Through the Window of a Dominican Monastery

Last month there was a little reflection on the beginning of our Constitutions.  A further word on it this month seems like a good idea and given the way the world is turning so rapidly from faith and from God – it seems even necessary to pose a question or two about the same article.

We are called to ‘live in harmony …’

The question is:           Do we in fact know how to live? 

Do you know how to live?

Do you have a desire to actually live rather than merely exist?

Entering a monastery is a real ‘shock to the system’ – especially in today’s world (which sounds a bit like a cliché).  Nevertheless, so it is.  No iPhones, or smart-phones or ready access to social media … no radio or television except occasionally.

What are the benefits of that?  It’s a very relevant question for people who spend so many hours a day tuned into what people are saying ‘socially’ or ‘virtually.’

What do you discover when you turn off the noise; and stop filling your head with technological, non-stop communication?  What might happen?

…

Maybe … and in fact it is something that we here would all agree on.  TRUTH.  If there’s one thing you can be sure of, when you give yourself to the Lord in quiet and seeming emptiness (remember it actually isn’t emptiness) the truth bubbles up and speaks to you.

We are nuns of the Order of Truth – Veritas is our motto – so we bear witness in our silence and by our lives that TRUTH MATTERS.  More than that, it can be known and lived.  You can live the truth.  And the invitation is that you neither have to, nor are you expected to live that truth alone. 

What did the Lord promise His disciples before His ascension?  He said to them:

“Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”

KNOW – so it’s not simply a question of feeling.  He invites us to use our heads and our intelligence.  Know the truth.

I am with you.  There again are the famous words which for the Jews were too holy to be spoken, because they expressed God’s very name:  I AM.

And ‘with you’ remember, is what the Angel Gabriel told Mary was the meaning of Jesus’ name:  Emmanuel – a name which means, ‘God is with us.’

And He said, ‘always.’  That simple sentence is absolutely loaded with meaning.  And when the chaos around us seems to be too much to bear, He reminds us that He is ‘always’ with us. 

Do you have the courage to believe Him???

                       

22nd December - 800th Anniversary of the Approval of our Order

Today we unite with all our Dominican brothers and sisters throughout the world in giving thanks for the life and example of our holy father, Dominic and for all his followers over the past 800 years.

On the 22nd December 1216 he obtained Papal approval for his vision of an Order of Preachers. May we his sons and daughters continue to bring the love, light, joy and hope of Christ to the people of our times.

More information on Order of Preacher and 800th Jubilee can be found here

Novena to St Dominic 2015 - Day 7

Pope Francis has announced that the coming year-2016 will be a year dedicated to the Mercy of God for the whole Church, and by a happy coincidance our Order is celebrating the 800th Jubilee of its foundation.

 Reading through the Libellus and other documents of these early days I find that one of the most frequently mentioned characteristics of St. Dominic is his compassion, again and again we read of his long night vigils as he struggles with God to have Mercy on all His children, especially his most wayward ones.   Mercy Mercy, he cried, Lord have mercy on your children. What will become of sinners ?

Dominic could resonate with the beautiful lines from the poet on mercy and this was surely his way of thinking and his way of seeing life.

               "The quality of mercy is not strained----

it droppeth like the gentle dew from heaven

Upon the place beneath:  it is twice blest;-------

it blesseth him that gives and him that takes"

                                                                                                                        Shakespeare

St Lukes' Gospel on the Proddigal Son would have been especially dear to Dominic. It is said that he pondered with Mary the Word of God and St Paul's letters that he always carried with him, knowing them almost by heart.    We can see him pleading with and sharing the full depth of this story with the man in the inn as they talked and argued all night  long, and also with the sinners who were drawn to him, as they sensed that here was a man who would listen to their story and understand their problems, and sinfullness.---I will arise and go to mt Father---I have sinned and gone astray.  He would encourage these poor  children even the heretics, telling them of God's boundless love and mercy for them, and the welcome they would find in Jesus just as the prodigal son experienced it.

He would remind them too of the last Supper, the moment when John rested his head on the breast of Jesus in complete trust, sure of Jesus' love for him and his acceptance of this "son of thunder."   

 Where did St. Dominic our Father find the strength to sustain those long nights of intercession  and days of walking, teaching and arguing while at the same time bringing to birth his young Order of Friars Preachers?  He would tell them of God's constaint pursuit of them  each one individually and personally.

