May Brings Much More Than Flowers!!

Dear Parishioners:                                                 

Let’s hope all those April showers bring May flowers! The month of May is dedicated to our Blessed Mother.  As our parish patroness, we honor her with May Devotions on Mondays at 7:00 pm.  We come before the Eucharistic Lord, pray the Rosary, and receive Benediction. It’s a great way to honor our Blessed Mother, so please join us.             

Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics across the globe to dedicate the Marian month of May to pray for an end to the pandemic. The Rosary is to be recited daily at the 30 Marian Shrines from various parts of the world.  It takes place under the theme “The whole Church was fervently praying to God,” which recalls a verse in the Book of Acts (12:5). After more than a year, and with the world still in the grips of the pandemic, the Pope and the Church are imploring God for an end to the suffering which so many people bear. Join us every Monday in May as we fervently pray the Rosary for an end to the pandemic.    

May is also the month of First Communion as next Saturday, the children of OLM make their First Holy Communion at a Noon Mass.  The Mass concludes with the May Crowning of our Blessed Mother.  Please pray for these children as they make their final preparation for this glorious day in their lives!     

This week I received a communication from the Diocesan Office of Worship about the changing guidelines and restrictions for churches during the pandemic.  Following the Governor’s Office and the RI Department of Health guidelines, certain practices at Mass may now resume effective on May 7, 2021.   The communication calls for removing all tape, markings, ropes, and signs related to Covid restrictions. Since indoor seating capacity increases from 75% to 80%, the roping off of pews is no longer necessary.  Also, the sanitizing of the church with harsh chemicals after each Mass is no longer required, and routine cleaning is to resume.  

Processions at Mass may continue, including bringing up the gifts at Sunday Mass.  The hymnals are allowed back in the pews and singing resumes.  Also, Holy Water fonts filled once again.   Our ushers can take up the collection once again, as has been our practice.      These changes are undoubtedly good news for churches and congregations across the state.  The cleaning chemicals are taking a toll on the pews.   Blessing ourselves with Holy Water is a most welcome restoration!  Processions and singing add much to our solemn celebration of Holy Mass.  

The communication makes it clear that parishioners must continue to wear facemasks while indoors during Mass. It also directs us to provide ventilation whenever possible.  So the church windows are to be left open during Mass if the weather cooperates.     As for seating in the church, the social distance of three feet is in effect.  Every pew is now to be available for seating and the ropes removed! We must continue to be vigilant by washing hands, wearing masks, and keeping a minimum distance of three feet.    

We are working on a plan to gradually reinstate many of these practices over the next several weeks. We ask for your continued patience and understanding as we try our best to follow guidelines and resume some of our formerly restricted practices.  Your cooperation is essential in achieving this, so please cooperate by sanitizing your hands, wearing a mask, and keeping social distance as far as possible.   

With more and more people getting vaccinated, it seems we can gradually return to some everyday living and worshiping at OLM again!  Unfortunately, these new changes affect only the church and not our parish school.  The restrictions in schools continue much as they have been over the year.  We look forward to the day when the school day is more typical again!!  It has been a very long year of pandemic and pain, sickness, and suffering, but signs of hope are here!  Let’s keep the faith, come back to Mass, and worship God with greater devotion and enthusiasm.  

Join us on Mondays during May in praying for an end to the pandemic! Saint Padre Pio said: “The Rosary is the weapon for these times.” It remains as accurate today as when he said it decades ago! Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless.

Praying for Good Shepherds

Dear Parishioners:                      

This Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. As the Shepherds of Our Lady of Mercy Parish, I humbly ask for your prayers for Father Barrow and myself. Also, I invite you to please remember in your prayers all priests, bishops, and our Holy Father, Pope Francis. There is a poem entitled "The Beautiful Hands of a Priest," which reads, in part, "At the altar each day we behold them, and the hands of a king on his throne are not equal to them in greatness. It's the hand of a priest that will absolve us. When the hour of death comes upon us, raised over us in blessing the beautiful hands of a priest."

