New Series - Cardinal Virtues and their Allies

Once the academic year comes to an end the Dominican students begin their summer placements. Already one student is in Spain attending a language course and another is doing a hospital placement in London. Two students are attending a course at the Dominican centre for Islamic studies in Cairo. Eventually students will be on placement also in Leicester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Brussels. They will take part in pilgrimages to Ely and Lourdes, as well as in Spode Music Week and in a Dominican study week in Dubrovnik.

Although the Godzdogz team is scattering we hope to sustain a new series of reflections during the summer months. This will be on the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, and the secondary virtues that accompany them. The tradition of four cardinal or principal virtues goes back to the ancient world but was taken up by Christian teachers - Ambrose of Milan, for example - to become a standard part of Christian moral teaching. The good human being is one who is growing in these principal virtues and their allies. (One of the allied virtues is the ability to relax well, a good 'summer virtue' to cultivate.) Grace does not replace this level of natural virtue but perfects it. The good Christian, then, is the person whose life is orientated immediately towards God and who is sustained in that orientation by the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity.

A good image for the structure of virtue as St Thomas Aquinas presents it is the naval fleet. At the centre is the aircraft carrier, the cardinal virtue itself, and sailing with it is a set of destroyers, frigates, supply ships, attack boats, support vessels, etc. So each virtue has parts and subsidiary virtues, as well as particular acts, gifts and commandments that go with it. We will offer reflections on the cardinal virtues themselves as well as on the main ancillary vessels. These virtues are the principal weapons for the 'spiritual warfare' in which we are engaged.

The Year of Paul, 29 June 2008-2009

Godzdogz celebrated the Year of Saint Paul in a number of ways. There was a post to introduce the year and reflections for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in 2008 and for the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul in 2009.

Our first series was an 'A-Z of Paul', a dictionary of key terms from Paul's letters (from 'A for Apostleship' to 'Z for Zeal') with an explanation of the meaning of each term. Not surprisingly, there were 26 posts in this series.

The annual 'province day' of the English Dominicans held in December 2008 was devoted to Saint Paul and we published a report on the events of that day.

After Christmas we offered a series of 13 reflections called 'On the Areopagus', in which we tried to imitate Paul by bringing the preaching of the gospel to bear on aspects of contemporary society and culture.

Our final contribution was a series of 23 posts on ministries, charisms and fruits as another way of bringing out the rich spiritual and theological content of Paul's letters. These considered first the texts in which Paul lists the ministries required by the Church, then the texts in which he speaks about charismatic gifts of the Spirit, and finally the text of Galatians 5 in which he contrasts the fruits of the Spirit with the works of the flesh.

All told Godzdogz published 68 posts in honour of the year of Paul - 69 if you count this one! You will find them by clicking on either 'pauline year' or 'areopagus' in the list of labels on the right hand side of the blog. We hope our readers will visit them from time to time and, please God, continue to benefit from the compendium of Pauline theology that we have put together through the course of the year.

Corpus Christi Procession in Oxford

At the centre of the priest's life is the celebration of the Eucharist. It is fitting then that Godzdogz begins its observance of the Year of the Priest with this account of Oxford's annual Corpus Christi procession.


For the last ten years, the north Oxford deanery has held a Corpus Christi Procession that begins in the Oxford Oratory (St Aloysius) and makes its way through the centre of Oxford to the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy. En route, the procession stops in Blackfriars priory church, where the friars greet the Blessed Sacrament by singing the sequence 'Lauda Sion', written by St Thomas Aquinas. A sermon is then preached before the procession continues on its way.

This year's procession had a significant Dominican involvement. fr Richard Ounsworth OP preached the sermon, in which he likened the Eucharist to a mother breast-feeding, and thus giving her very life to her child. So it is when Mother Church gives us the Bread of Life. He also recalled Christ's Passion, which the Mass recalls, and said we should consider ourselves blessed, if, when we processed with the Lord through the city, we might even be mocked and so share in Christ's sufferings.