                        "All which I took from thee I did but take,-----not for thy harm's sake

                 but just that thou migh'st seek it in my arms.----all which thy child's mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home;   Rise clasp my hand an come.

                                                                                                                              the hound of heaven

 It was Our Lady, Queen of Heaven herself who walked with Dominic along the dusty roads and came with him into the inns, wherever a wayward son and daughter could be found.

 Maybe his prayer went like this - universal and personal as always

          Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners,   Hail holy Queen  mother of Mercy,----turn then most gracious advocate thine eyes of mercy towards us/

 Our Father Dominic has not changed and he accompanies his children as they travel along the dusty roads of life sometimes getting muddied and messed up, but always with our Father and Mary our Mother - sure that after this our exile he will be there waiting to show us the blessed fruit of Mary's womb---Jesus         Dominic we thank you.

Novena to St Dominic 2015 - Day 4

St Dominic and the Rosary

Today we reflect on our Dominican tradition of devotion to the Holy Rosary and we quote from a letter (September 1985) by Fr Damian Byrne OP when he was Master of the Order.

The Dominican legend of the Rosary - "The barren land"

The order was born into a barren land: dichotomized humanity, with flesh warring against the spirit, with woman downgraded and life itself despised, was unable to accept the reality of the Word made flesh, dwelling in the midst of us. There was only one answer, and it was summed up in the simple words: "Hail... the Lord is with you... you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son..." (Luke 1: 28-31).

Whatever critical historians may have to say about the Legend of the Rosary, it bears witness to the charismatic gift entrusted by the Church to the Order of Preachers, a gift which we must exercise by reason of profession, by our legislation and by the constant exhortation of the See of Rome.

The Legend, as such, is worth recalling in these days of renewed insistence on our preaching ministry: After much fruitless labour, tradition has it that the Mother of God appeared to Dominic in the forest of Bouconne near Toulouse: "Wonder not that until now you have had such little fruit from your labours. You have spent them on a barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of divine grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth he began by sending down the fertilizing dew of the Angelic Salutation. Preach my Rosary composed of one hundred and fifty Aves, and you will obtain an abundant harvest."

True devotion to Mary

It places Mary in her true ecclesial context - waiting herself in the barren land with the broken, the wounded and the little people of God. The heavenly Ave comes first on her, for in truth the Hail Mary is not so much an ascending prayer as a downward divine blessing poured out on all flesh. Mary stands in the desert on behalf of all humanity, so that it may blossom once more like the rose. The word addressed to Mary is addressed to all: "Rejoice, the Lord is with you." Here, we all draw waters from the springs of salvation, as the fertilizing rain of the Ave renews our land.

A school of prayer

There is a healthy plurality about the Prayer of the Rosary, for its long and varied history has produced many approaches: it has its rich Marian tradition, as witnessed at thousands of Marian shrines, in processions and in rituals where Mary is crowned as Queen. It has too, its Christological orientation as a "compendium of the Scriptures;" it is a powerful vocal prayer and it is a many levelled way of contemplative prayer. It can be prayed in a group or alone. In a word, the Rosary is a School of prayer, providing for body, soul and spirit.

A method of preaching

St. Dominic is above all the "Man of the Book." Art may show him without the beads, but never without the Scriptures. The well known fresco of "Christ mocked" in San Marco is a classic illustration. It contains the main elements of Rosary preaching:

1.The Central theme of the Lordship of Jesus, the subject of our contemplation and of our preaching. This is the suffering, yet triumphant Jesus of "now", with power still going out from his glorious wounds to heal his people.

2. Mary, the first and supreme contemplative who is already exquisitely occupied in pondering these things in her heart and at the same time inviting Dominic to keep her company.

3. St. Dominic, standing for ourselves, pondering the word in the Scriptures and preparing to preach it to others. Fra Angelico portrays him exactly as Our Lady requested five hundred years later at Fatima when she said: "Keep me company meditating on these mysteries of the Rosary."

An instrument of healing

Early preachers of the Rosary were concerned not merely with preaching a devotional

exercise. They were mindful of the Acts of the Apostles: "Grant to your servants to speak your word with boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4: 29, 30). Among the classic texts of their preaching was the story of the woman with the issue of blood. She touched the Lord and experienced power go out from him. Healing was a very real part of the Rosary apostolate of former times. The Preacher would hold up the beads, and invite his hearers to touch the Lord in faith, as they reverently called on the name of Jesus in each Ave. "The beads", they would say, "are like the tassel of his robe. Reach out and clutch them in faith and you will be made well."

