Our Lady of Mercy Parish, Merrimack NH September 29, 2019

Saturday, September 28th

Vigil: Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 4:30PM: Patr icia Whitehouse req by Diane Murphy and all parishioners

Sunday, September 29th Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

8:30AM: For the intentions of Fr . Paul & Fr . Dan 10:30AM: For the intentions of Carolyn req by Mom & Dad

Monday, September 30th St Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church

8:10AM: Morning Prayer 8:30AM: Deceased members of our par ish

Tuesday, October 1st St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of

the Church 8:10AM: Morning Prayer 8:30AM: For the intentions of the celebrant

Wednesday, October 2nd The Holy Guardian Angels

8:10AM: Morning Prayer 8:30AM: For deceased pr iests of the Diocese

Thursday, October 3rd NO MASS

Friday, October 4th St Francis of Assisi

8:10AM: Morning Prayer 8:30AM: Deceased family & fr iends of Stephen & Debra Staffieri

Saturday, October 5th Vigil: Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

4:30PM: Rober t Dwyer req by his family

Sunday, October 6th Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

8:30AM: Deceased members of the Fournier family 10:30AM: For all par ishioners

Coach Paul Today's reading from First Timothy sounds almost like a coach getting his team ready for the big game. This coach has much higher goals than a home run or a touchdown. Instead of pursuing a league championship, he seeks faith, love, patience, and gentleness. How about us? Are we in the game or on the sidelines? Let's look at what Coach Paul is talking about. We strive for faith when we see it as not just believing that God exists or that Jesus is God's Son. Faith is a relation-ship with the Lord in which we imitate Jesus' outlook on life, his teachings, his love of God. We struggle with his commands to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, to forgive all wrongs, and to take up our cross each day. As Paul would say, we are "competing well for the faith." We pursue love by listening to the Gospel, in which Jesus tells the parable of the rich man who was only concerned with his own comfort. Jesus says that if we truly under-stood the prophets, such as our first reading from Amos, we would not spend all our energy and wealth on our-selves. We may find that love for our family is much easi-er than love for strangers or the homeless, but Jesus never said that love would be easy. As we learn to let go of our need to have everything go our way, we become more patient with people who disa-gree with us, or with frustrations and problems. We learn to see God in our setbacks as well as in our successes. Striving to see Jesus in everyone, we can become more patient with them. They will begin to see Jesus in us as our devotion to him grows. Experiencing the Lord is the championship we want. Tom Schmidt, Copyright (c) J. S. Paluch Co.

Weekend of September 22nd: $ 4481.00 NH Fund for Retired Priests: $3360.00

Thank You !!

The Sanctuary Lamp for the week of September 28th through October 4th is lit for the intentions of Fr. Paul and Fr. Dan.

If you would like to have the Sanctuary Lamp lit in memory of or for the intentions of a loved one, please call the parish office at 424-3757.

Week #8: Doris Provencher & Helen Vacca

Congratulations!!

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time September 29, 2019

Throughout the month of October, our parish will remember in a special way, pregnant and parenting young women in need of assistance, and who have chosen life for their baby. We will be collecting new and unwrapped baby items to benefit Pro-Life resource centers, Birthright of Manchester and Penacook Pregnancy Center of Manchester. Your gifts may be placed in the playpen in the back of the church at Masses from October 5th through October 27th. Below is a list of needed items:

∗ Diapers sizes 0 through 5, also pull ups * Onesies ∗ Bibs * Bottles, sippy cups ∗ Crib Sheets * Blankets ∗ Lotions ∗ Baby clothes, especially warm clothing, through size 3T

Thank you for always being so generous in your response to the needs of these women.

Your kindness is always greatly appreciated.

A parish breakfast sponsored by the Knights of Colum-bus and a Blood Pressure Clinic sponsored by our Parish nurses will take place on Sunday, October 13th after the 8:30 and 10:30 am Masses.

A Flu Shot Clinic sponsored by Walgreen’s Pharmacy is being held here at the parish on Sunday, October 13th from 9:30am to 12:30 pm. It is for those 7 years of age and up. Please bring your medi-cal insurance card and pharmacy benefits card with you. For those without insurance, the cost is $40.99 for the regular shot and $69.99 for the high dose shot. Please join us for another great breakfast served by our Knights of Columbus, get your flu shot and have our parish nurses check your blood pressure, all in one easy stop.

