“We do not want … a Church that moves with the world.
We want a Church that will move the world.” ~G. K. Chesterton
A Message from Our Pastor:
June 18, 2021
Dear Parish households,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Now I lay me down to sleep” is a classic children’s bedtime prayer from the 18th century. There are many versions of the prayer. One of them is: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take. If I should live for other days, I pray thee, Lord, to guide my ways. Amen.
The prayer reflects a joyful dependence on God and encourages a confidence in God’s love. The prayer is also reflective of a passage from the Book of Proverbs (Prov. 3:24-26), “When you sit down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down sweet will be your sleep. Have no fear of sudden terrors or of assault from wicked men, since Yahweh will be your guarantor, he will keep your steps from the snare.” Something very similar is found in Psalm 4:9: “In peace I lie down, and fall asleep at once, since you alone, Yahweh, make me rest secure.”
This weekend’s Gospel, Mark, 4:35-41, presents a scene where Jesus is in a boat with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee. It is early evening. A windstorm arises. The boat is taking on water and is sinking. Fear overtakes the disciples. Jesus is sound asleep in the back of the boat.
Jesus not only taught the word of God but lived it. Apparently before he went to sleep the words of Proverbs and the Psalm were rooted in him. He went to sleep in full confidence of, and dependence on, the love of God and God’s care for him. He rested secure in God no matter what threats to his life could be present.
The disciples wanted Jesus to know the danger they were in and that he too should share their fear. They just could not let Jesus be. So, they woke him with the message, “…we are perishing”. To their surprise, Jesus, was calm, and in a demonstration of his divinity, he rebuked the wind, and commanded the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” They obeyed.
When all was calm, not only the sea but also their fear, Jesus questions them why they were terrified and followed that question with another about their faith.
Jesus experienced many occasions that were terrifying. He was opposed, rejected and persecuted. Yet he always ended up being calm. The calmness is attributed to his total dependence and confidence on the love of the Father for him and that God would bring good out of whatever evil he would experience. That was his faith and that is the faith he invites us to imitate. This faith is expressed in the classic children’s bedtime prayer (which we never outgrow) and the words of Proverbs 3:24-26 and the Psalm 4:9 – depend on God and his love for you. The result is peace and joy.
With love for you all,
Fr. Bernard, OFM Cap.
P.S.
- New York State has lifted Coronavirus restrictions. In a memo from Bishop Matano, for the time being, the following restrictions will be maintained: Holy Communion will be distributed under one form, the Sacred Host; the exchange of the sign of peace (which is always optional) is without the shaking hands; and holy water fonts remain empty.
- The First Baptist Church in Trumansburg is proud to introduce a Cancer Treatment Centers of America program called Our Journey of Hope. The program offers support and ministry to men, women, and families fighting cancer. For more details read the full “Journey of Hope” bulletin insert.
- Please share this letter with other members of your home. Thank you.
- This weekend’s bulletin is available here.
Gospel Meditation—Encourage Deeper Understanding of Scripture
June 20, 2021 ~ The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
As we look at our lives and world events, do we ever find ourselves wondering if God is sleeping? After all, maybe God’s patient, unconditional love has run its course and He is finally fed up with humanity’s reluctance to accept the truth about who we are. God really can’t be that patient! All throughout human history, many have prayed to God for intervention or for particular needs. Because their prayers were not answered in the way they wanted or anticipated, they felt that God may have abandoned them. Were they right? It seems that we are continuing, at a rapid rate, down a path of destruction. Do you not care, God, that we may be perishing? When the boats of our lives are rocking and the seas tumultuous, we want to know that we have God’s attention. Even more so, we want God’s intervention.
Maybe the storms and the waves are necessary. If we listen, they can teach us valuable lessons. Without them, we would never learn that we have the strength to endure, understand the uselessness of fear and worry, or develop the ability to really trust. If God immediately rushed in and simply calmed things down before they got difficult, what good would that really be? We would miss opportunities to learn how to drink more deeply of life, treasure its complexity, irony, and beauty and fully engage ourselves in surrendering to the love of our Creator. It is easy to walk on the surface of life without immersing ourselves in its messiness. Life has to burn its way through us in order to bring us to a place of secure trust. It’s unfortunate that some prefer a shallower journey.