The Spanish apostle of New Granada, St. Louis Bertrand, gives a graphic account of the miracles performed through his own use of the beads which he was accustomed to place around the neck of the sick person. After his return to Valencia he gave a Rosary to a friend and told him to preserve it with reverence, "because in the Indies, this Rosary cured the sick, converted sinners, and I think, also raised the dead to life."

In these days of the new flourishing of the ministry of healing, it would be remiss of us Dominicans to fail in the healing dimension of the Rosary which is an integral part of our tradition.

It may be timely to recall a remarkable letter addressed to a former Master of the Order by Pope Pius XI. On 7th March, 1934, he wrote: "It may justly be said that the Rosary of Mary is, as it were, the principle and foundation on which the very Order of St. Dominic rests for the perfecting of the lives of its members, and obtaining the salvation of others."

Novena to St Dominic 2015 - Day 3

In the Fundamental Constitution of the Order we find the phase “following in the footsteps of the Saviour, speaking among themselves or their neighbours, either with God or about God.”  In the Process of Canonisation the Brethren indicated that this was wholly characteristic of Dominic their founder – frequently repeating that he “only spoke to God or about God.”

Yet this formula is not a creation of Dominic – he borrowed it from the founder of the Order of Grandmont, St Stephen of Thiers: The virtuous man should always speak of God or with God; for in his prayer he speaks with God and with his neighbour of God”

This sentence makes clear how the synthesis of the two aspects of Dominican life operate together, and transcend all dualism.  Our life will have all the more unity, when our activity is rooted and flows from our union with God.

St Dominic was a person who was undivided in himself, because he was open to all.  He was open to all because the one love that is the source of all - the form of all and the end of all - is one in him and in all.  He was capable of experiencing the truth that we are completely rooted and grounded in God’s love.

The following quotation from Love and Living by Thomas Merton is relevant here: “Christianity is a religion of the Word.  The Word is Love, but we sometimes forget that the Word emerges first of all from silence.  When there is no silence, then the one Word which God speaks, is not truly heard as Love. Then only ‘words’ are heard. ‘Words’ are not Love, for they are many and Love is One.  The one Word which God speaks is Himself.”

This silence of St Dominic which he proposes that we should imitate, is like that of the Virgin Mary: silence of the heart allows us to unceasingly hold in our minds and in our hearts the mystery of salvation.

Novena to St Dominic 2015 - Day 2

On this second day of our Novena in honour of St. Dominic, I cannot help calling to mind one of the great outstanding qualities of St. Dominic, namely, that of his zeal.  The dictionary describes it as ’an  intense enthusiasm for a cause’, and those belonging to the family of St. Dominic are only too well  aware how well this description fits his intense enthusiasm for the salvation of souls.

So much so that he spent his nights and much of his day in prayer, pleading for their salvation, even to the point of offering himself to be cut in pieces to be placed at the gates of hell to save poor sinners.  This reminds us of the words of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel (Ch.2) ‘Zeal for your house devours me’.

Oh, how zealously St. Dominic laboured to bring Christ’s mercy and healing to the people of his time – surely in our day he longs even more  to reach out to our needy sisters and brothers, which he does, through the ministry of his many sons and daughters in every part of the world - for those caught up in drug and alcohol addictions, in sexual abuse, slave trading, human trafficking, abortion of innocent babies in the womb and suicide to mention only some of the desperate needs that plague our world in this new millennium. 

It was to bring the compassion and healing of Jesus to such needy peoples that St. Dominic founded his Order -  specifically for their salvation.  We read in the Book of Numbers (Ch.25)  ‘the Lord said to Moses: ‘Phinehas the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel my people, because he was the only one among them to have the same zeal as I have…’.  How appropriately these consoling words can be applied to St. Dominic and hopefully also to his children in his Order.

Each member of St. Dominic’s family is called to imitate this same zeal for the salvation of souls – those of us in the cloistered life are called to devote ourselves without hindrance to praying and pleading with God for the salvation of all peoples – called to be devoured by the same zeal as Dominic - and by frequent contact with the furnace of love as he was, we too are set on fire with ardour for the spreading of God’s Kingdom on earth and the salvation of souls.

