Congratulations to our Dominican Brothers

Our congratulations, prayers and best wishes to the two men who were accepted into the Order on Saturday (September 14th is the feast of the Triumph of the Cross and is also the feast day of the Irish Dominican Province). Also to the four Brothers who made First Profession yesterday and the eight Brothers who renewed their vows on Friday. May God continue to bless you all in your formation as Friars Preachers.

(Images from www.irishdominicanvocations.blogspot.ie ; see that site for more images and details from the ceremonies)




Br Greg Daly and Br Neil Fox were clothed in the habit of the Dominican Order and began their novitiate in Cork



Br Matthew Farrell, Br Philip Mulryne, Br Jesse Maingot and Br Michael (Ronan) O Dubhghaill making First Profession in Saint Mary's Dominican priory church in Pope's Quay, Cork.

The eight brothers who renewed their vows on Friday, pictured with the student master:
Front row (left to right): Fr Terence Crotty (student master), Br Conor McDonough, Br Eoin Casey, Fr Gregory Carroll (provincial) Br Daragh McNally, Br David McGovern.

Back row (left to right): Br Patrick Desmond, Br Damian Polly, Br Ronan Connolly, Br Kevin O' Reilly

The Irish Dominican friars now have 19 in formation at various stages. Please pray for them and those considering joining the Order and the friars who assist them.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - 14th September

At Vespers this evening we will sing: “This is Love’s great deed that death should die, when life itself was slain up the tree.”  Here we are faced with a paradox – a paradox which human nature has always found difficult to grasp – and which is even more difficult nowadays.  At Lauds we sang: “The holy Cross shines in splendour”; “The holy Cross shines upon us, in the Cross is victory, in the Cross is power.  By the Cross every sin is overcome.”  We may ask ourselves if we experience some of this victory and power in our daily lives. And if not why not?

The following passage from St Andrew of Crete which we read at Office of Readings is particularly beautiful:

We are celebrating the feast of the Cross, whereby darkness was dispelled and the light restored. We are celebrating the feast of the Cross and with the Crucified One we are raised up, leaving behind us the earth and sin so that we may possess what is above. How great the Cross! What blessings it holds! He who possesses it possesses a treasure.  More noble, more precious than anything on earth, in fact and in name, it is indeed a treasure, for in it and through it and for it all the riches of our salvation were stored away and restored to us.

The folly of the Cross is truly a great mystery!  At the very moment when Jesus is most helpless and vulnerable, nailed to the Cross immobile a great hollow space is dug out, as it were, in His heart for us; he reaches out to embrace sinful humanity, He speaks out both His and our ‘yes’ to the Father

as He commends His Spirit into the hands of the Father (Lk 23:46) He donates Him to us (Jn 19:30)

and from His fullness we have all received. 

 

The Cross has always been central to Dominican spirituality – we are all familiar with Fra Angelico’s beautiful frescos of Dominic at the foot of the Cross.  At the foot of the Cross Dominic learned from the ‘Book of Love’ the immense love of our Saviour which led Him to the Cross.  Contemplating the suffering, forsaken Jesus, Dominic’s compassionate heart was torn apart with compassion, firstly, for Jesus whose love was being rejected by the very ones for whom he died.  Paul Murray speaks of an ‘apostolic wound’ – ‘a contemplative wound’ which Dominic received - no doubt the fruit of his ‘special’ prayer when, as a Canon at Osma, he asked God “to grant him true charity, which would be effective in caring for and winning the salvation of all;  giving himself up entirely for the salvation of others. We can say that our Order was born at the foot of the Cross and it is there that each of us must draw our inspiration and zeal.  This too is the source from which renewal will spring. 

In his correspondence with Blessed Diana, Blessed Jordan exhorts her always to have before her eyes “the book of life, the book of the Lord’s perfect law which brings life back to souls”.  And he continues:

this law is charity: you see it when you gaze on your Saviour Jesus stretched out on the Cross, as though a parchment, his wounds the writing, his blood the illuminations. Where, I ask you, my beloved, could the lesson of love be learnt as it is learnt here?

And according to St Catherine of Siena, Dominic wanted his children to

stand at the table of the Cross – to seek only the glory and praise of God and the salvation of souls

As we take our place with Dominic and Mary at the foot of the Cross we begin to understand the meaning of our vocation.

The Cross and Veritas

There is a very close link between the Cross and Veritas (Truth) - the motto of our Order.  “The Cross verifies the truth about God and the truth about humankind”.

The truth about God: When we look at the Cross we are left in no doubt of God’s infinite love –This is how God loves.

The truth about humans:  the Cross reveals the dignity of every person – how precious we are in God’s sight that He should die for us!

But the Cross does not rob us of joy – the contrary is true as we sing in the liturgy: “through the Cross joy has come into the whole world” and with it freedom.  Jesus has taken the burden of our sin on Himself and has already achieved our eternal salvation.  Our task lies not in anxious striving to achieve our own perfection but in opening ourselves to receive the gift. “At the very moment when he identifies with our sin, ‘abandoned’ by the Father, Jesus ‘abandons’ himself into the hands of the Father”. We in our turn can abandon ourselves and those we carry in our hearts to the loving mercy of our God in the sure hope that “all will be well”.

