All for the Greater Glory of God, Alleluia!!

Dear Parishioners:                        
  "Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! Alleluia, He has Risen Indeed!" This is the great truth that fills our faith with meaning. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross, has risen. He has triumphed over sin and death and has overcome sorrow, anguish, and the power of darkness! After the event of Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord, nothing remains the same! We celebrated the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with great joy, hope, and faith at OLM.     

The Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday were the highlight of our liturgical year. Easter Sunday was a joyous and faith-filled day for our parish family! We thank the many volunteers and OLM Staff who make all the beauty, reverence, prayer, devotion, and solemnity of Holy Week possible at OLM.

Our OLM Maintenance Staff worked hard to clean, set up, and prepare for the celebrations. We owe them each our thanks. Once again, the OLM Decorating Committee did an outstanding job making OLM the most beautifully decorated Church in the Ocean State. We offer them our heartfelt thanks!   

We also thank our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters and their helpers who work so hard behind the scenes readying all the vestments and sacred vessels. They ensure everything is ready, clean, polished, ironed, and ready for Holy Week and Easter.  

Of course, we must thank our truly superb Altar Servers under the direction of our Senior Master of Ceremonies, Erik Carlson, who did a tremendous job serving the ceremonies of Holy Week. They were reverent and dutiful, ensuring the Sacred Liturgy was celebrated with great solemnity. They are outstanding, and we are grateful for their service to God and our parish.    

We thank Henri St. Louis, the OLM Choir, and the guest musicians for their magnificent gift of sacred music. The music for Holy Week and Easter was uplifting and raised our worship and praise of God to great heights. I thank them for their great work providing such majestic and beautiful music.    

We thank the great work of our Lectors in proclaiming the Word of God and our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for reverently distributing Communion to such large crowds. We offer thanks to our dutiful Ushers who do such great work with hospitality and keeping good order during Mass.

And I also offer my deep gratitude to Fr. Mahoney, our Associate Pastor. He worked tremendously hard in making Holy Week truly meaningful for our parish. Seeing him celebrate his first Easter Vigil as a priest was a great joy. He is an outstanding priest full of zeal and holiness, and I am grateful for his presence here at OLM.

However, we must express all our gratitude to the one who truly deserves our thanks and praise, Almighty God! God is the great giver of all that is beautiful, true, and joyful. Thus, we thank Him for the many blessings we received during Holy Week and the Easter Season! St. Ignatius of Loyal reminds us: " "All for the greater glory of God!"

Thousands across the globe entered the Catholic Church and received the Sacraments of Initiation on Easter. At OLM, we continue to rejoice with the three adults fully initiated into the Catholic Faith at the Easter Vigil. And also with our youngest new Catholic, a beautiful baby girl baptized on Easter Sunday. We welcome them and pledge our promise to continue to pray for them. With them, we echo the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch: "I wish not merely to be called Christian but also to be Christian."

Easter is just beginning and is a season of fifty days, so we continue to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord.  Let us continue to live our faith with joy and fidelity as we celebrate Easter every Sunday at Holy Mass. St. John Paul II said: "Sunday recalls the day of Christ's Resurrection. It is Easter which returns week by week, celebrating Christ's victory over sin and death, the fulfillment in him of the first creation and the dawn of 'the new creation.'"

I am away this week to visit my sisters, who have been enjoying the winter in Florida this year. Fr. Mahoney is away this week from Wednesday until Saturday on the OLM 8th Grade Graduation Trip to Washington, DC! We thank Bishop Evans for covering Masses during our absences!  Be well. Do good. A joyous Easter Season!

Alleluia, He has Risen! Happy Easter!

Dear Parishioners:                                 

Happy Easter! "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!" Easter is the feast of all feasts, as the saints have proclaimed throughout the ages. We rejoice for the new members of our Church baptized and received at the Easter Vigil.    Easter is a great cause for rejoicing because it is the promise of eternal life fulfilled. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, has broken the bonds of death and restored us to life. Saints have announced the message unceasingly from past to present. Pope St. John Paul II said: "We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!"

"Easter" comes from Old English, meaning the "East." The sun, which rises in the East, bringing light, warmth, and hope, is a symbol for the Christians of the rising Christ, the true Light of the world. The Paschal Candle, blessed at the Easter Vigil, with its Light breaks through the darkness of the night. It is a central symbol of this divine Light, which is Christ. It is kept near the ambo throughout the Easter Season.  