Novena to St Dominic - 2015 - Day 1

 

 

Jesus said to His disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds.” Mt 13:47

The opening words of the Gospel reading we heard today at Mass seemed to me to be a very fitting description of the Order of Preachers – and providential, that we have been given these words at the beginning of our novena to St Dominic.

In its almost 800 years of life, the Order of Preachers has proven itself to be like the dragnet Jesus spoke about – attracting to itself people of all kinds, rich in diversity; of every shape and size; from every corner of the earth – and each one has found in it a home; a place where they feel welcome and to which they belong; and a place where they have discovered they can be free to be themselves; a place of mercy where they have found acceptance and love – the beginning, perhaps, of eternity?

We know that St Dominic was inspired primarily from the hours he spent in contemplation at the foot of Christ’s Cross; that his sole prayer for himself was that he be given the gift of perfect charity.  The shape of the Cross is the shape of the greatest commandments we have been given by the Lord Jesus: that we love God with all our heart and soul; with all our mind and strength; and that we love our neighbour as ourselves.  When Jesus had His arms outstretched on the Cross, His embrace of humanity was without limit; without condition and with the capacity to enfold in His mercy everyone who went to Him and sought Him there … and everyone entrusted Him theough the faith of others, as was the paralytic who was let down though the roof of the house where Jesus had been teaching and preaching.

In reflecting on St Dominic and on the shape of the Cross on which hung the Saviour of the world: the Cross which was so dear to St Dominic – it seemed to me that the gift we have been given as Dominicans, the grace of the Holy Spirit Who has been breathing His life into the Order since its beginnings in 1206 – and Who has been guiding and directing the children of St Dominic in a most dynamic period of the world’s history: the gift of unbroken unity with which we have been blessed, is a fruit of St Dominic’s whole-hearted docility to God. 

His vision for the Order he founded was – maybe? – that it take as its pattern the shape of the Cross: in all things – in its common life; its fidelity to the liturgy and prayer, especially the Eucharist; in its study and its preaching – in all these things, we should direct our gaze upwards, on God  And, in experiencing the Lord’s boundless love and infinite mercy – that we might open wide our arms so as to be able to embrace, with Christ crucified, all of our brothers and sisters in the Order and in all the world.

We pray then, as we look forward to the year of mercy and the Jubilee of the Order – through the intercession of St Dominic – that when the dragnet is full and the fishermen have hauled it ashore, that it may be that the baskets are filled to overflowing, and none may be found to be ‘no use’ and thus thrown away.

May the Lord be gracious and bless us with His mercy, may His face shine on us and on the whole world that we may be saved.

Sr Mary Cathy's Profession - 2nd February

After a week of wind, rain and hail stones the sun shone brightly on Saturday morning  and continued to shine all day - symbol of the light and joy we celebrated on this feast of the Presentation of the Lord as Sr Mary Cathy made her Profession - an appropriate way to mark this day dedicated to Consecrated Life.

Fr Gerard Dunne OP, vicar of the Master of the Order for our  monastery, presided and was joined by our brothers from the local community and several others including Fr Gregory Carroll, Provincial and Fr Eamonn McCarthy from Cloyne diocese - a friend of Sr Cathy.
In addition to Sr M Cathy's family we were very happy to welcome Sr Marie Redmond OP, novice mistress and her two novices, from the Cabra Congregation of Dominican Sisters and all our student brothers from St Saviour's Priory, Dublin.  Fr John Harris preached the homily - which we hope to share with you later.  We were joined in the chapel by a large number of Lay Dominicans and local friends.

The following photos will convey to you something of the joy which we all experienced.

Sr Mary Cathy makes prostration and asks for God's mercy and that of the community

The prioress questions Sr Mary Cathy before making her profession

 

Sr Mary Cathy makes her profession in the hands of the prioress as is customary in our Order:

 

I, Sr Mary Cathy Howard, make profession, and promise obedience to God and to Blessed Mary and to Blessed Dominic and to the Master of the Order of Friars Preachers, Bro Bruno Cadore, and to you Sister Mary Breda Carroll, Prioress of this Monastery of St Catherine of Siena, Drogheda and to your successors, according to the Rule of the Blessed Augustine and the Constitutions of the Nuns of the Order of Preachers, that I will be obedient to you and to your successors for three years.

The scapular is blessed

Sr Mary Cathy receives the veil:  "receive this sacred veil, by which you will be recognised as a house of prayer to your Lord, and a temple of intercession for all people."

