“WE ARE IN THIS WORLD NOT TO DIE, BUT TO GIVE LIFE. THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD TEACHES US THAT THE FIRST STEP IN GIVING LIFE TO THOSE AROUND US IS TO CHERISH IT WITHIN OURSELVES.”
The Holy Father is suffering from sciatica, nerve pain, and was unable to celebrate Mass today. But this is the homily he was prepared to deliver. It was read by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state. It’s a wonderful way to begin a new year.
In the readings of today’s Mass, three verbs find their fulfillment in the Mother of God: to bless, to be born, and to find.
To bless. In the Book of Numbers, the Lord tells his sacred ministers to bless his people: “Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, ‘The Lord bless you’” (6:23-24). This is no pious exhortation; it is a specific request. And it is important that, today too, priests constantly bless the People of God and that the faithful themselves be bearers of blessing; that they bless. The Lord knows how much we need to be blessed. The first thing he did after creating the world was to say that everything was good (bene-dicere) and to say of us that that we were very good. Now, however, with the Son of God we receive not only words of blessing, but the blessing itself: Jesus is himself the blessing of the Father. In him, Saint Paul tells us, the Father blesses us “with every blessing” (Eph 1:3). Every time we open our hearts to Jesus, God’s blessing enters our lives.
Today we celebrate the Son of God, who is “blessed” by nature, who comes to us through his Mother, “blessed” by grace. In this way, Mary brings us God’s blessing. Wherever she is, Jesus comes to us. Therefore, we should welcome her like Saint Elizabeth who, immediately recognizing the blessing, cried out: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Lk 1:42). We repeat those words every time we recite the Hail Mary. In welcoming Mary, we receive a blessing, but we also learn to bless. Our Lady teaches us that blessings are received in order to be given. She, who was blessed, became a blessing for all those whom she met: for Elizabeth, for the newlyweds at Cana, for the Apostles in the Upper Room… We too are called to bless, to “speak well” in God’s name. Our world is gravely polluted by the way we “speak” and think “badly” of others, of society, of ourselves. Speaking badly corrupts and decays, whereas blessing restores life and gives the strength needed to begin anew each day. Let us ask the Mother of God for the grace to be joyful bearers of God’s blessing to others, as she is to us.
The second verb is to be born. Saint Paul points out that the Son of God was “born of a woman” (Gal 4:4). In these few words, he tells us something amazing: that the Lord was born like us. He did not appear on the scene as an adult, but as a child. He came into the world not on his own, but from a woman, after nine months in the womb of his Mother, from whom he allowed his humanity to be shaped. The heart of the Lord began to beat within Mary; the God of life drew oxygen from her. Ever since then, Mary has united us to God because in her God bound himself to our flesh, and he has never left it. Saint Francis loved to say that Mary “made the Lord of Majesty our brother” (SAINT BONAVENTURE, Legenda Maior, 9, 3). She is not only the bridge joining us to God; she is more. She is the road that God travelled in order to reach us, and the road that we must travel in order to reach him. Through Mary, we encounter God the way he wants us to: in tender love, in intimacy, in the flesh. For Jesus is not an abstract idea; he is real and incarnate; he was “born of a woman”, and quietly grew. Women know about this kind of quiet growth. We men tend to be abstract and want things right away. Women are concrete and know how to weave life’s threads with quiet patience. How many women, how many mothers, thus give birth and rebirth to life, offering the world a future!
We are in this world not to die, but to give life. The holy Mother of God teaches us that the first step in giving life to those around us is to cherish it within ourselves. Today’s Gospel tells us that Mary “kept all these things in her heart” (cf. Lk 2:19). And goodness comes from the heart. How important it is to keep our hearts pure, to cultivate our interior life and to persevere in our prayer! How important it is to educate our hearts to care, to cherish the persons and things around us. Everything starts from this: from cherishing others, the world and creation. What good is it to know many persons and things if we fail to cherish them? This year, while we hope for new beginnings and new cures, let us not neglect care. Together with a vaccine for our bodies, we need a vaccine for our hearts. That vaccine is care. This will be a good year if we take care of others, as Our Lady does with us.
