Novena to St Dominic - Day 6

St Dominic and the Rosary

[Extract from the book: ‘The Life of St Dominic’ by Bede Jarrett OP]

The crucifix, Mass, the Blessed Sacrament, the gospels and epistles, anything that conjured up to him most vividly the personality of our Lord, were to [St Dominic] the easiest means for helping him to pray.

It was for this reason that the devotion of the rosary found in him its keenest apostle. His own way of prayer, consisting … of vocal expression of love and adoration, was intermingled with silences; it passed from speech to contemplation as it fixed itself on to the character of our Lord. All these elements are united in the rosary. It was contemplative and vocal. It comprised the saying of Our Fathers and Hail Marys which were checked and noted by a string of beads, a contrivance, of course, older even than Christianity, and already widespread over Europe before his time. St Dominic did not invent these things, though it would seem that he popularised them. To him, however, a papal tradition points as the originator of the division into decades or groups of ten, separated by larger beads called ‘Paternosters.’ Under the influence of the Order these chaplets, at this date, spread widely over Christendom, and are to be found carven on tombs, and are from St Dominic’s time increasingly alluded to in devotional literature.

But the mere recitation of prayers would be of no use unless these could be accompanied by a consciousness of God’s presence and of that converse with him that alone gives them a value and makes them efficacious. Hence it was necessary to add the idea of some sort of mystery, some act or scene of our Lord’s life, and present it vividly to the imagination so as ultimately to stir the heart to love and worship. … These, therefore, were scenes carefully chosen out of our Lord’s life as pictured in the Gospels or as revealed in tradition, while the lips repeated the most familiar of all prayers, the oldest and simplest of Christian salutations, the mind was supposed thereby to become better able to hold on to the truth of the scene and gather its full significance. The recitation became almost a mechanical aid to reflection, and the thoughts were thereby freer to concentrate, to abstract themselves, to look before and after. The purpose of the rosary was, therefore, to produce the effect that St Dominic had in view in all his prayers, an intense application of the human soul to the divine personality of Christ.

Finally, it is to be noted that the rosary allows for that pause or silence which Dominic considered essential to prayer. … The action of prayer in his view should never be considered as though it were limited to the human agent, as though man alone was the active partner in it. It must include the silent consciousness of the divine Presence. … For this reason, therefore, Dominic added to this simplest of prayers the practice of quiet and silence.

Holy Hour - Rosary for Peace

 This Friday we will have a special rosary Holy Hour for peace, in union with Dominican Nuns around the world, on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. You are all welcome to join us. See Poster below.

Pilgrim Rosary - Dominican Nuns celebrate the Jubilee

What is the Pilgrim Rosary:

On the opening day of the Jubilee, the Master of the Order blessed a number of "pilgrim rosaries" (which had been made by Nuns in different monasteries around the world) that were then sent to each Dominican monastery in the world. These are a symbol of communion for the entire Dominican family in prayer. Also, the schedule of the Jubilee gives two days at each monastery to invite the local Dominican Family it to pray the Holy Rosary, so we form a continuous chain of prayer throughout the Jubilee Year (7 Nov 2015 – 21 Jan 2017). The monastery becomes, during those 48 hours, the centre of the Dominican worldwide Rosary.

The Pilgrim Rosary in Drogheda:

The days assigned to our monastery are Monday the 5^th and Tuesday the 6^th of September. As part of our celebration of the Pilgrim Rosary we are having special Rosary Holy Hours over three days:

·        Sunday 4^th, 7.30p.m. – 8.30p.m: Holy Hour - Healing Service (Followed by Compline)

·        Monday 5^th and Tuesday 6^th , 5.30p.m. – 6.30p.m: Meditative Rosary, with Reflections (Followed by Vespers).

Poster available for download, here.

Third Sunday of Advent - Gaudate Sunday – 2013

 

The day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus over two thousand years ago, is drawing very close. The Church’s Advent Liturgy is unbelievably rich in helping us to reflect and pray on this unfathomable mystery of God’s stupendous gift to us of His only begotten Son.

In today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, we read: ‘John the Baptist in his prison heard what Jesus was doing’. St. Matthew says ‘his prison’ not just ‘prison’.  This leads us to reflect on how all of us can be in some kind of prison at one time or another in our lives – the prison of fear, of insecurity, selfishness, depression, pride, prejudice, illness, unbelief, poor self image – the list is endless.  Whatever it may be, we too, like John the Baptist, can hear in the Gospels, what Jesus said and did, and of course, we hear him in the teaching of the Church.

A few weeks ago Pope Francis in his Angelus message to thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square said: ‘I would like all of you to consider a medicine,” at this point he raised a little box for the crowds to see.  The Pope continued: ‘It is a special medicine to make the fruit of the Year of Faith more concrete’-  and I’m sure we could add to the Pope’s words of encouragement -, to make our whole life more fruitful  when we are healed of what it is that imprisons us -

 ‘Take it!’ said the Pope,  It’s a Rosary which one can pray also the chaplet of Divine Mercy, spiritual help for our souls and for spreading love, forgiveness and brotherhood everywhere’.  ‘Don’t forget to take it,’ he repeated, ‘because it does good.  It does good for the heart, for the soul, for all of life’.  And earlier on, the Pope had emphasised the need for faith and trust in God in the face of life’s difficulties –‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened’ Jesus invites us in the Gospel.

