www.ourladyofmercy.vermontcatholic.org

SCHEDULE AND MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK: Saturday, February 8: St. Jerome Emiliani; St. Jo-sephine Bakhita; International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking; Blessed Vir-gin Mary OLM 4:00 PM No Mass Scheduled for today. COS 4:30 PM For Peter, Anna May and Maureen Herron, by the Zimmermann family Sunday, February 9: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time; World Marriage Day OLM 8:30 AM For the Souls in Purgatory, by John Nappi, Jr. OLV 10:30 AM For Cameron Howard, by Jane Howard COS 12:30 PM For Fr. Frank McMahon, by Jeffrey F. Larson There will be no Rectory Chapel Mass 9:00am while Fr. Agnel is away. Rectory Mass will resume 9:00am, Thursday, February 27th.

Monday, February 10: St. Scholastica Tuesday, February 11: Our Lady of Lourdes; World Day of the Sick Wednesday, February 12: Lincoln’s Birthday Thursday, February 13: Friday, February 14: Ss. Cyril and Methodius; Valen-tine’s Day Next weekend Saturday, February 15: Blessed Virgin Mary

OLM 4:00 PM For Rolando Cabulina, by Yoli Gochenour COS 4:30 PM For Frank and Billy Zimmermann, by the Zimmermann family Sunday, February 16: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time OLM 8:30 AM For the Souls in Purgatory, by John Nappi, Jr. OLV 10:30 AM For Fr. Frank McMahon, by Jeffrey F. Larson COS 12:30 PM For Joan Engel, by Bill Engel

MARK YOUR CALENDAR Feb. 22 & 23: Special Collection: The Church in Eastern Europe Feb. 21, Adoration, 3 PM, OLV Feb. 26: Holy Day of Obligation: Ash Wednesday, OLM 5:30PM, OLV 7:30 PM, with distribution of Ashes

Coming Soon: The Christ Our Hope campaign will raise funds to help our parish realize its vision and pro-vide endowment funding for faith formation efforts and Catholic Charities emergency services throughout the state. Our parish will take part in the campaign begin-ning this spring. We are currently looking for people to be a part of our campaign team. You will receive train-ing and be asked to attend a couple of brief meetings. Your primary focus as a volunteer is to visit with other parishioners about the campaign and help them complete their commitment cards. If you are interested, please contact the Rectory at 802-387-5861 or olmer-cy@myfairpoint.net Worldwide Marriage Encounter "Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift." Learn the tools of forgiveness and healing by attending a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend. The next Weekends are Mar 13-15, 2020 in Duxbury, MA and Mar 27-29, 2020 in Albany, NY. For more information, call John & Diane Forcier at 802-657-3083 or visit them at https://wwmevtw.org/.

February 9, 2020 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Offertory: January 12, 2020 OLM $556, OLV $6,026, COS $959, Total $7,541 January 13, 2019 OLM $503, OLV $4,010, COS $1,604, Total $6,117

LEAP YEAR RETREAT

RETREAT DIRECTOR: FATHER A. LEO, H.G.N.

THEME: REPENT - RETURN - RENEW

WHERE: OUR LADY OF THE VALLEY CATHOLIC CHURCH

92 GRAFTON ROAD, TOWNSHEND, VT.

WHEN: SATURDAY - FEBRUARY 29, 2020

TIME: 1:00PM to 4:00PM WITH MASS TO FOLLOW

BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A BLESSED DAY OF ADORATION, RECONCILIATION, PRAISE,

WORSHIP, AND MASS

WHAT A GREAT BEGINNING TO OUR LENTEN SEA-SON!

**DONATIONS ARE VERY MUCH

APPRECIATED**

The Holy Mass Guidelines For The Reception Of the Holy Communion, Given by US Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) How Many Times May a Person Receive Holy Communion? Some of our parishioners have asked me, whether one can receive Holy Communion more than once in a day. Let me clarify, how often in a day one can receive Holy Communion. The Church law, namely, the Code of Canon Law stipulates: Canon 917: “A person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the Eucharistic celebration in which the person participates, without prejudice to the prescript of Can. 921, §2.” Canon 921, §2: “Even if they have been nourished by holy communion on the same day, however, those in danger of death are strongly urged to receive communion again.” Based on the above two Canons, we can conclude that a person can receive Holy Communion twice a day by partici-pating in the Mass; nevertheless, a person in danger of death can receive Holy Communion again the same day, even outside the Mass. The rationale for such a concession is that the participation in the Mass and the reception of the Holy Communion are intrinsically connected. In other words, the two parts of the Mass: The Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist are two parts of the one whole celebration. Full participation in the Mass entails that one has to be present from the beginning until the end of the Mass and receive Holy Communion. Unfortunately, a few individuals come for Mass in the middle, receive Holy Communion and leave before the Mass concludes. One has to participate in the whole Mass and more precisely, one has to thank The Lord for His gift after receiving the Holy Communion. According to Canon 921 §2, even if a person has already received Holy Communion twice in a day, he/she can re-ceive Holy Communion again, in a special circumstance like danger of death. To be continued….

Pope Francis Speaks to Families Mothers and Fathers A Child Changes Your Life!

Motherhood and fatherhood are a gift of God, but to accept the gift, to be astounded by its beauty, and to

make it shine in society, this is your task. Each of your children is a unique creature that will never be dupli-cated in the history of humanity. When one understands this, or that God wanted each one, we are astounded by how great a miracle a child is! A child changes your life! We have all seen—men, women—that when a child arrives, life changes, it is another thing. A son or daughter is a miracle that changes life. —Address to the Italian Association of Large Families, December 18, 2014

READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: 1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13; Ps 132:6-7, 8-10; Mk 6:53-56 Tuesday: 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30; Ps 84:3-5, 10-11; Mk 7:1-13 Wednesday: 1 Kgs 10:1-10; Ps 37:5-6, 30-31, 39-40; Mk 7:14-23 Thursday: 1 Kgs 11:4-13; Ps 106:3-4, 35-37, 40; Mk 7:24-30 Friday: 1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19; Ps 81:10-11ab, 12-15; Mk 7:31-37 Saturday: 1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34; Ps 106:6-7ab, 19-22; Mk 8:1-10 Sunday: Sir 15:15-20; Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34; 1 Cor 2:6-10; Mt 5:17-37 [20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37]

LATER . . . One who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything. —Samuel Johnson PRESIDENTIAL GARDENING After I die, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower wherever I thought a flower would grow. —Abraham Lincoln REASONS OF THE HEART The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing. —Blaise Pascal

February 9, 2020 Light shines through the darkness for the upright. — Psalm 112:4