The third verb is to find. The Gospel tells us that the shepherds “found Mary and Joseph and the child” (v. 16). They did not find miraculous and spectacular signs, but a simple family. Yet there they truly found God, who is grandeur in littleness, strength in tenderness. But how were the shepherds able to find this inconspicuous sign? They were called by an angel. We too would not have found God if we had not been called by grace. We could never have imagined such a God, born of a woman, who revolutionizes history with tender love. Yet by grace we did find him. And we discovered that his forgiveness brings new birth, his consolation enkindles hope, his presence bestows irrepressible joy. We found him but we must not lose sight of him. Indeed, the Lord is never found once and for all: each day he has to be found anew. The Gospel thus describes the shepherds as constantly on the lookout, constantly on the move: “they went with haste, they found, they made known, they returned, glorifying and praising God” (vv. 16-17.20). They were not passive, because to receive grace we have to be active.
What about ourselves? What are we called to find at the beginning of this year? It would be good to find time for someone. Time is a treasure that all of us possess, yet we guard it jealously, since we want to use it only for ourselves. Let us ask for the grace to find time for God and for our neighbor – for those who are alone or suffering, for those who need someone to listen and show concern for them. If we can find time to give, we will be amazed and filled with joy, like the shepherds. May Our Lady, who brought God into the world of time, help us to be generous with our time. Holy Mother of God, to you we consecrate this New Year. You, who know how to cherish things in your heart, care for us, bless our time, and teach us to find time for God and for others. With joy and confidence, we acclaim you: Holy Mother of God! Amen.
WASHINGTON– On December 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement on the new COVID-19 vaccines. In their statement, the bishops address the moral concerns raised by the fact that the three vaccines that appear to be ready for distribution in the United States all have some connection to cell lines that originated with tissue taken from abortions.
With regard to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, they concluded:
“In view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines, the reasons to accept the new COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are sufficiently serious to justify their use, despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines.
“Receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community. In this way, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.”
With regard to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the bishops found it to be “more morally compromised” and consequently concluded that this vaccine “should be avoided” if there are alternatives available. “It may turn out, however, that one does not really have a choice of vaccine, at least, not without a lengthy delay in immunization that may have serious consequences for one’s health and the health of others,” the bishop chairmen stated. “In such a case … it would be permissible to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
At the same time, the bishops also warned that Catholics “must be on guard so that the new COVID-19 vaccines do not desensitize us or weaken our determination to oppose the evil of abortion itself and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research.”
The full statement from the bishop chairmen may be found here.
On December 3, 2020, Bishop Tobin issued a letter to the faithful of the Diocese of Providence regarding the new COVID Vaccines. Please click here to read the letter.
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of Providence.
Beginning on St. Andrew the Apostle's feast day, November 30, the following beautiful prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a very meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the feast of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming.
Prayer of Anticipation for Christmas
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God,
to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
Join us for Mass for Deceased Veterans on the Veterans Day Holiday, Wednesday, November 11th at 8:30 am. The OLM Parish Office is closed in observance of the holiday.
Veterans Day Prayer
Father, bless our veterans and all who serve our nation defending our freedom.
For those who bravely gave their lives, grant them eternal rest.
For those who are serving, give them courage.
For those who served, we offer our gratitude.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
The 5:00 PM Mass of Anticipation moves back to a 4:00 PM start time beginning on Saturday, November 5, 2022 Also, Saturday Afternoon Confessions move from a 4:00 PM start time to 3:00 PM on Saturday, November 6, 2022
This schedule is in effect until the first Saturday of April 2023.
See You in September Raffle Drawing was livestreamed from the OLM Gym.
We thank the many parishioners, school families, and friends of OLM who purchased tickets for the See You In September Raffle for OLM School. The proceeds support the young saints and scholars at OLM School! We are grateful for your support! The Raffle Drawing was held yesterday at 1:30 pm in the OLM School Gym. Drawing the winning tickets were Principal McNabb. Sister Emma, Sister Lourdes, and two OLM students, Maddie Mederios and Adam Hayes. Congratulations to our winners!!
Fr. Healey watches as OLM Student Adam Hayes picks a winner!
