Communication

This upcoming Sunday and other bits and pieces

Hello,

I was going to say that we have planned a “normal” Sunday this weekend, but “normal” is a relative concept nowadays.

1) The snow is gone, you can park in the streets easily! That’s good!

2) The weather will be better so we can open up windows and have more than adequate ventilation.

3) Fr. Ron is preaching and presiding.

4) Our disinfection team will scrupulously sanitize the church between Masses, as always.

Last week we were surprised to see a good number of people at all the Masses, in spite of the snow. It seems as though people are being nourished by the Eucharist celebrated in community.

Yes, we plan on streaming the Mass for those who cannot make it. By the way, the streamed version of the Mass can also be viewed after the Mass has been celebrated on our Youtube channel. I am somewhat surprised that some OLM parishioners are not taking advantage of this option. The volunteers (Alex and Janet) work diligently to get this up and running and, also, I think the music itself is worth the view. They help me to pray! The Mass is never too long and it should help you feel connected to your parish.

Here is the channel: please click here to see previous masses (and other content).

Our Lady of Mercy Madrid – YouTube

I noticed that other European English parishes get many more hits than we do. Maybe we (Or I) am doing something wrong? Please, do suggest our Mass option to your friends and family. This option takes a lot of effort, and we need to feel is it being appreciated. If this proves to be a long term necessity, we would need to make further financial investments (in cameras, and set up helps).

This Sunday the topic of the homily is “What if?”

OK, a bit longer of an email.

By the way, if you want to unsubscribe from our mailing list, just send me an email to unsubscibe@ourladyofmercy.info and you will immediately be removed from the list.

Be well, and stay safe!

Fr. Ron

Pizza Coupon

Dispatching her ten-year-old son to pick up a pizza, my sister handed him money and a two-dollar coupon.

Later he came home with the pizza and the coupon. When asked to explain, he replied, “Mom, I had enough money. I didn’t need the coupon.”

The Feast of the Epiphany – aka the Three Kings

Hello Everyone,

This mail comes early because tomorrow (Wednesday) we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany! It is a Holy Day of obligation and we will have Mass in English at 11:00 AM.

Fr. Ron will be presiding and preaching.

Also, we have a special prayer request. Tomasz from Poland asks for the Mass to be offered for his father Wieslaw who is in Madrid in order to receive treatment form the Anderson Clinic. He has a very aggressive form of cancer and they are praying for a miracle. We pray the light of the star that guided the Magi will also be the hope that guides Wieslaw and his family during this difficult time.

We also pray for CJ Muñoz who is still debilitated from her Christmas day stroke. And we don’t forget Fatima who is still undergoing cancer treatments. I have not heard about her progress, so I hope a parishioner will give us an update.

It is terribly painful when a loved one is sick, so let us join our sincere prayers for those who have reached out to us, OK?

There was some worry that our neighborhood was to be confined, but thanks be to God, it is still open. A huge thank you to our disinfection crew who wash down the pews with bleach between Masses. They keep us safe! And we opened up the windows wide last Sunday in spite of the cold. Thanks to those of you to help pay our heating bill. It is much more expensive to heat the church with windows open but your health is worth the extra cost.

Praying for your health and happiness,

Fr. Ron

Helping Hand

A man writing at the post office desk was approached by an older fellow with a post card in his hand. The old man said, “Sir, I’m sorry to bother you but could you address this post card for me? My arthritis is acting up today and I can’t even hold a pen.”

“Certainly sir,’ said the younger man, “I’d be glad to.”

He wrote out the address and also agreed to write a short message and sign the card for the man. Finally, the younger man asked, “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”

The old fellow thought about it for a moment and said, “Yes, at the end could you just add, ‘PS: Please excuse the sloppy hand-writing.’?”

The TAX man and Christmas Eve openings

I imagine you are also very busy but this email is to help those of you who make donations and qualify for a tax dedecuction!

So, Elke has written everything clearly below.

I just want to say THANK YOU to those who have made bank transfers during our time of need this COVID crisis. You ahve kept us going and I pray that God rewards you!!!!!!

Those who know me know I do not want to speak about finances at church any more. I always reduce the financial responsibility message to an easy example. We pay a monthly minimum to our telephone company, Gas company, or electricity company whether we use a little or a lot. Doesn’t our church deserve the same consideration?

Also, as of this writing we are only at 111 people, and we have room for 200 at Christmas eve at 5:00 PM. If interested, write brian (not Fr. Ron) at rsvp@ourladyofmercy.info

Here is the annual reminder for first time donours. With very grateful hearts, Our Lady of Mercy Parish

Annual reminder from your treasurer: (Elke)

As every year at this time of year, may I please ask the parishioners who donated to OLM for the first time this year and would like to have their donations registered with the Spanish Tax Authorities and who made their donations

a) via bank transfer or envelopes or paypal AND
b) have not been registered in the past

to please send their full name and DNI/NIE number to Elke at one.elke@gmail.com.

