The Sacrament of Mercy at Our Lady of Mercy

Over the last two Saturdays, we heard First Confessions for our OLM First Communion Class.  It was a joyful celebration of  Christ’s mercy and forgiveness for the children and their parents.  Several priests joined us and heard Confessions for the adults.  During Lent, outside Confessors are also available every Monday night at 6:00 pm.  Additionally, on Wednesday of Holy Week, April 1, we will have two hours of Confession with six priests.  

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Confession is given several other important names that convey its very nature and the benefits it confers on the person who avails themself of it.  Confession is rightly and beautifully referred to as the Sacrament of Conversion, the Sacrament of Penance, the Sacrament of Forgiveness, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

These five titles should tell us something about the magnificent “scope” of this sacrament and its aid to the human soul, human life, and the spiritual life. The Sacrament of Confession is one of only two sacraments that can be received both repeatedly and frequently (the Sacrament of the Eucharist being the other). These two sacraments sustain us in our daily journey through life, regardless of one’s vocation and state in life. Whether one is single, married, widowed, or a pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, deacon, or consecrated religious man or woman, Confession greatly aids us in our journey to our ultimate end, Heaven!  

The Church teaches that Catholics should receive Holy Communion at least once during the Easter Season. Traditionally, this has been called the Easter Duty.  The Code of Canon Law states, “each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year during the Easter season.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds that this Easter duty for Catholics should be preceded by confession.  It states: “The Church obliges the faithful to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days and, prepared by the sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, if possible during the Easter season.”

There are many benefits to frequent Confession.  Many saints make it clear in their writings and teaching that self-knowledge is needed to grow in holiness, and Confession provides it.    This means knowing and admitting our virtues to advance them in our lives, and knowing and admitting our vices so we can uproot them. Confession also helps us to grow in the virtue of humility. The very act of making a good examination of conscience is itself very humbling  , and it also helps us to grow in self-knowledge.

 Frequent Confession helps us overcome bad habits. Confession of one’s sins brings with it a purification and peace of conscience. Through the practice of frequent Confession, our wills become strengthened to help us more frequently choose good over evil, virtue over vice, and the beneficial over the malicious. Frequent Confession makes us simply want to “do better” in all aspects of daily living. It’s the grace of the sacrament that propels us to control our lives better.

 Every sacrament, when it is received worthily, increases sanctifying grace in the soul. For Eucharist and Confession — again, the only two sacraments that can be received both repeatedly and frequently — this is especially true.  When Pope Saint Paul VI promulgated the new rite of the Sacrament of Penance following the Second Vatican Council in 1973, he stated that frequent Confession “is a constant effort to bring to perfection the grace of our Baptism.”

How blest we are at Our Lady of Mercy to the availability of the Sacraments! Two daily Masses and five Sunday Masses.  Confession on Mondays and Saturdays and daily during Lent.  Certainly plenty of opportunity to make our Easter Duty.

I thank those who helped with our St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph Day celebrations. We also commend Fr. Brodeur on his excellent Italian at the Mass on St. Joseph’s Day and Father Patrick O’Connor for his excellent St. Patrick's Day sermon. Join us for Living Stations of the Cross with the OLM students on Friday at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

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

Celebrating Faith & Heritage During Lent

Dear Parishioners:

You have noticed that some work is being done in the Rectory.  After over a dozen years, the carpeting in the Rectory offices is being replaced. It was quite dirty and worn out.  The installers from Ruggeri Carpet arrived last Monday and began tearing up the old carpets.  As I write this column, I hope that the new carpets will be completely installed. The cost is about $10,000. The new carpeting also led us to reorganize the Parish Office.  We have created a new filing room with some new fireproof file cabinets and moved our Parish Business Manager, Dave Cote, to a new office. File and storage space in our Rectory is at a premium, so this will help us.

Easter is early this year, on April 5, and it’s approaching, but there are still more days left in Lent for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Pope Leo, in his Lenten Message, reminds us:  “Dear friends, let us ask for the grace of a Lent that leads us to greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us. Let us ask for the strength that comes from the type of fasting that also extends to our use of language, so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a greater space for the voice of others.”

Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland

Of course, in the middle of Lent, we take time to celebrate two important Feasts.  The Feast of Saint Patrick on Tuesday, March 17, and the Solemnity of Saint Joseph on Thursday, March 19. On these days, we traditionally celebrate Irish and Italian culture and heritage as we recall our immigrant ancestors who came to the US. I hope you can join us in these special celebrations this week.

 On Saint Patrick’s Day, we will celebrate Mass at 12:05 with Irish hymns and readings in the Irish language. The Mass is followed by a reception in the vestibule with Irish soda bread and Irish Coffee!

We are grateful to Mrs. Sinead Campion, who always does a outstanding job of reading in Irish.  Our homilist this year is Father Patrick O’Connor. He is a priest of Boston who serves on the faculty of Our Lady of Providence Seminary and as a Chaplain at LaSalle Academy. I hope you can join in celebrating the Irish!  

On St. Joseph’s Day, we will celebrate Mass at 12:05 with the Mass celebrated in Italian, including readings and hymns in Italian.  We are grateful to Dr. Rocky Ruggerio and Dr. Anthony Bruzzese for once again reading in Italian.   Our celebrant and homilist for the Mass is our own Father Brodeur.  After five years of study in Rome, he assures me he can celebrate Mass in Italian like Pope Leo!!  A reception follows in the vestibule, featuring tasty zeppoles and Italian coffee.  See you there as we celebrate the heritage and faith of our Italian brothers and sisters.

Saint Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the Patron Saint of the Universal Church.

If your conscience is bowed down in anticipation of breaking your Lenten fast on St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day.  Not to worry, I am happy to grant you dispensation for these most important Holy Days so that we can all celebrate joyfully with an Irish or Italian coffee and some sweets!

In the name of the poor and needy, I offer my deep gratitude to the 289 parish families who made a gift to the Catholic Charity Appeal.  We have gone over our goal of $199,500.  Our total pledged to the Appeal thus far is $207,634. Last year, we raised a total of $274,848 from 449 families.  We’ve got a ways to go to reach that total!  

We hope that all 1,200 registered families at OLM will support the Catholic Charity Appeal, as it is an important charity.  All Catholics should generously support the Church's good works and charity.  If you have not yet made your pledge, please do so today.  It is a great way to give alms this Lent. As Saint Angela Merici said, “We must give alms. Charity wins souls and draws them to virtue.”

The Holy Week Schedule at Our Lady of Mercy is in this week’s bulletin. Please note that during Holy Week, the Monday Confessions have been moved to Spy Wednesday due to the Chrism Mass.  On Wednesday, April 1, we will have two hours of Confession with six priests.  Also note that the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday begins at 8:00 pm as we welcome 17 people into the Church.

See you at Stations of the Cross on Friday. Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and Happy Saint Joseph’s Day

The Winds of Blizzards & War

Dear Parishioners:                                 

OLM Maintenance Director Paul Anderson and crew clearing snow at OLM.

It’s been an eventful couple of weeks.  First, we had the storm of the century with the Blizzard of 2026! And then we awoke last Saturday to the news that we are at war with Iran.  If ever there was a time to take up the Lenten practice of prayer more fervently, it's now.  The blizzard was as big as predicted, and people abided by the travel ban.  In fact, the emergency alert announcing the travel ban went off during the 5:00 pm Sunday Mass. Suddenly, hundreds of phones beeped, including mine. It was louder than the organ! And then, as predicted, the storm came with a fury.

I again wish to thank Paul Anderson and the maintenance crew who went to work right away.  They spent hours and days shoveling, plowing, and pushing the three feet of snow.  They worked in the dark, the snow, and the cold, and did a tremendous job of clearing the OLM physical plant of snow and keeping it safe for parishioners and students. You may have noticed the traffic cones in front of the Church.  The stones have risen due to frost, so we ask that you be extra careful as you come in, as there is a risk of tripping.   We hope that the stones will settle back in place once the warmer weather arrives.

Our school reopened last Monday with smiling parents and eager students returning after two weeks away. The blizzard arrived on a Sunday night, always a delight for schoolchildren, so the February Winter Break was extended by an extra week.  But now our students and faculty are back in the classroom, striving to be saints and scholars. Of course, the blizzard pales in comparison to the war being waged in the Middle East.  Attacks and bombings in Iran and other countries have caused many casualties and much destruction. We pray for the U.S. soldiers who were killed and for the protection of our troops and innocent civilians. Let us also pray for the end of oppression in Iran, and for peace throughout the world, especially in the Middle East.

