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.
Showing posts with label jubilee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jubilee. Show all posts
Monday, October 3, 2016
Friday, July 31, 2015
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.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Another Jubilee Celebration
These past two weeks four of our sisters have been participating in a theology course for Contempaltive nuns, hosted by the Redemptoristine community, Dublin. So we are rather late in sharing some pictures of Sr M Dominika's Silver Jubilee of Profession - celebrated on the 13th August - Fr Gerard Dunne OP, Vicar of the Master of the Order for our monastery, was chief celebrant at Eucharistic celebration and Fr Anthony McMullan OP, from the local priory concelebrated with him. It was just a community celebration but nonetheless a very joyful occasion. We had a special recreation in the afternoon and afterwards the more agile among us had a game of hurley in the garden - could one call it a game? or just having fun? Even Dobby the cat came to watch them. We hope to publish Sr M Dominika's very interesting vocation story here shortly - leading her all the way from her native Belarus via Vilnius, Krakow to Drogheda, Ireland - so keep an eye out.
Sr Dominika with Sr Regina who celebrated her Golden Jubilee and Sr Margaret who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee recently.
Sr M Pascale enjoying the fun
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Novena to St Dominic
Today we begin our Novena in preparation for the feast of our holy father Dominic on the 8th August. During the coming 9 days we invite our readers to join in prayer with us. Before Vespers each evening we sing the following – known in Latin as the O Spem – the equivalent of a national anthem for Dominicans!!
O wonderful hope which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, promising that after your death you would be helpful to your brothers and sisters;
Fulfil Father what you have said and help us by your prayer
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 prayer.
We offer here for your reflection the main points of a letter, which Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa, Master of the Order sent, (Advent 2008), to all the members of the Order as we began another year of our 9 year Dominican Jubilee Pilgrimage which will culminate in 2016, with the celebration of the 8th Centenary of the confirmation of the Order by Pope Honorius III.
This year’s theme is: Dominic – Preacher of Grace.
Dear brothers and sisters in St. Dominic and St. Catherine:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:1.14).
…….In these few words, the evangelist invites us into the fullness of the mystery of the Incarnation. This is not a spectacle that we contemplate from afar, for as the text says, the Word came to dwell “among us,” as one of us - …..it is the actual heart of the Christian faith”…………
For Dominic, too, the Word of God was present “in the beginning” of the miracle that gave birth to the Order of Preachers. His entire life, lived in intimate union with the Word, invites us into a profound contemplative listening to the Word and a bold commitment to preach that very same Word to the world today. In the Dialogue of our sister, Catherine of Siena, we read, “[Dominic] appeared as an apostle in the world, sowing the seed of my Word with great truth and luminosity, dissipating the darkness with the gift of light” (n. 158). The Word of God that became flesh and burned in the heart of Dominic was the very same Word which he preached with ardent zeal, setting Europe on fire with the love and tender mercy of Christ.
The Blessed Dominic had a great and burning thirst for the salvation of souls, for which he was an unequalled apostle. He gave himself to preaching with great fervour, and he exhorted and obliged his brothers to announce the Word of God by day and by night, in churches and in homes, in the fields and along the byways – in other words, in all places to speak only of God.
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, in opening the Synod on the Word of God, reminds us that, “It is important that individual believers and communities enter into ever increasing intimacy with God’s Word…[for] to draw nourishment from the Word of God is [the Church’s] first and fundamental task.” Therefore, as part of our ongoing Jubilee pilgrimage that began with the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the community of Prouilhe, the whole Dominican Family is invited to pause and focus on the following theme throughout this year of 2009:
“In the beginning was the Word: Dominic, Preacher of Grace”.
With the help of this theme, we commit ourselves to sit with Dominic at the feet of Christ, and with him, “to draw nourishment from the Word of God.”
This is the heritage of grace which is shared by all of us – friars and nuns, apostolic sisters and lay Dominicans, young and old, rich and poor. And we well know that once we have been nourished by the Word, we face the other great challenge that St. Paul had to face, summed up in his apostolic cry: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). Therefore, following the example of Dominic, we make St. Paul´s cry our own, and we do so by making it the overall guiding theme for these years of Pilgrimage, from now until we reach the Jubilee celebration of 2016. To do this, though, we recognize the need to make one small, yet essential modification: as Dominicans we can only be true to our vocation if we cry out as a community:
“Woe to us if we do not preach the gospel!”
These words of St. Paul, said Pope Benedict in his opening address of the Synod, are, “a cry that becomes for every Christian a pressing invitation to serve Christ.” And so we take to heart these words, recognizing in them the very Gospel that gave birth to the preaching mission of our Holy Father St. Dominic who, carrying the Gospel of St. Matthew and the letters of St. Paul with him as he travelled, truly became God’s Preacher of Grace. Each time we sing the O Lumen we invoke Dominic under this title: Prædicator Gratiæ, (Preacher of Grace) for it is he, the preacher, the disciple of the Word, who promises to walk with us and renew in us the gratuitous out-pouring of the Word that was present when the first seeds of the Holy Preaching were sown in the fertile ground of southern Europe. May he unite us as a family gathered around the Word, and give us a contemplative, obedient heart, willing and ready to respond in freedom to the challenges of the Gospel in our day.
……….“Bethlehem” – the house of bread – is a reminder to us of two important realities. First, the Incarnate Word has come to nourish us. May we feed at his table of mercy and compassion each day……. And secondly, in a world that continues to face massive hunger and the ongoing scourge of war, let us look again to Christ, whose “words proclaim justice, instil courage to the disheartened and offer forgiveness to sinners” (Synod Message, IV, n.13). May His words become our words, so that we, too, might proclaim the gospel of peace in his name.
Brothers and sisters, we walk this pilgrimage of faith together, as a family, encouraging one another along the way. May the Holy Spirit anoint us as we journey forth in hope, and may St. Dominic bless us and inspire us to be ever faithful to the great heritage which he has left us.
Your brother in St. Dominic, Preacher of Grace, “
bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa, OP
Master of the Order
We invite you to join us in reciting the special jubilee prayer for the renewal of the Order, remembering especially the many young men and women who are in formation and the many others who are discerning their vocation to the Order throughout the world and indeed in our own Irish province.
Jubilee Prayer
God of Mercy,
In your eternal Wisdom, you called your servant Dominic to set off on a journey of faith as itinerant pilgrim and preacher of grace. With your Word of gentle Truth in his heart and on his lips, Dominic invited the first sisters and brothers to join him in a life of contemplative obedience in the service of the holy preaching.
As we commemorate this Jubilee, we ask you to breathe the Spirit of the risen Christ once again into our hearts and minds. Re-create us, so that we might faithfully and joyfully proclaim the gospel of peace, through the same Christ, our Lord.
AMEN
O wonderful hope which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, promising that after your death you would be helpful to your brothers and sisters;
Fulfil Father what you have said and help us by your prayer
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 prayer.
We offer here for your reflection the main points of a letter, which Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa, Master of the Order sent, (Advent 2008), to all the members of the Order as we began another year of our 9 year Dominican Jubilee Pilgrimage which will culminate in 2016, with the celebration of the 8th Centenary of the confirmation of the Order by Pope Honorius III.
This year’s theme is: Dominic – Preacher of Grace.
Dear brothers and sisters in St. Dominic and St. Catherine:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:1.14).
…….In these few words, the evangelist invites us into the fullness of the mystery of the Incarnation. This is not a spectacle that we contemplate from afar, for as the text says, the Word came to dwell “among us,” as one of us - …..it is the actual heart of the Christian faith”…………
For Dominic, too, the Word of God was present “in the beginning” of the miracle that gave birth to the Order of Preachers. His entire life, lived in intimate union with the Word, invites us into a profound contemplative listening to the Word and a bold commitment to preach that very same Word to the world today. In the Dialogue of our sister, Catherine of Siena, we read, “[Dominic] appeared as an apostle in the world, sowing the seed of my Word with great truth and luminosity, dissipating the darkness with the gift of light” (n. 158). The Word of God that became flesh and burned in the heart of Dominic was the very same Word which he preached with ardent zeal, setting Europe on fire with the love and tender mercy of Christ.
The Blessed Dominic had a great and burning thirst for the salvation of souls, for which he was an unequalled apostle. He gave himself to preaching with great fervour, and he exhorted and obliged his brothers to announce the Word of God by day and by night, in churches and in homes, in the fields and along the byways – in other words, in all places to speak only of God.
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, in opening the Synod on the Word of God, reminds us that, “It is important that individual believers and communities enter into ever increasing intimacy with God’s Word…[for] to draw nourishment from the Word of God is [the Church’s] first and fundamental task.” Therefore, as part of our ongoing Jubilee pilgrimage that began with the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the community of Prouilhe, the whole Dominican Family is invited to pause and focus on the following theme throughout this year of 2009:
“In the beginning was the Word: Dominic, Preacher of Grace”.
With the help of this theme, we commit ourselves to sit with Dominic at the feet of Christ, and with him, “to draw nourishment from the Word of God.”
This is the heritage of grace which is shared by all of us – friars and nuns, apostolic sisters and lay Dominicans, young and old, rich and poor. And we well know that once we have been nourished by the Word, we face the other great challenge that St. Paul had to face, summed up in his apostolic cry: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). Therefore, following the example of Dominic, we make St. Paul´s cry our own, and we do so by making it the overall guiding theme for these years of Pilgrimage, from now until we reach the Jubilee celebration of 2016. To do this, though, we recognize the need to make one small, yet essential modification: as Dominicans we can only be true to our vocation if we cry out as a community:
“Woe to us if we do not preach the gospel!”
These words of St. Paul, said Pope Benedict in his opening address of the Synod, are, “a cry that becomes for every Christian a pressing invitation to serve Christ.” And so we take to heart these words, recognizing in them the very Gospel that gave birth to the preaching mission of our Holy Father St. Dominic who, carrying the Gospel of St. Matthew and the letters of St. Paul with him as he travelled, truly became God’s Preacher of Grace. Each time we sing the O Lumen we invoke Dominic under this title: Prædicator Gratiæ, (Preacher of Grace) for it is he, the preacher, the disciple of the Word, who promises to walk with us and renew in us the gratuitous out-pouring of the Word that was present when the first seeds of the Holy Preaching were sown in the fertile ground of southern Europe. May he unite us as a family gathered around the Word, and give us a contemplative, obedient heart, willing and ready to respond in freedom to the challenges of the Gospel in our day.
……….“Bethlehem” – the house of bread – is a reminder to us of two important realities. First, the Incarnate Word has come to nourish us. May we feed at his table of mercy and compassion each day……. And secondly, in a world that continues to face massive hunger and the ongoing scourge of war, let us look again to Christ, whose “words proclaim justice, instil courage to the disheartened and offer forgiveness to sinners” (Synod Message, IV, n.13). May His words become our words, so that we, too, might proclaim the gospel of peace in his name.
Brothers and sisters, we walk this pilgrimage of faith together, as a family, encouraging one another along the way. May the Holy Spirit anoint us as we journey forth in hope, and may St. Dominic bless us and inspire us to be ever faithful to the great heritage which he has left us.
Your brother in St. Dominic, Preacher of Grace, “
bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa, OP
Master of the Order
We invite you to join us in reciting the special jubilee prayer for the renewal of the Order, remembering especially the many young men and women who are in formation and the many others who are discerning their vocation to the Order throughout the world and indeed in our own Irish province.
Jubilee Prayer
God of Mercy,
In your eternal Wisdom, you called your servant Dominic to set off on a journey of faith as itinerant pilgrim and preacher of grace. With your Word of gentle Truth in his heart and on his lips, Dominic invited the first sisters and brothers to join him in a life of contemplative obedience in the service of the holy preaching.
As we commemorate this Jubilee, we ask you to breathe the Spirit of the risen Christ once again into our hearts and minds. Re-create us, so that we might faithfully and joyfully proclaim the gospel of peace, through the same Christ, our Lord.
AMEN
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