21st Sunday of Year C 2013

 

"They will proclaim my glory to the nations" (Isaiah 66:20)

There are several themes running through this Sunday’s liturgy and the one that spoke most to me was the call to “proclaim my glory to the nations” and the invitation to be a witness “to my glory”v.19.

I found these words of life extraordinary – really like a rallying call to us, coming almost immediately after our Cardinal consecrated Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Is the Lord calling us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as the Gospel today tells us - “Through towns and villages Jesus went preaching…” Lk.13.22  proclaiming the glory of his Father to both Jews and Gentiles alike.

Remember how after the miracle at the Wedding of Cana ‘He let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him’ Jn.2.12  and later he prays ‘Father, I have given them the glory you gave to me that they may be one as we are one’ - thus he prepared and strengthened them for their future work of Evangelisation.

How are we to be witnesses of this glory of Jesus today?  For some it will mean going ‘through our towns and villages, teaching and sharing the good news that we have a Father who loves us, who in fact is madly in love with us.  Just take the time to look into the face of a little flower - it ‘has neither spun or woven its own beauty, yet not even Solomon in all his glory is arrayed like it.’  Jesus himself tells us ‘there is no need to be afraid Lk.12.2  little flock, for it has pleased your father to give you the kingdom.’

The prophet Isaiah also tells us about this good news so beautifully, especially in these times when sad and indeed horrific news seems to catch the limelight in our news reels and papers.

 

“Arise and shine out for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you

though night (recession, murders, abortions, break-up of family life) still covers

our land and darkness, our people.”

 

Is Mary, Queen of Ireland, telling us –

“above you the Lord now rises and above you his glory appears – lift up your eyes and look around, all are assembling and coming towards you, your sons from far away, and your daughters being tenderly carried.  At this sight you will  grow radiant – The Lord will be your everlasting light – your days of mourning over – your people will all be upright, possessing our land forever.  I, the Lord, have spoken and in due time I shall act”  Cf. Is.60

 

The prophet has a word for us too, who are not itinerant preachers, but who can still proclaim the good news in our homes and work places.  Listen to Mary, our Mother, speak through him:

“Your integrity will be before you and the glory of the Lord behind you, cry and the Lord will answer, call and pray and he will say – I am here.  If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word.  If you give your bread to the hungry and relief to the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness – the Lord himself will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places”.    cf. Is.58

We can also proclaim and praise his glory by constant thanksgiving – Our Lady told the little Arab slave girl, Blessed Maryam – “always be content”

All our deeds, actions, thoughts and desires have the power to root us more deeply in His love and their fruits flow out to others – and then –Some day the veil will fall and we may cross the eternal threshold where we shall sing in the lap of Eternal Love -  God will give us a new name, the one he promised to those who prove victorious.  What will it be?  Praise of His Glory.  (Elizabeth of the Trinity)

An eventful month



 

We would like to share with our readers some of the joyful celebrations of this past month - you will then understand why we have not been attending to our blog!

 

Newly Ordained celebrates Eucharist with us

 

On the 22nd July, feast of St Mary Magdalen, Fr Paul Murphy who was recently ordained our diocese celebrated the Eucharist with us, and gave us his blessing.   Later we met with him and his parents in the parlour.  During the past year Fr Paul  came regularly to pray in our chapel while he was working in our parish as a deacon.   We   continue to support him with our prayer as he  soon begins ministry in Armagh cathedral.  We pray that many more young men may follow Paul's example and dedicate their lives to the priesthood.

 

  

Fr Paul is pictured here with his parents


Silver Jubilee celebration

 

On the 7th August we were happy to have fr John Harris OP with us to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Ordination.  Fr John had celebrated his first Mass with us in the old monastery on the Chord Road - so it was a great joy to have him with us on this joyful occasion 25 years later.  Sr Paula Mary had devoted many hours in designing and creating the stole which he is wearing in picture.  

Being the eve of the feast of our holy Father St Dominic Fr John stayed so that we had solemn Vespers of the feast.

 

Celebrating the Feast of St Dominic on 8th August

 

It was a great joy for us to have our new coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Archbishop Eamon Martin  celebrate the feast of St Dominic with us. He arrived in time for first Vespers and met the community later afterwards.  He stayed overnight and  on the feast of St Dominic he celebrated the Eucharist.  Fr Gregory Carroll OP, Provincial, concelebrated with him.  Both of them joined us in the parlour and greeted our community friends who attended the Mass. 

 

Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal celebrate with us

Sr Lucille and Sr Clare, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, spent two weeks with us while they were helping their sisters settle into their new home in St Mary's parish at the other side of town from us.  They had stayed in our retreat house for a few days last year when they were looking into the possibility of starting a foundation in Drogheda - so our joy was great when Sr Lucille phone a few months ago asking if we could accommodate herself and Sr Clare again this time.  They are pictured here with Srs Jacinta, Monica, Veronica and Kelly Frances - the four sisters who have come to Drogheda.  On the feast of St Dominic all six sisters joined us for Vespers, supper and recreation.

