Make the Lenten Mission, A Means of Renewal and Conversion

Dear Parishioners:                                

A few folks recently asked if Church was being left cold over the last week as a form of Lenten discipline.   No its not.  The boiler in Church broke down and we’ve had to wait for the part to arrive to fix it.  Luckily while it was a little chilly in Church, the weather outside has been fairly mild.                                        

The heat should be up and running now during the unpredictable weather of March. The boiler is five years old and this is the first problem we’ve had with it.  The cost to fix it was over $4,000.  I thank you for your generous support to the monthly Building and Grounds Collection which helps defray these unexpected expenses.

You may have noticed a crucifix hanging in the hallway by the sacristy.  This crucifix hung for many years at the now closed St. Casimir Church in Providence. We were able to get it without cost and place it here at OLM.  It is a beautiful image to behold as you enter that area of Church.

We also were able to get an even larger crucifix from St. Casimir Church.  It is very large and beautiful but in need of some small repairs.  This too was obtained without cost to the parish.  We plan on hanging it in the OLM School Auditorium in the coming months.

The crucifix is always given a prominent placement in any Catholic Church and Catholic home.  But it isn’t merely an object of devotion or a piece of beautiful art.  The cross is call to us  to a conversion to Christ.  Such conversion, we are taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is done:
“ in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of  penance.”

We are called to conversion in our daily lives.  Conversion is a major theme in the Bible. The Old Testament prophets, St. John the Baptist, and St. Peter preached about the call to conversion. Jesus began his public ministry with the words, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

The Lord’s first words were a call to conversion. For Jesus, we are all in need of repentance.  We all need to recognize our failings and need to place our trust in God’s merciful love. Lent helps to do so.

This week  we welcome our Parish Lenten Mission Preacher, Monsignor Doug Cook, who  is preaching all the Masses this weekend. He is preaching  a Mission Talk each night on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 7:00pm.  Also each of those nights Confessions with four priest   available begins at 6:00pm.
 

The theme of our Lenten Mission is  “A Lent to Remember, An Easter to Celebrate.”  This Mission is our opportunity as individuals and as parish to deepen our faith, take up the call to conversion and renew our commitment to Christ and His Church.  The renewal from such a time of  time of prayer and reflection should invigorate us. 

So come out for the Mission.  It is a time of grace, a time for repentance, for change, and for becoming a renewed disciple. Confession is an essential part of any good  Lenten Mission. So seize the chance to go to Confession this week and receive God’s mercy. St. Alphonsus Ligouri used to say that the sign of a successful Mission was  how many people came to Confession! I pray you keep the four priests busy in the Confessional this week!

I have been friends with Msgr. Cook since we studied together in the seminary at the American College in Belgium. He is an exemplary priest and an excellent preacher.  He made the long journey to lead us on the Mission at OLM from sunny Southern California! We thank  him for his presence and preaching in our parish.

Let’s make this a Lent to remember at Our Lady of Mercy, so we can truly celebrate Easter with renewed faith and great joy!! Come to the Mission this week! Go to Confession this week! Invite a friend and bring along a neighbor with you!! Do good. Be well. Repent and believe in the Gospel! See you at the Mission!

Praying for Our New Catholics to Be and Preparing for the Lenten Mission

Dear Parishioners:                          

The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) is the program of catechetical instruction for those adults needing the Sacraments of Baptism, Communion and Confirmation.   Here at OLM we are truly blessed to have a great team led by Fr. Barrow who meet every Sunday to teach and learn about the Catholic Faith.

Fr. Barrow, OLM RCIA Team with the new elect, Sue Healey and Al Behbehani  at the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

The candidates are non-Catholics who need full initiation into the Church, including Baptism, those non-Catholics needing to be fully received into the Church, and some baptized Catholics who need Communion, and Confirmation. Last Sunday afternoon two of our candidates received the Rite of Election at the Cathedral.

Bishop Tobin presided at the ceremony which had a large group of people from across the Diocese who are to enter into the Church at the Easter Vigil. At this rite, upon the testimony of sponsors, and catechists, and the catechumens' affirmation of their intention to join the Church, the Church makes its "election" of these catechumens to receive the Sacraments of Initiation.                      

