The Lord goes up with shouts of joy

To celebrate the Ascension may seem strange. It is, after all, about an ending. Saying good-bye can be awkward, is sometimes difficult, and is often sad. His ascension means the disappearance of Jesus. Up to then he was visibly present with his disciples and now he is, it seems, to be absent. Why be joyful about this? Why think of it as something to celebrate?

At the mid-point of his gospel Luke writes: 'when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem' (Luke 9:51). His ‘being taken up’ refers to his crucifixion, the moment in which he was ‘lifted up from the earth to draw all people to himself’ (John 12:32). It can also be taken to refer to his resurrection from the dead. And it is complete in his exaltation to the right hand of the Father. He has been taken up to the place of glory that is eternally his.

In the Temple at Jerusalem the High Priest went up into the Holy of Holies once a year, on the Day of Atonement, carrying the blood of sacrificed animals. Through him Israel asked forgiveness of the Lord and a renewal of the covenant. The only other person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies was a new King, on the day he was enthroned. The psalms and other texts of scripture speak about the king going up to a place of honour in the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.

This is important background for understanding the Ascension of Jesus. He is our high priest who enters the Holy of Holies, not the earthly one in Jerusalem, but the great and perfect one in heaven. The blood he carries is not that of animals but his own blood, which is offered once and for all to gain ‘an eternal redemption’ (Hebrews 9:12). Seated at the right hand of the Father, enthroned as judge of all, Jesus is our king and our high priest.

Ascension Day is, then, the original feast of Christ the King. Because of his love and obedience the Father has exalted him and given him the name above all other names (Philippians 2:9). We celebrate his victory, and its meaning for us, the fact that he is become ‘the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him’ (Hebrews 5:9). As the prayers of today’s Mass put it, he has been ‘taken up to heaven to claim for us a share in his divine life’ and ‘where he has gone, we hope to follow’.

Although Jesus ‘withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven’ the disciples returned to Jerusalem ‘with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God’ (Luke 24:53). They understood, it seems, the meaning of his exaltation. They await the gift of the Spirit, the power from on high that Jesus will send. Jesus had said to his disciples, ‘if I do not go away he (the Advocate, the Holy Spirit) cannot come to you’ (John 16:7). Exalted to the right hand of the Father he sends the Holy Spirit as he had promised. This is why we rejoice at his departure, because his return to the Father establishes a new bond between heaven and earth. In sending the Spirit, Jesus fulfils his promise to remain with us always. We become his physical presence in the world, his body alive with his love. If he is with us in the Spirit, where can we be except with him in the same Spirit?

Our lives have been configured to this great paschal mystery of Jesus, to his death, resurrection, exaltation, and sending of the Spirit. Through baptism we enter sacramentally into the tomb with Jesus so that we may also rise with him as members of his body. Through confirmation we enter sacramentally into his promotion to the right hand of the Father to become temples of his Spirit and witnesses of his grace to the ends of the earth.

Blackfriars Spring Fayre

On Sunday 27 April, as part of our on-going fund-raising efforts for the Oxford Priory Renewal Fund, we held our first Spring Fayre in Blackfriars. Organised by members of the 9:30 congregation, and with help and support from all those who come to Mass in Blackfriars, this was a wonderful opportunity for the whole community to come together and put on an enjoyable event. It raised over £2,500 for the project, and Godzdogz readers are warmly invited to help us in our fund-raising efforts and consider making a secure online donation at our fund-raising site.

Below are more photos from the Spring Fayre. Thanks to all who helped to make the event such a resounding success.

Celebrating 450 years of Dominican life

Each year, near the feast of St Catherine of Siena, the Dominican Sisters of the Bushey Congregation celebrate the jubilees of their sisters. This year four sisters mark their golden jubilee of profession, three their diamond jubilee and one sister her platinum (70th!) anniversary of profession. This was a very joyful celebration of what Sr Anne, the Prioress General, called '450 years of fidelity'. She thanked the sisters for being themselves and for the generosity of their service over so many years in many different places. As well as sisters from England, members of the congregation from South Africa, Argentina and Rome were present, as were sisters from the Congregation's new foundations in Glasgow and Wales. Some of the friars were also present including Brothers Graham, Mark and Gregory, the novices from Cambridge.