The procession walked past the Ashmolean Museum and down Cornmarket, one of Oxford's busiest shopping thoroughfares. On either side of the Blessed Sacrament were the deacon, fr David Rocks OP, and the acolyte, fr Robert Gay OP. The Blessed Sacrament was carried from the Oratory to Blackfriars by Fr Robert Byrne, Cong. Orat., Provost of the Oratory, and then from Blackfriars to the Chaplaincy by fr Benjamin Earl OP. fr Benjamin also gave Benediction at the close of the Procession which took place in the Chaplaincy's main hall.

Below are photos from the procession:


Fr Dominic Jacob, Cong. Orat., with some Dominicans who had gathered in the Oratory church for the start of the procession. Behind the friars is Sr Louise OP who made her final profession in March and who has recently joined the sisters' community in Oxford.


The Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar of St Aloysius' church


The priory church is packed for the Corpus Christi sermon


fr Richard Ounsworth OP preaching the sermon


fr Benjamin Earl OP incenses the Blessed Sacrament in Blackfriars priory church


The procession leaves the choir


The Procession goes past the Sackler Library on St John's Street


The canopy over the Blessed Sacrament is carried by four students of the University


The procession in Cornmarket, passing some of Oxford's oldest landmarks


fr Benjamin Earl OP, assisted by his Dominican brothers, incenses the Blessed Sacrament at its final station in the Chaplaincy


Fr Benjamin blesses the people with the Most Holy Eucharist


The procession ends in the Chaplaincy building with the singing of the 'Salve Regina'

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 22 Self-control

People can often be put off Christianity by a perception that it makes moral demands on its followers which it is impossible to live up to: “there’s no way I could manage that,” they might say, “so why bother trying?”

When St Paul teaches us in Galatians 5: 22 that self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, he reminds us that things don’t quite work like that. You don’t have to be perfect before you even think about becoming a Christian: rather, it is the participation as a Christian in the life of God which enables you to grow in the way of perfection. Yes, the moral life is a struggle (but then that’s true even if you’re not a Christian – there are always things you know you ought to do even if you don’t particularly feel like it); however, it is by allowing God to work in us through the Holy Spirit, given at baptism that we acquire the strength we need to engage in that struggle. Now, that doesn’t mean that, the moment you’re baptised, you’ll immediately be perfectly self-controlled: after all, the Christian life is about a process of growth in the love of God and neighbour which lies at the heart of choosing to do the right thing. What it does mean, though, is that, in a sense, the person who said “there’s no way I could manage that” was right – we can’t make ourselves perfect through our own effort, we need the grace of God.

This is a useful reminder, too, for those of us who are already Christians, and who find ourselves from time to time, perhaps often, subject to all kinds of temptations and feel too weak to resist. If self-control is a gift of the Holy Spirit, then resisting temptation is not just a question of gritting our teeth and not giving in through sheer effort on our part: rather, we should seek to draw close to God in prayer, and especially in the Sacraments, in which he shares his life with us. In doing so, we allow the Holy Spirit we received at our baptism to work more fully in our lives, and thus our self-control grows as the fruit of his operation in us.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits -21-Gentleness

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

Gentleness is not often associated with strength. An alternative translation of praotes, the Greek word used by Paul, is meekness. Neither of these translations suggests strength. Far too often the opposite is assumed: to be gentle is to be delicate, weak and even feeble. The concept of gentleness does not seem to fit into the dog-eat-dog world we live in. However, gentleness, properly understood, is far from these negative connotations. To be gentle is to be in control of oneself. It is to have a balanced and tranquil spirit. It is to be even-tempered, and to have hold over the passions. The gentle person is the master of their strength and power. The Latin Vulgate expresses this by using the compound mansuetudo - being accustomed to taming the hand. Gentleness is being appropriately restrained in our actions and words, especially in our interactions with other people. We all recognize how hard it is to practise this virtue. Sartre said “hell is other people” and all too often we might feel that he is right. But because it is difficult we need the Holy Spirit to aid us in being gentle.