Bishop Tobin greets Al Behbehani. 

In the presence of the bishop they inscribe their names in the Book of the Elect at the cathedral as a pledge of fidelity. Now the catechumens are called "the elect' or the   illuminandi" ("those who will be enlightened"). They now begin a Period of Purification and Enlightenment — the final, intense preparation for the  reception of the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter.

With great joy we offer our congratulations to two of our candidates who are now called “the elect.”  Our “elect” from OLM are Sue Healey, she is to be received into the Catholic Church, and Al Behbehani who is to be baptized and fully     initiated into the Catholic Faith.  These last weeks of Lent are a particularly intense period of prayer and preparation for these catechumens as they ready themselves for the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil Mass. 

I ask you to please keep them in your prayers, that they continue to grow in the faith and in the love and knowledge of God. We rejoice for the so many across the Diocese who have chosen to join us in living our Catholic Faith, and being active members of our Church.  RCIA was traditionally called “Convert Class” until the renewal of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.    But conversion isn’t only a term that applies to someone joining another faith tradition or church.  Conversion is about a change of mind, and heart, that affects all the baptized. We are all called to a conversion to Christ in our daily lives.                

The source of this daily conversion is our encounter with Jesus Christ in prayer, in good works, and in the Sacraments. We find this especially in our experience of his forgiveness, love, and mercy. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three traditional pillars of Lent. They are the embodiment of this conversion during this holy season.              Lent calls us to renew our dependency on God and others through intense prayer, the experiencing of hunger and serving the needs of the poor. Conversion is truly living the incarnate love of God manifested at Holy Week, the final destination of our Lenten fast of forty days.   

Next week we begin our Annual Parish Lenten Mission at OLM. We welcome Monsignor Doug Cook from Newport Beach, California.  He and I studied together for the priesthood at the American   College in Belgium and he is an old friend!                                              

Monsignor Doug Cook

The theme of his mission is “A Lent to Remember, An Easter to Celebrate.” He will be preaching at all Masses next weekend and then will lead us each night of the Mission.  A complete schedule is in the    bulletin.  This Mission is our time to depart from our regular routine and set aside an intense time of prayer and reflection.  We needn’t go to a Monastery or Retreat House, but we gather right here at OLM!  It is great way to renew our faith and live our call to conversion to Christ.  So please mark your calendar and be sure to make the Mission!

I am grateful for your support of the Catholic Charity Appeal this weekend. This crucial collection funds the many good works of our Church in RI, and your support is vital. In the name of the poor, I offer my sincere thanks for your generous response.        

It’s Lent! Don’t forget  Fridays are for fish and Stations of the Cross! Do good. Be well. Pray, fast and give!

Lent is Here! What Are You Doing About it?

Dear Parishioners:                                

Lent is here! Our forty days of repentance of sin and conversion to Christ!  Ash Wednesday has come and gone and along with it the ashes on our foreheads.  But the call to commit to more prayer, more penance, more sacrifice and more charity remains!   

The three traditional Lenten disciplines are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. St. Peter Chrysologus taught that “prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives.”  How can we take that wisdom to heart for Lent?  How can we let those disciplines rule our lives offer our own passions and selfish desires?

Begin with prayer. Jesus  taught us to pray always. (Luke 18:1)  To pray is to enter consciously and deliberately into the presence of God. Jesus was faithful unto death because He knew that He was always in the presence of our Heavenly Father, even when He did not feel that presence.

We too are all always in the presence of our Heavenly Father who loves us perfectly. To “pray always” means to “practice the presence of God.” During this Lenten season, find the time to be with God in prayer.  Stop by Church and spend time with the Lord.  Pray the Rosary with more frequency.  Pray the Stations of the Cross on Fridays. Come to Daily Mass. God is present to us always, so why not acknowledge it with more prayer time.

Our Lenten fasting is more than just self-inflicted hunger, and it  certainly isn’t dieting. Fasting is a discipline that allows us to discover our true needs and our present priorities. It allows us to discover whether our supposed desire for God is greater or less than our obvious desires for everything that is not God.

