What's Blooming at OLM?

Dear Parishioners:                       

 The old adage says: "April showers bring May flowers." The Month of May begins this week as the flowers begin to bloom. But many other things are blooming here at Our Lady of Mercy!

It is a centuries-old custom of Catholics to dedicate the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The month of May is always part of the Easter season, the fifty days we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord. It is also a time of awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. May as a Marian month fits well with the liturgical celebrations of Easter and Pentecost as we recall Mary's great joy in her Son's victory over death and her presence with the apostles in the upper room, prayerfully awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.     

In 1965, Saint Pope Paul VI wrote an encyclical entitled  Mense Maio on the month of May. He writes that May is an occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven. During this month, Christians, both in Church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance."  

May is the Month of Mother Mary! It's a time to take out our Rosary, dust it off, and put it to work, praying for Mother Mary's powerful intercession. Also, May is the time to come to May Devotions! Each Monday night at 7:00 pm we gather as a parish family under the patronage of Our Lady in adoration of the Eucharistic Lord, pray the Rosary, and receive Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It is a beautiful and prayerful way to express our devotion to the Mother of God!    

During May, we celebrate the First Holy Communion for the children of our parish family. It is always a joyful and faith-filled day for the First Communion Class and their families. We celebrate with two Frist Communion Masses this year on Saturday, May 13th. Please continue to pray for the First Communion Class as they prepare for this important day.

The late Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a First Communion Class in Rome. He told the children: "I remember my First Communion day very well. It was a lovely Sunday in March 1936. It was a sunny day, and the Church looked very beautiful. But at the heart of my joyful and beautiful memories is this one: I understood that Jesus had entered my heart. He had actually visited me. And with Jesus, God himself was with me. And I realized that this is a gift of love that is truly worth more than all the other things that life can give." 

We honor the great gift of Motherhood on Mother's Day in May. On Mother's Day, the First Communion Class will celebrate the May Crowning at the 10:30 am Mass. It is always a beautiful ceremony as we crown our Blessed Mother on Mother's Day as Queen of Heaven and Earth. The May Crowning expresses Mother Mary's significance in the Church and our lives. A traditional celebration of her Queenship as the Mother of Jesus Christ. We sing those beautiful words of the hymn Bring Flowers of the Rarest: "O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today! Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May." 

Memorial Day is also in May.  It is a day for patriotism and pride as we honor and remember those men and women who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. We prayerfully recall the sacrifice so many men and women made to preserve freedom and liberty for our nation and many others worldwide.

President Ronald Reagan spoke of its meaning at a Memorial Day Service at Arlington National Cemetery: "The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves."

April Showers, do bring May Flowers! The flowers of family, faith, devotion, love, and sacrifice bloom at OLM in May! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox! Go Bruins!

"The Family that Prays together Stays together!"

Dear Parishioners:                        

Fr. Patrick Peyton leads a Rosary Rally.

 In December 2017, Pope Francis promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Father Patrick Peyton, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, thus recognizing him as Venerable by the Roman Catholic Church. It is the beginning of the cause for sainthood for Father Peyton.                

Older Catholics may remember Father Peyton, often known as the Rosary Priest, from the Rosary Rallies he organized beginning in the late 1940s. These Rallies were held across the globe, and hundreds of thousands of Catholics gathered together to pray the Rosary. These rallies were the Catholic version of the Billy Graham Crusades. Father Peyton often said, "The family that prays together stays together," and "A world at prayer is a world at peace."

The need for families to pray together and for peace in our world is as urgent today as they were fifty years ago. Prayer in our life is essential for Catholics. The Rosary is one of the most excellent ways to pray for ourselves, our families, and our world. The great saints and popes all attest to his fact. The Venerable Pope Pius XII said: "We put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils of our times."

This is true today as the world needs this spiritual weapon to combat violence, war, racism, hatred, fear, anxiety, persecution, illness, and hardship. Much of the power of the Rosary comes from the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, said: "I take refuge, then, in prayer, and turn to Mary, and our Lord always triumphs."

People often ask others to pray for them. Still, so much more can be gained by asking Mary to pray for us since she is close to God and can bring our intentions directly to Him. It is said that the Rosary is a chain that links heaven and earth, with one end in our hands and the other in the hands of Our Holy Mother. Through Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de Rupe, the Blessed Virgin revealed fifteen specific promises for those who pray the Rosary, including receiving special graces and protection. She even stated, "You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary."

With such incredible promises and encouragement to pray the Rosary directly from Our Lady, one would think that devotion to the Rosary would be much more widespread, especially among Catholics. However, many still view the Rosary as a repetitive, monotonous, and outdated form of prayer instead of the efficacious tool it is for us.

Please take some time this month to pray the Rosary. You can easily do so while driving to work or before bed at night. Come to May Devotions on Monday nights at 7:00 pm as we gather together as a parish family to pray the Rosary. As St. Padre Pio said: "Pray the Rosary frequently. It costs so little, and it's worth so much!"  