Gentleness, however, does not turn us into punching-bags for the world. Whilst we must always be willing to pardon offences; we must also be able fraternally to correct faults gently and with love. Gentleness helps our actions to have a positive effect. To use an old saying, 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegar'. It is a sign of real and true strength to be able to act with restraint and gentleness, and the Holy Spirit allows us to overcome all obstacles to this practice. Like the message to Elijah the Gospel will not be proclaimed by great winds, earthquakes, or fire but by the whistling of gentle air.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 20 Faithfulness

The seventh fruit of the Holy Spirit that St Paul identifies is faithfulness. Faithfulness is at the very heart of the Christian vocation, of what it means to be a Christian. When we speak of faithfulness we often cite the qualities of trustworthiness, fidelity or reliability of an individual. However, as we are aware, all too often we fall short of these ideals, and as we are reminded in Proverbs 20:6, “most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?” We must therefore look not so much to others but to God as the true example of faithfulness.

Throughout the Old Testament we are constantly reminded of God’s promises to us, despite all our sinful folly, and He is shown to be faithful always, as we read for example in Deuteronomy 7:9, “therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments”.

The most striking example of this faithfulness was in God fulfilling his promises in the person of Jesus Christ. In the life of Christ and in His death for the sake of our redemption we can see clearly the true meaning of faithfulness. God does not falter. He will not break his covenant with us. He will not abandon us no matter how severe our failings. But for this faithfulness to be of real benefit we need to show our faithfulness to Him. God cannot break His word but we can and we need to cultivate carefully and with commitment our faithfulness to His teachings. We must grow in the virtues and not neglect our duties and responsibilities to our neighbour and ultimately to Him. So often these acts of faithfulness can be played out in the smallest ways and we cannot hope to grow in Christ unless we observe his law in small matters as well as great.

Most obviously our faithfulness can be shown in our commitment to the Church and in the ways in which we fulfil our duties to family and friends but we must also not neglect what it is to be faithful to ourselves. In being honest and true to ourselves we will be true to God and be able to look forward with hope to the coming of his Kingdom. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 19 Goodness

St. Paul puts goodness, or, as some translations have it, generosity, fifth in his lists of the fruits of the Spirit. That there should be such a close correspondence between Paul’s understanding of goodness and his understanding of generosity, such that it could be translated either way, is interesting because it demonstrates the importance of generosity for the Jewish view of God.

So many of the psalms extol the Lord as worthy of praise because of his generosity, praising him at length for all the great gifts that he gives to man and beast. Psalm 104 in particular, the psalm which is used in one of the prayers used as grace before meals, praises God as good because he is the giver of all that sustains every living thing. This overwhelming generosity of God is shown most profoundly in the saving death of his Son, Our Lord, on the cross, what is for St. Paul the most important moment in history, the most generous self-giving of the Son to the Father in love. 

Thus for Christians, to be good is to give of ourselves so as to help others, not only when it suits us and is convenient, and not only to those who are good to us in return, but to all those who are in need. To do this we need the gift of the Spirit, for we cannot live such an extraordinary life, as the bearer of God’s life and love to others, through our own effort alone. 

To be good does take effort, we must co-operate with the grace that God so freely bestows upon us and renews in us through prayer and the sacraments, but in our pursuit of the life of virtue we are not left to fend for ourselves, for we have an advocate, a lawyer for our defence, the Spirit, to fight our corner. The Spirit as our advocate pleads insistently on our behalf for the heavenly judge to declare our goodness against the merciless cross-examination of Satan, the great accuser, who seeks to make us despair on account of our sins, and so to flee from God’s mercy.

