Category: Dominican Life
Suffering, Growing and Living in Faith ~ The Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton~The Very Rev Lady Sherwood, OPI
Today we come together as the church to commemorate the Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton who is my name saint within the Order of preachers Independent, due to our Prior (and Presiding Bishop) feeling there are similarities between the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and that of my own life
Throughout all of Biblical history and even still in our current times, we sometimes come across people who have endured much within their lives and who, regardless of this, remain strong and devout within their faith. Today we remember St Elizabeth, whom is one such person from whose life, heart and devotion, we can take inspiration within our own spiritual life.
Elizabeth was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be Canonized to sainthood.
Elizabeth was born as Elizabeth Ann Bayley in New York city on the 28th August in the year 1774, and she was a child of the Revolutionary war. She was raised Episcopalian which was the faith of her parents.
Elizabeth married at the tender young age of only nineteen years old, to a man named William Magee Seton. He was a young but wealthy merchant and together they parented a total of five children.
Elizabeth had a very deep devout faith and concern for the poor even as a very young woman and she shared this devotion with her sister-in-law, who was Rebecca Seton, and with whom she became very close friends. Together, Elizabeth and Rebecca undertook various missions for the poor and for the needy of their region and they adopted the name of the ‘Protestant Sisters of Charity` for their mission works.
Elizabeth’s life changed after only the short time of four years of marriage and her life became rather burdensome in nature. Elizabeth and her husband were left with the responsibility for seven half-brothers and sisters of William’s father when he died in the year 1798.
Elizabeth suffered even further in the year 1801, when her own father with whom she had a very close relationship, especially since the loss of her mother at aged only three, himself passed into the care of the Lord.
Then yet again she suffered after only another two years, when both her husband’s business and his health failed. Filing for bankruptcy, Elizabeth and her husband sailed to Italy to help his health and to try to revive his business.
Whilst in Italy, Elizabeth suffered even further, as William’s condition worsened. He was quarantined and subsequently died of Tuberculosis in December of 1803. Elizabeth remained in Italy for several months after his death and during this time, was more fully exposed to the Catholic faith.
Elizabeth returned to New York city in June of 1804, only to suffer yet again with the loss of her dear friend and sister-in=law, Rebecca Seton, in the very next month.
At only the young thirty years of age, Elizabeth had endured the loss of so many who were close to her and she seemed to have the weight of the world upon her shoulders. Even so, throughout all this, Elizabeth still remained fervent in her faith.
The months ahead were life-changing for Elizabeth and she seemed ever more drawn to the Catholic faith and to the Mother Church, much to the horror of her friends and her remaining family who were firmly Protestant.
Elizabeth Ann Seton was received into the Catholic Church on the 4th March 1805. Her conversion cost her dearly in the areas of her friendships and in the support from her remaining family.
Elizabeth relocated to the Baltimore area and there she established a school for girls. She also founded a religious community along with two other young women and she took vows before the Archbishop Carroll as a member of the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph. From this time forward, Elizabeth was known as Mother Seton and she left a legacy of care and education for the poor. She even established the first free Catholic school of the nation.
In so many ways, the journey into the Catholic faith, helped Elizabeth to much more appreciate and to embrace her faith even more profoundly. Elizabeth was willing to endure all things to follow Christ. In her journal, she even wrote, ‘If I am right Thy grace impart still in the right to stay. If I am wrong Oh, teach my heart to find the better way’.
Many of us who have chosen the Catholic faith have experienced some setbacks and have had to endure issues with relationships, but for this brave and devout woman of faith, the cost was even greater.
Elizabeth died aged only 46 on January 4th 1821 from Tuberculosis and she was Canonized on September 14th 1975.
On this your special day, St Elizabeth Ann Seton, Pray for all of us who follow your pathway of faith. Pray that we likewise to yourself will say yes and will accept all that will come to us in the years ahead, and to allow our earthly endurance to further our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
St Martin de Porres, OP
Blessed Martin de Porres was born in the city of Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, on December 9, 1579, the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a black former slave. He grew up in poverty; when his mother could not support him and his sister, Martin was confided to a primary school for two years, and then placed with a barber/surgeon to learn the medical arts. This caused him great joy, though he was only ten years old, for he could exercise charity to his neighbor while earning his living. Already he was spending hours of the night in prayer, a practice that increased rather than diminished as he grew older. At the age of 15, he asked for admission to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received first as a servant boy; as his duties grew, he was promoted to almoner. Eventually he felt the call to enter the Dominican Order, and was received as a tertiary. Years later, his piety
and miraculous cures led his superiors to drop the racial limits on admission to
the friars, and he was made a full Dominican. It is said that when his convent was
in debt, he implored them: “I am only a poor mulatto, sell me.” Martin was deeply
attached to the Blessed Sacrament, and he was praying in front of it one night
when the step of the altar he was kneeling on caught fire. Throughout all the
confusion and chaos that followed, he remained where he was, unaware of what
was happening around him.