 

 

 

Sr Jacinta here receives an icon written by our sisters for their new home in Drogheda, Sr Lucille is on left.

 

Below are the four sisters who came from Leeds for the inaugural Mass on the 15th of August in St Mary's Church, Drogheda.  Srs Elizabeth, Catherine, Joseph and Cecilia stayed in our retreat house while they were here.  Their new house has only accommodation for the four sisters who live there.

 

 

 

 

Welcoming Cardinal Dolan of New York 

 

 

 

 

As Cardinal Dolan was instrumental in the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal coming to Drogheda, he came all the way from New York for the inaugural Mass which took place in St Mary's Church, Drogheda on the evening of the 15th of August.  Also in attendance were the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Browne, Bishop Denis Nulty and Bishop Michael Smith and a packed church of parishioners who warmly welcomed the sisters. 

 

During his stay in Ireland Cardinal Dolan celebrate our community Eucharist on Tuesday the 13th August and met the community afterwards.  In the picture are members of to our own community,  the Franciscan sisters  and Sr Bosco, a Sister of Mercy from Drogheda who had taught him in primary school and with whom he has kept contact ever since.

 

15th August 2013 - Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary - Consecration of Ireland to the Immcaculate Heart of Mary -

Today at Knock Shrine Cardinal Sean Brady together with co-adjutor Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop Charles Brown - the Papal Nuncio  and the Bishops of Ireland will consecrate Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  We pray that this entrusting of our country to Mary our Mother will bear abundant fruit in holiness of life in our people. 

At our Eucharist this morning we, in solidarity with the Bishops, prayed the act of consecration entrusting ourselves, our community, our Church and our country to Mary's hands.

Act of Consecration

Most Blessed Virgin Mary,

Mother of God and Refuge of Sinners,

we entrust and consecrate ourselves,

our family, our home and our Dioceses

to Jesus through your Immaculate Heart.

As your children,

we promise to follow your example in our lives

by doing at all times the will of God.

O Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit,

we renew today the promises of our Baptism and Confirmation.

Intercede for us with the Holy Spirit

that we may be always faithful to your Divine Son,

to his Mystical Body, the Catholic Church,

and to the teachings of his Vicar on earth, our Holy Father the Pope.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Queen and our Mother,

we promise to uphold the sanctity of marriage

and the welfare of the family.

Watch over our minds and hearts

and preserve our youth from dangers to the faith

and the many temptations that threaten them in the world today.

We ask you, Mary our Advocate,  to intercede with your divine Son.

Obtain for our country the grace to uphold the uniqueness of every human life,

from the first moment of conception to natural death.

O Blessed Mother, Our Life, our Sweetness and Our Hope,

we wish that this Consecration be for the great glory of God

and that it lead us safely to Jesus your Son.

A Naomh-Mhuire, a Mháthair Dé,

guigh orainn na peacaigh, anois agus ar uair ár mbáis.

Amen.

 

Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our faith

(This prayer is taken from Lumen Fidei, the recent Encyclical of Pope Francis.)

 

Mother, help our faith !

Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognise his voice and call.

Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps,

to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.

Help us to be touched by his love,

that we may touch him in faith.

Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him

and to believe in his love,

especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross,

when our faith is called to mature.

Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe are never alone.

Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus,

that he may be light for our path.

And may this light of faith always increase in us,

until the dawn of that undying day

which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!

Amen

 

St Dominic's Prayer for Others

A Reflection on St Dominic's Prayer and concern for others.

 

All of the accounts of St Dominic's  life speak of his great passion for the salvation of others. A passion that found expression both in his preaching and in his prayers. This was something that impressed me when I was discerning my vocation - the energy and fervency of his prayer for the conversion of sinners. His frequent cry "what will become of sinners?"  This links into what I read in St Catherine of Siena's "Dialogue": when God the Father tells her that it is the love and desire with which she offers her prayers, penance and actions that is most important since only love is infinite.

 

The main purpose of my life here is to offer worship to God and to pray for those who need our prayers. But looking at St Dominic's life I see ever more clearly that my prayer must be passionate. To use a modern expresssion, I must be engaged by what I am praying for. I must know in my own heart the tragedy of those who turn from God and have that knowledge, that awareness, fuel my prayer. So that my prayer, like Dominic's, will be earnest and fervent and will bear fruit for others.

Novena in preparation for the feast of St Dominic

 

Today we being the novena in preparation for the feast of St Dominic - before Vespers each evening for the coming nine days we have a short reflection followed by the singing of the 'O Spem' - a prayer reminding St Dominic of his promise that he would be more helpful to his brothers and sisters after his death than when he was alive. 

Readers of this blog might like to join us in praying to St Dominic during these days:

O wonderful hope which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, that after your decease you would be helpful to your brethren.

Fulfil Father what you have said and help us by your prayers

You shone on the bodies of the sick by so many miracles, bring us the help of Christ to heal our sick souls.

Fulfil Father what you have said and  help us by  your prayers.