This year's 'Golden Girls' were Srs Hyacinth, Aquinata, Elizabeth and Raymunda, pictured here (l. to r.) with Sr Anne, Prioress General of the Congregation (second from left).


Srs Maria Julia, Francesca and Letitia celebrate their diamond jubilees (1948-2008).



Sr Margaret Mary celebrates 70 years of profession (1938-2008). We wish her, and all the jubilarians, many congratulations and thank them for the witness of their lives.

Catherine of Siena: Prayer and Action

Catherine of Siena was born Caterina di Giacomo di Benincasa in 1347 in the Fontebranda district of Siena, the twenty-fourth of twenty-five children. From a very early age, she had a great devotion to God and a passion for the truth. Her desire for the truth seems to have been greatly influenced by the preaching of the local Dominicans. Because of this desire for VERITAS, Catherine decided to take the habit of the Dominican Order at the age of eighteen while living a life of solitary prayer and penance in her family home only venturing outside to attend the celebration of Mass at the Dominican convento. It was during this time that she entered into contemplative union with God, which resulted in her mystical espousal to Christ.

Through her experiences of God in prayer, Catherine was able to realize the intimate connection between contemplation and service of her neighbors. Shortly after her mystical espousal, she joined the Mantellate, a group of women who were affiliated with the Order of Saint Dominic and wore the habit but lived in their own homes, serving the needs of the poor. The union of contemplation and action in the life of Catherine is important for our reflection on the Christian life. It demonstrates for us that prayer and action are not separate realities but are intimately woven together into the continuous activity of discipleship. In her Dialogue, she states that God told her “I ask you to love me the way I love you. I know that you cannot do this gratuitously but out of duty, this is why I place your neighbors in your path so that you may love them and so that you can do for them what you cannot do for me…”

The connection between mystical experience and involvement in the concerns and affairs of the world is very clear and very striking in Catherine's case. In 1363, at the age of 15 or so, she emerged from a period of intense solitude to get involved again in the affairs of her family. In 1366, at the age of 19, she experienced a spiritual espousal or 'marriage' to Christ after which she became involved in the life of her city, Siena. In 1370, at the age of 23, she experienced a mystical 'death' and we find her getting involved in the affairs of Tuscany and of Italy generally. Finally in 1375, at the age of 28, she received the stigmata and we see her becoming a figure on the European stage. She becomes the ambassador of Florence to the papal court at Avignon, entreats the Pope to return to Rome, and becomes in turn the ambassador of the Pope to Florence.

Rarely has any Christian, at one and the same time, been so completely immersed in political and pastoral activity while living a life of profound, mystical contemplation. Her mystical experiences are recorded in her Dialogue while her letters show her to be a pastoral theologian and spiritual director of exceptional wisdom and compassion. The eminent Irish Dominican, Archbishop William Barden (the centenary of whose birth we celebrate this year), regarded Catherine of Siena as the greatest of all Dominicans, women or men, perhaps, he suggested, even greater than Saint Dominic himself!

In essence, Catherine reveals to us that contemplation and action form the seamless garment of faith, which all the baptized receive in the Sacrament of Baptism and which we are called to exercise in our daily discipleship as Catherine did through her tireless prayer and work on behalf of peace in the Church and in society.

Quotation from Catherine's Dialogue is from the translation of Susanne Noffke OP, published at New York in 1980

Virtue and Vice on the Blogosphere

The Oxford University Newman Society hosted a 'Bloggers' Colloquium' in the Catholic Chaplaincy on 15 February 2008 to discuss the phenomenon of blogging and its impact on the Church and the world. Br Lawrence Lew OP was invited to give one of the talks; an abridged version follows:

That blogs can be a force for good but also for that which is less than good should not surprise us. For social communications through the media is just an expression of our flawed humanity, and indeed the anonymity which the internet affords sometimes exacerbates our flaws. Like everything we do, blogging does not always achieve the good it ought to although I believe that it is essentially ordered towards it. As such, we should treat it like the rest of life – as something with a potential for good, but which can be abused, and where that happens, it should be healed and redeemed. There is no place that the Gospel may not touch, and as a preaching friar, I passionately believe that it is essential that we bring the light of Christ’s truth and the teachings of his holy Church to the blogosphere. It is with this in mind that I have tentatively entitled my reflection: Virtue and Vice in the Blogosphere.