Let us always remember that to be good is to be humble, for the greatest sin is that of pride, pride that hardens our hearts and stops us from asking for forgiveness and mercy.  The good person is the person who, by the light of the Holy Spirit, recognises their sinfulness and asks the Lord for forgiveness, confident in the mercy of the Lord who is love.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 18 Kindness

Sometimes you’ll hear things said like “I don’t need to be a Christian to be a kind and decent person.” It has to be recognised that there are many kind and decent people in the world who never go near a church. On the other hand, in the letter to the Galatians we hear St Paul speak of kindness as being a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). This implies that kindness is deeply bound up with being a Christian.

Aristotle describes kindness as helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped. Of course, we have to be careful with such a definition. Just because we help someone without regard for any personal advantage, it doesn’t mean we have to be miserable as we help. It is more virtuous to delight in being helpful rather than finding it a burden, but it is essential that kindness springs from a love of others.

Careful consideration also has to be given to what it means to be helpful. Aquinas talks of kindness as something that helps to cure evils. In any kind of evil situation, there is something that is lacking, and so some form of help is needed to restore what is missing. In situations such as rivalry, hatred, jealousy and discord, our response should be kindness, an act of helping those in need. But the kind of help we provide is informed by our Christian faith. Christ died on the cross for our sins and He is conqueror over all evil. Therefore whenever we are confronted with evil, we need to bring Christ into the situation.

From time to time, we see people who are non-Christian, but yet still appear to be full of the Holy Spirit. We have to be prepared to recognise good whereever we see it, to recognise that the Holy Spirit can act in all kinds of different people. But as Christians we are at an advantage because we have the sacraments readily available, whereby the bond of union with Christ is continually strengthened. With this bond of union, we become capable of performing the greatest act of kindness possible, of helping people towards what they need most, that is life in the Holy Trinity.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 17 Patience

Listed among the fruits of the Holy Spirit by St Paul in the letter to the Galatians is patience. Reflecting on what it means to be patient, I think that it is not often much in evidence today. We live a world that has been taught the value of the instantaneous. Information is now delivered from one part of the globe to another within seconds, travel gets ever faster as do, more and more. the types of food we eat. I heard a comedian once joke that the protest slogan of today’s generation would be: “What do we want? We don’t know! When do we want it? Now!”. Instant gratification without too much analysis can be all too tempting.

Yet St Paul speaks often of patience as being an important part of the Christian life. It is a sign of the life of the Holy Spirit within us. In Ephesians 4:1-3 he says: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” and in 1 Corinthians 13:4 he says that love is always patient. God is ever patient with us. His patience is based in his total love for us and its purpose is our salvation. Made in the image and likeness of God, we are called to become like God in patience. It is a virtue that calls us to hesitate before making judgements of others.

We look at how patient Jesus was with the multiple mess ups of Peter and the other disciples. How often they just did not understand him. Patience is such an important virtue in so many situations. Patience in discussions and heated debate is important because it is a simple recognition of the fact that elements of truth may be found on all sides. Patience with the mistakes and gaffs of others is also a simple recognition that we are not perfect either and appreciate patience and forgiveness when we make mistakes. Patience in suffering comes from an understanding that God will ultimately work for our good and that the horizon of time for the Christian is not this life but eternity.

Patience also builds character, allowing us to stand back from situations, to see things more clearly from other angles and to take the longer view into account. St Thomas Aquinas sees patience as part of the sustaining side of the infused moral virtue of fortitude. It is patience that keeps an unconquered spirit in times of trial and can be expanded into perseverance. Ultimately patience is a fruit of the Spirit that is an act of love for our brothers and sisters because it gives others the loving space to change, to grow and to find understanding. And in the busy and noisy world of today, a little more patience makes life so much easier for everyone.

