Simple Profession 2007

On 22 September, after the clothing of the new novices (see post below), two brothers finishing the novitiate in Cambridge made simple profession in the Order. Please remember them in your prayers. (They will of course be joining the 'Godzdogz' team in Oxford, so please welcome Br Robert Verrill OP and Br Daniel Mary Jeffries OP.)

Below are some photos from the Simple Profession Mass, which was followed by a reception in the priory:

The novices make the form of a Cross, as a sign of the total gift of themselves to the service of the God and His Church in the footsteps of St Dominic.

Br Robert makes Profession.

Br Daniel Mary makes Profession.

The Prior Provincial blesses the scapulars of the newly-professed.

Br Robert & Br Daniel were joined by family and friends.

So there are now three novices at Cambridge and there will be fourteen students at Oxford this academic year, from four provinces (England, Belgium, Ireland and the province of St Martin de Porres in the Southern USA). Please pray that our kindest Lord, in whose hand are all good things, may increase our love and our peace as we seek to become ever more completely the loving servants of his Word.

Clothing of novices in Cambridge

On Saturday 22 September, the English Province welcomed three new novices, who were clothed in the habit of the Order in a private ceremony in Blackfriars, Cambridge.

The postulants, before the ceremony, sitting behind their new habits.

Making the form of a Cross, the postulants implore God's mercy and that of the brethren.

The Prior Provincial then preaches a sermon addressed to the postulants, but also for the benefit of all the brothers witnessing the ceremony.

"Put off the old man that belongs to your former manner of life..." (Ephesians 4:22)
The removal of secular clothing (jacket and tie) is symbolic of one's removal from secular life.

"And put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). The white habit of St Dominic is a constant reminder of the baptismal garment and a symbol of the new man in Christ whom we are called to be.

Finally, the postulant is clothed is the black cloak or 'cappa' of the Order. Although a practical garment to protect against dirt and cold, it may also be understood as a symbol of penitence.

The newly-clothed novices are then embraced by all the brethren and welcomed.

After the ceremony, the novices sign the book of Admissions which records the start of their novitiate.

Please pray for our new novices, Brothers Gregory, Graham and Mark.

Lourdes Pilgrimage Faces

Our third and final post from this year's Dominican Pilgrimage to Lourdes is of the people who make the Lourdes Pilgrimage such a special time of fraternity and Christian fellowship:
















Perhaps you'll join us next year? For more information on English Dominican pilgrimages, please click here.

8 Deadly Sins?

The Catholic Truth Society has just published another booklet by Fr Vivian Boland, the master of students at Blackfriars. Once again the booklet originated in talks given to the students, this time during Michaelmas 2006 and Hilary 2007. Yes, he knows that the tradition came to settle on '7' but read what Evagrius, John Cassian and Gregory the Great have to say about them and why they think there are 8. The scriptural texts in the background (understood allegorically) are Deuteronomy 7:1 which names the seven nations the Hebrews are to drive out of Canaan (and don't forget the Egyptians from whose land they have just escaped!) and Luke 11:26 which tells of an unclean spirit driven out of a man who returns to the tidied house with seven spirits more evil than himself (but he comes back with them!).

The booklet consists of an introduction - why 7 or 8? what does it mean to speak of them as 'deadly'? - and continues with individual chapters on each in turn, covetousness, envy, sloth, gluttony, lust, anger, pride and vainglory. Fr Vivian concludes:

A first step in countering their influence is to understand their psychological and spiritual roots in human experience. This is what this booklet has tried to do. If we stand, humbly, in the truth about ourselves, we will appreciate the power of God's love to heal and strengthen our nature, for love is not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude, not irritable or resentful. If we understand the origins and nature in us of these 'generic thoughts', these 'phantasies' or 'demons', we are already in possession of a truth that sets us free. For that understanding assures us, in case we are tempted to doubt it, that our wellbeing and our salvation consists only, and always, in love. This will then sustain us in the discipline and practices of the spiritual life.

Credo 32: … (the Holy Spirit), the Lord …

‘Lord’ in this case refers to the Holy Spirit, to whom this particular section of the Creed is dedicated, this particular prolongation being formed at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. Previously, the creed had ended with the words ‘We Believe in the Holy Spirit’, followed by an anathema statement directed at those who declared either the second or third persons of the Trinity to be made, or that there was a time when the Holy Spirit was not.

Why would we call the Holy Spirit by the title which the generally reserve to Jesus Christ? It appears to be a contradiction, as we earlier said that we believe in ONE Lord, Jesus Christ. Why then do we acknowledge yet another Lord?