  The Easter Vigil is the "Mother of All Vigils," and Easter Sunday is the greatest of all Sundays. Easter is the principal feast of the Church year. Pope St. Leo the Great teaches that Easter is "the greatest feast" and Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter. Therefore, the season of Easter is the most important of all liturgical times. 

  The octave of Easter comprises eight days which stretch from the first to the second Sunday of Easter. It is a way to prolong the joy of the initial day. There are 50 days of Easter, from the first Sunday to Pentecost. Our celebration of the joy of glorified life and the victory over death is expressed most fully in every Christian's great resounding cry: Alleluia!

  The Catechism of the Church teaches: "The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness." Thus, all faith flows from our faith in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. St. Paul teaches us: "If Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, is your faith." 

  If it truly happened, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most extraordinary and amazing event in human history. If it did not, our religion is no more than singing happy songs, having wishful thinking, and being nice people.

 It is easy to rejoice in Easter and focus only on the beauty of spring and the hope of eternal life. Still, these are only mere sentiments if Jesus didn't rise from the dead. But he did! So rejoice in the real reason for the season!

  Let the crucified and risen Christ fill our lives with his Light as we begin this glorious season! What we hear in the Gospel and what we celebrate at Holy Mass are not simply a historical remembrance of things past. Scripture, the Sacraments, and the mysteries of redemption are living realities here and now. We sing "Alleluia" at Easter because the Risen Christ is alive and active, not some historical figure. Jesus is always "present" in both dimensions, having passed outside space and time. Therefore, Easter is "today" every bit as much as it was 2,000 years ago.

  From the earliest centuries, Christians have always recognized that every first day of the week, every Sunday, is "a little Easter." St. Jerome writes: "Sunday is the day of the resurrection. It is the day of Christians; it is our day." The earliest Christians observed Sunday at all costs, even though it was a secular workday in the ancient world. Sometimes, they paid with their lives.    The early martyrs of North Africa said to their Roman persecutors: "Without fear of any kind, we have celebrated the Lord's Supper because it cannot be missed; that is our law. We cannot live without the Lord's Supper." 

  As we continue to rejoice at Easter, may we echo the words of the martyrs: "We cannot live without the Lord's Supper." Sunday Mass is our true feast of faith! It would be a tremendous Easter gift and great spiritual kindness if we were to bring back our relatives, friends, and neighbors who do not regularly attend Sunday Mass. On this Easter Sunday, as you enjoy Easter Brunch or Dinner with them, ask God for the courage to invite them back!

Fr. Mahoney and I wish you and your families a blessed, joyful, grace-filled Easter. Be well. Do good. God Bless! A Happy and Holy  Easter!

Holy Week, The Week that Changed the World!

Dear Parishioners:                                     

We rejoice that hundreds of people came to Our Lady of Mercy last Saturday for All-Day Confessions. As the Gospel of Saint Luke reminds us: “I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”        

We thank the volunteers who helped greet people and welcomed them to OLM. We also thank the priests who helped to hear Confessions, some for two or three hours! Truly it was a great day full of mercy and forgiveness for so many! If you couldn’t make it to All-Day Confessions, there is one more opportunity before Easter. This Holy Week, we offer Confessions on Wednesday night, not the usual Monday night, due to the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral on Monday evening. Four priests will be available from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm for Confession on Wednesday.

Our forty days of Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are ending. We begin Holy Week on Palm Sunday by recalling Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem to accomplish the Paschal Mystery. At the heart of our faith is the Paschal Mystery: the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ. All of salvation history leads to and goes forth from these saving events.

We call this “Holy Week” because it is the holiest week of the Church Year. It is the Week that Changed the World! St. Josemaría Escriva said: “The tragedy of the Passion brings to fulfillment our own life and the whole of human history. We can’t let Holy Week be just a kind of commemoration. It means contemplating the mystery of Jesus Christ as something which continues to work in our souls. The Christian must be altered – Christus, ipse Christus: another Christ, Christ Himself. “

Our celebration of Holy Week begins this Palm Sunday as we remember in faith the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem to begin his final week and initiate his Passion. Today, as we receive the palm branches, we may consider ourselves part of that vast crowd. How will we journey with Jesus this week? Let the palm remind us to praise Christ with our prayerful presence during the Sacred Triduum. Join us this week for the Sacred Triduum. Our celebration is a powerful and profoundly prayerful expression of our faith.

