Time to Make Our Easter Duty

Dear Parishioners:                  

How have the Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving been going? Lent ends soon! It officially ends when the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday begins. This is because the Mass of the Lord's Supper ushers in the Sacred Triduum, the liturgical season in its own right and the shortest of the liturgical year.            

Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet by Ford Madox Brownn (1821–1893)

As for the Lenten self-denial, we take up (like giving up cigars or sweets) those are voluntary penances we make as personal sacrifices. As voluntary penances, they can be set aside, and we can take a break from them on Sundays and Solemnities during Lent.

That said, Sundays are indeed part of the Lenten season. Only after the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday should we again enjoy the pleasures and goodies we've been fasting from as acts of penance during Lent. However, Good Friday is the next day, a day of devout prayer, strict fasting, and abstinence from meat. It is not a day to indulge in the pleasures and comforts we sacrificed in Lent!

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, as we celebrate Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem astride a colt. It anticipates his coming Passion, suffering, and death. The Passion of Our Lord is solemnly proclaimed at all Palm Sunday Masses.  We gather in Mercy Park before the 10:30 am Mass for the Solemn Procession of Palms.  Palm branches are distributed and blessed at all Masses on Palm Sunday.

Christ Crucified by Diego Velázquez, 1632

The celebration of Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, the most important week of the year. It is a week of great reverence and deep reflection that spans the final days of Jesus's life—from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It is the most sacred seven days of the Catholic Church.

On Wednesday of Holy Week, Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, betrayed Jesus, handing Christ over to the high priests and Temple guards for thirty pieces of silver. Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus. Since he acted as their spy, this day has become traditionally known as "Spy Wednesday."

At Holy Thursday's Mass of the Lord's Supper, we mark Jesus' institution of the Eucharist and Priesthood at the Last Supper. On Good Friday, we recall the Lord's Passion and Crucifixion with the Stations of the Cross and the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion and Veneration of the Cross. We celebrate the Easter Vigil, the Mother of All Vigils, on Holy Saturday after sunset at 8:00 p.m.!

At this Vigil, we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord and the Sacraments of Initiation. Ten candidates are to be baptized,   received into the Catholic Church, and receive the Sacraments of   Communion and Confirmation. We pray for them as they continue to prepare for such an important celebration of faith. 

As we welcome them into the Church, we must take up our Easter Duty. The Easter Duty is the obligation to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion during Easter. If we already have the good practice of regular  Confession and worthy reception of Holy Communion, we can fulfill our Easter Duty without much effort.

Although most Catholics receive  Communion frequently throughout the year, including Eastertime, the Easter Duty sets a minimum obligation of once a year for those who do not. Confession is also part of making our Easter Duty.  Every Catholic should go to Confession regularly, but at a minimum, at least once a year, they must make a Sacramental confession of their sins.

A Church Interior with Women at the Confessional by Ludwig Passini 1863; Rome, Italy

When considering these sacramental duties, we must recognize that the Church proposes the Easter Duty to help us grow in grace and gain us Heaven. The Easter Duty stems from two related Church laws: to receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season and to receive absolution in Sacramental Confession for our mortal sins at least once a year.                 

Saint Pope John Paul II said, "Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God."

We have two guest confessors available for confession this Monday at 6:00 p.m. On the Monday of Holy Week, two Dominican Friars will hear Confessions for two hours beginning at 6:00 p.m. These are great opportunities to fulfill our Easter Duty.

Do good. Be well. God Bless. Remember, Fridays are for Stations of the Cross and Fish and Chips!

.

Living the Liturgical Calendar

Dear Parishioners:                    

Pope Gregory XIII

 Spring has arrived, and March is ending. April arrives on Tuesday as we welcome April Fools’ Day! According to tradition, one of the most likely origins of April Fools' Day is the Western world's switching from the Julian calendar to the Christian Gregorian calendar in the 1500s.   The Gregorian calendar was named after Pope Gregory XIII, who instituted it in 1582. The Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, is a solar calendar with 365 days in a normal year and 366 leap days every four years.

For centuries, scientists have been grappling with how to address problems created by the Julian calendar. One concern is that, due to imperfect calculations, there is a ten-day difference between the calendar and the perceived reality of seasons and lunar cycles. Why did the Catholic Church get involved? A primary reason is that the Church was among the parties most affected by this discrepancy, especially regarding calculating when Easter would fall each year.