When he was 34, after he had been given the habit of a Coadjutor Brother,
Martin was assigned to the infirmary, where he was placed in charge and would
remain in service until his death at the age of sixty. His superiors saw in him the
virtues necessary to exercise unfailing patience in this difficult role, and he never
disappointed them. It was not long before miracles were attributed to him. Saint
Martin also cared for the sick outside his convent, often bringing them healing
with only a simple glass of water. He begged for alms to procure necessities the
Convent could not provide, and Providence always supplied.
One day an aged beggar, covered with ulcers and almost naked, stretched out
his hand, and Saint Martin, seeing the Divine Mendicant in him, took him to his
own bed. One of his brethren reproved him. Saint Martin replied: “Compassion,
my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness.”
When an epidemic struck Lima, there were in this single Convent of the Rosary
sixty friars who were sick, many of them novices in a distant and locked section
of the convent, separated from the professed. Saint Martin is said to have passed
through the locked doors to care for them, a phenomenon which was reported in
the residence more than once. The professed, too, saw him suddenly beside
them without the doors having been opened. Martin continued to transport the
sick to the convent until the provincial superior, alarmed by the contagion
threatening the religious, forbade him to continue to do so. His sister, who lived in
the country, offered her house to lodge those whom the residence of the religious
could not hold. One day he found on the street a poor Indian, bleeding to death
from a dagger wound, and took him to his own room until he could transport him
to his sister’s hospice. The superior, when he heard of this, reprimanded his
subject for disobedience. He was extremely edified by his reply: “Forgive my
error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience
took precedence over that of charity.” The superior gave him liberty thereafter to
follow his inspirations in the exercise of mercy.
Martin would not use any animal as food—he was a vegetarian.
In normal times, Saint Martin succeeded with his alms to feed 160 poor persons
every day, and distributed a remarkable sum of money every week to the
indigent. To Saint Martin the city of Lima owed a famous residence founded for
orphans and abandoned children, where they were formed in piety for a creative
Christian life. This lay brother had always wanted to be a missionary, but never
left his native city; yet even during his lifetime he was seen elsewhere, in regions
as far distant as Africa, China, Algeria and Japan. An African slave who had
been in irons said he had known Martin when he came to relieve and console
many like himself, telling them of heaven. When later the same slave saw him in
Peru, he was very happy to meet him again and asked him if he had had a good
voyage; only later did he learn that Saint Martin had never left Lima. A merchant
from Lima was in Mexico and fell ill; he said aloud: “Oh, Brother Martin, if only
you were here to care for me!” and immediately saw him enter his room. And
again, this man did not know until later that he had never been in Mexico.
Martin was a friend of both Saint John de Massias and Saint Rose of Lima. When
he died in Lima on November 3, 1639, Martin was known to the entire city. Word
of his miracles had made him known as a saint throughout the region. As his
body was displayed to allow the people of the city to pay their respects, each
person snipped a tiny piece of his habit to keep as a relic. It is said that three
habits were taken from the body. His body was then interred in the grounds of
the monastery.
Pope Gregory XVI beatified Martin de Porres in 1837. Nearly one hundred and
twenty-five years later, Blessed Martin was canonized in Rome by Pope John
XXIII on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3. He is the Patron Saint of
people of mixed race, innkeepers, barbers, public health and more besides.
In iconography, Martin de Porres is often depicted as a young friar of mixed heritage (he
was a Dominican brother, not a priest, as evidenced by the black scapular and
capuce he wears, while priests of the Dominican order wear all white) with a
broom, since he considered all work to be sacred no matter how menial. He is
sometimes shown with a dog, a cat and a mouse eating in peace from the same
dish.
The Feast of Sts Simon and Jude~Br. Milan Komadina
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
I like this parable from Ephesians 2/19-22. It shows the importance of being a part of the church, a part of the living congregation. It is true that we are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. But in order to grow we need to be a part of the church. Jesus does not need the church, but we are those who need it. We need the church in order to be stronger in our faith. If we imagine the church as a material building. In that building Jesus himself is the foundation. Then all the members of the church are like stones and all of us have our role to play. Some might be smaller stones, some might be bigger. Some might be ugly stones built somewhere in the middle away from the visible surface. Some stones might be on the front surface, visible, beautifully designed with decorations. What is important is emphasis that all stones matter. In Ephesians is also written that Jesus is a cornerstone. Builders of the house of God (the church) or believers must not throw away any of stones belonging to this temple. We may be wondering what it means. It means that the church might look like the real temple.
There are people who shine. They are front stones full of decoration. They are pious, they pray every day many times, they are considered to be the “best” Christians. There are stones – people who are barely visible. Inner stones. They come to the church once a month or occasionally. Sometimes more often, sometimes more rarely. There are people who are struggling with some temptation of various type. People who are not as shinny as those standing on the front wall. But what would happen with the church if the church lets only the most beautiful stones standing. If we start throwing away stone by stone for this reason and that reason. The entire building would be destroyed to dust. My message today, based on Ephesians chapter that we quote is love one another as a true family. Accept one another with all strength and weaknesses. Respect the differences between each other. And bear of mind that even though we are all different stones, we all have one foundation and that is Jesus. And we all build the perfect body of Christ.
