasons: Advent and Christmas.
often. Some biblical scholars have described Isaiah as the “fifth gospel” as so many of the themes of the gospels have their scriptural beginnings in Isaiah. The writings of Isaiah are distinguished among the Old Testament writings for their extraordinary literary quality. Isaiah is a prophet of hope and new beginnings. In particular, he speaks of the birth of a new king who will be a “Wonderful Counselor” and “Prince of Peace.” Christians have seen in his words a foretelling of the birth of Jesus. He is a prophet of the compassion of God. Isaiah’s God is a God of mercy, comfort and consolation, much like the Father of whom Jesus spoke.
Isaiah was the first to speak of the God of the Jews is also the God of all people. God’s mercy was to reach beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem and Judah to extend to all peoples in every corner of the earth. Jesus, who brought the gospel to Jew and Gentile alike, exercised his ministry in the spirit of Isaiah. Isaiah is a prophet of peace and justice. Harmony among all peoples and compassion for the poor are the hallmarks of God’s presence. In these matters Jesus spoke out of a prophetic tradition that truly began with Isaiah.
Christmas shopping, card writing, cookie baking, and all the other assorted tasks that take our time and sap our energy this time of year, why not take a little time to read Isaiah and pray and reflect on the real reason of the season. Another Advent practice that the whole family can do is that of having an empty crib or manger, which each family member softens with straw earned by a sacrifice, a prayer or a work of mercy. After Christmas, the family gathers before the Infant Savior, in his now-padded crib, to pray with joy and perhaps read a verse from Isaiah.
holy day of obligation for all Catholics in the United States. On this feast the Church celebrates the solemn dogma defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854.
I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Does it seem to you, as it does to me, that Thanksgiving snuck up on us this year, taking us by surprise? And here we are now with leftover turkey and cranberry and it’s the First Sunday of Advent already! The change to the color purple and the addition of the Advent wreath and candles in Church and our homes remind us that we’ve entered a new season on the church calendar. A season for preparing to ready the way for Jesus to enter our hearts.
prepare a way for the Lord to enter. As Jeremiah reminds us: “the days are coming when the Lord will fulfill his promise to keep us safe and secure.” As St. Paul tell us, the Lord’s desire is “to strengthen our hearts in love, to help us lead lives pleasing to God.” Advent is a season to keep vigil for signs of Jesus’ coming, not so much in the sun, the moon and the stars, but in our hearts in the midst of all our troubles and joys. Advent is a season meant to prepare us to welcome with joy the Lord more fully into our hearts and lives. The so-called “holiday season” is all around us, the “commercial season” taps our bank accounts, and the “social season” of decorations, cookies, gifts and parties distracts us. None of these are particularly beneficial in helping us welcome Jesus into our hearts or our lives.
blessed to have a Church that is open all day long. So stop by before or after work or school and spend just a few minutes away from the noisy and hectic pace of the season around us to be with the Lord. What is helpful for us is to prepare ourselves by seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness in Confession. Take some time this season to prepare yourself for Christmas through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Come to Confession on a Monday night at 6pm or Saturday afternoon at 3pm. Receive Gods’ mercy and forgiveness this season. What’s helpful is not
buying, consuming and filling up on everything but rather emptying ourselves out to make room, for Jesus to come in to our hearts and make Himself at home there. That’s what the great feast we anticipate, Christmas is truly all about: Jesus coming to make His home among us and within us.
What’s helpful is doing whatever we can to avoid extravagance and over-indulgence in giving to those who already have so much and perhaps even too much, but rather doing whatever we can to reach out to those who have so little and need so much. Will we welcome in the season of Advent? Will we prepare to welcome the presence of Jesus within us? Will we try to spend at least part of the next four weeks focusing not so much on things whose shelf-life is so short but on those realities that can and do last forever?
found in His Gospel, in His passion, death and resurrection, and in the Eucharist that we celebrate. As we enter into this time of joyful anticipation and prayerful preparation may it change our hearts to welcome Christ who comes to bring us healing, forgiveness, hope, peace, joy and love!
We celebrate this Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King. It was added to the Church Calendar by Pope Pius XI in 1925. He created this feast as a reaction against the prevailing attitudes of his day as a way to refute the growing threats of communism and secularism. These ideologies sought to make man, not God, the most powerful force in the world. Within a few years, of course, the world would have to also face totalitarianism and the rise of Nazism.
Advent and a new Church Year. As we ponder this week how Christ rules our lives, Advent gives us an opportunity to pray, reflect and prepare ourselves. The Church teaches that: “Advent has a two-fold character, for it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered and likewise a time when, by remembrance of this, minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.” 
Pope Francis in his homily for the Jubilee of Mercy Mass last Sunday reminds us with his timely wisdom: “Let us open our eyes to our neighbor, especially to our brothers and sisters who are forgotten and excluded, to the “Lazarus” at our door. That is where the Church’s magnifying glass is pointed. May the Lord free us from turning it towards ourselves. May he turn us away from the trappings that distract us, from interests and privileges, from attachment to power and glory, from being seduced by the spirit of the world.” 
Holiday of Thanksgiving. President Lincoln established that the final Thursday of each November should be observed nationally as a “day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” He was mindful of the fact that, even in the midst of the tragedy and bloodshed of the Civil War, God had still been generous in bestowing His blessings upon this country. In his proclamation, after recounting several of those blessings he wrote that: “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God.”
Many in our nation are deeply upset with the results of elections. Protests and riots across the nation are a cause for concern for all. Unity and peace not rancor and division should be what all people work for in our country. President Lincoln saw the nation spilt in two culturally and politically and witnessed the resulting Civil War. Yet he knew there was much about America to be proud of and also many things for which to give thanks to God. May we do so on Thanksgiving Day and truly give thanks to God for all the freedom, beauty and bounty we enjoy in the USA.