Many people don't realize that the date of Easter isn't chosen at random. Instead, it's decided using a systematic, scientific calculation based on the Spring Equinox and lunar cycles. Every year.  Easter falls on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. That works well for us with the Gregorian calendar but not when the Julian calendar was used. Because of the ten-day discrepancy that has existed for hundreds of years, the date that the Church chose for Easter no longer matched actual lunar realities.

Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

The Roman Catholic Church follows the Gregorian Calendar, and the Orthodox Church follows the Julian Calendar. Therefore, Easter is often celebrated on different dates by each Church. However, Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, has stated that ongoing conversations between Catholic and Orthodox Churches are about a possible agreement on the common date for Easter. Pope Francis has also expressed his support for a unified Easter celebration between Eastern and Western Churches.

Easter Sunday is April 20 in 2025, almost as late as it can be. This year, both the Eastern and Western Churches will celebrate it on the same date. However, Holy Week coincides with the school's Spring Vacation. The OLM Holy Week Schedule is in the bulletin for those not on vacation. If you are traveling during Holy Week, you can find Holy Week Mass times at masstimes.org online. Holy Week is celebrated in nearly every country in the world!

Join us at the Living Stations of the Cross this Friday.  Our OLM Middle School students perform this powerful meditation on the Stations of the Cross at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.  All parishioners are most welcome to come pray, reflect, and meditate at the Living Stations of the Cross. 

Mark your calendars as next weekend, the Saturday Evening Mass moves to a 5:00 pm start time, and Saturday Confession time moves to a 4:00 pm start time. Please note this schedule change and tell your family, friends, neighbors, and fellow parishioners. This schedule remains in place until November 1.

Operation Rice Bowl, a practical act of almsgiving during Lent.

St. Jerome said: "Fasting without almsgiving is entirely without benefit; fasting with almsgiving is twice as good; but fasting without almsgiving is no good at all." How's your almsgiving going this Lent? There are many worthwhile charities to support with your Lenten Almsgiving. The Catholic Charity Appeal helps our Church serve the poor and needy of Rhode Island. Please make a gift today.  The Catholic Relief Services Operation Rice Bowl helps feed the hungriest of the world. Fill those Rice Bowls picked up on Ash Wednesday. OLM Outreach helps serve the poor and needy of our community with food. Your support is appreciated. Pray, fast, and give alms!!

Pope Francis made his first public appearance in over a month last Sunday, offering a brief greeting and apostolic blessing from a window of Gemelli Hospital. He looks weak and tired, so please pray for our Holy Father. He has now returned home to the Vatican for two months of necessary rest and convalescence. He will likely be unable to celebrate Holy Week Services in public.

Do good. Be well. God Bless. See you at the Living Stations of the Cross on Friday! Pray for Pope Francis.       

The Party is Over! Back to Fasting & Prayer

Dear Parishioners:                  

We had two great celebrations this past week.  The St. Patrick's Day Mass and Reception were a grand time, and we are grateful to all those who made it possible. We thank our homilist, Fr.  Justin Brophy, OP, for an outstanding sermon on the true meaning of St. Patrick's Day.  We also thank our musicians, those who helped with the reception, and especially Mrs. Sinead Campion for reading in Irish. She always does a terrific job!

On St. Joseph's Day, we had another beautiful Mass, and we thank Fr. Nathan Ricci for celebrating the Mass in Italian. Afterward, everyone enjoyed the zeppoles! I thank all those who made it possible, especially Dr. Rocky Ruggerio and Dr. Anthony Bruzzese, for reading in Italian.

These two feasts gave us a brief respite from our Lenten fasting. However, it is time to return to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent calls us to contemplate and engage in acts of spiritual self-denial and self-discipline. We do these things because Easter is the greatest holy day of the Christian year, even above Christmas. So, we recognize that engaging in such disciplines is a good way to prepare for such an important holy day.

The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen noted that the world's attitude is summarized by the line, "First comes the feast, then comes the hangover," while the Catholic attitude is "First comes the fast, then comes the feast." Lent before Easter!

Lent lasts 40 days because 40 is the traditional number of judgments and spiritual tests in the scriptures. It relates to the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert before entering his public ministry. We imitate Christ by spending 40 days in spiritual discipline before celebrating his triumph over sin and death.