Dominicans 'Keep the Door Open' in Edinburgh

This year the celebration of Pentecost in the University Parish of St Albert the Great, Edinburgh, was a little different.  Bringing the entire community together for a single weekend Mass, an unprecedented chapel project, ‘Keeping the Door Open’, was launched. The project is to build a new chapel for the growing community and so increase the capacity of the existing space. This is the largest community project in the history of Edinburgh University Catholic Chaplaincy.

Fr Bruno Clifton OP, Assistant Catholic Chaplain (and a former Godzdogz contributor, pictured left), writes that 'the parish filled the nearby Convent of Mercy, St Catharine’s, to mark the Feast together, acknowledging our unity in the Holy Spirit in preparation for the largest building project the Parish has ever undertaken. The Chaplaincy has been served by Dominicans since 1931, and the Provincial, Fr John Farrell OP, presided and preached at the Mass'.

The Prior and Parish Priest of St Albert the Great, Fr Tim Calvert OP, spoke of the task ahead as an opportunity to bring the growing community together. ‘There are many communities surrounding the Chaplaincy: students, alumni, staff and parishioners who feel at home with the Dominicans. At Pentecost we are called to recognise our deeper unity in the Spirit and this project is a tangible means of expressing this unity.’

In honour of the special event the Parish commissioned some new music.  Fr Bruno composed a motet, Veni Sancte Spiritus, which received its premiere at the Mass. More information about the project can be found at http://keepingthedooropen.op.org/

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 16 Peace

"Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit" (John 15:5), and one of those fruits, which we receive from Jesus if we dwell in him and draw our strength from him, is peace. In St Paul's Letter to the Galatians 'peace' translates the Greek, eirene. Peace is a result of a life animated by the Holy Spirit, but it comes from Christ who has brought peace and reconciliation to the world by his passion, death and resurrection. Thus we are reminded in the Mass of the words of the Risen Lord: "Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you" (see John 14:27; 20:19-23).

These words of the Lord teach us that the life which is conformed to the Cross of the Lord, which becomes more Christ-like, receives Christ's peace. And what is the peace Paul has in mind? In Philippians 2:2 he asks the Philippians to be "of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind", this being the one mind of Jesus Christ. It is thus that St Paul exhorts the Philippians to put aside their quarrels and pride, and to imitate the Lord's humility who emptied himself of his equality with God and became a slave and was obedient even to the point of accepting death on a Cross (see Philippians 2:1-18). Hence, peace is being ordered to the mind of Christ which "in humility [counts] others better than [ourselves]".

It is in view of this Christ-centred orientation that St Augustine says that "peace is the tranquility of order". Because peace is ordered towards Christ and the eternal Good it is unlike worldly peace which is more like "a break between wars". Christ's peace infinitely surpasses the fragility of our uneasy treaties and efforts at a truce. It is ordered towards lasting joy in heaven. It is true, never deceptive, and as St Thomas Aquinas notes, it assures peace within ourselves, and in our relationships and surroundings. Such peace, of course, is the peace that the saints enjoy in heaven, and which is ultimately the goal of all our human aspirations for peace. It is not mere coincidence that the universal symbol for peace is a dove, which is also a way of depicting the Holy Spirit, the giver of true peace.

For perfect peace - conformity with Christ - comes not by our efforts but because of Who has been given to us in baptism. The peace which the Risen Christ leaves us is a Person: it is the Holy Spirit, whose work is peace, for the Spirit orders all things according to the mind of Christ. As the Lord said, "he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16:14). And so, the peace of Christ is ours, who are called to be saints (see Romans 1:7) and who have been given the Holy Spirit. For the Spirit is the fruit of the unity and love of the Father and the Son, and he is the one who makes us Christians of one heart and mind with Christ, who is perfectly ordered to the will of the Father. Thus, St Paul urges us to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3), for peace - with the unity, concord and harmony that it entails - is a sign of the Spirit at work in our lives and in our Christian communities. Therefore, Christ said: "you will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16), and one fruit St Paul desired for his churches, and which we pray for repeatedly, at every Mass, is peace.