Pope Leo XIV delivering his weekly Sunday Angelus Address in Rome.

Our Holy Father, Pope Leo, commented on the war during his Angelus Address last Sunday, saying:  “I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time. Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue.

Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm. May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace.”

I hope you had a chance to attend the Lenten Mission last week. Our Mission Preacher, Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, was outstanding.  We thank him for traveling from Rome to be with us and preach the Mission.  He is a talented young priest who does great work for the Dominican Friars, the Order of Preachers. Hopefully, our Mission produced much spiritual fruit for our parish and helped each of us to grow in faith, hope, and charity.

Seminarians pray at Eucharistic Adoration in the Our Lady of Providence Seminary Chapel.

Fr. Brodeur is leading a Discernment Retreat at Our Lady of Providence Seminary this weekend.  Twenty-five young men, high school seniors and college-aged, are expected to attend. Please pray for Father and for young men discerning a call to the priesthood.   As you know, we have two seminarians from OLM currently in formation at OLP Seminary, David Del Bonis and Luke Simms. David is currently a senior at Providence College and has just been assigned by Bishop Bruce Lewandowski to continue his theological studies next year at St. John’s Seminary in Boston.  Luke will return to OLP Seminary and continue his philosophy studies at PC next year.  Pray for them and all seminarians that they persevere in their vocation.

I hope you’re keeping the Lenten call to pray, fast, and give alms. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow the Lord.  As St. Catherine of Siena said: "Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring." Lenten Fridays are for fish and Stations of the Cross! Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless!

       .

Rising with Christ When We Fall

Dear Parishioners,

I hope your Lent is going well so far.  Sometimes the forty days of Lent seem like a tall challenge to keep faithful to our good resolutions to pray, fast, and give alms.  If you’ve failed to keep your Lenten resolutions fast from some comfort, pleasure, or vice, or even if you forgot to abstain from meat on Friday, don’t fear!  St. Francis de Sales said, "Have patience with all things, but first of all with yourself."  

Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary by
Raphael (1514-1516)

Jesus fell three times carrying the cross. His falling three times on the way to Calvary should inspire us to get up by demonstrating that persistent, repeated rising—not perfection—defines victory over suffering. His falls represent total exhaustion and human weakness, yet He continues, showing that grace meets us in our failures and urges us to rise with renewed resolve.

The three falls symbolize the often multiple stumbles in our lives, but his continued, determined rising proves that we can always start again, regardless of how often we fall. Jesus' falls mean He understands our deepest, repeated failures (physical, emotional, spiritual), comforting us that He is with us in our lowest moments.

Jesus first falls because the Cross is heavy. He is tired, wounded, and in pain. This shows us something important: Jesus truly became human. He felt weakness. He felt exhaustion. He felt pain. This fall tells us that God understands human weakness. He knows what it feels like to struggle.

The second fall shows more than physical pain. It represents the weight of the sins of the world: pride, hatred, violence, betrayal, and injustice. Jesus is not just carrying wood. He is carrying our brokenness, our failures, and our sins. This fall teaches us that Sin is heavy. It crushes the soul. But Jesus carries it anyway, for love of us.

The third fall is the deepest. It shows complete surrender. Jesus is almost broken, yet He still gets up. Not by strength alone, but by obedience, love, and purpose. This fall teaches us that even when everything feels finished, love still stands. Faith can still rise. Hope can still breathe.

Jesus Falling Beneath the Cross by Gustave Dore (1832-1883)

It’s good to reflect upon our Lord’s three falls, especially when we fall ourselves.   In Scripture, three means fullness and completeness.  So the three falls show the full weight of suffering: physical, spiritual, and emotional.  Jesus carried all of it. Perhaps the “Hidden Message” in this teaching is that Jesus didn’t fall to stay down.  He fell and rose again, each time.