This is done to signify that the One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of His Son, is truly God. The Holy Spirit is consubstantial with both the Father and the Son, and is inseparable from them in both the inner life of the Trinity and in the gift of love that God gives to the world. When the Father sends His Word, he also sends His Breath. And so the two Lords, the Son and the Spirit, are distinct while remaining inseparable in their joint mission. It is Christ who is seen, but it is the Holy Spirit who reveals Him.

Jesus is Christ, ‘anointed’, because the Spirit is His anointing, and each event that follows the Incarnation derives from this fullness. When Christ is glorified, He can send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in Him. he communicates His glory to them, that is the Holy Spirit who glorifies Him. From then on, the joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of His Son. The mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in Him.

Creed 31: We believe in the Holy Spirit

Here starts the third section of the creed, which deals with the Holy Spirit. Whilst the first section spoke about God the almighty and the second about Jesus, the third section affirms our faith in the Holy Spirit. In a sense, the creed does not try to explain the mystery of these three persons. The doctrine of the Trinity simply states that there is only one God while, at the same time, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are God. The creed tries neither to explain nor to prove this doctrine, which is beyond our understanding. In fact, the only explanation has to be found in our lives: the Spirit can ‘inspire’ our lives. Indeed, the Greek word for spirit is the same word as for ‘breath’ or ‘wind’. In the Book of Genesis, the Spirit is the agent of creation, “a wind from God swept over the waters” (Gen1:2). Similarly, the creation account tells us that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him (2:7). It is the Spirit which gives wisdom to man (Gen 41:38).

A glance at the liturgical calendar could help us to understand better the centrality of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The feast of Pentecost celebrates the day, 50 days after the resurrection, when the Church received the Spirit (Acts 2). In that respect, we are living in the time of the Spirit, who continues to inspire the Church, the men and women of our time. The Holy Spirit ‘dwells’ in us and guides us. This does not mean of course that there are three Gods, or chronologically that the Father sent the Son and the Son the Spirit. More profoundly, the Holy Spirit is given to us so that we may not be left ‘orphans’. The time of the Spirit in which we live means that God does not leave us alone. It even transcends our confessions. In the world, the Spirit, by his gifts, inspires people to good and to speak as prophets, “moved by the Holy Spirit” (2Pet 1:21). Therefore, it is the Spirit who helps us to work for peace and to work for the Kingdom of God, which is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17).

Credo 30: ... and his kingdom shall have no end.

A fundamental tenet of Jesus’ preaching, and its urgency, was the proclamation of the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God. The parables of Jesus are a challenge to make a radical choice; to give up everything else “for the sake of the Kingdom of God”; while his miracles, linked to this preaching, are signs of the Messiah, of the foretold King anointed with the power of God: “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Mt 12:28).

In giving an assertion of God’s rule over his creation, Scripture frequently employs images of God as ruler, as analogous to the most powerful humans in these ancient cultures. Proclamation of the kingdom of God, building on the tradition of YHWH’s rule over all creation, is fundamental to Jesus’ mission as depicted in the Gospels. The kingdom is not a geographical place; rather, it is a relationship of power, in which God and creature are properly aligned. That Jesus participates in God’s rule over creation as a result of his resurrection is the corollary of his “exaltation, glorification, ascension, and enthronement” at God’s right hand “The Lord says to my lord ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’” (Ps 110.1).

That his kingdom is eternal would seem to follow logically from the fact that the kingdom is God’s own rule over creation, which Jesus assumes because of his enthronement (Ps 110:1), and which is by definition eternal. The creed is specific here because of a concern raised by St Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth (1 Cor 15:20-28). There, Paul is responding to those who deny the resurrection of the dead (15:12). He wants therefore to emphasise two things – first, they cannot yet be ruling, because the kingdom of God is not yet completely established, so sin and death are still ‘powers and authorities’ that must be conquered (1 Cor 15: 53-56). They are living only at the first stage, that of Christ’s being raised, but the second stage, which is coming, has not yet occurred. Hence, there was no evidence then – or now - for a bodily resurrection apart from Christ’s – this hasn’t yet happened to anyone else (although Mary's assumption body and soul into heaven is a unique participation in the new life Christ has won for us). Later, grappling with the Arian controversy, the pro-Nicene theologians were concerned lest this complex passage from Paul be read in a way that so emphasised the Son’s subordination to the Father that he might seem to be only a creature. Thus, they emphasise in the creed that his kingdom shall have no end.