Two Minute Mendicant~Br. Christian Ventura, OPI
On Preaching: Part I
Historically, when Dominicans are taught to preach, we are *generally* told not to view Holy Scripture as historical documents that necessitate eloquent interpretation. Likewise, we are not supposed to read the Holy Gospels with the intention of discovering a hidden meaning or a novel theological epiphany that hasn’t already been debated by biblical scholars and theolo-gicians throughout the ages. While at first glance this might appear seemingly contrary to the very nature of preaching, it calls us to be attentive to the text in a rather mystically intimate way.
When we prepare to preach at the pulpit, our heart is set on discerning how the living Word is speaking to us in the context of today. We ought not to be surprised if an ancient parable helps inform how we see gun violence, or if the Beatitudes can teach us a thing or two about the ongoing climate crisis.
The Spirit kindles our heart, and our heart informs our mind to articulate aspects of the divine essence in human words. This is the same Spirit that bestowed the gift of speaking the language of the people on the day of Pentecost. The Dominican is first called to contemplate, and then consequently, has a responsibility to share the fruits of our contemplation for the salvation of souls.
Our siblings at the United Church of Christ do an excellent job of nurturing this truth that “God is still speaking”. Furthermore, not only do we interact with the living Word, we believe every Christian has an apostolic call to bear witness to how God authors the Gospel in our everyday life as an extension of our shared priesthood that is gifted to us at baptism. In that same sentiment, if we do not strive with our whole heart to preach the Gospel with our everyday actions— the words that come out of our mouth mean nothing.
~ br c
Sharing Your Gifts~Br. Christian Ventura, Novice
In the Name of Almighty God: ✠ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
There is an old monastic joke that goes as follows–:
“There are only three things that God doesn’t know:
1. How many Franciscan Friars there are;
2. What in the world the Jesuits are doing;
And 3. What a Dominican Friar is saying when they’re preaching”.
And as for most Dominicans on the day of the Annunciation, (or the day after, in this case) it is hard to not fall into this stereotype, as we are often quick to get excited whenever we have an opportunity to preach on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Afterall, our habits are white to represent our protection under the mantle of our Blessed Mother, (and also because it was the cheapest material at the time), but we don’t lead with that.
We also carry a 15-decade rosary on the left side of our cincture to remind us to take up prayer instead of a sword. And if you didn’t already know, the modern rosary prayed by many today is believed to come from a Marian visitation to St. Dominic in his petition for peace during a time of death and despair. This 5-decade rosary is an abbreviated version inspired by the original 150 beaded Marian psalter given to St. Dominic.
But we aren’t the only monastics to wear a rosary as part of our habit. The Franciscans share this practice, as do many nuns, brothers, and monks of various other orders as well. Although this is usually due to a shared desire to represent our cinctured obedience to almighty God in our vocation(s).
Likewise, you’ll note that the Canticle of Mary or the Magnificat also has its roots in early monasticism. When we pray “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior” during evening prayer, we join the voices of the benedictine monks in the monastery who have chanted it during evening vespers since the 6th century.
The veneration of Mary the God bearer as influenced by early monasticism is an integral part of our history as Christians, and we know it to begin as early as the story of the Annunciation. Where, an Angel of God visits our mother and says “hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women”.
But aside from the angelic imagery of this breathtaking event, what personally strikes me the most is Mary’s faithful consent to God in her special vocation. She says “behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word”.
Imagine a world where we all said yes to our callings from God. And even better yet, imagine a world where we supported everyone and their special calls. And no, not necessarily a call to be a monk or a nun, but rather our call to be a brother, a sister, a friend, mother, a beloved child of God. Our call to take up our cross, our call to be imitators of the Word made flesh that dwelt among us.
I urge you to take a moment to think about: what is God calling you to? What experiences, both good and bad, have placed you here– right where you need to be?
And, how can you say “yes!”? Lent is a phenomenal time to discern our own special vocations and deepen our relationship with God: where we fast from our own will to make room for God’s.
How are you called to share your special gifts and talents to help make it on earth as it is in heaven? Are you called to be a teacher, a healer, or a musician? Has God asked you to leverage your career in healthcare, law, hospitality, or leadership to help love your neighbors? Are you an artist? Do you cook? What are you really good at doing, and how can you use it to help bring peace, comfort, or joy to others?
Lent is a time to embrace our callings from God not in spite of our flaws, but partly because of them. Whatever God is calling you to, know that he is calling you in the fullness of who you are now, with the vision of who you will become.
Through the intercession of our Blessed Virgin Mary , Mother of God, may you come to hear your call and find confidence to say “yes”, and may our Loving Father help you bring it to fruition.
The Call ~ The Rev. Frank Bellino, OPI
Many of us, at one time or another, dream of leaving everything behind. All the ties and responsibilities that nail us down, all the daily drudge, our half-heartedness about our work or our families, the weight of our past and our failures, all the things which define us.
