St Mary Magdalene - 22nd July

Today is the feast-day of St Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, and Patroness of the Order of Preachers. We're lucky to have her! As I think about her now, you know, she's quite an inspiration, a good teacher.

In the Gospel according to John, we read:

"Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb, ..."
(John 20:8-11)

Just these few verses got me thinking - about how the disciples left and she stayed. They went home, but she had no home to go to.
JESUS was her home - that's why.
The disciples had left everything to follow JESUS, but I suppose here you could say that as yet JESUS didn't wholly possess them - they had left everything, but as yet they hadn't given Him their very selves, they didn't realise that they couldn't do without Him. So they went home ... sad? yes; ...lost? yes, probably; ...confused? surely; ...disappointed? I think definitely so. They didn't have JESUS any longer, He was gone. Where were they to go? What to do now? They had homes, they could pick up their lives again, the lives - the everything - they had left and try to keep going ... that would fill the void that JESUS had left in them.

But when JESUS reached out to Mary that first time, and saved her - she had been about as far away from Him as it is possible to be - had given up even on herself. It was a miracle, a wondrous miracle that He would even look at her, not to mind want her. But she saw that He did, and when she saw Him, she saw that He was everything and that now, knowing Him, her life would be nothing ... she would be nothing ... without Him, apart from Him.

He was her home.

He is our home.

He is my home. The ground beneath my feet.

Thank God for St Mary Magdalene, may she pray for us that we may find our way home.

Video of the Solemn Profession of Sr Mary Teresa

Below is a short video clip of some scenes from the Solemn Profession of Sr Mary Teresa Dunphy. We hope you enjoy it.

Solemn Profession of Sr Mary Teresa OP

On the 29th June Sr Mary Teresa's solemn profession was a wonderful celebration of joy and thanksgiving for our community. The profession took place during the celebration of the Eucharist at which Fr Laurence Collins OP, vicar of the Master of the Order for our community presided. Fr Noonan from Sr Mary Teresa's home parish, concelebrated as well as several Dominican friars - some of whom travelled from as far away as Cork and Limerick in order to be with us on this special occasion. Also in the congregation were some Dominican student brothers, sisters from the Cabra Congregation of Dominican Sisters and local Lay Dominicans and friends. Of course Teresa's proud parents,Nuala and Brian Dunphy, her sister and her seven brothers were present and participated in the Readings, Prayers of the Faithful and Offertory procession. Fr John Harris OP preached the homily which we are happy to share with you here.

According to our 800 years' Dominican tradition we make our profession in the hands of the prioress while holding the Book of the Constitutions of the Nuns of the Order.

Here we share a few photos but shortly we hope to be able to share more of this joyful occasion through video - so keep your eye out for it!























Fr John Harris preached the following homily

Anyone who knows Sister Teresa will know that if you ask her a question you will get a quick, clear and intelligent answer. An answer that leaves you in no doubt about what she is thinking. Never in her life has she given such a clear answer to a question as she does today. To the question of questions, “who do you say I am?” today Sister Teresa says in reply to Our Blessed Lord with her whole life “you are my all”. For this is the meaning of solemn profession. One could easily use the words of St. Paul in today’s second reading “My life is being poured away as a libation”. Today Sr. Teresa in a solemn act of Holy Church offers herself totally to God in an act of perfect love. She does so in this community, following a way of life blessed by the Church which can lead her to true holiness of life.

Today Teresa is saying to God first and foremost, but also to us present and to the world “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as so much rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him... I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection”. (Phil 3:8-10)

Is she doing a foolish thing? Absolutely not! She is answering the deepest longings in the human heart, loving God with all her mind, all her will, all her body and all her soul. She is reminding us all of our own precious calling, to love God and to come to know ourselves truly in this Love. If one tries to know oneself outside of this love one searches in the darkness and never attains true happiness. Love of God is not the denial of humanity but its highest calling and its truest expression.

Today Sr. Teresa you are the freest creature on the face of the earth.

To make an act of solemn profession to love God is to make the freest act possible for a human being. Your voice today as you make your solemn profession is a making present of Christ’s voice in the Garden of Gethsemane, echoed in the voice of Mary at the Annunciation. To say yes to God is to be fully human.