Fasting is a biblical discipline in both the Old and New Testaments. Christ expected his disciples to fast and instructed them on how to do so. We follow this pattern by fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Abstinence from certain foods is also a biblical discipline. In Daniel 10:2-3 we read, "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks." We have a practice similar to Daniel's when, as a way of commemorating the Crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday, we abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent.  We are to eat fish, a symbol of Christ, on Fridays.  It is meant to be a sacrifice as we reflect upon Christ's sacrifice for love of us. 

Also, on the Fridays of Lent, we should pray the Stations of the Cross,  privately or in common. They are also known as the Way of the Cross or Via Crucis. They commemorate Jesus's way to Calvary. The Stations of the Cross depict 14 events in the Passion of Jesus Christ, beginning with Jesus being condemned to death and ending with His body being laid in a tomb. The practice began as pious pilgrims traced his path through Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa. 

Later, the pious practice of praying at the Stations of the Cross originated in medieval Europe when pilgrims could not visit the Holy Land, so instead "visited" these Holy places through prayer. Also, St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order, authored Stations of the Cross, which did much to popularize the devotion worldwide. The pious practice eventually became the fourteen stations that adorn every Catholic Church in the world.

 The great Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori, was an Italian moral theologian and the founder of the Redemptorist Fathers. In 1791, he authored the very popular Way of the Cross, which we still use today at OLM. St. Alphonsus knew how to blend the awful reality of sin with the awesome reality of redeeming love. His Stations do not sugarcoat or gloss over evil; they also recognize the superior power of grace.

  So please join us on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. for the Stations of the Cross. As St. Francis of Assisi taught us to pray, “We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.”  Do good. Be well. God Bless. Remember, Fridays are for fish and chips and the Stations of the Cross!

Celebrating Our Faith & Heritage with St. Patrick & St. Joseph

Dear Parishioners:

I hope you enjoyed last week’s Mission with Dominican Father Henry Stephan, OP. He was an outstanding, entertaining, and insightful preacher.  In your name, I thank him for preaching the Mission and sacrificing his Spring Break to be with us.  Please continue to pray for him as he completes his doctoral studies at Notre Dame.  I hope the Mission was fruitful for you and the parish.

This week, we celebrate the two great feasts of St. Patrick and St. Joseph.  On Monday, March 17, Bishop Evans will celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day Mass at 12:05 pm.  Our St. Patrick’s Day preacher is Dominican Friar Father Justin Brophy, OP, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Providence College. Father Brophy often helps us on weekends.  We are delighted to welcome him as our St. Patrick’s Day preacher.

Join us on Monday as we honor the Apostle of Ireland, glorious St. Patrick.  Our Mass features hymns and readings in the Irish language.  Following the Mass, we gather for Irish Soda Bread, Irish Cookies, and “Irish” Coffee! 

On Wednesday, we honor the Patron of the Universal Church and the Foster-Father of our Lord, Saint Joseph.  Father Nathan Ricci, the Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese of Providence, is our celebrant and homilist for the Mass. The Mass is celebrated in Italian with the readings and hymns also in Italian.  Don’t worry, the homily is in English!!

Father Ricci is a native of Warwick and attended Bishop Hendricken High School and Providence College. He pursued his priestly studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he earned degrees at the Gregorian University in Theology and Canon Law.  He is fluent in Italian, and we are happy to have him at OLM to celebrate St. Joseph’s Day with us.

Following the St. Joseph Day Mass on Wednesday, we gather in the Church vestibule for those delicious St. Joseph Day treats, zeppoles, and “Italian” Coffee.  So, please plan on joining us as we celebrate St. Joseph! These special feasts come to us in the middle of Lent and are occasions of great joy. So, I hope you can join us in celebrating Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph.  The Masses and the receptions are always a grand time!  Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Bouna Festa di San Giuseppe!

It’s only two weeks into the Season of Lent. How is your Lent going?  How is the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving going?  Often, people begin Lent full of fervor only to fall off. They begin to neglect their Lenten promises to pray, fast, and give alms. If that’s happened in your life, begin Lent again!  The forty days of Lent are a series of mini Lents. 