It would be so simple to simply dump all the baggage of life, disappear, and start again in another place with a new passport and a Swiss bank account. In our fantasies, running away from everything would free us to start again as a new person, to become someone else more intelligent, more successful, popular or better looking.
In the Gospel, four fishermen leave everything behind, all the ties and bonds of work and family, to follow Jesus. But they leave everything in response to a call:
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (“Follow Me and I Will Make You | bibleteacher.org”)
Jesus doesn’t offer them a career, as carpenters, soldiers or tax collectors. He isn’t offering them exciting new love affairs, or friendships unencumbered by the weight of failure and misunderstanding.
The call to discipleship isn’t an attempt to recreate a new set of ties and bonds of love and responsibility, to escape all that defines and supplies identity. It is a call to discover that God given identity in a new way, in the crimson dawn of salvation in the words and actions of Jesus. I will make you fishers of men.
The call to follow establishes a relationship between what the disciples are now, and what they are to become. Their ordinary work, drawing sustenance from the darkness of the sea, becomes a sign of a deeper reality, drawing men and women from the darkness of sin and death, into the torrent of wind and flame manifested at Pentecost.
That which defines them now is not bypassed or ignored but becomes the scene of an urgent call to a deeper self-understanding, the call of grace. So, the disciples don’t leave fishing nets and boats upon the shore so that they can escape the daily struggle to make a living. Nor do James and John leave their dad sitting in the boat because they’ve grown tired of him or can’t afford a retirement home.
Grace does not take us from one identity to another but opens out a new and surprising depth of identity in the life of God. The disciples then leave everything behind not to escape, but to discover the true depths of the Spirit’s call. This Spirit, pouring from the Risen Christ, doesn’t replace our natural desires and hopes. Sharing in the Divine life does not mean that we are not called to live a fully human life.
Grace, then, begins to manifest itself in the reality of our lives, in those things which define us, make us who we are: but within these things it sounds an urgent call, a call to discover how much more we are, to understand ourselves in the gracious newness breaking into the world in the risen body of Jesus. For some, like the disciples in the Gospel, this call will require a leaving behind. In religious life, Christian men and women do not go in search of a fantasy life, but a life defined by the bonds and responsibilities of grace, of the new human community of the church formed at Pentecost.
But for most people, the call will not require a complete leaving behind, but an expanded vision of who we are, and our value in God’s plan. The call of Jesus to repent, because the kingdom of heaven is close at hand, is a call not to allow sin, and all the failures of life, to define us. For from our baptism, we have been caught up, hooked into this new age of grace, where we may swim freely.
The urge to escape who we are often weighs very heavily upon us. But there are no real clean slates in this life: who we are is intimately bound up with those we live with, those who have cared for us or hurt us, with the ways of making a living and passing the time we have settled for.
The call of God’s grace doesn’t offer us a new identity, the fantasy life we have always longed for. The call to be a disciple is a call to move to an even deeper understanding of who we are, who we are called to be, in the self-giving of God in the cross of Jesus, and the hurricane of glory which finally transformed simple fishermen into fishers of men.
The Feast of All Dominican Saints~The Rev. Dcn. Scott Brown, OPI
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Mt 5:8
Today we celebrate the Feast of All the Saints of the Dominican Order.
We come together as one Dominican Family today to celebrate not only Our Saints, but also our many Blesseds, Holy Friars, Nuns, Sisters, and Laity who have lived over the past 800 or so years.
We are so privileged to celebrate them as they provide us with an example by which we follow in our religious lives, by their wonderous fellowship in their communion and in their much-needed aid to us by their intercessions to God on our behalf. We celebrate all of those Dominicans who were faithful in their lives lived with great prayer, silence, and penance, those who have educated thousands of souls, and Third Order members who have sanctified the world.
We celebrate in thanks to God on this important feast day for our Order and turn to the examples of our Saints, their lives, and their intercessions for us to that they may guide us on our spiritual journey.
Our Spiritual Father, Saint Dominic left us a wonderous legacy of teaching and preaching by word and example of how we should live our lives. It is, then, joyous and encouraging that so many of our Dominican brothers and sisters have been beatified and canonized.
How fitting that the Gospel appointed for today includes these words spoken by Our Lord:
…..but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.” (Lk 24: 34-38)
Let us pray then in the example we have been taught to ask our dear saints to intercede for us, and to thank our God for all the saints of our Dominican Order and for the fruits of our order to be pleasing in his sight by joining in the Dominican Order Litany of Saints:
God, the heavenly Father have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God have mercy on us.
Holy Mary pray for us.
Saint Mary Magdalen pray for us.
Holy Father Dominic pray for us.
Holy Father Dominic pray for us.
Holy Father Augustine pray for us.
Holy Father Francis pray for us.
Blessed Jane of Aza pray for us.
Blessed Reginald pray for us.
Blessed Bertrand pray for us.
Blessed Mannes pray for us.
Blessed Diana pray for us.
