Dear Parishioners:
What a grand celebration of Christmas was had at Our Lady of Mercy! Crowds of people coming to worship and praise God for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Beautiful singing and music in the spirit of the season. Reverent and solemn celebrations befitting the King of Kings! Christmas at Our Lady of Mercy was truly terrific. Of course, none of this is possible without the hard work of lots of good people. The OLM Parish Staff and our many wonderful volunteers put lots of time and talent into getting ready for the Birth of our Savior!
We thank God for all His blessings upon this parish throughout the past year! We also thank all those who made Christmas so special at OLM. Celia Franzone and her dedicated band of decorators who ensure our Church is always so beautifully decorated with trees, flowers and a truly beautiful nativity. Paul Anderson and our hard working OLM Maintenance Staff who do all the heavy lifting, the moving of trees, and ensure the cleanliness of our Church.
We also thank our great musicians and choirs for giving us the great gift of music this Christmas. Our OLM Organist and Music Director,
Henri St. Louis and the OLM Choir provided beautiful music at Masses. Our OLM Soloist, Deirdre Donovan sang beautifully the great hymns of Christmas! The Children's Choir sounded truly terrific at the 4:00pm Vigil Mass. Their angelic voices add such grace to the Mass! If you couldn’t attend the Midnight Mass then you missed the Choir accompanied by our majestic organ, brass, timpani, and strings! The Concert of Christmas Music prior to Midnight Mass was spectacular. We are so blessed to have such talented and gifted musicians at OLM. If you’ve never been to Midnight Mass, make the effort next year as it is truly an outstanding celebration of Christmas.
We must thank our hard working OLM Sacristans who ensure all the Mass linens, sacred vessels and vestments are cleaned, polished and ready to go for Christmas! We thank also our great Altar Servers for serving God at Holy Mass with dignity, grace and reverence. We give thanks for the Lectors who proclaimed God’s Word so profoundly and the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion who ensure that the Body of Christ is distributed with reverence. We are grateful for our many Ushers who offer a warm welcome to visitors and see to the good order of Mass. Yes, God is good and we rightly give Him thanks and praise. We thank Him for the blessings of Our Lady of Mercy Parish. We thank Him for the beautiful celebration of Christmas. We thank Him for the gift of His Son born on Christmas Day!
The Christmas Season continues so don’t take the tree down just yet or put away the lights now! We have another week to celebrate the light and the joy of the Christ Child as the great feast of the Epiphany comes next Sunday and draws the season to a close. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of 
God. We begin the New Year dedicating our lives and our parish to the protection and guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a great start to the New Year as we give praise to the Mother of God and seek her maternal intercession.
In this New Year of 2017 the world marks the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has proclaimed that the Diocese of Providence is to commemorate this historic anniversary to a special Year dedicated to Mary our Mother. In declaring the Year of Mary, Bishop Tobin stated: “Mary is part of our family and our spiritual family. So we honor her, we love her, we keep mementos of her around us and we turn to her for help whenever we need it. So our devotion to Mary is really a family celebration in our Catholic family .”
On behalf of Fr. Barrow, Deacon Dowd and myself, we offer our deep thanks and gratitude to the many kind parishioners who were so thoughtful in remembering us at Christmas with generous gifts, warm greetings and delicious goodies at Christmas! Their generous recognition of our ministry at OLM is appreciated
A Happy New Year to you all! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!!! 2017 is here!!
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!
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.
Christmas Eve, people came from miles around for Midnight Mass, all of them willingly climbing the steep and rocky hillside in the bitter cold.
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.
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.
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.
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!