If you’re not praying as fervently as you pledged, begin again.  Start again if you’re not keeping your promises to fast from vices and pleasures.  If you’ve not yet given alms sacrificially, now is the time to do so! St. Francis de Sales  says: “Have patience with all things, but first of all with yourself.”    

The Most Reverend Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop Emeritus of Providence, visits with resident of the Emmanuel House Homeless Shelter funded by the Annual Catholic Charity Appeal. Please donate today.

Speaking of almsgiving, we are getting close to reaching our parish goal of $190,000 for the 2025 Catholic Charity Appeal.  Thus far, $126,000  has been donated by only 202 parishioners. I am grateful for their generous support.  It is a great start, but we need every parish family to contribute to the appeal to be truly successful.

  If you have not yet made your gift to the CCA, please do so today. We ask every family to prayerfully consider a minimum gift of $300, payable over ten months. Pledge envelopes are available in the pews and can be returned in the collection basket, or you can pledge online.  

In 2024, a record high of 465 OLM  families contributed over $263,000. OLM has 2,200 registered parish families, so we have a long way to go this year! Please pledge your gift and help continue the great legacy of charity and compassion that has served the poor and needy in Rhode Island for 100 years! I thank you for your support.

Catherine Doherty, the Servant of God, dedicated her life to serving the poor and needy, said: “Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves. What is it that stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out without a moment’s hesitation.” This Lent, tear out what stands between you and God. Be well. Do good. God Bless. See you at Stations on Friday!

Make the Parish Mission & Make Your Lent This Year!

Dear Parishioners:    

It's Lent! St. Francis de Sales reminds us: "Lent is the autumn of the spiritual life, during which we gather fruit to keep us going for the rest of the year. Enrich yourselves with these treasures, which nobody can take from you and which cannot be destroyed. I am accustomed to say that we will not make Lent well unless we are determined to make the most of it. Let us, therefore, spend this Lent as if it were our last, and we will make it well."   These are wise words for us to live by as we begin the forty days of Lent.

Fr. Henry Stephan, OP

Making the Parish Mission this week is one way to make the most of Lent.  Fr. Henry Stephan, OP, is our Mission Preacher.  Fr. Henry is a Dominican friar ordained a priest in 2018 for the Order of Preachers, St. Joseph Province. He is a native Californian who grew up in San Jose. Father received his A.B. in Politics from  Princeton University and an S.T.L. from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies.  He later served as a parish priest in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Notre Dame. Please give him your usual warm welcome to OLM!

Father Henry is preaching all the weekend Masses this weekend. He will give a Mission Talk this week at 7:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights.  Four priests will be available for Confession at 6 pm each night before the Mission talk.  This year's Mission Theme is "Supernaturalization: Becoming a Citizen of Heaven."

“ Lent is a time of grace, a time for conversion, a time to come home to God.”

— St. Maximillian Kolbe

It is customary for every parish and a long tradition at OLM to invite a missionary priest to preach a Mission at Lent. The goal of the Mission is to help lukewarm Catholics renew their faith, convert tepid souls to greater fervor, and encourage pious souls in their good resolutions to serve God. Just as Jesus and His Apostles went from town to town preaching the Kingdom of God, so the missionary comes to our parish to encourage us to repent and renew our Catholic faith. 

Father Henry is a fine priest and an outstanding preacher, so I encourage you to make the Mission.  Try to make the entire Mission, but please join us any night for Mission Talks.  Pray for Father Henry and our parish family that our time of Mission will be fruitful. 

Lent is also a time to go to Confession. There are ample opportunities for Confession at OLM.  Each night of the Mission this week, every Monday at 6:00 pm during Lent with two priests available, and on Saturdays at 3:00 pm. We go to Confession during Lent because it's a penitential season. It is a time to focus on repentance of our sins and renewal of our faith. Making a good Confession is the best way to cleanse ourselves from sin and start fresh with a renewed focus on Christ before celebrating Easter.  As we were reminded on Ash Wednesday, "Repent and believe in the Gospel."  

Pope Francis said: "When one is in line to go to Confession, one feels all these things, even shame and guilt, but then when one finishes Confession, one leaves free, full of grace, beautiful, forgiven, and happy."

Our  First Communion Class are making their First Confessions this Saturday and next.  It is a wonderful way to prepare for their First Holy Communion by experiencing Jesus' love, mercy, and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. Pray for them as they prepare to receive the Lord truly present in the Eucharist.