Blessed Jordan of Saxony pray for us.
Blessed John of Salerno pray for us.
Blessed William and Companions pray for us.
Blessed Ceslaus pray for us.
Blessed Isnard pray for us.
Blessed Guala pray for us.
Blessed Peter Gonzalezpray for us.
Saint Zdislava pray for us.
Saint Peter of Verona pray for us.
Blessed Nicholas pray for us.
Saint Hyacinth pray for us.
Blessed Gonsalvo pray for us.
Blessed Sadoc and Companions pray for us.
Blessed Giles pray for us.
Saint Margaret of Hungary pray for us.
Blessed Batholomew of Vincenza pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas pray for us.
Saint Raymond of Penyafort pray for us.
Blessed Innocent V pray for us.
Blessed Albert of Bergamo pray for us.
Saint Albert the Great pray for us.
Blessed John of Vercelli pray for us.
Blessed Ambrose pray for us.
Blessed Cecilia pray for us.
Blessed Benvenuta pray for us.
Blessed James of Varazze pray for us.
Blessed James of Bevagna pray for us.
Blessed Jane of Orvieto pray for us.
Blessed Jordan of Pisa pray for us.
Saint Emily pray for us.
Blessed James Salomonio pray for us.
Saint Agnes of Montepulciano pray for us.
Blessed Simon pray for us.
Blessed Margaret of Castello pray for us.
Blessed Augustine Kazotic pray for us.
Blessed James Benefatti pray for us.
Blessed Imelda pray for us.
Blessed Dalmatius pray for us.
Blessed Margaret Ebner pray for us.
Blessed Villana pray for us.
Blessed Peter Ruffia pray for us.
Blessed Henry pray for us.
Blessed Sibyllina pray for us.
Blessed Anthony of Pavonio pray for us.
Saint Catherine of Siena pray for us.
Blessed Marcolino pray for us.
Blessed Raymond of Capua pray for us.
Blessed Andrew Franchi pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer pray for us.
Blessed Clara pray for us.
Blessed John Dominic pray for us.
Blessed Alvarez pray for us.
Blessed Maria pray for us.
Blessed Peter of Castello pray for us.
Blessed Andrew Abellon pray for us.
Blessed Stephen pray for us.
Blessed Peter Geremia pray for us.
Blessed John of Fiesole pray for us.
Blessed Lawrence of Ripafratta pray for us.
Blessed Anthony della Chiesa pray for us.
Saint Antoninus pray for us.
Blessed Anthony Neyrot pray for us.
Blessed Margaret of Savoy pray for us.
Blessed Bartholomew of Cerverio pray for us.
Blessed Matthew pray for us.
Blessed Constantius pray for us.
Blessed Christopher pray for us.
Blessed Damian pray for us.
Blessed Andrew of Peschiera pray for us.
Blessed Bernard pray for us.
Blessed Jane of Portugal pray for us.
Blessed James of Ulm pray for us.
Blessed Augustine of Biella pray for us.
Blessed Aimo pray for us.
Blessed Sebastian pray for us.
Blessed Mark pray for us.
Blessed Columba pray for us.
Blessed Magdalen pray for us.
Blessed Osanna of Mantua pray for us.
Blessed John Liccio pray for us.
Blessed Dominic Spadafora pray for us.
Blessed Stephana pray for us.
Saint Adrian pray for us.
Blessed Lucy pray for us.
Blessed Catherine Racconigi pray for us.
Blessed Osanna of Kotor pray for us.
Saint Pius V pray for us.
Saint John of Cologne pray for us.
Blessed Maria Bartholomew pray for us.
Saint Louis Bertrand pray for us.
Saint Catherine de Ricci pray for us.
Blessed Robert pray for us.
Blessed Alphonsus and Companions pray for us.
Saint Rose pray for us.
Saint Dominic Ibanez and Companions pray for us.
Blessed Agnes of Jesus pray for us.
Saint Lawrence Ruiz and Companions pray for us.
Saint Martin de Porres pray for us.
Blessed Peter Higgins pray for us.
Blessed Francis de Capillas pray for us.
Saint Juan Macias pray for us.
Blessed Terence pray for us.
Blessed Ann of the Angels pray for us.
Blessed Francis de Posadas pray for us.
Saint Louis de Montfort pray for us.
Blessed Francis Gil pray for us.
Saint Matteo pray for us.
Blessed Peter Sanz and Companions pray for us.
Saint Vincent Liem pray for us.
Saint Hyacinth Castaneda pray for us.
Blessed Marie pray for us.
Blessed George pray for us.
Blessed Catherine Jarrige pray for us.
Saint Ignatius and Companions pray for us.
Saint Dominic An-Kham and Companions pray for us.
Saint Joseph Khang and Companions pray for us.
Saint Francis Coll pray for us.
Blessed Hyacinthe Cormier pray for us.
Blessed Pier Giorgio pray for us.
Blessed Bartolo pray for us.
Blessed Michael Czartoryski pray for us.
Blessed Julia Rodzinska pray for us.