 So the message is simple: You may fall. You may fail. You may break. You may feel finished.  But in Christ: Falling is not the end. Weakness is not defeat. Struggle is not shame. Jesus fell three times to teach us that rising is holy. Not because we are strong, but because His love lifts us. Pope Francis said, "Progress in holiness does not consist in never falling, but in rising up each time we fall and moving forward.”

So if you’ve slipped this Lent in keeping up self-denial, penance, prayer, fasting, and alms giving, get up and try again. Lent is forty days, and there’s more time to renew, refocus, and become more resolute.  Lent can often be a series of small Lents as we strive to deny ourselves, carry our cross, and follow Christ.

This weekend, we welcome Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, who is preaching our Lenten Mission.  Join us this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm for the Mission.  Bring your spouse, children, friends, and neighbors.  It is a great time of prayer, reflection, and renewal.

Catechumens from Our Lady of Mercy pose with Bishop Lewandowski and Father Brodeur at the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Sunday, February 22, 2026

We congratulate the 6 catechumens and 11 candidates from Our Lady of Mercy who celebrated the Rite of Election with the Bishop last Sunday. Their names are in the bulletin. Please pray for them as they continue to prepare for full entry into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.   They are among the hundreds of catechumens and candidates coming into the Church in the Diocese of Providence this year.

Record numbers are coming into the Church this Easter.  Including in secular Netherlands, Belgium, France, Ireland, and England.  Also in one diocese in  Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation, over 2,100 people will become Catholic at this year’s Easter Vigil. Pray for them all!    

Get up and pray, fast, and give alms. Make the Mission! Remember that Fridays are for fish and Stations! Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless!

Repent & Believe in the Gospel

Dear Parishioners:                               

“Remember You are Dust and to Dust You Shall Return.”

Lent began on Ash Wednesday as our foreheads were smeared with ashes and we were reminded to “Repent and believe the Gospel.”    It is our annual opportunity to refocus on Christ in our lives and convert our hearts more fully to Him. The Venerable  Fulton J. Sheen said, “We can think of Lent as a time to eradicate evil or cultivate virtue, a time to pull up weeds or to plant good seeds. Which is better is clear, for the Christian ideal is always positive rather than negative.” These are wise words to guide us as we begin the forty days of Lent.

Lent is a penitential season. It is a time to focus on repenting from our sins and renewing 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 the glory of Easter. There are ample opportunities for Confession at OLM. Every day at 11:45 am, before the 12:05 Lenten Mass, Confession is offered. Also on Mondays at 6:00 pm, two priests, including a guest priest, will be available for Confession.  There is Confession also on Saturdays at 3:00 pm.

Next Saturday, we will have All-Day Confessions here at OLM.  There will be four merciful priests available from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Eucharistic Adoration will take place during the hours of Confession.  It is a great opportunity to get a fresh start this Lent with the forgiveness of sins and the grace of the Sacrament of Penance.   I ask that in your charity, you please pray that many people will come to Confession, especially the reluctant and those who have been away from the sacrament for years. Pray for the Confessors who will spend hours in the confessionals forgiving sins!  

At the beginning of her classic memoir, “The Long Loneliness,” the Servant of God, Dorothy Day, writes about what it is like to go to confession.  She sets the stage: “Incense in the air, the smell of burning candles…the noise of the streets coming in to emphasize the stillness.” But then she gets to the point of it all. How hard it is.  Going to confession is hard, she writes, likening it to writing. Writing a book is hard, she explains, because you are “giving yourself away.”  But she adds, “If you love, you want to give it yourself.”

If you want to know what these 40 days of Lent are all about, that’s it.  If you love, you want to give love. This Lent, give your love to Christ, go to Confession to be reconciled, go to Mass to be strengthened, and make the Stations of the Cross to contemplate Christ’s love.  

Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP with his latest book, Witness: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

Next week, our Annual Lenten Mission begins. This year, we are blessed to have Dominican Friar, Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, as our Mission Preacher. He is the promoter general for social communication for the Order of Preachers (The Dominicans) and resides in Rome. A sought-after preacher and speaker, Father is the author of a new book, Witness: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. His Mission, entitled “Witness,” is inspired by his new book.  