You may see the children of our First Communion Class practicing in Church this week for their big day. The great celebration of faith for these children, their families, and our entire parish family is next Saturday. Please keep them in your prayers and offer a Rosary for them as they prepare to receive the Eucharistic Lord truly present in Holy Communion for the first time.

I have received word from the Superior of the Franciscan Apostolic, Mother Aida. She wrote to inform me that Sister Soledad is moving to a new assignment in Peoria, Illinois, beginning this July. Sister is returning home to the Philippines at the end of this month to visit with her family and community for several weeks before taking up her new assignment. Please keep her in your prayers. We thank her for her ministry and presence with us at OLM over these last three years.

Happily for us, Sister Lourdes and Sister Emma will remain at OLM! While we are sad to see Sister Soledad leave our parish, we are grateful to Mother Aida for the good news that Sister Lourdes and Sister Emma are staying at OLM. However, at this time, no other Sister is available to be assigned to OLM. We are so blessed to have such holy, joyful, and humble sisters serve our parish and school! Please pray for more vocations to the consecrated life!

  Pick up your Rosary beads this month! Come to Devotions on Monday in May! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox! Go Bruins! Go Celtics!!! 

Spring is the Time of Plans & Projects

Dear Parishioners:                       

The OLM Girls 5th/6th Grade Basketball Team were crowned RI CAL State Champions and runner-up of the New England Championship. Here they pose with Fr. Mahoney and Bishop Henning.

Spring has sprung! Spring means basketball has ended, and baseball begins! I want to congratulate the OLM Basketball teams and coaches for a great Catholic Athletic League Basketball season. Several teams made it to the playoffs, and our Girls' 5th/6th Grade Team was crowned the RI CAL State Champions and went on to be the runner-up for the New England Championship! A great season for OLM, and we are truly grateful for all the parent volunteers who help coach, score the games, and assist in so many ways.

Fr. Mahoney had a good season as a First Time CAL Basketball Coach, and we thank him! We thank Jerry O'Connell, our new OLM School Athletic Director, for his leadership. We thank our players for an outstanding season of sportsmanship on the court. Now on to baseball and soccer! We look forward to honoring our OLM School athletes, coaches, and their families at the Annual OLM School Athletic Banquet on Sunday, May 21st. It is a great way to celebrate our sports program as we honor athletic achievement and Catholic values!

Speaking of banquets, we celebrate the Annual Spring Fling for OLM School next Saturday night. This is the most important fundraiser for our School of the entire year. We have a live and silent auction with a host of great times available. It is always a great night to celebrate our School with parents and friends of OLM School. If you cannot attend, consider donating or bidding on an auction item online. Spring also means that our OLM Religious Education Program is finishing for the year.

Next Sunday is the last weekend for Religious Ed Classes and the final 5:00 PM Sunday Evening Mass. Our First Communion class continues to meet and prepare in the coming weeks for the May 13th Celebration of First Communion Masses. This Saturday morning, Fr. Mahoney and I will interview our many First Communion Candidates and their parents. It isn't a theological investigation or test of knowledge but rather a friendly discussion about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the importance of Sunday Mass in the lives of all Catholics. Please pray for our First Communion Candidates as they continue to prepare for this important moment in their lives.

Pope Francis said in a First Communion Homily, "The Eucharist is such a great gift. That's why going to Mass is so important. Going to Mass not just to pray but to receive Communion, the Bread and Body of Christ. It saves us, forgives us, and makes us one with the Father. How beautiful! It's important for children to properly prepare for their First Communion so that there's no child without this Sacrament. The Eucharist is a firm step towards Jesus, along with Baptism and Confirmation." 

The great Russian Writer Leo Tolstoy once said: "Spring is the time of plans and projects." He was correct, especially at OLM, where Spring always means plans and projects! The Spring weather helps as we can spruce up the property and the Church Plant. It has also enabled our Church Door Project to resume. Next week, the painting and preparation of the Church door frames begins. This is the first step in installing our new Church Doors.

As you can imagine, this is quite a process as our church doors are nearly sixty years old. Soon the new and quite beautiful doors are to be installed. We hope that the project lasts only a few weeks. We've patiently waited for these doors with delays due to the pandemic, but hope springs eternal!! The Grateful for God's Providence Capital Campaign funds the Church Door Project.

Your generosity in this campaign has enabled us to install new roofs on the Convents, a new roof and gutters in the School, and new boilers in the Rectory and Convents. We have put off the restoration of our parking lots and cemetery road until the price of asphalt comes down. We hope to restore the Franciscan Convent Chapel this summer. I thank all those who pledged to the campaign and have continued to fulfill their pledges. We are grateful to you for your generous support. We are also grateful to God for the blessings we enjoy at Our Lady of Mercy Parish! 

Spring has arrived at OLM! As St. John Vianney said: "It's always springtime in the heart that loves God!" Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!!!

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.