Making our "Easter Duty"

Dear Parishioners:                              

Some of you may be familiar with the term “Easter Duty” and relate it to the obligation to go to confession and receive Holy Communion during the Easter season. If you already have a habit of regular confession and Communion, you can fulfill the obligation without much effort. If not, it is worthwhile to recall what the Church requires and why.  When considering our sacramental duties, we should first realize that the Church proposes certain rules and requirements to help us grow in grace and get to heaven. 

For those who grew up in a traditional Catholic household, it may be surprising to learn that the term “Easter Duty” does not appear in the Church’s canon law, nor is it mentioned specifically in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Rather, the idea stems from two related Church laws: to receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season, unless a serious reason indicates another time as preferable (canon 920); and to receive absolution in sacramental confession for any mortal sin at least once a year (canon 989).

Of course, this is the minimum required by the Church, and today most practicing Catholics receive Communion during not only the Easter season (broadly defined as the period from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday) but also many other times of the year when not in a grave state of sin. Less popular, however, is the practice of confession,

One motivator for confession is often a nagging uneasiness that we experience when we have hurt someone and a desire to set things right. We may try to dismiss this uneasy feeling or rationalize our behavior, but ultimately we know that we have fallen short and sinned. We need to make amends with those whom we’ve wronged and realize that God is the first one offended by sin. That is why we make our way to the confessional — to present ourselves before Jesus in the person of the priest and receive the Lord’s pardon and peace in absolution. 

The Catechism teaches that this sacrament has many effects, the foremost of which is “restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship” (1468).        Sin damages our relationship with God. We don’t deserve and cannot earn God’s forgiveness, yet he gives it for the asking. In Confession, we drink from the depths of Divine Mercy, where God replenishes us with the graces needed to live in and act out of love each day. Considering that we are reborn spiritually in confession and fortified by grace in Holy Communion, we should think of our Easter Duty as an opportunity to become the better disciple God calls us to be.         

Next Saturday we have All-Day Confessions with four priests available every hour from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM.  It is a great opportunity to make a good Confession, do your Easter Duty and clean your soul!  Invite someone you know has been away from the Sacrament of Confession for a while to come along with you.                         

Next weekend we celebrate Palm Sunday and I am happy to announce we are blessing and distributing palm branches at all Masses.  Last year due to the COVID-19 restrictions we were prohibited from doing this.  With more vaccinations and restrictions easing up, we will resume this great tradition. Of course, Palm Sunday is more than getting palm branches.  The day is called both “Palm Sunday” and “Passion Sunday.”  The first name comes from the fact that it commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem when the crowd had palm branches (John 12:13). The second name comes from the fact that the narrative of the Passion is read on this Sunday.     Pope Benedict Emeritus XV states:

“Palm Sunday is the great doorway leading into Holy Week, the week when the Lord Jesus makes his way towards the culmination of his earthly existence.  He goes up to Jerusalem in order to fulfill the Scriptures and to be nailed to the wood of the Cross, the throne from which he will reign forever, drawing to himself humanity of every age and offering to all the gift of redemption.”                      

I ask for your prayers this week as I am on my Annual Retreat at Arnold Hall in Pembroke, Massachusetts. Last year I was unable to make a retreat due to the pandemic. Please know of my prayers for you while I am on retreat.               

Get ready for Holy Week and make your Easter Duty! Stay safe. Be well. Do good. God Bless! Pray, fast, and give alms!  The Rice Bowl Collection is taken up next weekend (March 27/28), please be generous. Thank you!

Time to Come Back to Mass

Dominican Friar, Father Justin Mary Bolger, OP, plays tunes from the Hillbilly Thomists’ new album, Living for the Other Side

Dear Parishioners:                                 

In your name, I thank Fr. James Mary Sullivan, OP, and Fr. Justin Mary Bolger, OP, for leading our Annual Parish Lenten Mission this past week. Their preaching and the music were truly outstanding, and we are grateful for the opportunity we had to renew our lives in faith, hope, and charity. Their reflections and songs on "Living for the Other Side" provide us with much food for thought. As the Hillbilly Thomists’ album liner notes: "This collection of new and old songs gives wide-ranging appeal to the human heart and soul so that even those 'who don't know what to listen for' will nonetheless be drawn to the One whom Flannery O'Connor called 'My Dear God.'" 