Fr. Patrick earned a licentiate in moral theology degree from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. Following his ordination, he served as a chaplain and theology instructor at Providence College and as a parish priest at St. Pius V Church in Providence. He is a fine priest and an outstanding preacher, so I encourage you to make the Mission.  Father Patrick has visited OLM many times and resided here for a few weeks in the summer of 2024. We look forward to welcoming him back!
It is a long tradition for parishes to invite a guest priest to preach a Mission, especially during 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 a preacher comes to our parish to encourage us to repent and renew our Catholic faith.

Fr. Brodeur is away this weekend preaching a Lenten Mission at  Mount Carmel and Saint Mary Parishes in Bristol. Pray for him and the success of the Mission.  Fridays are for fish and Stations! Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless!

Lent is Coming! Are You Ready to Fast, Pray, & Give Alms!

Dear Parishioners:

It is School Winter Break this week, and our parish school is closed. It is hard to believe that the Season of Ordinary Time is ending this week, as Lent begins this coming Ash Wednesday.  In Her wisdom, Holy Mother the Church gives us the Holy Season of Lent each year. And so we "begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of      self-restraint."

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence. All Catholics aged 18 to 59 are required to fast unless they are ill or infirm. Fasting is limiting oneself to one full meal and two smaller meals. Abstinence is required of all Catholics age 14 and older. This means we must abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent.

As Catholics, we fast and abstain during Lent to imitate Jesus' 40 days in the desert, practicing penance, self-discipline, and spiritual reflection to prepare for Easter. These practices help us detach from worldly comforts, strengthen self-control, and foster a deeper reliance on God through prayer and charity.

Lent calls us to be vigilant against "spiritual evils," especially those we struggle with daily. Namely, sin, pride, selfishness, spiritual sloth and apathy, acedia, and laziness. We must be armed with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, which are our "weapons of self-restraint."

We must be more vigilant in faithfully attending Holy Mass on Sundays as God has commanded us. We must be more vigilant in seeking God's mercy and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession. We must be more vigilant in making sacrifices, being more generous and charitable to the poor, and practicing penances and self-denial as we take up the cross and follow Christ for forty days.

Our spiritual campaign of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, with three Masses: 7:30 am, 12:05 pm, and 7:00 pm. Ashes will be imposed at all three. Confession is available on Ash Wednesday at 11:45 am and 6:00 pm. As our foreheads are smeared with ashes, we take up the clarion call of Lent: "Repent and believe in the Gospel." Lent is a time for more prayer, penance, and the poor. We have many opportunities for prayer at OLM. We have Lenten Masses at 7:30 am and 12:05 pm Monday through Friday. Stations of the Cross every Friday at 7:00 pm. Put prayer at Daily Mass and the Stations on your schedule. Pope Leo XIV says, "Time spent in prayer is the most fruitful investment of one's life. Those who do not speak enough with God cannot speak of God.”

Confession in Lent is offered daily, Monday through Friday, at 11:45 am, just before the Lenten 12:05 Mass. On Monday nights at 6:00 pm during Lent, an additional guest Confessor joins us each week. All-day confessions are scheduled for Saturday, February 28. Ample opportunity to confess our sins and receive the mercy and grace of God.

Christ in the Desert or Christ in the Wilderness[ is a 1872 painting by Russian artist Ivan Kramskoi

Many Lenten books, booklets, and pamphlets are available in the vestibule and the bookrack to help strengthen your spiritual life. Take a break from your daily routine to engage in spiritual reading, prayer, Mass, and reflection during Lent.

Our Lenten fast from certain foods, drinks, and other comforts and pleasures helps us conform to God's will. For forty days, we take up fasting by giving up some selfish pleasure or creature comforts like candy or sweets, perhaps beer or Bourbon, or even cigars! We should moderate our use of technology, such as cell phones, the internet, and social media.

The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen said, "Lenten practices of giving up pleasures are good reminders that the purpose of life is not pleasure. The purpose of life is to attain to perfect life, all truth, and undying ecstatic love, which is the definition of God. In pursuing that goal, we find happiness."

We give more alms to the poor during Lent. We can do this through Operation Rice Bowl, OLM Outreach, and the Catholic Charity Appeal. Please take home a rice bowl. The monies collected buy food for the hungry of the world. St. Augustine said, "Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Make for it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.”

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