Today in Rome the new archbishops will receive the Pallium from the Pope, a circular band of lamb’s wool, worn about the neck, breast, and shoulders (one could say our religious scapular is a development of the Pallium), said to have been originally a brace which kept slaves together as they were being transported from one place to another: Pope Benedict XVI says that “this may be considered an image of the yoke of Christ, which one takes upon one’s shoulders. God’s yoke is God’s will, which we accept. And this will does not weigh down on us, oppressing us and taking away our freedom. To know what God wants, to know where the path of life is found – this was Israel’s joy, this was her great privilege. It is also our joy: God’s will does not alienate us, it purifies us – even if this can be painful – and so it leads us to ourselves. In this way, we serve not only him, but the salvation of the whole world, of all history”. Today Teresa takes on this yoke of freedom. “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1).

Teresa’s yes of today will be lived out her whole life long as she prays to God unremittingly, continuing the prayer we read about in today’s first reading. Her life of prayer here in Siena monastery will be a source of life and freedom for the whole Church. Just as the prayers offered for Peter in today’s reading set him free to preach the word of God so the prayers offered in this holy place is the real heart of the preaching of the Dominicans on these islands. From prayer, from contemplation comes the preaching of the Gospel as we pray in psalm 67: The Lord gives the word to the bearers of good tidings. The Lord is the source of all our preaching and the Nuns here in Siena not only remind of this truth but also are active in that public preaching by their prayers. Without the prayers offered unremittingly for Peter he would have stayed in prison and could not have continued his ministry of preaching so without the prayers offered in this monastery no Dominican could preach a homily, no teacher could give class, no confessor would hear confessions, no writer would write books. The life lived here silently in Siena is no quaint curiosity adjacent to the story or the work of the Order of Preachers it is a vital component of the holy preaching.

Today Teresa, daughter of Brian and Nuala, you are a happy woman, blessed are you Teresa, for it was not flesh and blood which revealed the beauty of this life to you, but it is your calling from God, to a life of intimacy and love. A life lived in freedom for the good of the Holy Church and the preaching of the Good News.

My final words to you come not from me, words that were given to me many years ago by Fr, William Barden (a great friend of this community and all that it stands for) words from the other great Teresa, Teresa of Avila:

“Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All thing pass; God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. The one who has God finds she lacks nothing: God alone suffices.”

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, we hear those gracious words of Jesus: ‘Learn from me to be gentle and humble in heart’. The ‘heart’ that is the secret Jesus is revealing to us in these encouraging words – if our heart is not at rights with God, then our thoughts and words and actions cannot be rightly motivated. These words of Jesus recorded in today’s Gospel seem to be the only ones recorded in which Jesus says specifically – ‘Learn from me…’.

Rather surprisingly, he doesn’t say; ‘Learn from me how to pray or how to spread the Good News’, BUT ‘Learn from me to be gentle and humble in heart’.

True gentleness and humility are qualities so precious and so beautiful, so awe inspiring as to defy adequate definition in any dictionary. They are not sentimental watery qualities, on the contrary, the truly gentle and humble, possess great strength of character and are very genuine and wholesome people.

There are so many instances in the Gospels of the gentleness of Jesus in the way we normally conceive of this virtue – but when we reflect on Jesus calling Herod a fox, or addressing Peter as Satan, and the Pharisees as hypocrites, we wonder what kind of gentleness is this? This is where we see the ‘balance’ of the genuinely gentle and humble person coming into play – Jesus says ‘learn from me. Learning requires a strong application of our mind and will but especially it needs a good teacher – and as Cardinal Hume once said: ‘example is the best of teachers. Meditating on the life of Jesus and that of so many of his faithful followers in all walks of life through the centuries, is a great encouragement to us. In our own lives too, many of us have been touched by the true gentleness of others - this fills us with deep gratitude to God and inspires in us the courage we need to respond to Jesus’ invitation in today’s Gospel.

Each day, let us dedicate ourselves anew to walk hand in hand with Jesus, so that listening with our heart to his words, we may learn to know his immense love which calls us to live his gentleness and humility in joy as well as in pain. Thus we carry within us the whole world which has so much pain in it. As has been wisely said, it is the heart not the head that is the home of the Gospel.
What truly blessed words of Jesus, what an immense plea from his own most Sacred Heart - ‘Learn from me…’. and you will find rest for your souls.