This Sunday is also World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The purpose of World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill the Lord's instruction to "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest." While appreciating all vocations, the Church concentrates its attention this day on vocations to the priesthood. Please pray for an increase of vocations in the Diocese of Providence.   Today is a day to pray particularly for more men to hear the call to the priesthood. Saint Pope John Paul the Great, in his book Gift and Mystery: On the 50th Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination, stated: "There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist."

No priest, no Eucharist. A simple yet profound statement. It echoes the language of St. John Paul II in his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. In that 2003 encyclical, the Pope wrote that "the most holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and living bread." He added that "the Eucharist builds the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist."

The Church is also called the mystical body of Christ. We are incorporated into this mystical body at baptism. This body — indeed, each of us — needs to be nourished to maturity in the faith. That nourishment comes, in part, from the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Little wonder that the Catechism, says, "The Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life.'"                                                                                               

The Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ himself, under the appearances of simple bread and wine. We believe Christ is truly present in the Eucharist because he said so at the Last Supper.  At the Last Supper, he also instituted the priesthood, giving mere men the power to consecrate bread and wine in his name and under his authority. Every Mass is a solemn re-presentation of what Christ gave us at the Last Supper: the gift of himself in the Eucharist.

The fruit of this sacrament, worthily received, are nourishment for the soul and growth in holiness, charity, and stronger bonds of unity within the Church. The Eucharist brings us closer together and helps us think, act and love in union with one another.

The Eucharist is the source of unity and charity for Catholics. If a community wants the Eucharist, it needs a priest. A priest receives ordination from a bishop and assists him in ministering to the flock. The bishop is a successor to the Apostles and named by the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, whom Jesus designated as the visible head of the Church on earth. Hence we can see a link between the Eucharist and the Vicar of Christ.

““At the altar each day we behold them, and the hands of a king on his throne are not equal to them in greatness. It’s the hand of a priest that will absolve us. When the hour of death comes upon us, raised over us in blessing the beautiful hands of a priest.””

And from where do priests come? They come from Catholic families, but the call to the priesthood comes from Jesus. Our Lady of Mercy has been a source of vocations to the priesthood in the recent past. Let us with our prayers ensure it is today and in the future. We remember with great pride that Father Brain Morris, a graduate of OLM School, was ordained a Priest of Providence in 2017. Father Morris serves as Chaplain at Bishop Hendricken. He is also the Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Providence. Please pray for him and for his work in promoting vocations to the priesthood.                                                                                        

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, pray for priests and also more vocations to the priesthood especially in the Diocese of Providence and from Our Lady of Mercy Parish. Your prayers for vocations are vital to the work of the Church. "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest."            

 Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless.  

 Father Healey

Bringing the Risen Lord to His People

Dear Parishioners:                              

As the spring weather continues to get better and more people receiving their vaccinations, some normality resumes in our lives. More people are coming to Mass, more businesses open, and regulations are easing up. While we continue to remain vigilant about health and safety measures here at OLM, we are hopeful we can resume some of our ministries and outreach efforts soon.  

Recently, Father Al Ranallo, who serves as the Coordinator of Pastoral Care for Healthcare Facilities, wrote us. He has been working with Deacon Tim Flanigan, MD, an infectious disease expert, to resume ministry in our healthcare and nursing home facilities. They have sought guidance from the Center for Health Facilities Regulation of the Rhode Island Department of Health (DOH) regarding resuming activities in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities.  

Facilities are now allowed to resume activities provided they adhere to space requirements, mask-wearing, and proper handwashing. It remains the decision of the facility as to what activities they plan to resume. Currently, they are allowing visitations by family and friends.   Fr. Barrow and I will be working with the nursing home facilities we serve here at OLM to see if we can soon resume monthly Masses and perhaps the weekly distribution of Holy Communion to residents. These facilities include St. Elizabeth, Anchor Bay, Atria Harborhill, and the Seasons. We hope to resume Masses and bringing Holy Communion to these places in May.          