In all life’s difficulties, we can be certain that Pope Francis would have great compassion and a desire for the healing of all who suffer from interior imprisonment of whatever kind, when handing out his special medicine.  The little box also contained a leaflet  with all the necessary explanations and prayers on it -  and a final assurance (as we find in many medicines) ‘this medicine has never been known to cause any harm!’

Our Advent journey, and indeed the spiritual journey of our whole life, is not any isolated selfish seeking of personal holiness – quite the contrary.  Into this journey, fortified by our spiritual medicine, we bring the whole of humanity, pleading for their salvation, the whole purpose for which God sent His Son into the world (the purpose too of course, for which St. Dominic  was inspired to found his Order).

May our prayer during the remainder of this Advent be one, especially, of listening and of fostering a spirit of awareness of the Presence of God in our lives; and of living, with the help of his ever present Grace, the sacrament of the present moment , in our daily lives.  Let us

remember that the healing of the Sacrament of Penance and the food of Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist and in his Word, will be for us all, a vital help in our many sufferings and weaknesses – it is at times hard to believe, but God really and truly does  thirst for  our love – ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have called you, for you are mine’ we read in holy Scripture,  What joy, what peace, what healing this brings us.

Let us then, once again, invite him to come to us and to all peoples – ‘Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay’.

Don’t forget to take the medicine’ Pope Francis repeated to the crowds ‘ because it does good!’

The Rosary - our Dominican heritage

As October draws to a close it seems fitting to call to mind once again the powerful gift entrusted to us in the Holy Rosary, this extraordinary Gospel prayer in which is so beautifully intertwined our Contemplative gaze on God and our Apostolic outreach to the world and its needs.

One of the most appealing aspects of the Rosary is its versatility. It is truly a prayer for all seasons of life, all stages of growth, all moods and humours.

Through it we can be brought into wrapt attention, lost in God, as the rhythmic cadence of the repetitive Hail Mary stills our bodies, quietens our minds and brings us into the depths of our own being where God simply is and we are simply present with Him.

There are other times when the mysteries themselves hold our attention, coming alive for us. These are times of great reflective fruitfulness when new insights into God and his ways light up our path and renew our enthusiasm for God and the things of God, making it possible for the Word to become flesh in us.

Then there are the days when we feel lost and lonely, anguished and confused and the Rosary becomes our lifeline. We don’t know how to pray .We are too agitated and distressed to quieten down but by picking up the beads and just vocally repeating the prayers we are expressing with our bodies our desire to be one with Jesus in His Sufferings. At these times we are perhaps most truly Mary’s children, sick wounded hurting, fearful for ourselves or for others, but holding on to mammy’s hand and leaving it to her to explain to Jesus the Divine Physician  of our bodies minds and spirits what ails us and what grace we need from each mystery. In each hail Mary we pray ‘pray for us sinners’ but at times like this Mary not only intercedes for us but we leave her to pray for us, do our praying for us. I learnt to pray like this when I was very ill and was too weak to concentrate. Like all loving mothers except much more so, Mary knows us better than we know ourselves and if we just somehow remain there, she will untangle all the knots and the very chains that bind us will be the same ones that draw us with her into Heaven.

At all times the Rosary can be a powerful prayer of intercession but especially in times of suffering and neediness it can move us out of our preoccupation with our selves. We may begin off focusing on the mysteries longing for them to bring us relief but gradually something inside us changes. As we unite our suffering with those of Jesus He gives us his awareness of the needs of all for whom He suffered. He expands our hearts to care for others, to desire their salvation, to want relief for them in their pain, to want them to know as we ourselves know the compassion and comfort of our loving Saviour. In our anguish we can look around us and ask that by his wounds someone else in anguish may have the peace our hearts long for. Our pain becomes a gift when it opens us to the pain of others. It becomes something to be grateful for, something we can even choose to accept if our suffering united to those of Jesus can be of help to someone else. This is the transforming power of the Rosary, this is the mysteries being active in us.

When we have been hurt or when we have hurt others lingering with the sorrowful mysteries can bring healing and penitence. They can teach us how to love, how to forgive, how to understand.

There are times when we are aware of receiving great grace and insight as we pray our Rosary but there are too the long days of simply being faithful to our recitation, allowing the mysteries to unconsciously create the atmosphere in which we live, the very familiarity of the prayer almost imperceptibly making God present, as it were. I always think of my grand parents in this context. At night they would sit together watching TV and as bedtime approached they would turn off the TV and take out their beads. Still sitting together on the sofa they would begin their prayer. By that simply act of taking up the beads, an act as routine as brushing their teeth, a ritual done daily without fail, they changed a place of recreation into a place of deep prayer. To be with them at that time was to be in the presence of God.

As the years begin to creep up on us and old age manifests itself in numerous little ways, making us a little fearful if not of death then perhaps at least of the process of dying, the Glorious mysteries may become specially precious. It is good to reflect on the home coming that awaits us. It helps to look forward in certain hope to the joys of the Resurrection. The Glorious Mysteries remind us that our life is the story of our return to the Father’s house. Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us and at the right time He will come to take us to Himself. The assurance that Jesus is coming closer, reaching out to draw us into his embrace where we will be with Him forever provides comfort and brings peace.

Queen of the most Holy Rosary, in life and in death, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus

 

 

The Rosary and Dominican Nuns

The following is a short reflection on my vocation as a contemplative Dominican nun, in the light of the five joyful mysteries of the Rosary - text of a presentation given recently to a group of young people .

The Annunciation

St Thomas Aquinas likes to maintain that Jesus was the first Dominican, and I’m not saying that he was wrong! But we know that St Dominic established the nuns before his brother preachers, and in the first joyful mystery, we see Mary, called by God, invited to be His mother, to be the one through whom He would come into the world, and give Himself - entirely - to us and for us. You see, Mary … before Jesus!

I was thinking about this over the past while, and I think it is true to say that joining the Legion of Mary was the first thing I did for myself, as being something I really wanted to do. We were at Mass one Sunday, and a Legionary had got up to speak a bit about their mission, to encourage us to think about joining them. I had wanted to do something more for God than just go to Mass on Sundays, and this seemed to be a way that I could make some kind of return to Him for all He had done for me. It was a pretty amazing foundation – being among people for whom God is supremely important. The Lord had blessed me with a strong sense of Himself, I would even say a desire for Him, and this was how I thought I could express that, live it out. In the Legion, I could at last let Him in more, show Him how much He mattered to me. And it was a place where I could learn to love Mary – freely and deeply.

My first contact with the Dominicans came through the Legion – and they seemed to be able to reach or touch me deepest need for God – to awaken a string desire for Him that only He could satisfy. My ‘Annunciation’ came at a ‘Credo’ weekend, hosted by the Dominicans, during a lecture on the ‘Four Last Things’ (!) And so, I eventually arrived here, in Siena: full of wonder, amazement, joy – that God wanted only me, but all of me, for Himself. Mary, before she set out, said ‘yes’ to God’s will and I’m sure she must have spent some amount of deep, deep time in prayer with the Lord, utterly humbled and grateful for such a tremendous gift.

The Visitation

But she set out – as quickly as she could – to visit Elizabeth – to share her joy – to share God: because no matter how full of grace she was – no one can contain God. None of us; I think if we tried we’d explode – even Mary, whose capacity for Him was far beyond ours. And in the monastery, this is our second joyful mystery too. Initially, the coming is a personal response to God for us ourselves; but, like Mary, we can’t be touched by His love and not want to give it away- to the whole world. We are invited to love like God – to give ourselves away, and more, to give God away – to others and for others. And even though it leaves you empty – there’s tremendous richness in the emptiness, great joy – a gift that God in His love helps you to accept. (But you have to learn how to accept it!)

The Nativity

And the Word was made flesh … I think this mystery is too great, you could spend a lifetime trying to come to appreciate the wonder that God came to live and move among us, out of sheer love.
He Whom Mary had been promised, was now, after so long waiting to meet Him, was in her arms – He Whom she had been able to shelter and protect, was now born. All that time of waiting was her time with Him, but now she must begin to give Him away, because we are in such desperate need of Him.

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

I think Mary, in this mystery, is amazingly courageous, a great teacher and example. Watch her, carrying her Life in her arms, and returning it to God. Her love for this Baby must have been so all-consuming; all her hope, her love, her life, was bound to this Baby, and what did she do? … Gave Him away – gave Him back to God.
This too is our life in the monastery, always to acknowledge the greatness of God – to take all that He has given us – our whole lives- everyone we have been given to love: family, friends, people we’ve been asked to pray for – every day, to come to God and to entrust them all to Him, in thanksgiving and in love. To be that empty – to give Him our very breath – this is our life. The most amazing gift He has given me, is that sharing a little in His vision – that I can see that I have nothing if I don’t have God first; but if I give the Lord everything: all my desire, all my love, all my hope - if I let Him take everything I am, so that I am left empty – then I can be stretched and He makes room in me for more … of Himself. And I have discovered powerfully that He is doing that all the time.

Mary finds Jesus in the Temple

What can I say? The Eucharist is the heart and centre of our whole life – and however empty we are, how ever long the emptiness lasts – the Lord never fails to find us. There are, of course, times when we’re hanging on by the skin of our teeth – but He never lets us go. And I am blessed, because I know, that when I am lost, I am lost in God. I may not always be able to see Him, but I can hang on because He is nearer to me – deeper in me - than I am to myself.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.