Sister Dollie Wilkinson, pray for us.
All holy Dominican brothers and sisters pray for us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Let us pray.–
God, source of all holiness, you have enriched your Church
with many gifts in the saints of the Order of Preachers.
By following the example of our brothers and sisters,
may we come to enjoy their company
for ever in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son, who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Jesus: The Medicine of God ~ The Rev. Frank Bellino
Jesus was guided by the Spirit into the wilderness and tested by the devil for forty days. During this time Jesus proved his love for his Father was stronger than everything else. Our love for Jesus leads us to want to draw closer to Jesus during Lent and overcome anything in our lives from the devil that keeps us apart from Jesus. Jesus in the desert is our model during Lent. If Jesus had given in to any temptation of the devil, he would have wrecked his Father’s plans. When we succumb to temptation, we wreck God’s plans for us. Sin separates us from what God intends for us. Sin separates us from God. It has been like that since Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the garden. Because of that sin Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. Sin separates us from Jesus. But our love for Jesus impels us to want to overcome sin during Lent so that we will not be separated from Jesus. Our love for Jesus impels us to take Lent seriously so that at the end of Lent we will be closer to Jesus. Do you love Jesus enough to fix whatever in your life is separating you from Jesus? Lent is the time to do it. Do we love Jesus enough to take Lent seriously so that at the end of Lent we can say we gave up this sin or overcame that sinful inclination so that we could be closer Jesus? Do we love Jesus enough so that when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at the end of Lent, we can also celebrate Jesus’ new life in us because we overcame sin during Lent? Do we love Jesus more than anything keeping us from Jesus? Lent is the time to draw closer to Jesus.
When we are ill, we go to the doctor and the doctor will give us medication. If we take medicine, we hope to get better. For centuries the Church has recommended medicine during Lent to help us get better, to bring us closer to Jesus and help us overcome sin. That medicine is the three things we heard in the Gospel on Ash Wednesday (Matt 6:1-6, 16-18); prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are a remedy to help cure our soul. This remedy is the wisdom of centuries of experience; the experience of centuries of holy people who drew closer to God during Lent with the remedy of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Not only is this remedy the wisdom of centuries of experience of holy people, it is the teaching of Jesus. As we heard in the Gospel on Ash Wednesday it is Jesus who taught us about prayer, who taught us the value of fasting, who taught us the value of almsgiving. Why would someone question what Jesus taught us and say there is a better way during Lent? Jesus in the desert is our model during Lent. Our love for Jesus leads us to want to draw closer to Jesus during Lent and overcome anything in our lives from the devil that keeps us apart from Jesus. We can do this through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
We could say that the three Scripture quotations in today’s Gospel (Luke 4:1-13) that Jesus used to rebuke the devil when tempted in the desert are about prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve (Luke 4:8, see Deut 6:13) was Jesus teaching us to put God first in prayer and worship.
Man does not live by bread alone (Luke 4:4, see Deut 8:3) was Jesus reminding that fasting shows God is more important to us than any earthly thing we want.
You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test (Luke 4:12, see Deut 6:16) was Jesus reminding us not to test God by expecting God to intervene to look after those in need but instead to help them ourselves.
To pray we need quiet time. We cannot pray if the TV is turned on, or there are other distractions around us. We often read in the Gospels that Jesus went up into the mountains to pray (Matt 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12; 9:28). It was quiet up there. If Jesus needed quiet for prayer, how much more do we need quiet for prayer? Can we find quiet time every day to spend with Jesus and Our Lady? We read that Elijah hid in a cave, and a windstorm went by, but God was not in the windstorm, there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake, there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. Finally, a gentle breeze went by, and Elijah knew God was in the gentle breeze (1 Kings 19:11-13). To find God is to find a place of peace. A Church or Adoration Chapel is an obvious place but can we also as a family pray together for a significant length of time at least once day? The Rosary is a wonderful prayer for use together as a family.
Jesus was asked why his disciples did not fast while the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist fasted. Jesus replied that the while the bridegroom was with them it was not the time to fast but when the bridegroom would be taken away then it would be time for them to fast (Matt 9:14-15; Mark 2:18-20; Luke 5:33-35). Now is that time. We can fast from TV for a time and that will give us more time for prayer so then we should be fasting and praying together. We could also fast from the internet for a time so spend more time with family. Above all of course Lent is all about giving up sin. All the fasting of Lent is to provide us with greater strength to fast from sin. Fasting is for Jesus.
Almsgiving is a demonstration of our love of God and love of others. When we love God, we love others in their need and give to them from our surplus because they are also children of God. That is why we begin the Lord’s Prayer saying, “Our Father…” because we are all children of one Father in heaven. Once when talking to the Pharisees when they were concerned about externals Jesus said that if they gave alms then they would be clean (Luke 11:41). On another occasion Jesus said that giving alms earns you a purse that never grows old and treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33). Jesus taught the parable about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Rich person did not even give the scraps to the poor man. But when they died the poor man was in heaven the rich man in agony.