After the ceremony Sr Mary Cathy with Fr Gerard Dunne OP, vicar of the Master of the Order for our monastery.

With Fr Gregory Carroll OP, Provincial

With Fr John Harris OP who preached the homily

With her Dad

With her Mam

 

With members of her family

 

 

 

 

 

 

With her friends from the Legion of Mary

With Sr Mairead, novice mistress and Sr M Breda, Prioress

 



 

Dominican Sisters and students and our friend Jim Walsh who played the organ

 

 

 

With Srs M Kathleen and Clare Marie of our community

Meeting of Dominican Nuns in Krakow

From the 5th to the 10th of September Dominican nuns from the region of Europe which is outside Italy, France and Spain met at a Vincentian retreat centre at Krzeszowice near Krakow.  We came from the monasteries of Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Vilnius, Oslo, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal (Fatima) and Srs Mairead and Breda from our community in Drogheda.  fr Brian Pierce OP the promoter for the Dominican  nuns was present throughout the meeting.  fr Viktor Hofstetter OP, a former promoter gave some of the conferences and fr Józef Zborzil, Promotor of the Nuns in Poland, fr Krzysztof Popławski, the Polish Provincial were present as invited guests and for the last two days we were privileged to have fr Bruno Cadoré, the Master of the Order with us - we greatly appreciated the fact that fr Bruno interrupted his work in S Sabina, Rome in order to come to share these days with us.

This is the third such meeting in recent years - the first being in Prague in 2005 and the second in Sthrhlfeld, Germany in 2008. Our biggest problem in this region is the language barrier but we had an excellent group of Dominican brothers and sisters who provided us with simultaneous translation.  One sister suggested that we spoke four languages - Polish, English, German and the language of the heart!  The liturgy was celebrated in a different language each day and we ended the day with a silent Eucharistic Hour.

 

 

Nodoubt this beautifully refurbished retreat centre was an ideal setting for our meeting - with the possiblity for walks on the grounds and in a nearby wooded park and along a river bank.  Of course the beatiful sunshine and warm weather was an added bonus for us coming from Ireland where we have been waiting for summer since last June but it never arrived!!!

 

The theme of the meeting was 'Obedience and Freedom'- we were fortunate that all the conferences were in English.  fr Bruno's input was encouraging and inspiring as he presented his vision of the place of the nuns at the heart of the Order - a life centred on the Word of God - a life given for the mission of the Order - to preach and bear witness to the coming down among us of God's Son to the people He loves.

 

We had discussions in language groups with some plenary sessions as well as informal gatherings during free time. We spoke about how we can care for our elderly sisters and how to provide a good formation for the young women who join us. It is encouraging that while a number of monasteries in our region have closed in recent years others are receiving vocations again after a gap of several years. 

 

On Saturday evening we were treated to a festive supper followed by song and dance and lots of fun.

 

After lunch on Sunday we went by bus to the shrine of Divine Mercy and afterwards to the Dominican Priory where we received a most interesting talk about the history of the Domincans in this very house for almost 800 years - we then joined the brothers for Vespers followed by supper. The following morning it was time to say our good-byes promising to keep in contact with each other.

 

 

 

 

 

Novena to St Dominic -Day 4

As we draw nearer to the feast of St Dominic, I have been thinking again about how he is in a sense a ‘mysterious’ and ‘obscure’ kind of saint: so much has been written in an attempt to make him known, while he wrote so very little himself – his ‘words’ are the sisters and brothers he gathered together into the Order of Preachers; the souls he won for the Lord Who was his most intimate friend.

I considered what a great legacy he left, in leaving so ‘little,’ because he thus can be a saint everyone can truly know and have as a close friend; and when we see the diversity within the Order: how he founded an Order that has room for every one – we can be moved to a wonderful sense of gratitude to our eternal Father, for blessing St Dominic with that certainty and confidence in Him, that He can and does make us one, who are so very different and distinct.

I wondered where would be a good place to come to know St Dominic, and in reading his ‘fourth way of prayer,’ it seemed that here is the answer.

In this way of prayer, Dominic ‘either before the altar or in the Chapter Room, with his eyes fixed on the crucifix, would contemplate it with indescribable intensity.  He would make numerous genuflections before it. ... After such prayers he was filled with great trust in the mercy of God for himself, for all sinners and for the preservation of the younger brethren whom he was sending out into the world to preach the Gospel to souls.  He was sometimes unable to refrain from breaking into speech, repeating words of the psalms or other words of Holy Scripture.

