No Pause in Living Our Faith

Dear Parishioners:  

Grocery stores are now limited to number of people who may enter at one time.

We have begun to live in what the Governor calls a "Pause" for the next two weeks. Many businesses are closed or have had limits and restrictions placed upon them. Thankfully Churches are open, and our parish school continues on with in-school classes.                                      

Field hospitals in RI are now open due to increase of COVID 19 infections.

The rate of COVID cases is rising, as are hospitalizations. The "Pause" is to stem the rising rate of infection and curtail the need for hospitalizations. The state has opened two field hospitals to help ease the stress on our hospitals. The week before Thanksgiving, I spent three days in Kent Hospital with bacterial pneumonia. Thankfully I twice tested negative for COVID-19! I can attest that the hospitals are full. I spent my entire time on a gurney in the Emergency Room as no rooms or beds were available. There were over 40 patients in the Emergency Room, waiting for rooms, and none were available.

It was terrific to return home to my own bed and be back at OLM! I am on the mend and feeling much better. My doctor tells me it will take several weeks to recover fully. I am genuinely grateful to Fr. Barrow, who has provided invaluable assistance during my illness. 

It's hard to believe we are already preparing for Christmas, but prior planning is essential in these uncertain times. In this week's bulletin, we have published the Christmas Mass Schedule. It will be slightly different than past years and includes an extra Vigil Mass. Usually, the 4:00 PM Christmas Eve Vigil Mass garners the biggest crowd, and the church is full.

With the uncertainty of these times, it is hard to know how to plan for Christmas Masses properly. After discussion and reflection and with the Bishop's permission, we are scheduling two Vigil Masses on Christmas Eve. One is at 3:00 PM (allowed only for this year due to COVID), and the second at 5:00 PM.

Also, we will celebrate the Christmas Night Mass at Midnight, and it will be live-streamed. So those who cannot stay up will be able to view it on Christmas morning.   On Christmas Day, Masses will be at 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, and 10:30 AM. Not knowing how many will show up for Mass, this schedule affords us some flexibility.  You too might be more flexible in choosing what Mass you attend on Christmas as we are limited to 125 people per Mass.

In your own planning for Christmas Mass, understand that seating is limited to first-come, first seated.   Please ensure you arrive 15 minutes before Mass, wear a face mask, wash your hands and keep a social distance. With your patient cooperation, Christmas should be just as faith-filled and joyous as it always is.  

  Of course, planning and preparing for Christmas means that we should also cleanse our souls of sin. We continue to have Confessions on Saturdays at 3:00 PM and Mondays at 6:00 PM. Our OLM School students continue to come to Advent Confessions on Monday afternoons, and our RE Students will be coming on Monday, December 7th at 6:00 PM.

On the Monday before Christmas, December 21st, we have scheduled two hours of Confessions from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. There will be three priests available to hear Confessions for each hour. It is an excellent opportunity to give yourself the best Christmas gift possible, God's forgiveness of sins and the grace of the Sacrament!

This Tuesday, December 8th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Under this title, Our Lady serves as the patroness of the United States of America.

Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854 declared Our Lady immaculately conceived stating that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."

We celebrate this great feast with a Vigil Mass on Monday at 5:00 PM and Masses on the Holyday at 7:30 AM and 7:00 PM. There is a 9:00 AM Holyday Mass for  OLM School, but only the students may attend. The 9:00 AM Mass will be live-streamed for those who cannot participate in Mass.

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good. God Bless. May the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for our nation and us! 

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Dear Parishioners:  

Sunday, we begin the holy season of Advent, a time to pause and consider the importance of this time of preparation and watchful waiting.   The Advent Season is often overshadowed by the "holiday season" as we move too quickly into celebrating Christmas. By the time that the actual solemnity of Christmas arrives, many of us are exhausted. We are already tired of all the "Christmas hype." Christmas has become anticlimactic.