We could say that the three Scripture quotations in today’s Gospel that Jesus used to rebuke the devil when tempted in the desert are about prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve (Luke 4:8, see Deut 6:13) was Jesus teaching us to put God first in prayer and worship.
Man does not live by bread alone (Luke 4:4, see Deut 8:3) was Jesus reminding that fasting shows God is more important to us than any earthly thing we want.
You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test (Luke 4:12, see Deut 6:16) was Jesus reminding us not to test God by expecting God to intervene to look after those in need but instead to help them ourselves.
When we’re ill, we go to the doctor and the doctor gives us medication. If we take medicine, we hope to get better. For centuries the Church has recommended medicine during Lent to help us get better. That medicine is prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Judge Who??? ~ The Very Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPI
Reading I: Sir 27:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
Reading II: 1 Cor 15:54-58
Alleluia: Phil 2:15d, 16a
Gospel: Lk 6:39-45
My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ:
First, let’s take a look at our Gospel reading for Today of Lk 6:39-45 (NIV):
39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
So what is this telling us and what can we learn from the Lord’s teaching of the Gospel today?
Each and every one of us at some point in our lives become prone to excuse our own faults and magnify the faults of others and to put our judgement upon them. You know how it goes: It could be things such as: “I’m quiet, you’re unassertive; he’s a wimp.” “I’m concerned; you’re curious; he or she is nosy.” “I’m thrifty; you’re a bit tight; that person is cheap.” “I drive with the flow of traffic; you go over the speed limit; that person is very reckless.”
Jesus knows our common propensity to justify ourselves and to blame others. As He concluded the section of His sermon dealing with the requirement of loving even our enemies, He knew that we would try to dodge its demands by judging our enemies and by excusing ourselves. So He gives a strong corrective by showing how we should focus on showing mercy, not judgement, even toward those who have wronged us (6:36-38). Then, to help us apply it, Jesus goes on to show that we must focus on judging our own sins or we will be like the blind trying to lead the blind (6:39-40). Only when we have judged our own sins can we then see clearly to help another person with their sins (6:41-42). In fact, we must judge ourselves down to the heart level, because only a good heart can produce good fruit (6:42-43). Thus Jesus is teaching us that …
To love as we ought to be doing, we should focus on showing mercy toward others but (also) on judging our own sins.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, sometimes we struggle with anger and with judgement. We see things and want to get revenge or we wish others to be punished for wrongdoing. We pray that you fill our hearts with compassion and forgiveness. Help us not to condemn but seek first to forgive others. Help us not to judge, but to serve. Amen.
Saint Catherine of Siena
She was the youngest but one of a very large family. Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a dyer; her mother, Lapa, the daughter of a local poet. They belonged to the lower middle-class faction of tradesmen and petty notaries, known as “the Party of the Twelve”, which between one revolution and another ruled the Republic of Siena from 1355 to 1368. From her earliest childhood Catherine began to see visions and to practice extreme austerities. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to Christ; in her sixteenth year she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries, and renewed the life of the anchorites of the desert in a little room in her father’s house. After three years of celestial visitations and familiar conversation with Christ, she underwent the mystical experience known as the “spiritual espousals”, probably during the carnival of 1366. She now rejoined her family, began to tend the sick, especially those afflicted with the most repulsive diseases, to serve the poor, and to labor for the conversion of sinners. Though always suffering terrible physical pain, living for long intervals on practically no food save the Blessed Sacrament, she was ever radiantly happy and full of practical wisdom no less than the highest spiritual insight. All her contemporaries bear witness to her extraordinary personal charm, which prevailed over the continual persecution to which she was subjected even by the friars of her own order and by her sisters in religion. She began to gather disciples round her, both men and women, who formed a wonderful spiritual fellowship, united to her by the bonds of mystical love. During the summer of 1370 she received a series of special manifestations of Divine mysteries, which culminated in a prolonged trance, a kind of mystical death, in which she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and heard a Divine command to leave her cell and enter the public life of the world. She began to dispatch letters to men and women in every condition of life, entered into correspondence with the princes and republics of Italy, was consulted by the papal legates about the affairs of the Church, and set herself to heal the wounds of her native land by staying the fury of civil war and the ravages of faction. She implored the pope, Gregory XI, to leave Avignon, to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States, and ardently threw herself into his design for a crusade, in the hopes of uniting the powers of Christendom against the infidels, and restoring peace to Italy by delivering her from the wandering companies of mercenary soldiers. While at Pisa, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 1375, she received the Stigmata, although, at her special prayer, the marks did not appear outwardly in her body while she lived.