In the meantime, if you know of anyone or have a family member at one of these facilities, Fr. Barrow and I are happy to visit them. As always, we are on call for emergencies. Anointings of the Sick. Please let us know.     Also, hospitals are now allowing visitors to visit with patients. We are always happy to visit with sick parishioners in the hospital. Please let us know. Hospitals do not inform us who is in the hospital due to privacy laws. Fr. Barrow and I and the priests of the area regularly cover Kent Hospital for emergency Anointings of the Sick.                                                                                                                                                              

We will also be reaching out to our homebound about possible visitations and Communion Calls soon and will only visit if they are comfortable with visitations. Their physical health, safety, and well-being are concerns whenever we visit nursing homes, hospitals, or homes. However, the spiritual health and well-being of the faithful are equally important. Many civil authorities have neglected this vital facet of our faith lives over the last year. Tragically many were denied the final Sacraments before death even though priests were readily available and willing to offer them. Healthcare bureaucrats and civil authorities prohibited them in many places.                             

On Good Friday, in London, England, the police raided services at a Catholic Church, citing a violation of safety rules. Police shut down the  Good Friday service at the church and threatened worshippers with a £200 fine each. The Pastor has said the police grossly exceeded their authority. Ironically the English Prime Minister announced with great joy the very next day that England's pubs were reopening!                             

In Ireland, any public worship continues to be prohibited, so Easter Masses were not possible. However, one young Irish Priest, Fr Gerard Quirke, of the parish on Achill Island called for Churches to reopen for Mass. The isolation caused by the current Covid-19 restrictions affects the mental health of people living alone in rural areas he said.

Fr. Quirke offered Public Mass for his parishioners outside on Easter Sunday on a Mass rock overlooking picturesque Keem Bay. Such "Mass Rocks" are scattered across the Irish countryside and are enormous rocks used to celebrate Mass during the Penal Laws in Ireland, when it was illegal to be Catholic in public. Mass Rocks are a powerful symbol as they kept the faith alive throughout the persecution of the penal era.                                                                                                                                     

All this reminds me of the words of the Catholic author, Hilaire Belloc, who said: "The Church is a perpetually defeated thing that always outlives her conquerors." Let us pray for those deprived of the Sacraments and those persecuted for the faith.

Stay well. Be safe. Do good. God Bless. A Blessed Easter Season! 

Father Healey

Giving Thanks for Easter!

Dear Parishioners:      

“He is not here, for he has risen as he said," proclaims The Gospel of Saint Matthew. We continue to celebrate Easter and rejoice at the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Easter is a season, not just one Sunday! Following Easter Sunday, the Season of Easter lasts fifty days until the great Solemnity of Pentecost on May 23rd. So let us continue to celebrate the Resurrection. Christ is Risen. Alleluia! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia, Alleluia!                       

As we joyfully resound the Alleluia of Easter, let us take the opportunity to give thanks for the many blessings and graces of this holy season. We thank Almighty God for the blessings bestowed upon us, our families, and our Parish. Indeed, God is good and generous in bestowing upon us His choicest blessings! Let us give thanks, and let our hearts be grateful!

We give thanks for a holy and fruitful Lenten Season at OLM. Our two Daily Lenten Masses were well attended, as were the Stations of the Cross on Fridays. We saw a terrific turnout for our Lenten Mission. Our confessionals were also very busy throughout the Lenten Season and beyond! All-Day Confessions saw an incredible turnout of people experiencing God's mercy and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession!     

A fruitful Lent always makes for a joyful Easter! So we give thanks for the joy of this Easter Season! We are grateful for all those who work to make it lively and glorious. We give thanks to so many who make OLM a wonderful place to worship and praise God, especially for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.   

Our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, Sister Lourdes, Sister Emma, and Sister Soledad, are so helpful, holy, and joyful, and we give them thanks for all they do for our Parish and school. They not only greet everyone coming to Mass, but they also help decorate, clean, organize and prepare everything for Mass and Holy week!            

We thank Cecilia Franzone, who is so instrumental in ensuring our Church is beautifully decorated for every occasion and season. We thank her for her dedication and hard work.         The music at OLM is always beautiful, and we are thankful for our very talented Music Director and Organist, Henri St. Louis. He and the musicians who help us with the proper praise and worship of God at Mass do an outstanding job. They bring glory and majesty to our solemn worship, and we are grateful.                    

Our Altar Servers are a dedicated group who always serve Holy Mass and Holy Week services with great reverence and solemnity. We also thank our outstanding Lectors who proclaim God's Word so superbly and reverently. We thank all these good people and many more for the terrific job they do and the excellent service they provide our Parish.             