This Lent, choose to fast from those things, including those very good things, thateasily become idols in our lives.  Let’s see if our desire for fullness, pleasure and love can be met by God. Until we give God every opportunity to be the first in our lives, we continue to fall into some form of idolatry.  We’ll continue to approach material things and even people in a grasping way, rather than approaching them with generous and open hands and hearts.

In Catholic tradition, alms giving were the acts of charity or donations given above one’s tithe or duty.  This year, let the Lenten discipline of alms giving become the practice of a lifetime.  Make a choice to spend more time, money and energy supporting the needs of the poor and less fortunate.  Give alms by supporting charity out of sacrifice not simply  by giving from a surplus. 

Next weekend we  put our alms giving to the test as we take up the Catholic Charity Appeal at OLM.  It is our annual call to prayerfully and financially support the good works of our local Church in the Diocese of Providence.  These good works include welcoming refugees and immigrants, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless,aiding the sick and visiting the prisoner, and teaching the beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith  to our young people and sharing the Good News of Christ with the ignorant.

The Catholic Charity Appeal supports the many ministries and programs of the Diocese of Providence which provide social, educational and spiritual support to thousands of Rhode Islanders each year regardless of race, creed or background. We do not help people because they are Catholic, we do it because we are Catholic!

We take up the Catholic Charity Appeal at all Masses next weekend.  Our 2018 OLM Parish Goal is $193,000 and I am hopeful that we can once again not only make the goal but exceed it! I thank Kevin and Nancy McDevitt for serving as the General Chairs of the CCA here at OLM and also Steve and Antonia Zubiago who serve as the Chairs to the Bishop’s Partners in Charity at OLM. I am grateful for their leadership of the Charity Appeal in our parish.

Please be prepared as we take up the in-pew solicitation of the CCA at all Masses next weekend. We are asking every parish family to prayerfully consider pledging a sacrificial gift of $300 over 12 months.  I am grateful for any support you choose to give and in the name of the poor and needy who directly benefit from your generosity, I offer my sincere thanks and gratitude.

It’s Lent so remember that  Fridays are for fish and Stations! Do good. Be well. Pray, fast and give alms!

Lent is Coming! Are You Ready to Pray, Fast and Give Alms???

Dear Parishioners:                                

It was a long night last Sunday as I watched the Superbowl with some priest friends. It wasn’t the ending we were hoping for but it was a game to watch.  I offer my congratulations to the Eagles and their fans on their first Superbowl victory.     

Football season is now over and MLB Spring Training  begins soon.  But we have a much more important season ahead of us.  The Holy Season of Lent begins this Wednesday, February 14th!  There has been much discussion about Ash Wednesday as this year  it falls on Valentine’s Day!

The observance of Ash Wednesday requires prayer, fasting  and abstinence from meat. Valentine's Day, on the other hand, is a day for celebrating romantic love, often by dining out on fancy meals and giving  chocolate and expensive gifts to a beloved. It's the first time since 1945 that Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day have fallen on the same date.

As Catholics our observance of Ash Wednesday should take precedence over any Valentine’s Day celebration. There are  Catholic roots to Valentine’s Day as it is associated with a Catholic saint and martyr. However,  the holiday  as celebrated today is a commercial enterprise complete with greeting cards, expensive meals, candy, flowers and  people spending millions of dollars.

Ash Wednesday begins our forty days of prayer, fasting and alms giving. Ashes are smeared on our foreheads with the words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The act of putting on ashes on foreheads symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need for repentance. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent.

Ash Wednesday is but the opening pitch for forty days of “spiritual spring training,” Lent.  The goal is Easter.  The hope is that, if we unite ourselves more closely with Jesus on His cross through more fervent prayer, greater charity to others, and sincere penance for our sins through His mercy we’ll be united with Him in His Resurrection.

There is a complete schedule in the bulletin for Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent at OLM.  There are four Masses on Ash Wednesday and they usually see great crowds.  Also I ask you to please take up works of charity by supporting the Rice Bowl Collection and the Catholic Charity Appeal.