Indeed we must be grateful to our Dear God, who has provided us with the many blessings and graces of our Lenten Mission. A year ago, we had to close our Church and cease the public worship of God. Thankfully last Pentecost, we were able to resume public Masses. We have continued since last spring to celebrate Mass and the Sacraments at Our Lady of Mercy safely.   

Many parishioners have stayed away from attending Mass for legitimate reasons of health and safety. This is perfectly reasonable and actually encouraged for those who have serious health concerns and suffer any illnesses. But many others have stopped regularly attending Sunday Mass for no other reason than a bad habit developed over this last year.    

Yet, I see many parishioners regularly eating out at restaurants, shopping at stores, attending sports practices and games, and traveling for holidays and vacations. But they are not regularly making their way to Sunday Mass. We invite you back to Mass! Join us in the worship and praise of our good and generous God every Sunday at Mass.  

Vaccinations and good weather are a hopeful sign of a springtime of renewal for our parish community. Indeed it is a sign of great hope that the pandemic, with its many restrictions on our lives, is easing up a bit. Many people need a renewal of their social life. More importantly, however, many need a renewal of their spiritual life. This renewal begins at Holy Mass.  Make Sunday Mass a regular habit again. Nourishing our souls and strengthening our communion with our Lord and His Church should be reason enough to come back to Mass. St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) reminds us: "It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass."   

We mark two special events this week at OLM. On Wednesday, March 17th, we celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland. Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester is the celebrant and homilist for the St. Patrick's Day Mass at 12:05 pm. In your name, I thank Bishop McManus for coming to our celebration. The Mass features readings in Irish and Irish hymns in honor of Glorious St. Patrick. The Mass is live-streamed for those who cannot join us in person. I hope you can come and celebrate this special feast with us. If you do come to the St. Patrick's Day Mass, be sure to wear something green to celebrate our Irish brothers’ and sisters' heritage! There is no public reception as in years past due to the COVID restrictions. So you'll have to bake your own Irish Soda Bread and make your own Irish Coffee!!   

On Friday, March 19th, we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Bishop Evans, our Auxiliary Bishop and OLM neighbor has kindly agreed to celebrate the Mass in Italian. Monsignor Anthony Mancini, Rector of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence, serves as the homilist. The Mass features readings and music in Italian. However, the homily is in English. Join us for what I believe is the only St. Joseph Day Mass in Italian in the state! If you do come to celebrate with us at St. Joseph Day Mass, be sure to wear something red to celebrate the heritage of our Italian brothers and sisters! The Mass is live-streamed. You'll have to get your own zeppoles as we are prohibited from having our reception.     

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Buona Festa di San Giuseppe! Happy Feast of St. Joseph! Stay safe. Be well. Do good. God Bless! Pray, fast, and give alms! 

Make the Parish Mission & Start "Living for the Other Side"

Dear Parishioners:                               

The crucifix is always given 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 a call to us for conversion to Christ. As our Savior tells us: "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself  and take up his cross daily and follow me.” 

Such conversion, we are taught in the Catechism, is done  "in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice, by the admission of faults, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, and endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one's cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance."

Each of us is called to conversion in our daily lives. Penance and conversion are major themes in the Bible. The prophets, St. John the Baptist and St. Peter preached about the call to conversion. Jesus began his public ministry with the words, "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel." 

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself  and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The Lord's first words were a call to repent and convert. For Jesus, we are all in need of repentance. We all must recognize our failings and need to place our trust in God's merciful love. We are all called to believe in the Truth of the Gospel of Christ, no matter if it's inconvenient or unpopular. The Season of Lent helps to do so. Lent helps us refocus upon the cross as we take up our own cross with greater prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

We welcome our Parish Lenten Mission Preachers, Dominican Friars, Fr. James Mary Sullivan, OP, and Fr. Justin Mary Bolger, OP. They are here this weekend to begin the Parish Mission. They are preaching a Mission Talk each night on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 7:00 pm.  Confessions begin at 6:00 pm with four priests available, including two Dominican Friars.