Full name means we need to have your name EXACTLY like it is printed on your DNI/NIE, otherwise, the system will reject the entry.

Also, if you would like your donations registered under a different name than in the past, please advise.

The donations made in 2020 will be registered in January, so I will need to receive your information no later than December 31.

Later changes cannot be considered due to considerable fines “Hacienda” imposes on our parish.

If your donations have been registered in the past- there is NO need to respond.

Thank you!

Elke

P.S.: Do not respond to this email, send a new one to: one.elke@gmail.com

it’s getting closer

It’s almost time for Christmas! It seems like everyone is taking seriously our controls for the Christmas Eve Mass, so far we have 71 spots reserved and can do another 130 safely. So if you are interested, it looks like “there will be room at the Inn”.

On Sunday we will pass out more invitation forms, and then I will let you know how many reserved spots we have remaining. Remember, we still have the Children’s Christmas pageant and there will be at least 3 or 4 priests concelebrating.

On Sunday, there will be a baptism at Mass, it has been a while since we have celebrated baptisms and I think the extra boost of joy will be a great shot in the arm. (until the vaccine comes!)

Did you hear GMAIL was down on Monday morning? Well, my email was also down from Monday from about 2:00 PM until 12:00 Tuesday. If you sent me something, I did not receive it. It was not a gmail problem, it was a spam control I put in that was so good that it blocked ALL incoming emails. Sorry about that. So if you didn’t get an answer from me, please resend the mail.

Remember, we have many virtual Christmas online activities, please see: www.ourladyofmercy.info

A special thank you to all those of you who have been making Christmas donations online. Thanks for keeping us viable. If I may ask a favor, please do the donations by bank transfer instead of paypal. We don’t know why but paypal is taking a 5% commission. Elke is looking into it. Here is the bank info:

Account holder:
PARROQUIA HABLA ING. N. S. MERCED MADRID
Bank Details: IBAN: ES07.0186.5001.64.0511473809
Bank Name: Banco Mediolanum
BIC (or SWIFT): BFIVESBBS

And now, time to smile!

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

A Russian man and his British wife were discussing the weather. He said that it was raining, she said it was cold enough to be snowing. He insisted that it was raining, she was sure that it was snowing. He told her to go look for herself, when she returned she agreed that he was right.

He looked at her and said, “Rudolph the Red knows rain dear.”

By the way, you can always unsubscribe by sending me an email with unsubscribe in the subject line

My mother passed away

For those who did not pray with us during last Sunday’s live-stream Mass, I wanted to let you know that my much loved mother (Rose Ochylski) passed away last Friday. She was a wonderful person and a faithful Catholic. Here is her obituary (thanks to my sister Rose)

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/freep/obituary.aspx?n=rose-virginia-ochylski&pid=197117972

I will be going to Detroit, Michigan to celebrate her funeral which will take place on November 27th at 11:00 AM (Michigan time) at my home parish where I was baptized (St. Thecla’s – Clinton Township). If you could say a little prayer for her and my family, I would appreciate it.

Fr. Michael will be filling in for me while I am gone.

On Wednesday November 18, we have a parish council meeting to discuss Christmas 2020 at Our Lady of Mercy. However, we know that things are constantly changing, so any plans we make will have to be provisional.

The neighborhood is still restricted but there are no controls that anyone has seen. I wanted to thank those of you who came last Sunday to support me. We know that churches are not transmitting the virus.

The joke is pretty awful, sorry about that.

May God bless you and keep you safe!

Fr. Ron

The Frog

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that the teller’s name is Patricia Whack. So he says, “Ms. Whack, I’d like to get a loan to buy a boat and go on a long vacation.”

Patti looks at the frog in disbelief and asks how much he wants to borrow. The frog says $30,000. The teller asks his name and the frog says that his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it’s OK, he knows the bank manager.

Patti explains that $30,000 is a substantial amount of money and that he will need to secure some collateral against the loan. She asks if he has anything he can use as collateral.

The frog says, “Sure. I have this,” and produces a tiny pink porcelain elephant, about half an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed. Very confused, Patti explains that she’ll have to consult with the manager and disappears into a back office.

She finds the manager and says, “There’s a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000. He wants to use this as collateral.” She holds up the tiny pink elephant and says to the manager “I mean, what the heck is this?”

The bank manager looks back at her and says: “It’s a knick knack, Patti Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man’s a Rolling Stone.”

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