That’s the balancing act that comes with faith. It is not God’s job to prevent us from encountering the torrential rains and winds of life. Many believe that if faith is done the right way, that God will provide for smooth sailing. That’s not how it works. God permits us to ride out the difficult stuff knowing that the storm will eventually be calmed. Do we not have faith that God will do this? True faith trusts in the steadfastness of God’s love when the seas are calm and when they are choppy. God’s unconditional loving presence shines through all of it and endures forever. Knowing this allows us to put our boats out into unchartered waters without hesitation. Knowing that we prefer the comfort and safety of what we know to be still waters, how do we feel when Jesus says, “Let us cross to the other side”?
©LPI
For Families
The Diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, continues to discover and develop new ways to reach out to families in these unprecedented times. The latest issue of their weekly newsletter, Family Zone, is now available. The Family Zone is designed to help you prepare for full and active participation in the liturgy as well as formation within your families.
Jesus as RESTORER: As things begin to open up and life is looking a little more normal, many of us may be breathing a sigh of relief. However, we can’t ignore the damage that this year has done to so many of us in a variety of areas. Many of you may feel utterly exhausted, raw with emotion and uneasy; that’s o.k., we share your feelings. Our faith can be a great source of healing as we move out of the darkness of the pandemic. Are you bringing your burdens to prayer? The readings for the next two weeks remind us that Jesus has the power to restore us to both good health and a sense of calm. Self-care is a big buzz word these days…prayer is one of the best forms of self-care! Let our faith bring you hope.
To pray means to open your hands before God. It means slowly relaxing the tension that squeezes your hands together and accepting your existence with an increasing readiness, not as a possession to defend but as a gift to receive. Above all, prayer is a way of life that allows you to find stillness in the midst of the world, where you open your hands to God’s promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbor, and your world. In prayer, you encounter God not only in the small voice and the soft breeze, but also in the midst of the turmoil of the world, in the distress and joy of your neighbor and in the loneliness of your own heart.
“In the end, a life of prayer is a life with open hands where we are not ashamed of our weakness but realize that it is more perfect for us to be led by the Other than to try to hold everything in our own hands.” ~Henri Nouwen, With Open Hands
Journeying with St. Joseph: There are a number of prayers to St. Joseph, including a simple novena (a prayer over 9 days). Pray this short prayer each morning for nine days and see if it changes your view of St. Joseph. We look to St. Joseph in a special way, as we celebrate Father’s Day next week; so we have also included a video prayer for dads! St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us!
O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the Loving of Fathers.
O St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach you while He reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.
We have a rich history of relying on St. Joseph’s intercessions in our diocese. Make sure you check out the diocese’s St. Joseph webpage or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/dioceseofrochester. Throughout the year we will be adding additional resources for the Year of St. Joseph and the Year of the Family!
The Family Zone newsletter prepares you for NEXT Weekend’s Mass. You will find the readings as well as an expansion of those themes to prepare for full and active participation in the liturgy and formation within your families. There are stories for parents to read to their kids that will help them apply this week’s theme to other areas of life and connect the lines between our beliefs and daily life! There are also articles for parents on the topic of how to make the most of Ordinary Time and preparing for First Communion. For teens there is an article on their discipleship journey and how to make sense of the Real Presence. There is also a section on prayer where ideas are shared for personal prayer, family prayer, and learning more about the ACT of prayer as a discipleship skill! Ordinary Time doesn’t have to be boring: Transform yourself!
The Family Zone is an interactive newsletter that “takes parents directly to online sites they can use, themselves, to be the primary formators of their children’s faith.” To stay up to date with opportunities around the diocese, sign up for the Family Zone newsletter on their web page.
Our Church’s Responses to COVID-19
The Roman Catholic Bishops of the Upstate New York Dioceses of Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Rochester, and Syracuse sent out a statement on May 23, 2021, inviting us all to return to attending Sunday Mass in our parishes (see the full letter here). “Come home to Mass!”