Mainly through the misgovernment of the papal officials, war broke out between Florence and the Holy See, and almost the whole of the Papal States rose in insurrection. Catherine had already been sent on a mission from the pope to secure the neutrality of Pisa and Lucca. In June, 1376, she went to Avignon as ambassador of the Florentines, to make their peace; but, either through the bad faith of the republic or through a misunderstanding caused by the frequent changes in its government, she was unsuccessful. Nevertheless she made such a profound impression upon the mind of the pope, that, in spite of the opposition of the French king and almost the whole of the Sacred College, he returned to Rome (17 January, 1377). Catherine spent the greater part of 1377 in effecting a wonderful spiritual revival in the country districts subject to the Republic of Siena, and it was at this time that she miraculously learned to write, though she still seems to have chiefly relied upon her secretaries for her correspondence. Early in 1378 she was sent by Pope Gregory to Florence, to make a fresh effort for peace. Unfortunately, through the factious conduct of her Florentine associates, she became involved in the internal politics of the city, and during a popular tumult (22 June) an attempt was made upon her life. She was bitterly disappointed at her escape, declaring that her sins had deprived her of the red rose of martyrdom. Nevertheless, during the disastrous revolution known as “the tumult of the Ciompi”, she still remained at Florence or in its territory until, at the beginning of August, news reached the city that peace had been signed between the republic and the new pope. Catherine then instantly returned to Siena, where she passed a few months of comparative quiet, dictating her “Dialogue”, the book of her meditations and revelations.
In the meanwhile the Great Schism had broken out in the Church. From the outset Catherine enthusiastically adhered to the Roman claimant, Urban VI, who in November, 1378, summoned her to Rome. In the Eternal City she spent what remained of her life, working strenuously for the reformation of the Church, serving the destitute and afflicted, and dispatching eloquent letters in behalf of Urban to high and low in all directions. Her strength was rapidly being consumed; she besought her Divine Bridegroom to let her bear the punishment for all the sins of the world, and to receive the sacrifice of her body for the unity and renovation of the Church; at last it seemed to her that the Bark of Peter was laid upon her shoulders, and that it was crushing her to death with its weight. After a prolonged and mysterious agony of three months, endured by her with supreme exultation and delight, from Sexagesima Sunday until the Sunday before the Ascension, she died. Her last political work, accomplished practically from her death-bed, was the reconciliation of Pope Urban VI with the Roman Republic (1380).
Among Catherine’s principal followers were Fra Raimondo delle Vigne, of Capua (d. 1399), her confessor and biographer, afterwards General of the Dominicans, and Stefano di Corrado Maconi (d. 1424), who had been one of her secretaries, and became Prior General of the Carthusians. Raimondo’s book, the “Legend”, was finished in 1395. A second life of her, the “Supplement”, was written a few years later by another of her associates, Fra Tomaso Caffarini (d. 1434), who also composed the “Minor Legend”, which was translated into Italian by Stefano Maconi. Between 1411 and 1413 the depositions of the surviving witnesses of her life and work were collected at Venice, to form the famous “Process”. Catherine was canonized by Pius II in 1461. The emblems by which she is known in Christian art are the lily and book, the crown of thorns, or sometimes a heart–referring to the legend of her having changed hearts with Christ. Her principal feast is on the 30th of April, but it is popularly celebrated in Siena on the Sunday following. The feast of her Espousals is kept on the Thursday of the carnival.
The works of St. Catherine of Siena rank among the classics of the Italian language, written in the beautiful Tuscan vernacular of the fourteenth century. Notwithstanding the existence of many excellent manuscripts, the printed editions present the text in a frequently mutilated and most unsatisfactory condition. Her writings consist of
the “Dialogue”, or “Treatise on Divine Providence”; a collection of nearly four hundred letters; and a series of “Prayers”.
The “Dialogue” especially, which treats of the whole spiritual life of man in the form of a series of colloquies between the Eternal Father and the human soul (represented by Catherine herself), is the mystical counterpart in prose of Dante’s “Divina Commedia”.
A smaller work in the dialogue form, the “Treatise on Consummate Perfection”, is also ascribed to her, but is probably spurious. It is impossible in a few words to give an adequate conception of the manifold character and contents of the “Letters”, which are the most complete expression of Catherine’s many-sided personality. While those addressed to popes and sovereigns, rulers of republics and leaders of armies, are documents of priceless value to students of history, many of those written to private citizens, men and women in the cloister or in the world, are as fresh and illuminating, as wise and practical in their advice and guidance for the devout Catholic today as they were for those who sought her counsel while she lived. Others, again, lead the reader to mystical heights of contemplation, a rarefied atmosphere of sanctity in which only the few privileged spirits can hope to dwell. The key-note to Catherine’s teaching is that man, whether in the cloister or in the world, must ever abide in the cell of self-knowledge, which is the stable in which the traveler through time to eternity must be born again.
Born: March 25, 1347 at Siena, Tuscany, Italy
Died: April 29, 1380 of a mysterious and painful illness that came on without notice, and was never properly diagnosed
Canonized: July 1461 by Pope Pius II
Representation: cross; crown of thorns; heart; lily; ring; stigmata
Patronage: against fire, bodily ills, diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, Europe, fire prevention, firefighters, illness, Italy, miscarriages, nurses, nursing services, people ridiculed for their piety, sexual temptation, sick people, sickness, Siena Italy, temptations
The Order of Preachers, Independent 
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