We must thank Paul Anderson and the OLM maintenance team for their hard work and dedication to the Parish. Their cleaning, sanitizing, setting up, and taking down everything for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter is due our gratitude. They keep the grounds beautiful and their work is always top-notch. Let us thank them all for their work for our Parish.  

I certainly wish to thank Fr. Barrow for his tremendous dedication and hard work for the Parish and school. His commitment to priestly ministry is zealous and enthusiastic every day. But especially over the Lent and Holy Week season, he works incredibly hard organizing, preparing, and ensuring everything is ready and done with dedication, devotion, and reverence.                                                                                                      

We also give thanks to God for the dozen new members of our Parish, and Church baptized, confirmed, and received at the Easter Vigil. They are a sign of hope and new life for our Church. We offer them heartfelt congratulations and a warm welcome to our parish family. Keep them in your prayers that they may continue to flourish in the faith!           

Easter Sunday was a joyful and glorious day! Seeing so many people return to Mass was truly inspiring as we celebrated our Lord's Resurrection together in Church. As we enter into better weather and vaccines continue, let us hope and pray more come back to Mass on Sundays! We join  St. Augustine in proclaiming: "We are Easter people, and alleluia is our song!" Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless

 Fr. Healey

“Be glad, let earth be glad!" Easter Begins!!

Dear Parishioners:                                 

At the Easter Vigil Mass, the Exsultet is sung.  It is a triumphant hymn and wonderful sacramental that is the prelude to the solemnities of the Mass.  It says: “Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.”       Indeed we are glad and we rejoice that the Lord is Risen.  But we are also “glad” because there is an end of the “gloom and darkness” of the last year’s lockdown and the closing of our churches last Easter.  

On Easter 2021 let us rejoice as we are able to gather together and celebrate our Lord’s victory over sin and death.  We also rejoice as a parish family as we welcome so many new members who are baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Faith at the Easter Vigil. We sing joyfully with the Psalmist: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”

Easter is the celebration of the Lord's resurrection from the dead, culminating in his Ascension to the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. There are 50 days of Easter from the first Sunday to Pentecost. Fifty days to celebrate with gladness and joy. Easter is a “Passover” from death to new life. In some languages, the connection between the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter is explicit.

The Hebrew word for Passover is Pesach. In French, Easter is Paques. In Italian it’s Pasqua. In many other languages, the word for Easter is simply a transliteration of the Greek word for Easter, Pascha. Our English word, Easter, is German in origin, coming from the archaic word for new life, which is to say, resurrection.

In whatever language, Easter is a time of resurrection and rebirth, a time to celebrate the risen Christ and God’s promise of eternal life.  All faith flows from faith in the resurrection. St. Paul says: "If Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, is your faith."

In Italy, Easter Monday is known  formally as lunedi dell’Angelo, or “Monday of the Angel,” and informally as Pasquetta, or “little Easter.” After celebrating Easter Sunday by attending Holy Mass and sharing a delicious meal of lamb and ham, many Italians continue to celebrate the day after on Easter Monday, Pasquetta, with great joy.     

The reference to an angel evokes the Gospel scene of an angel encountering several women outside Christ’s empty tomb, where they had gone to perfume his dead body with oils. According to the Gospel of Mark, they instead encountered an angel, who told them: “Don’t be afraid! You’re seeking Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He is risen, he’s not here.”

On Pasquetta (Easter Monday) all the Easter leftovers are packed up for an outdoor picnic with family and friends.  Often Italian families go to the local cemetery and spread their blanket and then eat their Easter leftovers near the graves of their beloved dead. For us as Catholics, cemeteries are reverent, hopeful, and prayerful places.

For much of the world today, cemeteries are associated with scary ghosts and viewed as spooky places.  However, as Catholics, we honor and revere our dead.  We continually pray for them and have Masses offered for them. Therefore, for the Catholic, a  cemetery is a reminder of the promise and the hope of the resurrection in Jesus Christ. So be sure to stop by and pray with and for your beloved dead at Easter.  Bring Easter flowers to the grave and perhaps even enjoy a picnic with them on Pasquetta!