According to a June 17 statement from the diocese, with updated guidelines, fully vaccinated individuals will not be required to wear masks at Mass. However, the diocesan statement noted that “unvaccinated individuals continue to be responsible for wearing masks” in accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For our parish, though you are no longer required to wear a mask and/or social distance, you can always continue to wear a mask and/or social distance if you want to do so.
For those who cannot attend in person, please check out the diocese’s list of Masses that are available online. Additionally, the diocese provides a variety of virtual events for “prayer, worship, and faith sharing.” For updated and additional information, including information on the vaccines, please visit the diocese’s web page related to the Covid-19 response.
The latest statement from the diocese concluded by saying: “We continue to pray for all those who suffered illness and loss as a result of this tragic pandemic and for all those medical and emergency personnel and other essential workers who so selflessly served our community during this most challenging time.”
We look forward to seeing you at Mass.
Our Parish
Welcome to the web page for the parish of Mary, Mother of Mercy. This parish has three churches:
- Holy Cross in Ovid, New York;
- St. Francis Solanus in Interlaken, New York; and
- St. James the Apostle in Trumansburg, New York.
The parish office is located at the Parish Center: 3660 Orchard St., Interlaken, New York.
The title Mother of Mercy is thought to have been first given to Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Odo (d.942), Abbot of Cluny. It is a fitting title of Our Lady both because she brought forth for us Jesus, the Christ, the visible manifestation of the mercy of the invisible God, and because she is the spiritual mother of the faithful, full of grace and mercy. Please join us in faith and in prayer at any of our three churches which are open each day for private devotions.
To join the parish community or to celebrate the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick, or marriage, please phone the parish office (607 294–0064) or email: immmercy@dor.org to make arrangements.
Father Bernard is available for confessions at St. Francis church in Interlaken every Friday from 6:30–7:30 p.m. (social distancing will be respected). You may also phone the parish office (607 294–0064) to make an appointment to receive the sacrament of reconciliation with a priest.
Joining Fr. Bernard Maloney in residence at St. Fidelis Friary in Interlaken and part of our faith community:
- Rev. Richard Crawley, OFM Cap., chaplain at Cayuga Correctional Facility, Moravia, N.Y.;
- Rev. Roland Daigle, OFM Cap.; and
- Br. Antonine Lizama, OFM Cap.
Mass Intentions at St. James the Apostle in Trumansburg, Holy Cross in Ovid, and St. Francis Solanus in Interlaken for the week of June 19–June 27, 2021:
| Saturday, June 19 | St. James, 4:00 p.m. Limited assembly |
Special intention |
| St. Francis, 5:00 p.m. Limited assembly |
Parishioners and benefactors | |
| Sunday, June 20 | St. James, 9:00 a.m. Limited assembly |
Bill Hogan from Donna Ryan |
| Holy Cross, 10:30 a.m. Limited assembly |
Marguerite Maguire from Fran and Tim Maguire |
|
| Monday, June 21 | St. Francis, 8:30 a.m. | Special intention |
| Tuesday, June 22 | St. Francis, 8:30 a.m. | Special intention |
| Wednesday, June 23 | St. Francis, 8:30 a.m. | Special intention |
| Thursday, June 24 | St. Francis, 8:30 a.m. | Special intention |
| Friday, June 25 | St. Francis, 8:30 a.m. | Special intention |
| Saturday, June 26 | St. James, 4:00 p.m. Limited assembly |
Special intention |
| St. Francis, 5:00 p.m. Limited assembly |
Parishioners and benefactors | |
| Sunday, June 27 | St. James, 9:00 a.m. Limited assembly |
Bill Hogan from Anne Haus |
| Holy Cross, 10:30 a.m. Limited assembly |
Special intention |
Those wishing to have someone remembered at a Mass on a particular day and time and place may phone the parish office (607-294-0064) expressing their request. You may also print out the Mass Intentions Request form, fill it out, and mail it to the parish office. All of the Mass intentions presently scheduled can be seen on the parish calendar.
Prayer to Mary, Mother of Mercy
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.