Solemn Profession of Sr Mary Teresa

We invite all our readers to join us in spirit on Wednesday the 29th June as Sr Mary Teresa makes her solemn profession as a Dominican nun. In the above photo the Master of the Dominican Order, Bro Bruno Cadoré OP, extends his best wishes to Sr Mary Teresa on his recent visit to our monastery.

Those of you who live close by are welcome to join us in the chapel. Mass begins at 12.30 p.m.

We hope to share with you later in the week the highlights of this special day.

Feast of Corpus Christi

Reflecting on the Gospel of John (6:51-58) for this Corpus Christi Sunday, what struck me forcibly was the word ‘life’ and ‘living’. In the Gospel this word appears 11 times. The opening line contains it:

I am the living bread which has come down from Heaven.

And the last line contains it:

anyone who eats this bread will live forever

In his encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Bl Pope John Paul II takes up this theme of life:

The Church draws her life from the Eucharist

and again:

Proclaiming the death of the Lord ‘until he comes’ entails that all who take part in the Eucharist be committed to changing their lives and making them in a certain way completely ‘ Eucharistic’

.

Each day and every day we are privileged to receive this ‘living bread’. I ask myself am I truly and consciously aware of the ‘life’ that should be growing in me, that should be changing me?

If I am receiving this ‘life’ what growth is taking place in me? These questions have challenged me over the last couple weeks.

Jesus himself encourages us to draw life from Him in this Gospel:

As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father,so whoever eats me will draw life from me

And to quote Bl Pope John Paul II again:

From this living bread the Church draws her nourishment (7)

When referring to ‘life’ I have to keep reminding myself that it is supernatural life we are speaking of - the life of grace and not natural physical life.

St. Thomas distinguishes and compares these two types of ‘life’ – the life of the body and the life of the spirit in his treatise on the effects of the Eucharist when he says:

Our spiritual life is sustained, built up, restored and contented by the Eucharist in the same way that the physical body is nourished by food.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him.

People have different views about what ‘life’ and really ‘living’ mean. In the secular world it might include having a good time, having plenty of money, taking regular holidays abroad, having a great variety of entertainment. If only people would give as much attention to their spiritual needs as they do to all their other needs I’m sure they would be happier. Today there is this great lack, imbalance and disorder in people’s lives. We need to reclaim the great truth of the Eucharist as Bl Pope John Paul II expressed so well:

The Eucharist, as Christ’s saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history.(9)

and :

The Eucharist is the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of Himself, of His Person in his sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work.(11)

and:

Truly, in the Eucharist, Jesus shows us a love which goes “to the end” - a Love which knows no measure.(11)

Realizing all this and living out of it and from it is true life. Again St. Thomas reminds us:

How precious and wonderful is this banquet, which brings us salvation and is full of all delight!

No sacrament contributes more to our salvation than this; for it purges away our sins, increases our virtues, and nourishes our minds with an abundance of all the spiritual gifts. (Pg. 31, V.III)

There exists a union between God and people which is thoroughly real and continuous, a union in which Christians share in the life of God, who is the Father’s giving of himself.

We are offered so much of this true life in the Eucharist for Jesus Himself has said elsewhere:

I am the Way the Truth and the Life.

The only way I can gauge that this life is growing in me is if the fruits of the spirit are evident in my life – I ask myself am I growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control? (Gal 5:22) Receiving the Eucharist daily I have really no excuse not to.

And so we pray in the second opening prayer of the Mass for this feast of Corpus Christi:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we worship you living among us
in the sacrament of your body and blood.

May we offer to our Father in heaven
a solemn pledge of undivided love.
May we offer to our brothers and sisters
a life poured out in loving service of that Kingdom
where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Visit of the Master of the Order

On Thursday 16th June we had the joy of welcoming to our monastery, the Master of the Dominican Order, Frere Bruno Cadoré OP, who was on a short visit to the Irish Province of Dominican friars. He was accompanied by the provincial Pat Lucey, OP, Larry Collins OP, the vicar of the Master for our Monastery and Gregory Carroll OP the prior of St Saviour's Dublin. Our brothers from the local priory, Dermot Brennan OP, Joseph Heffernan OP and Christopher O'Brien OP joined us for the occasion. After a short meeting in the parlour we celebrated Vespers at which Frere Bruno preached - some of the local Lay Dominicans were present in our chapel for this. Afterwards we had a meal in the community room. we are happy to share some photos of the occasion with readers of this blog.