This, too, is the crux of our contemporary problem – how can the kingdom be professed to have no end when it doesn’t seem to have begun? While the kingdom was “definitively established through [the events of] Christ’s cross” (Catechism §560), we are still caught between the already and the not yet, the continuing reign of injustice and sin in the world and the apparent absence, indifference or impotence of God in the face of all this. Yet we pray each day ‘thy kingdom come’; and we perhaps need to re-engage with the insight of Lumen Gentium (Vatican II) that we are presently pilgrims, travelling in the hope of arrival, where we will find the fulfilment of the kingdom in union with Christ. Such a profession, here as elsewhere, isn’t to be disparaged as deluded, wishful thinking, but seen rather as a challenge to enact what it says, seen also as a witness of our failure to live by God’s rule.

Credo 29 - ...to judge the living and the dead

The belief that Christ has the authority to judge the living and the dead is frequently repeated through the New Testament (e.g. Matthew 16:27, Acts 10:42, Romans 14:7-10, etc.). The judgement belongs by right to Christ, as he is the Lord and Redeemer.

What does it mean, then? It means that Christ paid the highest possible price to ransom us from the slavery of death and evil. Being God, 'he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross' (Philippians 2:8). We belong to Christ by right, not only as our Creator but also as our Saviour.

It is the mercy of Jesus that is the principle of his judgement, ‘for God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.’ (John, 3:17).

We are all equal also in this respect, that we are all in position to accept Christ's mercy or reject it! Christ calls Judas his friend, even though he betrayed him. Let us then not pass judgement on our sisters and brothers, as we shall all stand before Christ (Romans 14:10).

Credo 28: He will come again in glory ...

In many of his parables Jesus taught his disciples to live towards the future. They were to be faithful servants, busy with their work, but always ready and alert for the moment when the master of the household would return. Life is to be lived fully in the present but always also with an orientation towards what is yet to come. Christians live within this tension between the present and the future. Each time Mass is celebrated we say that are 'waiting in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ'. The acclamations after the consecration of the Mass illustrate how the mystery we celebrate belongs not only to the past and to the present but also anticipates the future: 'Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again', 'When we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death Lord Jesus until you come in glory'.

During his trial Jesus provoked the wrath of his accusers by referring to himself as the Son of Man who would come in glory on the clouds of heaven. In this he was identifying himself with his Father's purposes and with the promises of the Father for the future of Israel. He was saying that these purposes and promises were being fulfilled in what was happening to him - that God would take what was happening to him and make it to be the definitive revelation of the glory of God.

The glory that is to be revealed - a glory of light and life and love, a re-shaping of the earth and a shaking of the world to its foundations, a revelation of God's holiness and the radiance of those who belong to Him - all this is already mysteriously revealed in the glory of the crucified one. Already we have seen his glory, St John says, the glory that is his as the only Son from the Father. What we have come to, the Letter to the Hebrews says (and it seems to be referring to the Christian community gathered for the Eucharist), is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with innumerable angels gathered for the festival, to an assembly where everyone is a firstborn citizen of heaven, to the spirits of just people made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, to the sprinkled blood, to a judge who is God of all.

We are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future - when he comes again in glory - has not yet been revealed. Now we see in a glass darkly - in mystery, sacramentally - but then face to face. When he comes again in glory we shall see him as he really is. And in seeing him we shall become like him. If we have shared in his sufferings then we will share also in the glory that is to be revealed.

Dominican Pilgrimage to Lourdes (Part 2)

What is distinctive about a Dominican pilgrimage to Lourdes? We try to share the key aspects of our Dominican life with our fellow pilgrims:

• Prayer, especially in the sung choral Office & Mass, and quiet moments of contemplation. On our penultimate day, we celebrated a Mass with the anointing of the sick.
  

We were also given the privilege of celebrating Mass in the Grotto of Massabielle, with Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP presiding:

• The handing on of the fruits of study and contemplation through various talks given by the Prior Provincial, Fr Allan White OP and other brothers, and of course, through preaching.
  

Above, we are waiting to enter the Cinema Bernadette, the venue for Fr Allan's daily talks.

• Community life expressed on pilgrimage through times of recreation and meals together. While in Lourdes, we had occasion to celebrate three birthdays and go on an excursion to the Pont d'Espagne.
  

Before we left Lourdes, we blessed a large candle, where it burns near Our Lady's Grotto, as a symbol of our prayers. May Our Lady of Lourdes pray for us!