I have known Fr. Sullivan for many years, and he is an outstanding preacher and holy priest. He serves as the Pastor of St. Pius V Parish in Providence. He hails from Boston and has a wicked accent!! You may remember him when he preached our St. Joseph's Day Mass a couple of years ago.

Fr. Bolger is a newly ordained Friar who hails from Maryland. He is a talented musician and had a musical career before entering the Dominicans. He is a member of the band called the Hillbilly Thomists. It is a bluegrass band comprised of Dominican Friars. They have several recordings available online, and they are well worth a listen. Father will be playing some bluegrass for us during the Mission.

The Mission is entitled "Living for the Other Side," which is also the newest album by the Hillbilly Thomists. Each night at 7:00 pm, a Mission Talk is offered on faith, hope, and charity. The Mission Talks will be live-streamed for those who are unable to attend. I urge you to make the Parish Lenten Mission this week. Come every night or just one night if that's what your schedule allows but do come. It is sure to change your life and help you convert your heart more fully to Christ. Also, I urge you to come to Confession before the Mission Talk.

Please support the Annual Catholic Charity Appeal this year.  It is a great way to give alms.  It funds the charitable work of our Diocese. Such work includes feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, ministering to prisoners, the sick, dying, and welcoming refugees and immigrants.

Last year due to COVID, OLM did not reach our parish goal.  In fact, 137 OLM families who normally support the Appeal did not do so last year. The entire Appeal fell almost $3 million short of its goal. This year I ask every parish family to prayerfully consider a pledge of at least $300 to the Appeal. Such generous support is our almsgiving and directly helps the poor, the needy, and the stranger served by our Church here in Rhode Island. St. Angela Merici teaches: "Reflect that, in reality, you have a greater need to help the poor than they have of your help."

Make the Parish Mission this week and begin "Living for the Other Side!" Stay safe. Be well. Do good. God Bless! Pray, fast, and give alms! Welcome Friars! See you at the Mission!!!!

Fasting for Our Spiritual Health, Not to Get Thin

Dear Parishioners:                                

Many people undertake diets to lose weight and get healthier. A trendy diet these days is the intermittent fast diet. This diet establishes an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn't specify which foods to eat but rather when to eat them. Standard intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16-hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week. I leave it to the medical community to determine if such a diet is fruitful and healthy.

However, the fasting we take up during Lent is a spiritual fast. While we do fast from extra food on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, our fasting is truly a call to sacrifice something not to become physically healthier but rather spiritually healthier. We fast or give things up as a reminder to remove items in our lives that get in the way of our relationship with God.

When we feel hungry or choose not to do things we desire, it reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God. We strive to hunger for more of God and less of self. Our fasting mirrors Christ’s fast in the wilderness for forty days as we seek to hunger for what he hungers. Fasting is more than giving up treats and pleasures. There are other things from which we should also fast.

We can fast from noise by turning off TVs, computers, and phones.  Instead, pray in silence or come to First Friday Adoration.   In his outstanding book, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, Robert Cardinal Sarah suggests: "Without silence, God disappears in the noise. And this noise becomes all the more obsessive because God is absent. Unless the world rediscovers silence, it is lost. The earth then rushes into nothingness."

This Lent, we should fast from noise and rediscover silence. Pope Francis urges fasting from gossip. He said: "It's so rotten, gossip. In the beginning, it seems to be something enjoyable and fun, like a piece of candy. But at the end, it fills the heart with bitterness and also poisons us." We can fast from talking about our family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Idle gossip is not only hurtful at times it’s very sinful. Try fasting from gossip.

We can  fast from “Busyness.”  Our culture grants a badge of honor to those who take up "busyness." However, being too busy often distracts us from other, more important things like family, faith, and God.  It prevents us from hearing God's voice and appreciating God's blessings. This Lent, slow down and pray. Don’t be too busy to be with the Lord.

