Welcome to the parish of Mary, Mother of Mercy!

“We do not want … a Church that moves with the world.
We want a Church that will move the world.” ~G. K. Chesterton

Click HERE for Sunday Mass

The parish Mass for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time is available for viewing through this link. The Mass for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time will be posted here when it is available, later this weekend.

A Message from Our Pastor:

September 17, 2020
St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop

Dear Parishioner, laborers in the Kingdom of Heaven,

Jesus was a worker, a laborer. This comes across in the story, the “Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard” (this week’s Gospel Mt.20:1-16a). He worked for God, his Father. He labored in the world for the well-being of all people in the formation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. His work was serving people. He labored to bring health to individuals and to an unhealthy society that caused discord. He labored in word (teaching) and deed (serving). His labor was the work of love for God and God’s creations, especially people.

The “Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard” is a reminder to the members of the Kingdom of Heaven to be like Jesus, a worker. Therefore, as followers of Jesus, we are to labor for the well-being of all people. Our work is to serve all people – to be the servants of all. Our work in the vineyard of the Lord is to bring about concord among people by denouncing enmity, hatred, hostility and racism and the violence, destruction and death resulting from it. Our labor, like Jesus, is to bless God for the good people and for the good being done by them. Our work is to recognize the good, proclaim it and rejoice in it.

Also, in the parable, Jesus reminds us that God is generous to the laborers. God pays all his laborers a good wage, no matter when they began to work or how long they worked. As members of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus reminds us through his word and by his example that we are laborers in the Kingdom of Heaven.

With love for you all,
Fr. Bernard, OFM Cap

• St. James the Apostle Church: The parking lot is being repaved. The parking lot will be closed off this weekend, September 19 & 20, 2020, until Wednesday, September 23, 2020. Sorry for this inconvenience and for having to plan for alternative parking.
• In some way, please attempt to share these communiques with other family members. This weekend’s bulletin is available here.
• Each weekend the Parish Sunday Mass is video taped and can be viewed through this link on Sunday or anytime during the week.

Family Faith Formation Program Starts September 20!

The Family Faith Formation program in our parish will begin on September 20 and is open to children in grades K-7. Contact Susan Guydosh at susan.guydosh@dor.org or 607-280-3884 with any questions. Thank you!

Gospel Meditation—Encourage Deeper Understanding of Scripture

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ September 20, 2020

If I work for five hours, I expect to get paid for five hours. If I work for two, I expect to get paid for two. What if we worked for a company that paid everyone the same amount regardless of how long they worked? How would we feel going home with the same pay for working eight hours as my co-worker did for working only two hours? Secular wisdom would have a huge problem with this and a visit to the Labor Board would quickly pursue. But this is God’s wisdom and God’s ways.

We sometimes think that if we pray more, better, or more fervently and go over and above with the practice of our faith, God will somehow reward us and present us with some kind of merit badge. We are so wrong. Spiritual practices have only one true purpose: to deepen our love for God. In deepening our love for God, we also increase our ability to see God’s presence around us, living life more purposefully and contemplatively. What if God chooses to treat someone who has come on the scene of faith later in life the same as someone who has devoted their whole lives to it? Does it really matter? If we have the merit badge notion of faith, we can find ourselves feeling a little arrogant and even jealous of folks who have not followed the same path that we have. We can even see ourselves as the privileged few who have a corner on the faith and fully possess it.

That thinking doesn’t square with God. God is all about mercy in abundance and is ready to take anyone to himself regardless of when they come. He is only happy that they have come home and delights in their return. After all, if you really and truly love someone, does it matter what they will give you in return or what you receive as a benefit? If relationships were assessed based upon productivity, they would lack authentic love. We invest too much self interest in our prayer and neglect to see it as an opportunity to pursue our Lover and deepen the intimate bond we have with God.

When we breathe our last, all that is of consequence is union with God. If my love for God is real, I am going to want to live the Gospel, abide by the commandments, practice my faith, forgive and love my neighbor, and care for the environment, regardless of how much time it takes or benefits me. We want God to think and behave as we do, and in doing so, we set ourselves up for disappointment. God has a totally different agenda and that’s okay.

©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 school-year format of the Family Zone will allow you to choose quick, simple, 5-20 minute family activities that will help you reinforce the messages found in the weekly Mass readings.

This week we are reminded that God is always present, something that is easy to forget in our busy lives and in a challenging world! GOD is HERE. How might you seek God out this week? How might you help your children to discover God in their daily life?

The Family Zone is an interactive newsletter that has live links to YouTube videos and webpages. “It 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.

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 is available for confessions at St. Francis church in Interlaken every Friday from 6:30–7:00 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 September 19–27, 2020

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.