See You In September Raffle Winners
Grand Prize $5,000
The Dennis Collins Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Newport
1st Prize $2,500
Pat Brescia
2nd Prize $1,000
Paul Long
3rd Prize $1,000
John J. Barry III
4th Prize $500
Peter Graves
Sister Lourdes picks a winning ticket!
Prayer to Our Lady of Mercy
St. Augustine of Hippo
Blessed Virgin Mary,
who can worthily repay you with praise
and thanks for having rescued a fallen world
by your generous consent!
Receive our gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven
and enable them to make our peace with God.
Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged,
comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy,
intercede for all women consecrated to God.
May all who venerate you feel now your help and protection.
Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the answers to our prayers. Make it your continual concern to pray for the people of God, for you were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, who lives and reigns forever.
Amen.
Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us!
We offer our heartfelt congratulations and promise of prayer to the 2020 OLM School First Communion Class who celebrated their First Holy Communion on Saturday, September 12, 2020.
An Act of Faith Before Holy Communion
I most firmly believe, O Jesus, that in this Holy Sacrament You are present; that here are Your Body and Blood, Your soul and Your divinity. I believe that You, my Savior, true God and true Man, are really here, with all Your treasures; that here You communicate Yourself to us, make us partakers of the fruit of Your Passion, and give us a pledge of eternal life. I believe there cannot be a greater happiness than to receive You worthily, nor a greater misery than to receive You unworthily. All this I most steadfastly believe, because it is what You have taught us by Your Church.
The Prayer of Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI at Ground Zero
Below is the prayer Pope Benedict XVI delivered on April 20, 2008, during his visit to the site of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
O God of love, compassion, and healing look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions, who gather today at this site, the scene of incredible violence and pain.
We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here—the heroic first-responders: our firefighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel, along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy simply because their work or service brought them here on September 11, 2001.
We ask you, in your compassion to bring healing to those who, because of their presence here that day, suffer from injuries and illness. Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy. Give them the strength to continue their lives with courage and hope.
We are mindful as well of those who suffered death, injury, and loss on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Our hearts are one with theirs as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.
God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth. Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding, overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy, we seek your light and guidance as we confront such terrible events. Grant that those whose lives were spared may live so that the lives lost here may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all.
Amen
In September, we usually resume our Sunday 5:00 PM Mass. However, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we are postponing the resumption of this Mass until further notice. We presently have three Masses every weekend, and attendance is not increasing. There seems no need to add an additional fourth Mass at present. Many parishioners are not attending Mass each week. We hope and pray Mass attendance increases as the summer ends. The sanitizing of the Church building occurs before and after every public celebration of Mass. It involves a considerable amount of time and work by our maintenance team/ We do this to ensure the proper sanitization of the Church. This cleaning and sanitizing is a costly expense and also very time-consuming. Our maintenance crew is not readily available to work on Sunday nights in order to clean and sanitize the Church properly. Therefore, it is prudent to postpone the 5:00 PM Sunday Evening Mass from our weekly schedule until further notice.
Those who have reserved Mass intentions for the 5:00 PM Sunday Mass, please know those intentions are to be satisfied at one of the three weekend Masses celebrated every week. Although this is not the customary practice at OLM, multiple Mass intentions at Mass are allowed. Therefore, one Mass a weekend is to be offered for two intentions in order to satisfy all previously booked intentions. Please understand that all booked Mass intentions are going to be offered. If you have any questions or concerns about a Mass you've reserved for a particular intention, please contact the OLM Parish Office.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in these difficult days.
A Prayer for Catholic Schools
O Christ, our Lord and Teacher,
OLM School student
You invite Your faithful people to make disciples in Your name and to announce good news to the poor. We thank You for the gift of Catholic schools, where the message of Your life, death, and resurrection is proclaimed, the Catholic Faith is lived out daily, good works to our brothers and sisters are modeled, and worship and praise of You is celebrated in the Sacraments and Devotional Prayer.
Increase our zeal for ensuring that all children and families can benefit from an excellent Catholic education and that Catholic schools grow in their ability to nurture the soul of our nation and Church.