We should fast from complaining. How often do we complain about something we don't like or cannot accept? In Lent, try to be more grateful for what we have rather than complain about what we don't. Crabby complaints and caustic criticism can be toxic, polluting the attitudes of those around us. They tear down rather than build up a community.  Fasting from complaining calls us to be part of a solution rather than contribute to a problem. 

Finally, we might fast from excuses. The parents of the great Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter never permitted him to use the word "can't" around the house. They suggested that anything was possible with hard work and dedication. The virtue of hope reminds us that all things are possible with God.

We can change, resist temptations,  avoid sin, and follow the path of virtue and holiness. The Saints show us the way from sin to sanctity can indeed be done. This Lent, fast from saying "can't" to the Lord and embrace "I can" for Christ.

Next weekend we welcome two very dynamic preachers, Dominican Friars Fr. James Mary Sullivan, OP, and Fr. Justin Mary Bolger, OP, for our Lenten Parish Mission. They are preaching all the Masses and then each night are preaching a Mission Talk at 7:00 pm. See the Mission schedule in the bulletin. The Mission entitled "Living for the Other Side,"   features music from the Hillbilly Thomists. This group is a band of Dominican Friars who play bluegrass music. Fr. Jordon, a talented musician, is a band member. The Mission is our time to retreat into prayer and reflection as we seek to convert more fully to Christ. Please join us either in person or via live stream. 

  Stay safe. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Pray, fast, and give alms!

Lent Calls Us to Honest, Humble Prayer

  Dear Parishioners:                            

It isn't often that an image of Satan appears on the cover of the weekly bulletin. However, this Sunday, we hear the Gospel of the Temptation of our Lord in the Desert. "The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan." 

Lent is like an extended "retreat" in which to re-enter ourselves and listen to God's voice to overcome the temptations of the Evil One. It is a time of spiritual "training" to live alongside Jesus not with pride and presumption but rather by using the weapons of faith: prayer, fasting, penance, and service to the poor. In this way, we shall succeed in celebrating Easter with joy, ready to renew our baptismal promises.

Lent is meant to be a time for truth. The Truth Himself spent 40 days in the wilderness combatting the Prince of Lies. Since humility is honesty, and the Sacrament of Confession is an act of humility, the truthful confession of our sins, preferably frequently in Lent, is at the heart of this season. On Wednesday, the ashes  sprinkled upon our heads were the very sign of our intention, “to repent and believe the Gospel.” Otherwise, the ashes are merely an empty gesture of piety or, worse, an act of total hypocrisy. 

Humility is an essential virtue of the interior life, the favored of Jesus, held up by all the saints and theologians as the best way for progress on the road to perfection. St Therese of Lisieux said: "the beginning of all holiness, is humbly admitting that without God we can do nothing, but that, with, in and through him, everything is possible!" 

The practice of humility begins with prayer. Lent calls us to more prayer. In our prayer, we do not lift ourselves above others, but rather, we must humbly reveal our true selves to God, the Father of Mercy. Remember that we are just one of a great army of weak and imperfect, sinful and suffering people, all kneeling before the throne of God's mercy.  St. Frances de Sales said in his Introduction to the Devout Life: "True humility is to see yourself as you are seen in the eyes of God, no more than you are, but no less than you are."  

In our prayer, much depends upon what we compare ourselves to in our life. And when we set our lives beside the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus Christ and beside the goodness, mercy, and holiness of God our Father, we are left only to humbly pray like the tax collector of the Gospel: "God be merciful to me—a sinner."

  Our prayer makes us humble before God, our almighty Father, and opens us to the path of love.  We especially strive in Lent for humility in our prayer. The late Archbishop Sheen said: "Only the humble can pray, for prayer presumes we need someone and something." 

“True humility is to see yourself as you are seen in the eyes of God, no more than you are, but no less than you are.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

It is faithfully coming to Sunday Mass, praying daily, living the Church's precepts, following the Commandments, along with the frequent sacramental confession of our sins that can begin to conform us to the way of love. In prayer and with a solid interior life, we can honestly know ourselves, who we are, and what we are called to be.