Holy Thursday begins the Sacred Triduum with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:00 pm. At this Mass, we recall the institution of the Eucharist and the Sacred Priesthood by Jesus Christ. The Church remains open until Midnight for private prayer and devotion before the Eucharistic Lord at the Altar of Repose.

On Good Friday, we recall the Lord’s Passion and Crucifixion. It is a day of prayer, fasting, and abstinence from meat. We are urged to keep Good Friday free of work, social activities, and unnecessary distractions like phones, TV, radio, the internet, and social media. Rather we should devote ourselves to private prayer and reflection as well as communal prayer and worship. On Good Friday at 3:00 pm, we pray the Stations of the Cross, and at 7:00 pm, we celebrate the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and venerate the Cross.

In our prayer, devotion, and veneration of the Cross, we echo St. Francis of Assisi, who said: “We adore you, and we bless you, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all the churches which are in the whole world because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.”

On Holy Saturday, we recall Jesus in the tomb as we pray and prepare for the Easter Vigil. The Easter Vigil Mass is at 7:30 pm and is the only Mass allowed on this day. We begin in total darkness as we recall the death of Christ, and then the Church comes alive with light as we recall his glorious Resurrection. We will baptize and receive several people fully into the Catholic Faith at the Easter Vigil. Pray for them as they join our Church. They have been preparing for months by studying the Catholic Faith. We congratulate them, welcome them, and promise our prayers for them.

On Easter Sunday, we rejoice at Masses at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, and 10:30 am. There is no 5:00 pm evening Mass on Easter Sunday. Join us this Holy Week and enter fully into the Sacred Mysteries of our faith. Let the Week that Changed the World change your life! Be well. Do good. God Bless! Have a Blessed Holy Week. 

Lent Leads Us To Holy Week

Bishop John Noonan of Orlando and Bishop Richard Henning of Providence join with the OLM Pastor, Father Bernard A. Healey, and Associate Pastor, Fr. Daniel Mahoney, following the St. Patrick’s Day Mass, March 17, 2023

We had two great celebrations on St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day last week. I am grateful to Bishop John Noonan from Orlando for coming to OLM to celebrate the St. Patrick's Day Mass on March 17th. He did a fantastic job, and the Mass was beautiful and joyful. I hope you attended and enjoyed it, as well as the Irish Soda Bread and Coffee with Baileys Irish Cream!

We are grateful to our Coadjutor Bishop Richard G. Henning, who concelebrated the St. Patrick's Day Mass and then came back to celebrate the St. Joseph's Day Mass in Italian. What a great way to welcome our new Bishop with two great celebrations. We thank him for his presence at our parish and look forward to welcoming him to OLM again.

I thank the many people who helped make the celebrations joyful and festive. Our readers, Sinead Campion, who read in Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and Doctors Rocky Ruggerio and Anthony Bruzzese, who read in Italian on St. Joseph's Day. The music at both Masses was beautiful. We thank our OLM Music Director Henri St. Louis and all the musicians who joined him.

These two great celebrations are a mere prelude to the celebrations of Holy Week, which begins next week. Another fantastic event at OLM is our Annual Living Stations of the Cross, performed by our OLM Middle School. It is this Friday, March 31st, at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm. It is a very powerful dramatic presentation of the Stations of the Cross. It is a beautiful way to prepare for Holy Week prayerfully, so mark your calendars and plan on attending.

St. Teresa of Avila said, "Let us look to the cross and be filled with peace, knowing that Christ has walked this road and walks it now with us and all our brothers and sisters."     

Next weekend we celebrate Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified.    Palm Branches are to be blessed at all Masses. There will be a procession before 10:30 am Mass from Mercy Park. We ask all attending the 10:30 am Mass to gather at Mercy Park before the Mass. Holy Week commences with our celebration of Palm Sunday.

Also, our Mass schedule changes next Saturday as the 4:00 pm Saturday Evening Mass moves to a 5:00 pm start time. Confessions on Saturday afternoon move from a 3:00 pm start time to 4:00 pm. Be sure to plan accordingly.

This weekend we had All-Day Confessions on Saturday from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm with dozens of priests helping hear Confessions. We thank them for their priestly service in helping with this important day. We also thank the many volunteers who assisted the hundreds of people coming to OLM for Confession. If you have not yet made a good Confession, plenty of opportunity is left to do so before Easter.