We also pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, during his continued illness and hospitalization.  We pray Christ the Good Shepherd may accompany our shepherd, Pope Francis, in his illness. May God grant him strength and peace as he endures pain and discomfort. May his faithful and humble service as our Holy Father continue to be a beacon of hope for each of us who continue to serve the Kingdom of God.  

Our  Lenten Mission is a time of retreat from our regular schedule as we seek to deepen our relationship with the Lord, convert our hearts more fully to Christ, and cleanse our souls of sin. Make the Mission!  St. Maximillian Kolbe said: "Lent is a time of grace, a time for conversion, a time to come home to God." Be well. Do good. God Bless. "Come home to God" this week! See you at the Mission!

Repent and believe in the Gospel!

Dear Parishioners:    

We are on the threshold of the Holy Season of Lent.  This week, the Catholic Church begins the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence. There are four Masses on Ash Wednesday at 7:30 am, 9:00 am School Mass, 12:05 pm, and 7:00 pm.  Ashes will be imposed at all Masses. And Confession with two priests at 11:00 am and 6:00 pm.

Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. As the priest applies the ashes to a person's forehead, he speaks: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."         We are invited to accept the ashes as a visible symbol of penance. The ashes are made from blessed palm branches.  It is important to remember that Ash Wednesday is a day of penitential prayer, abstinence, and fasting.

Every Ash Wednesday, someone tells me I only remembered to abstain from eating meat "after I finished the last piece of chicken on my plate!"  Some complain about how difficult it is to skip the meat and fast. There are always questions about what constitutes a small meal. But our fasts, abstinences, extra devotions, and  self-denial are about more than just "following rules."

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the bookends to the journey of Lent, and they rightly ask each of us to make meaningful sacrifices. While we focus on the particulars, our desire for an interior life of peace should be the fuel that helps us burn through the uncomfortable days of fasting and abstinence and the forty days of doing something more.

To have a holy Lent, we need to rely upon the pillars of the season: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. Oftentimes, the most overlooked pillar of Lent is prayer. There are so many wonderful ways to pray more during Lent.   More time given to prayer during Lent should draw us closer to the Lord. OLM has ample spiritual opportunities, such as Stations of the Cross, the Mission, Confession, Adoration, and Daily Mass. Also, there are Lenten Spiritual Books and materials available to assist your prayer. All these assist us in taking up more prayer over the 40 days of Lent.

"Fasting of the body is food for the soul," said St. John Chrysostom. We fast during Lent, recalling Jesus fasting forty days in the desert.  Fasting from food, especially sweets, candy, dessert, or other things we enjoy, like coffee, cigars, or alcohol, is a sacrifice and penitential act of self-denial we offer during this season. There are many reasons for fasting during the season of Lent—an effort to join in Christ's suffering, detaching ourselves from worldly things, making more room for God in our lives, and practicing holy habits that will help us grow in virtue.

During Lent, we are asked to focus more intently on almsgiving, sacrificially giving to the poor, and performing other acts of charity. Saint Leo the Great said: "There is no more profitable practice as a companion to holy and spiritual fasting than that of almsgiving."  There are practical ways to give alms this Lent.  We begin the Catholic Charity Appeal this weekend, a most worthy charity.  Also, take home a Catholic Relief Services' Rice Bowl and fill it with money for food for the hungry over the forty days of Lent. Locally assisting OLM Outreach is another way to give alms.  

The French Catholic Philosopher René Girard once said: "Few people want to be saints nowadays, but everybody is trying to lose weight."  Lent is our time to strive to be saints! The forty days of Lent are not a time to lose weight by giving up sweets. Rather, it is a time to renew and strengthen our spiritual health through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  We pray more, fast more, and give more alms to become the saints Christ calls us to be!

Next weekend, Fr.  Henry Stephan, OP, a Dominican Friar, will lead us on our Annual OLM Parish Mission.  The complete Mission schedule and Father's biography are in the bulletin.  Fr. Henry is a fine priest and outstanding preacher, and I know you will enjoy the Mission.

In the name of the needy and poor,  I thank you for supporting the Catholic Charity Appeal. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Lent is coming: "Repent and believe in the Gospel!"