But sometimes he spoke within himself, and no sound became audible; and he would prolong his genuflections, his soul lost in ecstasy.  While he remained praying thus, he would sometimes look as if his mind had pierced the sky; and soon he would be seen to be thrilled with joy, and to wipe away the tears that flowed from his eyes.

And more by his example than by word, he taught his brethren that way of praying.

Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God.

In imitating Dominic’s example, I wondered what it is we might learn in our contemplation; what it was that he learned and that he came to know in gazing upon the cross.  Two things, maybe.

The overwhelming wonder of divine love: that no human words could ever describe, causing us to fall into silence, that silence where we find true peace: awe that leaves us speechless.

“For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.” (cf Eph 2: 13-18)  For there, at the foot of the cross, there is no place for discord or enmity – nothing but the love of God matters, and that that love be known by and alive in every one.  For that look with which Christ our God gazes on us with such longing, is the same look, the same longing He has for the brother with whom I am at odds; and in that peace that only God gives, I must understand that the faith and the love and the desire my sister has for the Lord, is no less valid or sincere than is my own.  With the pure heart that Dominic had, we too will know that the cross is a place of glory and of gladness – ‘it is wonderful for us to be here!’ (cf Mk 9:5)

“How blessed are those who love you,” Lord Jesus!  “They will rejoice in your peace.  Blessed are those who grieved over all your afflictions, for they will rejoice for you upon seeing all your glory, and they will be made glad for ever.” (Tobit 13:13-15)

And it is in contemplating the crucifix that with open and pure hearts, lovers of God know how infinitely dear they are to Him – they know who they are.  I think that it was there that Dominic realised who he was in God’s sight, and he couldn’t but fall into an ecstasy at realising that even he, a mere creature, was so valuable to his Lord, so precious.  There, he allowed his mind to be remade, his whole nature trasnformed (cf Rom 12:1-2) – and the return he got: the gift of discernment of the will of God: that will which destined Dominic from the first, to be moulded into the image of Jesus. (cf Rom 8:28-30)  It is in our contemplation of Christ on the cross that we too, will realise how God has called even us to partake in the fulfillment of His plan, that in His wisdom, by giving us life – He has made us to be necessary somehow to Him; we are not here by accident.  Dominic knew in faith what the Lord was calling him to do; if we make a friend of him, he can obtain for us also the courage to discern the Lord’s will for us and to do it.

May the Lord enkindle in us the gift of wonder in Him and in who we are in His sight; and may He, through the intercession of Mary and Dominic grant us that purity of heart which will enable us to see Him for all eternity.

Novena to St Dominic - Day 2

This reflection concerns prayer and spirituality in the lives of St. Dominic and the early Dominicans and I will quote some passages from the book ‘ Early Dominicans’ (The classics of Western Spirituality) – from the Introduction by Fr. Simon Tugwell O.P.

Fr. Simon says :

“ that the early Dominicans were not particularly concerned either for themselves or for others with what has come to be called the “interior life”. Some of them, certainly, were great men of prayer, but their prayer was simple, devotional and largely petitionary. They retained the monastic practice of spending some time in private prayer after Compline and Matins, though this was not put into any constitutional text as an obligation. There is no hint at all of any methodical ‘mental prayer’, such as we find in later centuries, nor is there any sign of any theory of mystical progress attached to their simple prayers.”

Fr. Simon goes on to say:

“What we know of the prayer of St. Dominic shows that it was habitually intercessory and his meditations and contemplations are shown as resulting typically in preaching of one kind or another. This suggests that even the prayers and devotions of the Dominicans have an apostolic quality and this impression is reinforced by the discovery that Jordan of Saxony, Dominic’s immediate successor, who was regarded by his brethren, as a powerful man of prayer, says of himself, “I hardly ever pray”, a complaint echoed in other early Dominican writings. The all-absorbing ambition of the friars was “to be useful to the souls of others”. Their own spiritual exercises were designed to make them better preachers, and their own spiritual progress was not sought as a goal in its own right but rather as a kind of spin-off from their service of others. This service of others was determined by the needs of others. And in the thirteenth century what was needed most was catechesis, doctrinal and especially moral.”