The word Advent comes from the Latin for "coming" or "arrival." The Church teaches: "The season of Advent has a twofold character: It is a time of preparation for Christmas when the first coming of God's Son ... is recalled. It is also a season when minds are directed by this memorial to Christ's second coming at the end of time. It is thus a season of joyful and spiritual expectation." Advent is a season of joyful hope, a time of preparation and waiting as we prepare for Christ. This season is not just about preparing for the birth of Christ at Christmas. But also the Christ continually being born in our midst who transforms the Church.

In these dark days of the pandemic, the Church calls us to gather and quietly wait in hope for the coming of Christ, Her bridegroom, the Light of the World. Is our hope really in Christ? Do we allow ourselves to wait in silence and ponder the great mystery of salvation? In the darkness, we watch for the coming Lord. We must not let our fears, doubts, or our busyness distract us from this watchful waiting. The season calls us to be attentive to our preparations for the final day and attentive to the quality of our life in union with Christ.

Light of the World, C. Bosseron Chambers (circa 1920)

During these four weeks, we prepare for the Light, which comes into the world, both in Christ's birth and as we await his final return in glory. I know it is an enormous challenge to remain faithful to the Advent season when we are surrounded by a society which, while claiming to be Christian, does not take the time to reflect and prepare as the Church calls us to do.

The season of Advent refocuses us and reminds us that Christ has changed the world. Darkness has descended, and the world itself is quiet. We know that Christ reigns over all of creation. We strain in the darkness to see the Light of Christ, our coming King. May our observance of this season renew us and be an example of prayer, patience, silence, and joy in our hurried and anxious society. May it help us to see the Light of Christ amidst the darkness of the world. 

  To be sure, Advent 2020 is likely to be very different amid the pandemic's social restrictions and isolation from family and community. Indeed, we need Christ to come into the world all the more. However, perhaps these restrictions afford us a real opportunity to enter into the spirit of the Advent season more fully. The secular distractions of parties and shopping are restricted, and so we have a unique opportunity to prayerfully and authentically prepare for Christ's coming.

Let's limit the secular celebration of Christmas and take up Advent's call to joyfully, and patiently, anticipate the real Christmas. Let's strive all the more to make Advent memorable. Not only because we are in a pandemic but instead because we strive to make more time for God. Let's not keep God socially distant. Instead, let us take more time in our lives for prayer, Mass, and Confession. Let's make it memorable with more good deeds and acts of charity for the poor and the needy, the sick and suffering. As we reduce the parties and shopping, let us joyfully increase faith, hope, and joy in our world, our families, and our parish.

We sing the ancient Advent chant, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," to remind us that Christ is coming. May our Advent prayer and devotion spur us to an awakening in our faith life and put us in a 'vigilant' disposition to wait for Our Lord Jesus who is coming.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI states: "Awaken! Remember that God comes! Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today, now! The one true God, 'the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob', is not a God who is there in Heaven, unconcerned with us and our history, but he is the-God-who-comes."

Be Well. Do Good. Stay Safe! Have a Blessed Advent! God Bless. 

Christ is King! Give Thanks!

Dear Parishioners: 
This Sunday is the last Sunday of the liturgical year and the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King. Pope Pius XI instituted this feast in 1925 with his encyclical Quas Primas ("In the first") to respond to growing nationalism and secularism. Pope Pius recognized that these related societal ills would breed increasing hostility against the Church. His encyclical reminds the faithful that while regimes and philosophies come and go. Christ reigns as King forever.

Secularism divides our public selves from our private selves. When governments limit the rights to freely minister according to our faith and restrict our religious liberty, secularists claim that religious freedom is unharmed because we still have freedom of worship. However, while we are free in private, we are restricted in the public square.     Yet the Kingdom of God calls us to a whole life of worship and service in the public square. We cannot worship on Sunday and then deny Christ, and His teaching, as we provide ministry throughout the week.