Rice Bowls are available to take home and place your  sacrificial offerings in throughout Lent.  This important collection for the work of Catholic Relief Services aids the hungry of the world is  taken up on Palm Sunday.  The Annual Catholic Charity Appeal which supports the good works of our Diocese is to be taken up on the weekend of February 25th.

Lent is also a time of penance and conversion from sin. Confessions are heard daily Monday through Friday during Lent at OLM.  Also an extra guest confessor joins us every Monday night during Lent. On March 24th there are All-Day Confessions at OLM. This Lent make sure to get to Confession!

A penance should be taken up during Lent that might include fasting from some pleasure or comfort in our lives.  Giving up something in a sacrificial not superficial way always helps us gain a deeper understanding of Christ’s loving sacrifice for us on the Cross.  Also consider taking up some extra daily prayer and committing to a Lenten devotion.  With two Daily Masses during Lent we are truly blessed with opportunity to be nourished by the Eucharist.  Also the Stations of the Cross  are celebrated every Friday and are a great Lenten Devotion. Plan on making the Lenten Mission in March with Monsignor Douglas Cook.

Pope Francis teaches us: “Lent is the favorable season for renewing our encounter with Christ, living in His Word, in the sacraments and in our neighbor. The Lord, who overcame the deceptions of the Tempter during the forty days in the desert, shows us the path we must take.”

So take up your Lenten path  with zeal and commitment  on Ash Wednesday.  Please consider moving your Valentine’s Day to Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and keep the Lenten Fast on Ash Wednesday! Pray, fast and give alms! Take up your cross and live your Catholic Faith! Do good. Be well. A Blessed Lent!

Blessing Throats in the Flu Season

Dear Parishioners:                                

I hope you enjoyed Catholic Schools Week at OLM.  Our terrific students did a marvelous job speaking at Masses last weekend about why they love OLM School.  Their brief words speak volumes about the quality of  our parish school students. We thank them for their witness to Catholic Education.

I would also like to thank and commend Mr. Scott Fuller, the OLM School Principal, for the tremendous job he does leading our school and ensuring a great education and a truly Catholic environment for our budding saints and scholars.  Our outstanding teachers deserve our gratitude for their hard work, dedication and commitment to making OLM truly a great school.  And we also thank our OLM School Parents for the sacrifice they make in choosing Catholic Schools.

The OLM School Open House saw quite a few visitors and prospective students stop by last Sunday.  The many and varied opportunities to develop the minds and souls of our young saints and scholars were on display for all to enjoy.  From Robotics to the Friends of Mercy, the quality of our curriculum of academics, arts, athletics, charitable good works and living Catholic faith was seen by many.

On this weekend the Church gives a "Blessing of the Throats" in honor of St. Blaise. It couldn’t come at a better time with the onslaught of the flu across the area and entire country. It has been a very tough flu season even deadly in some cases. We received the
following memorandum from the Diocese of Providence:

“Each year at this time concerns are raised regarding the potential spread of influenza throughout various communities. The most recent weekly report from the State Department of Public Health categorizes the statewide estimate of influenza activity as ‘widespread’. In addition, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this year's flu vaccine is less effective in the prevention of influenza A(H3N2) than in prior years. As pastors committed to promoting and protecting the well-being of our parishioners, we need to be as cautious and prudent as possible in responding to any possible threat, especially for children and the elderly. Parishioners who have symptoms of illness should be very careful to avoid any physical contact that could transmit the virus with others. Likewise, parishioners should be reminded that if they have symptoms of serious illness they are dispensed from attending Holy Mass on Sundays and in fact should not attend Holy Mass. This is an obligation in charity that parishioners should take very seriously.  Finally, but certainly not least in importance, we approach this situation as we approach everything in life, from the perspective of our faith and in prayer. Please ask the Lord's protection upon our community during this time of widespread illness.”

Common sense should be our guide during this time of flu. Don’t offer the Sign of Peace with your hands if you have the sniffles.  The Sign of Peace can be offered verbally without a handshake or with a nod of the head. Don’t take offense if someone doesn’t put their hand out to shake.  And above all pray for  the sick.