We ask this through the intercession of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom and Mother of Catholic Schools. Amen.
We are happy to announce the "See You in September" Raffle! Only 600 tickets are for sale for $100 apiece. The $10,000 in raffle prizes includes a Grand Prize of $5,000 with additional prizes of $2,500, 2 prizes of $1,000 and $500. The tickets are on sale this week, and the Raffle Drawing is to be live-streamed on Thursday, September 24th, the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy! It will be an exciting way to celebrate our Parish Feast.
The proceeds of this raffle ($50,000) will help us with the increased costs of our many needed COVID-19 school maintenance and educational projects. We traditionally have raised nearly $100,000 from our Annual Spring Fling and about $25,000 from the Annual Saints and Scholars Golf Tournament. So you can see the raffle is much needed and helps us toward partially funding the future of our outstanding parish school.
You have always generously supported the mission of Our Lady of Mercy School in the past and we are confident of your continued generosity. In order to obtain your ticket or tickets, please send a check for $100 per ticket payable to “OLM” to Our Lady of Mercy, “See You in September” Raffle at 65 3rd Street, East Greenwich, RI 02818 or call the Parish Office at 401-884-4968 to reserve your ticket today! There is no limit on the number of tickets you may wish to purchase and the more you buy the better the odds of winning!!!
Help us today support our OLM Saints and Scholars of tomorrow! Your odds of winning are better than Powerball and certainly much better than betting on the Red Sox!! Put your money on the OLM Saints and Scholars!!
Prayer for Our Government
by Archbishop John Carroll (1791)
We pray, O almighty and eternal God, who through Jesus Christ has revealed thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of your name.
We pray Thee, who alone are good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, the pope, the vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, all other bishops, prelates and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise among us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct your people into the ways of salvation.
We pray O God of might, wisdom and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with your Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality.
Let the light of your divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.
We pray for his excellency, the governor of this state, for the members of the assembly, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by your powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.
We recommend likewise, to your unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of your most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal.
Finally, we pray to you, O Lord of mercy, to remember the souls of your servants departed, who are gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of peace; the souls of our parents, relatives and friends; of those who, when living, were members of this congregation, and particularly of such as are lately deceased; of all benefactors who, by their donations or legacies to this Church, witnessed their zeal for the decency of divine worship and proved their claim to our grateful and charitable remembrance. To these, O Lord, and to all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech you, a place of refreshment, light and everlasting peace, through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Pope Pius VI named John Carroll the first bishop of the United States of America in 1789. His cousin, Charles Carroll, was one of America's Founding Fathers and the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. Bishop John Carroll would go on to become America's first archbishop when the Diocese of Baltimore, Maryland— the mother diocese of the United States—was elevated to the status of archdiocese. Archbishop Carroll was also the founder of America's first Catholic university—Georgetown. These interesting facts are a testament that Catholics played a significant role in the founding of our nation. Archbishop Carroll wrote the prayer above for our newly formed government on November 10, 1791, to be recited in parishes throughout his diocese.
In the following letter, Archbishop José H. Gomez addresses recent controversies surrounding public monuments to St. Junípero Serra and asks the faithful of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to invoke the saint’s “intercession for this nation that he helped to found.” Ahead of the saint's July 1 feast day, he urges prayers especially for “an end to racial prejudice and a new awareness of what it means that all men and women are created equal as children of God.” Archbishop Gomez also offers an original spiritual meditation that he composed almost entirely from words drawn from St. Junípero’s sermons and letters.
A statue of St. Junipero Serra defaced and torn down by militant protesters at Father Serra Park in Downtown Los Angeles Saturday, June 20.
In Thanks of our OLM Senior Servers
We offer our sincere congratulations and prayerful best wishes to OLM Senior Servers, John Curran (Boston College), David Delbonis (St. Joseph College, Philadelphia) Jack Devine (Northeastern University), and Matthew Simonetti (Xavier University, Ohio) as they graduate high school. These young men have served Church and Parish at God's Holy Altar for many years, and we thank them for their reverent and dedicated service to God and Church. Ad multos annos!
L to R: Matthew Simonetti, David Delboinis, John Curran and Jack Devine.