Nationalism, on the other hand, divides our loyalties. It is good to love one's country, but ultimate loyalty is due only to Christ and His Kingdom. Ideologies that ask us to put our nation above Christ and his Church are incompatible with service to the kingdom.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, we must work every day to draw closer to Jesus. In our increasingly "post-Christian" society, we cannot be complacent in our spiritual lives and acknowledge Christ's Kingship only in Church. To recognize the Kingship of Christ means that we should dedicate ourselves to prayer and worship, building up our families and our parish, proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, and bring healing to a broken world.  Jesus inaugurates a Kingdom that grows through humble acts of service. Even as the Church's freedom to carry out Her ministries with authenticity are under threat, the Church must patiently continue to serve the poor, educate the young, care for the elderly, welcome the migrant, visit the prisoner, heal the sick, bury the dead, and love others.

In Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI states: "Once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood.”

As I write this column, it's looking more like Thanksgiving Day celebrations might be small and very muted this year. The COVID-19 infections continue to rise, as do hospitalizations across the country. The Governor is likely to issue directives that people stay home on Thanksgiving Day.

Some may ask, what do you have to give thanks for in 2020? We are suffering through a pandemic, witnessing social unrest and violence, and bitterness and political divisions, along with lockdowns and isolation, further eroding community bonds and national unity. Who can give thanks?

President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. At that time, our nation was bitterly divided, and in a Civil War, where thousands of Americans were dying. African-Americans remained shamefully enslaved in the southern states. It would be another two years before the war's end and the restoration of peace and freedom. Even with the nation divided and at war, Lincoln understood that the country should give thanks to God for the blessings and bounty it enjoyed despite the state of the union. He declared it a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father." As President, he urged all Americans to "fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and Union." 

Bishop Evans is to celebrate our Thanksgiving Day Mass at 9:00 AM on Thursday. Join us as we give thanks to God and pray for peace and harmony, tranquility, and unity in our nation. Happy Thanksgiving! Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good. God Bless. God Bless America

Preparing in Time of Pandemic

Dear Parishioners:   

The Second Coming by Gustave Dore

I trust you survived the minor earthquake last Sunday morning! It occurred just as Fr. Barrow finished proclaiming the Gospel at the 9:00 AM Mass. The final line of Matthew's Gospel last Sunday was: "Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

In 2020, a year of pandemic and social unrest, many suggest it's a sign of the end of times. But I don't believe it is, I think it’s just a coincidence. Perhaps a timely reminder for us to zealously heed the Lord's call to stay awake morally and spiritually. We must prudently keep our lamps full of faith, hope, and charity, especially in a time when they are needed all the more.

In the early 1900s, The Times of London newspaper posed this question to several prominent thinkers and authors: "What's wrong with the world today?". The well-known Catholic author and apologist, G.K. Chesterton, responded with just one sentence: "Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton."

His witty reply is startling and unexpected, but certainly illustrates the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus Christ. Chesterton took to heart the words of Saint Paul to Timothy: "This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these, I am the foremost."

“The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.” -St. Augustine

  Chesterton was allowed to point the finger of blame at anyone he could conceive of, to address any issue he felt was pressing on his society, and to speak to the sin that plagued his culture. He chose to humbly and directly address the plank in his eye.    Perhaps Mr. Chesterton's wise words might lead each of us to examine our conscience and admit our sins and weaknesses. And where we've been sinful and weak, seek to change and convert our lives more fully to Christ.

We can then confess our sins on Monday night at Confessions at 6:00 PM. Once again, two Dominican Friars join us at OLM for Monday Night Confessions. What an excellent opportunity to seek the Lord's generous mercy and forgiveness and renew our commitment to Christ.  Once we do this we begin to set our world on the right path. 

Sanitize your hands. Wear your mask. Keep social distance. Worship God!

I wish to express my deep gratitude for your continued cooperation with the COVID-19 guidelines for worship. Regularly washing and sanitizing hands, wearing face masks properly, and keeping social distance in Church work in our Catholic parishes. However, I do kindly urge continued vigilance in not forming small social gatherings outside of Church after Mass. 