I think this same spiritual need is the greatest in today’s world and I pray that through the intercession of St. Dominic and all our Dominican saints, that we, and all those already in the Order as well as those entering, will respond to this need, following the example of the early Dominicans, by being graced by God with that selfless all-absorbing ambition of being useful to the souls of others, according to each one’s particular vocation in the Order.

I conclude with Timothy Radcliffe’s definition of Dominican Spirituality, which has always impressed me and sums up the points I have been trying to make. He says :

“ Dominican Spirituality is about being alive in God and for others”.

Novena to St Dominic, Day One

In reflecting on St Dominic, as we approach his Feast Day on the 8th August, I was impressed by something Simon Tugwell, O.P. wrote in his introduction to Bl Jordan of Saxony's "Libellus". He wrote,

In the 'Libellus', Jordan shows us how the Order of Preachers arose, not simply as the brainchild of one man, Dominic, but as a providential response to the needs of the time ... If it was, in fact, Dominic who actually brought the Order to birth, he did not create it out of nothing. The church was ready and waiting for it, and there were people waiting to join it even before it existed. ...
"The relationship between Dominic and his Order cannot be understood simply in terms of some uniquely inventive capacity in Dominic himself. Essentially he is the father of the Order because he gave it its job to do, and because he supports it with his prayers. ...
The true 'Life of Dominic' was not to be found in the past, it was to be found in the present, in the continuing preaching of his followers. As St Catherine saw so clearly, Dominic lives on in the work of his Order. ..."

"... a providential response to the needs of the time ..."

"... the church was ready and waiting ..."

"... the life of Dominic [is] to be found in the present ..."

I wondered what job Dominic would give us to do today, when our church has such great needs now, and is ready and waiting ... for us?

Nothing new.
"Everybody was enfolded in the wide embrace of his charity, and since he loved everyone, everyone loved him." At a time, now, during these days, when it is so much more easy to criticise and condemn and cut ourselves off from people who committed unspeakable, unforgiveable acts and destroyed the lives of the innocent - Dominic prays for us, pleads before the Father for us who seek to continue to do the job he gave his Order to do: that we be love now.

Love to those who suffer
and love to those who cause so much suffering.

That we come to God at the foot of the Cross, look up, and see that healing comes only through love and mercy ... divine love ... supernatural mercy.
Remember that we have committed ourselves to Jesus, our brother and our God.
Trust, when we pray as Dominic prayed - 'Lord, what will become of sinners?', that the Lord has already won for them the answer.

We are all a part of one another and so we need to be love; love every part of ourselves. The church is waiting for us and there are people waiting for us to be what Dominic was, in imitation of the Lord whom he so passionately loved - that they may find their way home.

New Master of the Dominican Order

Sunday, 5th September, the General Chapter of the Order of Preachers, founded by Saint Dominic, elected Bro. Bruno Cadoré as new Master of the Order. Elected for a nine year term of office, he succeeds Bro. Carlos Azpiroz Costa, an Argentinean, who was Master of the Order from 2001 to 2010, and before him Bro. Timothy Radcliffe, a friar from England, well known all over the world for his publications and preaching. The last Frenchman to occupy this post was Bro Vincent de Couesnongle, Master of the Order from 1974 to 1983.

Meeting in Rome since the first of September, the General Chapter of the Order is made up of 127 delegates from all the continents. Prior Provincials are members of the Chapter and also the Delegates elected by the friars themselves according to the democratic tradition of the Dominican Order. The General Chapter, which is the sovereign governing body, shall be working for the next two weeks to give the Order some important guidelines which the newly elected Master is expected to put into practice during his term of office.

Aged 56, Bro. Bruno Cadoré was up till now the Provincial for the Dominicans of the Province of France. He served in this office for the past eight years, after having been in charge of the formation of the young friars, especially in Lille. He was a medical doctor when he started his novitiate, and he worked for two years in Haiti before starting his Dominican studies. He is a Doctor in theology and he taught biomedical ethics at the Catholic University of Lille where he was director of the centre for Medical Ethics until he was elected Prior Provincial in 2002. From January 2008 onwards he is a member of the National Aids Council.

During his term of office, the Province of France welcomed many young friars. Bruno Cadoré has also helped develop the Dominican way of life in many countries, from Scandinavia to the Congo passing through Cairo and Iraq which he visited many times.

We pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit on all the deliberations of the Chapter and on Fr Bruno as he begins his task as Master of the Order. Fr Bruno spent three weeks with us in our guest room some years ago! so his election comes as a great joy for all of us.