As Catholics, we believe that the grave is not the final destination. With St. Paul, we proclaim to the world: “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting? ”  While we look back upon this last year and reflect on the pains and sorrows of death, the sufferings of sickness and deprivation of this worldwide pandemic as Christian disciples on Easter 2021 we proclaim that suffering and death do not have the final word. Let us rejoice with faith, hope, and love in the  Resurrection of Christ. St. John Paul the Great said: “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!”

In the name of Fr. Barrow, Fr. Connors, Sr. Lourdes, Sr. Emma, Sr. Soledad, and  Sr.  Jeanne we wish you a Happy and Holy  Easter

"Behold the Man!"

“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they struck him repeatedly. Once more Pilate went out and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.
And he said to them, ‘Behold, the man!’”

— The Gospel of John

Dear Parishioners:                                 

We begin Holy Week today on Palm Sunday.  This year, thanks be to God, we are able to gather in Church, receive palm branches and worship our Savior in Church, not from our living rooms.    Holy Week is the most sacred time of the year, for it is now that we will commemorate and remember the last week of Jesus' life on this earth.

These are the days leading up to the great Easter Feast. The Lenten season of sacrifice, penance, fasting, and self-denial is about to come to an end, but this coming week is extremely important for all Christians. The greatest focus of the week is the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the events that led up to it.

The Church has celebrated Holy  Week as early as the fourth century with profound solemnity and deep devotion. It begins with Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Palm branches are blessed and we have a solemn entry into the Church.  However, the central feature of Palm Sunday is the proclamation of the Gospel of the Passion of Our Lord.  It is the only Sunday of the year the entire Passion is read.  We listen devoutly and reflect prayerfully upon the account of our Savior’s suffering and crucifixion.

The Sacred Triduum begins on Holy Thursday, as we reenact the Lord's Last Supper, which He shared with His apostles on the night He was betrayed and arrested. This is one of the most beautiful and solemn liturgies of the entire liturgical year. On this night, our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist and the Sacred Priesthood. Our Mass of the Lord’s Supper at OLM is at 7:00 pm and the Church remains open until Midnight for prayer before the Altar of Repose as we recall our Lord’s time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

On Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion and death of our Lord, we have the veneration of the Cross. We reverence the Cross in order to show honor and respect for Christ's sacrifice for our sake. There is no consecration of the Eucharist on this day, and the Communion we receive is from the  Holy Thursday Mass.

We will mark our Savior’s crucifixion with Stations of the Cross at 3:00 pm, the very hour our Lord is thought to have died.  And then at 7:00 pm, we celebrate the Solemn Service of Good Friday with the Veneration of the Cross.

Holy Saturday is a day of silent prayer and devotion as we recall our Savior in the tomb. We keep watch for the expectant rising of Our Savior. Only one Mass is permitted on Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil.  It is the Mother of all Vigil Masses and begins after sundown at 7:30 pm on Holy Saturday.

We begin in darkness and bless the new light as we rejoice in the Light of Christ Risen! Those who have been preparing are fully received through Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate the glory of the Resurrection and rejoice the tomb is empty and the Lord is Risen! 

We have scheduled Masses at 7:30 am, 9:00 am and 10:30 am for Easter Sunday.  The OLM School Cafeteria is available for any overflow and a large screen will air Easter Mass live for those gathered there.  This should accommodate everyone who wishes to come to Mass in person on Easter Sunday.  Holy Communion will be brought to the school for those participating from the cafeteria. 

It is hard to believe that just one year ago our Church was locked and we celebrated Holy Week with just the priests and sisters of OLM.  The Sacred Triduum, standing at the heart of the Easter season, is an intense immersion in the fundamental mystery of what it is to be Christian.

During these holy days, we suffer with Christ so that we might rise with Him at His glorious Resurrection. Holy Week is a time to clear our schedules of unnecessary activities. Our minds and hearts should be fixed on Jesus and what He did for us. Let us bear the Cross so that may be worthy of wearing the crown He wore.

St. Bruno reminds us: “While the world changes, the Cross stands firm.” Holy Week 2021 our Churches are open!  Come to the Triduum and have a Blessed and Prayerful Holy Week!  Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless.