Family Vocations Day

 

 

5th April 2014 - the day is almost here!  Not to be missed!!!

 

 

As you see, we are hosting our 6th Annual Family Vocations Day - in St Saviour's, Dublin.

 

 

 

It promises to be a great day, with plenty of opportunity to meet with members of the four branches of the Dominican Family - Lay Dominicans; Apostolic Sisters; Friars and Contemplative Nuns.

The day will begin with an introductory presentation on Discernment, which always strikes a chord in the hearts of those who attend - even those of us who have already taken that step and embraced the OPs.

There follow vocation stories from four people - each representing a different 'branch' of the family.  And being hosted so graciously by our beloved brethren, whose home we will be invading for the day - we get to meet some of the community and chat informally with them.

 

Have you ever had questions that you never had the courage to ask religious?

Have you ever had 'niggles' - maybe your faith is prompting you to explore an alternative expression?

What is religious life and what is so special about the Dominicans?

 

TRUTH - VERITAS

is a motto of our Order.

 

Why not think again?  Maybe we can help you in your discernment.

 

You may never know unless you take the plunge!

 

Contact Sr Niamh OP for more details.

at: opfamily.vocationsday@gmail.com or phone (041) 98-38-524



April 5th is fast approaching!

To anyone interested in exploring the possibility of a Dominican Vocation ..

whether to our Brothers, our apostolic Sisters, our Lay Dominican brothers and sisters, or ourselves the nuns ...

Doesn't it look interesting? 

Who are these people? 

What do they do? 

What is so attractive about being a Dominican? 

And what does OP stand for? 

Did you know the Dominican Family is as expansive as it is?

Why not consider having your questions answered, by coming along to the day and meeting some of us?

Do be sure to get in touch beforehand, as places are limited, and we can get to know you a little before you come.

Dominican Calendar for 2014 Published

As part of the ongoing effort of the vocations promoters of the Dominican Family in Ireland (friars, sisters, contemplative nuns and lay) to promote a greater awareness of the Dominican charism, we have published a Dominican Family Calendar for 2014 - which is available in our Monastery and at Dominican priories throughout Ireland.

 

In January 2011 a prayer initiative was launched to encourage prayer for Dominican vocations to all branches of the Order. The focus of this prayer initiative is an icon of Saint Dominic (show above on the front cover of the Calendar) which has been specially commissioned for this purpose. The launch took place in the monastery of the Dominican Nuns, Drogheda and since then this icon has journeyed to various Dominican centres throughout Ireland - each centre takes responsibility for intensive prayer for a period of 4 to 6 weeks. It is hoped that the image of the founder of the Dominican Order will draw people to reflect on his life and legacy and in turn, through his intercession, draw more men and women to follow the Lord in the Dominican way.

Dominican Family Vocations Day 2013

Young women interested in attending this informative event (Saturday, March 2nd) are very welcome to contact me at maireadop@eircom.net as soon as possible.
Participants will have an opportunity to hear vocation stories from a member of each of the four branches - a friar, lay Dominican, apostolic sister and contemplative nun.

As prayer is central to this day, we will pray Lauds/Morning Prayer together shortly after arriving and we will have the celebration of the Eucharist before we leave.

To view/download poster in .pdf format, click here.

Dominican Family Vocations Day - March 26th, 2011

Young women interested in attending this informative event are very welcome to contact me at siena3@eircom.net as soon as possible.Participants will have an opportunity to hear vocation stories from a member of each of the four branches - a friar, lay Dominican, apostolic sister and contemplative nun.As prayer is central to this day, we will pray Lauds/Morning Prayer together shortly after arriving and we will have the celebration of the Eucharist before we leave.

More information about this day is available from the Friars Vocations Blog here

To view/download poster click here.

Welcoming our new Postulant

Our celebration of the feast of St Catherine is always a very joyful occasion for our community but this year our joy was even greater than usual - on the eve of the feast we welcomed Cathy into our community as a postulant. The postulants participate in the common life of the community and the novitiate and are gradually introduced to our monastic contemplative way of life.


Cathy received much of her spiritual formation from the Legion of Mary - a lay apostolic organisation founded in Dublin by Frank Duff - while as a member of the Legion she generously dovoted much of her free time to aposolic work. Her many friends in the Legion supported and encouraged her in her decision to embrace the way of life of a Dominican Nun. It is interesting that many of our sisters were members of the Legion of Mary before we entered the monastery. While no longer actively engaged in apostolic work we dovote ourselves totally to God while, following the example of our father Dominic, we bear in our hearts the joys and hopes of all people - especially the poor, lonely, the down-trodden and afflicted.

While we give thanks to God for Cathy's presence among us we pray that she will have companion postulants in the near future.

Now we are excited as we look forward to Sr Niamh's solemn profession on the 31st of May. We hope to have a live webcast for those who are interested in following the ceremony which will take place during the celebration of the Eucharist. More details later.

Dominican Novices visit us

On Saturday last we had the great pleasure of a surprise visit from 12 of the 13 Dominican novices from Pope's Quay Priory, Cork, with their novice master Fr Philip McShane OP. Unfortunately Br Conor had another engagement and was unable to come. Over the past year or two we had met most of these young men when Fr Gerard Dunne, vocations director, brought them to visit us during their vocation discernment weekends. Indeed we have been remembering them all in prayer - so it was wonderful to meet them all again, clothed the the Dominican habit - now we are able to put names on faces and no doubt will double our prayer for them!
At the end of the afternoon they joined us in praying Vespers.

‘cups and pots and bronze dishes’

22nd Sunday in Ordinary time Yr B
Gospel from Mark 7:1-8;14-15;21-23

‘cups and pots and bronze dishes’

What are these before the Lord? … nothing …
and not only nothing, but empty.

Why do you hide behind them?
Why do you make them out to be so important?
Why won’t you follow Me?

You – not the cups and pots and bronze dishes – you are the one I want, not these empty, lifeless things. They are only useful for holding and carrying, but I want you to contain Me – I want to live and be alive in you.

We are invited to give up trying to control God, trying to make God out to be what we think He should be. But, we don’t believe in God so as to be able to force His hand, to have control over how He acts, to tell Him how to be God. God is not complicated, as we make Him out to be. He has given us His Son, who is the Way the Truth and the Life. He has given us everything, and still humbly asks us neither to ‘take from’ nor ‘add to’ what we have been given – don’t try to perfect Him who is already perfect, who is God.

When I come to the Lord, then, and don’t know what to do or say, and almost helplessly cry out ‘Lord, all I want is you’, I should remember and believe that they are the same words He speaks to me: ‘My child, My beloved, … all I want is you’.

So, shake off the fear of unworthiness and unclean-ness – or, at least, be an honest hypocrite before God. Give Him the fear, but give Him yourself as well, give Him yourself first, give Him your divided heart – and if you can’t ‘accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls’ – yet – humbly acknowledge it and ask for the grace to receive God in all the ways He wants to love you. …
and it will be yours.

Vocation Sunday

Here in Ireland, today - Vocation Sunday - marks the close of the special ‘Year of Vocation’ which commenced on Vocation Sunday 2008. Throughout the country there were various prayer services at monastic sites last evening while this evening the closing Mass for the Year of Vocation and Launch of Religious/Diocesan DVD was scheduled for 5.30 pm in Armagh Cathedral with Cardinal Sean Brady as celebrant. The Dominicans marked the close of the year at the 11.30 a.m. Mass in St Saviour’s church, Dublin.

As we come to the close of this special year which focused attention on the theme of vocation in the Church, Pope Benedict’s message for Vocation Sunday is an apt reminder to us to continually pray and entrust this urgent intention to the provident care of our loving God. Here I give a few highlights but the full message can be downloaded from the Vatican website.

Pope Benedict invites all of us to reflect on ‘Faith in the divine initiative - the human response’ and continues:

The exhortation of Jesus to his disciples: “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Mt 9:38) has a constant resonance in the Church. Pray! The urgent call of the Lord stresses that prayer for vocations should be continuous and trusting. The Christian community can only really “have ever greater faith and hope in God's providence” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 26) if it is enlivened by prayer......

Our first duty, therefore, is to keep alive in families and in parishes, in movements and in apostolic associations, in religious communities and in all the sectors of diocesan life this appeal to the divine initiative with unceasing prayer. We must pray that the whole Christian people grows in its trust in God, convinced that the “Lord of the harvest” does not cease to ask some to place their entire existence freely at his service so as to work with him more closely in the mission of salvation. What is asked of those who are called, for their part, is careful listening and prudent discernment, a generous and willing adherence to the divine plan, and a serious study of the reality that is proper to the priestly and religious vocations, so as to be able to respond responsibly and with conviction……..

To believe in the Lord and to accept his gift, therefore, leads us to entrust ourselves to Him with thankful hearts, adhering to his plan of salvation. When this does happen, the one who is “called” voluntarily leaves everything and submits himself to the teaching of the divine Master; hence a fruitful dialogue between God and man begins, a mysterious encounter between the love of the Lord who calls and the freedom of man who responds in love, hearing the words of Jesus echoing in his soul, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (Jn 15:16).......

Once more, Jesus is the model of complete and trusting adherence to the will of the Father, to whom every consecrated person must look. Attracted by him, from the very first centuries of Christianity, many men and women have left families, possessions, material riches and all that is humanly desirable in order to follow Christ generously and live the Gospel without compromise, which had become for them a school of deeply rooted holiness. Today too, many undertake this same demanding journey of evangelical perfection and realise their vocation in the profession of the evangelical counsels. The witness of these our brothers and sisters, in contemplative monasteries, religious institutes and congregations of apostolic life, reminds the people of God of “that mystery of the Kingdom of God is already at work in history, even as it awaits its full realization in heaven” (Vita Consecrata, 1)...

Dear friends, do not become discouraged in the face of difficulties and doubts; trust in God and follow Jesus faithfully and you will be witnesses of the joy that flows from intimate union with him. Imitating the Virgin Mary whom all generations proclaim as blessed because she believed (cf. Lk 1:48), commit yourselves with every spiritual energy, to realise the heavenly Father’s plan of salvation, cultivating in your heart, like her, the ability to be astonished and to adore him who is mighty and does “great things”, for Holy is his name (cf. Lk 1:49).