Saint Pope John XXIII taught: "Doing penance for one's sins is a first step towards obtaining forgiveness and winning eternal salvation. That is the clear and explicit teaching of Christ. No one can fail to see how justified and right the Catholic Church has always been in constantly insisting on this. She is the spokesman for her divine Redeemer. No individual Christian can grow in perfection, nor can Christianity gain in vigor, except on penance."

Ecce homo ( Behold the Man) by Antonio Ciseri, c. 1871

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday as we prayerfully proclaim the Passion of our Lord at all the Masses. St. Paul of the Cross said: "The remembrance of the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the door through which the soul enters into intimate union with God, interior recollection and most sublime contemplation." As we anticipate the holiest time of the year and the celebration of Holy Week, may we do so with a prayerful recollection and contemplation of our Lord's Passion.

Please return your donations for the CRS Rice Bowl Collection on Palms Sunday.  It’s always helpful if you strike a check or use bills instead of coins! The Holy Week Schedule is in the bulletin. However, Lent does not officially end until the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday evening. So continue praying, fasting, and giving alms. Hope to see you at the Living Stations of the Cross on Friday. Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless! 

Lent's Not Over! Don't Give Up! Pray, Fast & Give Alms!

Dear Parishioners:                       

Saint Pope John Paul II said: "Lent is a time of truth. Christians, called by the Church to prayer, penance, fasting, and self-sacrifice, place themselves before God and recognize themselves, and they rediscover themselves."                                             How is your Lent going as we enter the Fourth Week of Lent? How are the prayer, penance, fasting, and self-sacrifice going? Have you slipped from your Lenten resolution to fast from something or make more time for prayer? Have you made a good Sacramental Confession of your sins? People often ask me what to do if they break their Lenten resolution. Do they have to find some new resolution? Should they give up and try next Lent? First, don't worry. We are supposed to fail in Lent.

During his 40-day fast,  Jesus had many temptations and travails, which he overcame. But we are made of lesser stuff. We are weaker and often fail.  We lose heart. We fall. We eat what we told ourselves we would give up. We lose our patience. We are supposed to fail in Lent.

 St. Francis of Assisi once went to an island for a 40-day Lenten fast, leaving Ash Wednesday morning and returning Holy Thursday morning. He intended to not eat or drink for forty days in imitation of Christ. But the saintly Francis only made it 39 days! He stopped one day short out of reverence for Christ. This great saint shows us that the point of the 40 days is not to make it but to fail.

Lent shows us that we are weak. It reminds us how human and accustomed we are to our comforts. Therefore, by breaking our resolutions, we prove this. Thus, we go to Jesus because he alone has the divine power and strength to save and forgive us for our weaknesses and failures.

Through our Lenten good works and resolutions, we greatly appreciate what Jesus has done for us. We begin to understand what he continues to do to enlighten, strengthen, and free us from the darkness of sin and ignorance. There are two more weeks of Lent, so don’t give up. Don't feel like you're an epic failure if you don't make it through Lent with your promises and resolutions. Take them back up when you break them. Don't quit! Persevere! Because if you fail, you've achieved Lent's ultimate purpose: realizing that we are weak and need Jesus Christ all the more in our lives!

We can only persevere in our Lenten resolutions if Christ is in our lives. I have met people who boast of their Lenten resolutions yet have not attended Sunday Mass in years. This makes no sense and defeats the purpose of Lent. If we don't seek Christ at Mass, where he feeds, nourishes, and strengthens us, then what good is  a Lenten resolution like not drinking alcohol or not eating sweets. It’s an act of pride rather than a true Lenten penance.

Lenten resolutions are empty if they don’t strengthen our relationship with Jesus. There is no more intimate encounter with Jesus Christ than worthily receiving Him in Holy Communion at Mass.  Our encounter with Christ is also strengthened when we humbly confess our sins in the Sacrament of Confession. He knows our sins already. He is watching and waiting for us to be humble and contrite and go to Him in Confession.

Next Saturday, here at OLM, we have All-Day Confessions from 9:00 am until 300pm with four priest confessors available all day. A great opportunity for every sinner to repent and be forgiven by God's mercy in the Sacrament of Confession.