 With your cooperation, and relying upon God's grace, and the assistance of our parish patroness, Our Lady of Mercy, we hope and pray the pandemic along with its restrictions might end soon. In the meantime, let's keep the faith and follow guidelines as we worship our Lord and Savior at Mass.

Last week the New England Boiler Works Company installed new boilers in both the Franciscan Convent and Mercy Convent. They were chosen after a bidding process and completed the project in one day for a cost of $16,400. This project resulted from your generous support of the Grateful for God's Providence Capital Campaign.

In the name of Sister Emma, Sister Lourdes, and Sister Jeanne, I offer my sincere thanks for your generosity. Without our capital campaign, this project and many others during this time of pandemic would not be possible. I know the good Sisters are pleased to have more efficient heating as the cold winter days approach. Thank you again for your financial support.

The Art of Thanksgiving by Norman Rockwell. 1942

Like many families, my own family is discussing how we might celebrate Thanksgiving now that there are new limits on the size of gatherings. Also traveling out of state poses a problem. These restrictions are impacting how and where families celebrate Thanksgiving.

Therefore, it is likely to be a different holiday celebration in 2020, but remember that no matter how or where our family celebrates Thanksgiving Day, we must give thanks to God for our blessings and express our gratitude for the bounty we enjoy! St. Theresa of Avila reminds us: “In all created things discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks.”

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.

y

Where Do We Go From Here?

Dear Parishioners:     

             As I write this column, Election Day 2020 is upon us. And like everything else about 2020, it is very different from past election days where the campaign season ended with citizens exercising their sacred duty at the ballot box. No matter the results, we entrust all to the Lord. Amid the social unrest, political division, and living in a continuing pandemic, we might lose hope. However, I recall the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his encyclical Deus Caritas:

"There are times when the burden of need and our limitations might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then, we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands. This knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility, we will do what we can, and in all humility, we will entrust the rest to the Lord." 

The social unrest and ideological combat across our nation have sparked fear and doubt about our future over the past eight months. Painful divisions have wounded families, parishes, and friendships. Social trust has broken down as the pandemic and lockdowns have further loosened the bonds of the community. Many Americans are in economic distress, many others suffer from sickness, and thousands grieve for those who have died.    What are we to do?

Perhaps the most critical action we as Catholics can take after this election is to "love one another." This election has divided and challenged even well-formed Catholics. Incivility towards neighbors and intolerance of differing ideas replace political debate and civil discourse.   There can be no future for our nation if love grows cold, especially our love for the innocent unborn child and the terminally ill patient, for the migrant and the prisoner, for victims of racism, hatred, violence, and the poor. Across the country, love is growing colder, while anger seems only to grow more heated. 

       We are all responsible for what happens after this election but most especially we Catholics, for we are expressly commanded by Jesus Christ to love others — from our enemies to our neighbors.   Love is a non-negotiable, and only love can defeat the unrest and violence in people's hearts. It is a profound love for each person made in the image of God, a love for our political enemies, and a love for our country.    Only this love can prevent disorder and help establish true justice and peace. This love starts at home, in our hearts, and it must begin with our complete obedience to what Jesus commands us.

        We are a divided, polarized, and fragmented society. No election will quickly or easily repair the torn fabric of American culture. Therefore, our calling as Catholics is not to consider the election as a finished affair. But instead to continue to bear witness to our faith following Christ's commands. Regardless of the elections' outcome, this is a moment to personally embrace the cardinal virtues and live them in our daily lives. We need to be actively engaged in the ongoing search for building up a peaceful and just society. Our mission of defending human dignity, the sanctity of human life, and exercising religious freedom does not end with any election. We must renew and reinvigorate it and make it more robust. 

  Our public institutions reflect the values and habits of the American people. To renew them, we need to seek our conversion and strengthen our virtues. We must daily convert our lives more fully to Christ.   We know as a people of faith that politics is never the ultimate end. It is not the cause of our hope, and it is not the final aim of our lives. Jesus Christ is Our Lord. At this time, perhaps more than ever, we must bear witness to this saving truth. We must entrust our nation, our future, and our lives to the Lord.