We turn to St. Blasé this weekend as he is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is invoked for all throat afflictions and sickness. On his feast two candles are used with a prayer that God  free from all such
afflictions those who receive this blessing. St. Blaise enjoyed widespread veneration in the Eastern and Western Churches due to many cures attributed to him. According to tradition, he was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia and was martyred. From the eighth century he has been invoked on behalf of the sick, especially those afflicted with illnesses of the throat.  May he intercede for us!

Well, today is, of course, Superbowl Sunday!  Yes, once again Tom Terrific is leading our Patriots at the big game Sunday night! With kickoff at 6:30pm we’ve decided to cancel the RE Classes on Sunday evening so the students don’t miss the game.  Hopefully all of New England is smiling on Monday morning and basking in yet another victory for the Pats!   I know there are a few Eagles’ Fans in the pews, don’t worry I’ll pray for you!! 

Do good. Be well. God Bless! Go Pats, Go!!!

Celebrating Catholic Schools Week at OLM

Dear Parishioners:                                

It is Catholic Schools Week across the country and here at OLM.  Now we don’t often speak  about love in education. Not even  when we speak about Catholic Schools. Instead, we focus on more tangible measures of success: how 99 percent of Catholic school students get their high-school diplomas; how a black or Latino child is 2.5 times more likely to graduate from college if he or she has attended a Catholic high school; how Catholic schools manage to do all this at a fraction of the cost of public schools.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an alumna of Blessed Sacrament School in The Bronx, calls Catholic schools a “pipeline to opportunity” for people like her. That’s true. And it’s true largely because Catholic school students are not just taught, but loved.

Yes we are always proud when our OLM students succeed academically.  We like it when our OLM alumni excel at area high schools and beyond. Academic success is important too. In the popular view, our Catholic schools succeed because they have greater discipline, higher standards and more committed teachers.

However, it helps to remember that the Latin root for the verb “to discipline” is not “to punish” but “to teach.” It’s a lesson that begins with recognizing the equal and God-given dignity of every human being as a child of God.  In short, the Gospel that commands us to love one another obliges us to treat each person we encounter as we would Christ.  We know that’s not always an easy thing to ask of any school, even a Catholic school. Though many people might argue that Catholic education, is about many things but not love.  I firmly believe that the center of all Catholic Education is love. 

The  former New York Jet, Damien Woody,  sent his children to St. Vincent Catholic School even though his family wasn’t Catholic. At a Christmas Pageant, another school parent asked him why. He answered, “My wife and I believe that a school where they love God will love my children.”

Such love is the hallmark of every Catholic School.  That love exists here at OLM School every day.  It is a deep love of God and of our neighbor. This Christian love is vastly different than simple humanitarianism.  Such love is lived out in response to the call of Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. It is the sacrificial love offered by parents who work hard to afford tuition, a sacrificial love of a faculty who dedicate themselves  to teaching their students without high salaries, and the pure and innocent love of  the young minds encountering Christ in one another, in the classroom and in the Sacraments.

Our Lady of Mercy School Mission  Statement reads: “Our Mission at Our Lady of Mercy School is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church as we pursue excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. In the midst of a safe and nurturing environment we seek to develop a good moral character built upon the teachings of the Catholic Church.  We strive to be Saints and Scholars who serve the evangelical mission of our parish so that Mercy may
flourish “

The measure of success at OLM School is not to be solely found in  its great academic achievements, athletic victories, or artistic accomplishments. As  Pope John Paul II wrote in his first encyclical letter, the Redeemer of Man: "Man cannot live without love and his life is senseless if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”

After all any student at any school can expertly learn to add and to subtract, to read and to write, to run and throw or to paint and act.  No, Catholic Schools are not about being “socially useful” or  are they simply about good “values.”  Catholic education is about making saints and growing the seeds of virtue and truth and flourishing Christian mercy and love.  Anything less cheats our children of their dignity.

If Catholic schools are really to be about love, then this love must be sustained,supported and nourished by us.  So celebrate Catholic Schools this week! Visit OLM School this Sunday during the Open House. Do good. Be well. God Bless! Go Pats!!! We’re off to the Superbowl!!