These forty days of Lent we retreat with the Lord in the Desert to find our true selves. We remove the distractions of a busy life, limit our pleasures of a comfortable life, and convert our hearts more fully to Christ. With our prayer, fasting, penance, sacrifice, discipline, and almsgiving, we begin to know ourselves even more. We become aware of our weaknesses so we might humbly admit them to our Merciful Father in Confession. 

  In whatever temptations we may encounter this Lent, don't give in to the Father of Lies, and don't give up on the Lord!  Fight on in faith! The Saints teach us that faith, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and the cross is enough to defeat the snares of the Evil One. Satan may appear powerful, but the saints prove that he is not and is no match for those who put their trust and faith in God.   St. Anthony the Abbot battled the temptations of the Devil while in the desert. He once said: "I saw the devil's traps laid upon the earth, and I groaned and said: 'Who do you think can pass through them?' And I heard a voice saying, 'Humility.”

Keep the Solemn Fast of Lent with humble prayer. Stay safe. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Pray, fast, and give alms!

Lent is Coming! Are You Ready?

Dear Parishioners:    

This Wednesday, we begin the holy and penitential season of Lent. It is a season designed to help us remember our life's mission as a follower of Christ and recommit to serving the Lord. We begin the solemn fast and commit with fervor and zeal to pray, fast, and give alms.   On Ash Wednesday, there are three Masses: 7:30 am, 12:05 pm, and 7:00 pm. Confessions on Ash Wednesday with two priests are available from 11:45 am until Noon and 6:00 pm until 6:45 pm. It is February Vacation Week, so there is no OLM School Mass on Ash Wednesday.

The Vatican has mandated a modified method for distributing ashes for this year: sprinkling them on the top of people's heads rather than using them to make a cross on people's foreheads. This change is to protect both the priest and the people from spreading COVID.   The mandate directs priests to bless the ashes with holy water at the altar and then address the entire congregation with words from the Roman Missal. These words are usually said when marking an individual's forehead with ashes: "Repent and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust and to dust, you shall return."   The sprinkling of ashes on individual heads then takes place without any words said to each person. The sprinkling of ashes on the top of people's heads is not something new but is an ancient and customary practice at the Vatican and many other countries.

While we receive ashes differently this year, the message of Lent remains the same. They are a sign of penance and remind us that we are dust, and we shall return to dust. It is a stark reminder that our life in this world is transitory, and we must always prepare with lives of holiness and faith for eternal life. Indeed we are to be judged by God, so we must: "Repent and believe the Gospel."

For forty days, we take up penance asking the Lord for forgiveness for our sins so that we might celebrate Easter with joy and receive the Eucharist more worthily. St John Henry Newman wrote: "At Christmas, we are born again with Christ in baptism; at Easter, we keep the Eucharistic Feast. In Lent, by penance, we join the two great sacraments together." 

To have a fruitful Lent, we should examine our hearts and consciences and be honest about the places in our lives where sinfulness abounds. We should then confess them sacramentally and offer penances and sacrifices, mortifications and fasts, to be free of those sins. We must turn to Christ with humility and honestly seek God's mercy in Confession.

In Lent, we remember that we will face divine judgment one day and that nothing in this life is worth losing eternal happiness and total union with God. As penance, we give up some of our lives' comforts so that our comforts and pleasures won't lead us into sin. St. John Henry Newman suggested that during Lent, should also pray for one another. He believed that intercessory prayer was a fundamental obligation of all Christians, especially during Lent. He kept long lists of people to pray for and committed to asking the Lord for specific things for each one of them.

The lesson of Lent is simple: we will be judged someday, and thus we should act accordingly. We should confess our sins more frequently during these forty days, do more penance, and convert more fully to Christ. We give up some comforts and take up acts of charity so that our comfortable lives don't distract us from following Christ or lead us into sin. We spend time praying for other people, asking the Lord to grace them in real and particular ways. 

In Lent, we have two daily Masses, Stations of the Cross every Friday, and Confessions daily and outside Confessors on Mondays. There is a Lenten Parish Mission with the Dominican Friars of St. Pius. Archbishop Fulton Sheen reminds us: "Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache." So take up the Cross this Lent with faith, hope, and charity. Pray, fast, and give alms!

Stay safe. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Make a holy and fruitful  Lent!