This Sunday is March 19th, but it is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. So this year, the Solemnity of St. Joseph is transferred to Monday, March 20th.  Our St. Joseph Day Mass celebration is at 12:05 pm Mass on Monday. Mass is celebrated in Italian, and a reception follows with Italian Coffee and delicious Zeppoles!

We welcome Bishop Henning as the celebrant and homilist of the St. Joseph Day Mass. While he is not of Italian heritage, he does speak Italian fluently. In Italy, St. Joseph's Day is celebrated as Father's Day, and Bishop Henning is our Spiritual Father, so it's a Feast Day for him! I hope you join us as we celebrate St. Joseph,  our Italian heritage, and welcome Bishop Henning to our parish.   

It’s still Lent, don’t give up!  Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless! Welcome to OLM,  Bishop Henning! Buona Festa di San Giuseppe! 

Celebrating Our Catholic Faith on St. Patrick's Day!

Dear Parishioners:                                    

I hope you made it to the Parish Mission this past week. Dominican Friar Father Justin Brophy, our Mission Preacher, did an outstanding job preaching. In your name, I thank him for taking time from his busy schedule and giving up his Spring Break to be here at OLM. His words provided much food for thought as we continue to renew our relationship with Jesus in this Lenten Season.

We celebrate the Feast of Saint Patrick the Apostle of Ireland this Friday. Bishop John Noonan, the Bishop of Orlando, Florida, will celebrate the St. Patrick's Day Mass at 12:05 pm. The Mass features Irish hymns and readings in Irish. A reception will follow the Mass with Irish Coffee and Irish Soda Bread. 

Bishop John Noonan of Orlando

Bishop Noonan is a native of Limerick, Ireland. He immigrated to New York at the age of 18. He later relocated to Miami, where his calling to the priesthood led him to St. John Vianney College.   He was ordained a priest in 1983 and Auxiliary Bishop of Miami in 2005. In 2010 he was named Bishop of Orlando.

As a priest of Miami, he served as the Rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary, where I first met him over twenty years ago. He's been to OLM to celebrate Confirmation in years past, and I know you will warmly welcome him back.

St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated since around the ninth century. The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland but in America. Records show that a St. Patrick's Day parade was held on March 17, 1601, in a Spanish colony in St. Augustine, Florida. The Spanish Colony's Irish vicar Ricardo Artur organized the St. Patrick's Day parade.

More than a century later, homesick Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched into New York City on March 17, 1772, to honor the Irish patron saint. Enthusiasm for the St. Patrick's Day parades in New York City, Boston, Newport, and other early American cities grew. Sadly for some people, the celebration of St. Patrick's Day is nothing more than a secular occasion for silly Irish hats, green beer, and drunken debauchery.

Yet St. Patrick's Day is traditionally a spiritual and religious occasion in Ireland. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. While on St. Patrick's Day, we celebrate the Irish heritage of many Americans and their contribution to the Church and Country over the centuries. It is a day to celebrate our Catholic Faith. Glorious St. Patrick brought the Catholic Faith to Ireland, so we celebrate by attending Mass. See you on Friday! Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

Saint Joseph

March 19 falls on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, so the Solemnity of St. Joseph is moved to Monday, March 20. We will celebrate St Joseph's Day with a Mass with prayers, readings, and hymns in Italian. A reception of Italian Coffee and Zeppoles will follow the Mass. We are honored to welcome our new Coadjutor Bishop, Richard Henning, to OLM as the celebrant and homilist of the Mass. St. Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church.    

Still, in Rhode Island, he is the unofficial Patron of Italo-Americans. Therefore, we celebrate the heritage of Italian Americans and their many contributions to the Church and Country. Please attend the St. Joseph Day Mass on Monday, March 20, at 12:05 pm.  Buona Festa di San Giuseppe!    

As we continue to celebrate this Sacred Season of Lent, if you still need to go to the Sacrament of Confession, I encourage you to do so. There is Confession every Saturday at 3:00 pm. On Mondays, two priests are available for Confessions at 6:00 pm. All Day Confessions are on Saturday, March 25, from 9:00am until 3:00pm, with four priests available all day. Also, on the Wednesday of Holy Week, there will be two hours of Confessions with four priests. Make a good Confession before Easter. You won't regret it!

St. Thomas Aquinas said: "In the life of the body, a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so, in the spiritual life, a man is sick because of sin. For that reason, he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance. "

I thank those who have pledged to the Catholic Charity Appeal. We are getting closer to our goal of $190,000. Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!