The Men of St. Joseph is an association of Christian men, united under the Catholic

Church, who meet on a regular basis to pray together and encourage each other to be the spiritual leaders of their families. We know it’s a struggle to balance being a father, bread winner, businessman, coach, friend, hus-band and spiritual leader. The Men of St. Joseph under-stand that with each other’s support and shared account-ability it becomes a little easier. Most importantly we know that if we surrender our day to day problems to God we will be better fathers, husbands and friends. Through Christ, we will become the best versions of ourselves. We welcome all men to join us on this journey. Our first monthly meeting will take place on Saturday, October 5th from 7:00 am to 8:30 am in the Church Hall. Breakfast will be served. Please join us.

OCTOBER—DEDICATED TO THE ROSARY Prayer is always a good way to offer spiritual support for life in all stages and in all vocations. Each day of October has been dedicated to a specific intention. To participate—sign your name on the day you wish to pray the rosary. The calendar can be found in the main en-trance of the Church. Each day may be chosen by more than one person. Sign ups begin this weekend!

WOMEN AT THE WELL

A new study and faith sharing group for women coming to Our Lady of Mercy this October open to all women in the parish. We will meet one Satur-day a month at 9:00 am to explore var-ious ways our Catholic faith can nourish us in our dai-ly lives. Come join us as we discover the joy of drawing the water of Eternal Life from the well of the gospel message of Christ. Each meeting will include prayer, discussion of study materials presented previ-ously, short video presentations, faith sharing and a guest speaker on occasion.

The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi is Octo-ber 4th. St. Francis is known as the patron saint of animals and it is customary to hold ceremo-nies honoring animals around his feast day. Our Lady of Mercy along with the Interfaith Community of Merrimack will be hosting the Blessing of Animals on Sunday, October 6th at 1:00 pm in Watson Park (on route 3 across from the Fire Depar t-ment).

This is our chance to thank God for the animals in our lives. All are invited to gather and bring their pets on leashes or in carriers. Ribbons will also be available to decorate a memorial tree in remembrance of pets that have passed away.

K of C Membership Drive

The Knights of Columbus is an international Order of Catholic men who are called to lead with faith, pro-tect our families, serve others and defend values in a busy changing world. Our local council #6725 will be holding a membership drive at all Masses for the weekend of Oct 12 & 13. Whether you become an individual member or a member of our council, you will find that the K of C membership brings Catholic men together in a powerful way.

If you would like to join, go to kofc.org/joinus and enter our council #6725 for local information.

BIBLE STUDY—GALATIANS THURSDAY EVENINGS

Please join us beginning on October 3rd from 6:30 to 8:00 pm in the Parish Meeting Room for a bible study based on the book of Galatians. The study will last approximately 6 to 7 weeks. Please RSVP to lucyj@comcast.net if you are inter-ested in joining us.

Each year the Ladies Guild holds a Chinese Auction as part of the Knights of Columbus Craft Fair. This year we are asking parishioners to donate either a gift card from any business in town or a scratch ticket to be auctioned off at the Craft Fair. Proceeds from all the Ladies Guild fundraisers are used to purchase items needed by the parish. You may drop off your donations at the parish office or put them in an envelope marked ladies guild and drop them in the collection basket at Mass by October 25th. Thank you for your continued support.

The 20th annual Knights of Columbus Fall Craft Fair will be held on Friday, November 1st from 5pm to 8pm and again on Saturday, November 2nd from 9am to 3pm in the Mastricola Upper Elementary School. There will be more than 40 crafters offering a wide variety of handmade crafts. The event will also include a chinese auction, baked table and a kitchen serving home-made meals and snacks. Please join us for some fun and to support the charitable efforts of Our Lady of Mercy’s Knights of Columbus. We welcome donations of baked goods such as sweet breads, pies, muffins, cookies and whoopie pies. Please bring them directly to the craft fair on Friday evening or early on Saturday and we will sell them as part of our fundraiser. Thank you.

MEATBALL SUBS THIS WEEKEND

We will once again be having our famous Meatball Sub Fundraiser.

This weekend, September 28th and 29th plan on com-ing down to the Church Hall after all the Masses to purchase your unbelievably delicious meatball subs made by our very own Deacon John. A tasty lunch or dinner for the small price of only $5.00 each. All pro-ceeds from these fundraiser go towards our Youth Min-istry Programs. Hope to see you then!!!

Information Page

Acct #: 694750 Our Lady of Mercy Parish 16 Baboosic Lake Road Merrimack, NH 03054 Contact Person: Kathleen Rush Phone: (603) 424-4477 or (603) 424-3757 Fax: (603) 424-1780 Email Address: kjrush1@olmnh.org

Bulletin for September 29, 2019 Kathy