On Veterans Day, we pay tribute to all who have served our country in the military as we offer prayer and thanksgiving for so many veterans' sacrifice. We celebrate our freedom and liberty. It is a time of unity and pride for our nation.   Happy Veterans Day! Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.

Celebrating All Saints, Remembering All Souls

Dear Parishioners:         

Bishop Evans anoints Borys MICHAEL Carrison at the OLM Confirmation Mass, October 25, 2020.

Last Sunday, we had a joyful and solemn celebration of Confirmation for our parish's young adults. We thank Bishop Evans for filling in for Bishop Matano as NY State restrictions prevented him from traveling to RI. We also thank Doug Green, Mickey St. Jean, and all those who helped prepare for this important event. Also, we thank Henri St. Louis and the musicians for the beautiful music. We especially thank the candidates, their sponsors, and their parents. We give thanks to God for these newly confirmed Catholics and ask Him to continue to bestow his blessings and grace upon them. May they grow in faith, hope, and charity. 

All Saints Tapestry from Our Lady of the Angeles Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA.

We celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints this week as November 1 falls on a Sunday. Today we celebrate the Church's saints, that is, all those both known and unknown who have attained Heaven. In a particular way, we remember in our prayers all those OLM Parishioners who have died since last November 1. Their families join us at the 10:30 AM Mass. We promise them our continued prayers during their time of sorrow and grief and for the repose of the souls of their dearly departed.  May they rest in peace, and may the perpetual light shine upon them.      

Life on earth is often difficult. "Continuous warfare," as Job said. This world is fallen, filled with obstacles to justice, peace, and true happiness. Each of us carries within us a fallen human nature that tends toward selfishness and sin, despite being loved by God and redeemed and renewed by his grace.

  As a result, the life of every Christian here on earth is a hard battle to stay faithful to Christ and to help others do the same. Therefore, the Church on earth is called the Church Militant. Official Church teaching doesn't shy away from this. The Second Vatican Council, in its Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, taught: "For a monumental struggle against the powers of darkness pervades the whole history of man. The battle was joined from the very origins of the world and will continue until the last day, as the Lord has attested." 

We know this, and we have accepted the challenge - that's why we faithfully attend Holy Mass, seek forgiveness in Confession and strive to live virtuously. And yet, at times, we get tired of fighting. We get worn out with the state of our world and sometimes the state of our own lives. That's why the Church gives us today's Solemnity of All Saints - to rekindle our hope! 

Today we take our eyes off the battlefield of the earth where the Church militant is fighting, sweating, and bleeding. And we lift our gaze to Heaven, where we see "a great multitude, which no one could count" gathered around our King, enjoying the rewards of their earthly labors, enjoying the victory.

These are the saints in Heaven and we call them the Church Triumphant. They are people just like us, from every age, experience, place, and walk of life, who "survived the time of great distress," as St John calls life on earth. Contemplating these brothers and sisters in Christ should renew our strength, inspire us, and encourage us.

We continue to remember all the souls of the faithful departed during this All Souls Month of November. Please be mindful of the souls in purgatory. The Church teaches us that praying for the dead is a spiritual work of mercy. The greatest prayer we could ever offer for the dead is the prayer of the Mass. At Mass, we unite our prayers, those emanating from our lips, our hearts, even our bodies in all types of actions of loving sacrifice for others, to Christ's prayer in the Mass. The Mass is the continuous, saving sacrifice once-and-for-all begun during the Last Supper and finished on the Cross.   

Tuesday is Election Day! All elections have serious consequences for our society.  So please prepare for Tuesday by joining in prayer on Monday.   On the eve of the election, we hold vigil for our nation. We pray for all candidates and for peace, liberty, and justice. We pray for the poor, the unborn, the vulnerable, the sick, and the weakest among us. Then on Election Day, may we cast a vote first and foremost as a Catholic with an informed conscience.

Happy All Saints Day! Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless. God Bless America!