Those Catholics who blog and those who read such blogs are a select few, but they are united by love. At its best, I hope that we are united as Catholic and Christian bloggers in a love for Christ and his Gospel. As this is not a dis-interested love, so the passions and heated exchanges that are elicted online are in many ways understandable and, indeed, to be expected.

However, it is in the area of the passions, that is, the emotions, that we have to be most careful, for sometimes these can get out of control. St Thomas Aquinas, rightly saw that emotions were good and proper for us to possess because they are part of what it means to be a rational animal, to be human. However, they fall within our animal capabilities and so have to be integrated with our rational powers. Thus Aquinas says that passions are “good when they are controlled by reason; and evil when they are not controlled by reason”; the passions have to be moderated by reason. However, this does not mean that one can circumnavigate the emotions or employ the force of sheer ‘will-power’ to control one’s emotions. As the French Dominican Chenu said, one ought to resort to neither “dualistic Manichaeism nor Christian Stoicism”. Aquinas’ answer is that “both acts of the will and the emotions must be given direction, order and guidance; they do not automatically unfold in morally mature directions.” This guidance comes from the acquisition of virtues and the elimination of vices. Developing good habits and virtues will help a person to mature emotionally and grow morally so as to make the right choices in response to one’s feelings and desires; we grow from spoilt brats to mature right-thinking adults. I’m afraid that quite often one sees a lot of the former on display on the blogosphere’s comments boxes! Aquinas taught that “in affirming or rejecting opinions, we shouldn’t be influenced by our liking or dislike of those who propose the ideas, but rather by the certitude of truth”. Thus, we act rationally, guided by prudence and not by our passions. Aquinas’ position is that the passions can be regulated by reason such that “the passions of the wise man are an integral part of his moral life” and indeed, it is a person who delights (and so has an emotive attraction) in doing good who does more good. So, what I want to suggest is that the blogosphere can be a training ground for virtue, but also a temptation to vice.

There is little doubt that prudence is the chief virtue that we must develop in blogging and using the internet. Aquinas says that prudence “is reason itself rendered perfect in its judgments and in its choices.” Often it seems that when one decides what to blog or what to comment, one can take refuge in the truth. That is, something blogged or commented about is justified simply because it is true, or deemed to be quite simply what the Church teaches, and we have to say it no matter what the consequences. I would suggest that prudence, temperance and wisdom require us to judge how and when to act, not just that we are to act. Children may be expected to act without prudent judgment, but mature adults are expected to show some discernment. Otherwise, we can become like the secular press who report whatever they will on the basis that it is fair comment or truth that is in the public interest.

Pope Benedict has said: “The call for today's media to be responsible - to be the protagonist of truth and promoter of the peace that ensues - carries with it a number of challenges. While the various instruments of social communication facilitate the exchange of information, ideas, and mutual understanding among groups, they are also tainted by ambiguity. Alongside the provision of a ‘great round table’ for dialogue, certain tendencies within the media engender a kind of monoculture that dims creative genius, deflates the subtlety of complex thought and undervalues the specificity of cultural practices and the particularity of religious belief. These are distortions that occur when the media industry becomes self-serving or solely profit-driven, losing the sense of accountability to the common good.” I would suggest that the Holy Father’s warning applies not just to the secular media but also to us. For it is easy for us to become embroiled in our cause, our vision of the Church, our idolisation of those things an Aristotelian might call ‘accidents’. As such, I believe that we should hearken to Pope Benedict’s words. Moreover as he also said, albeit in a different context, “Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows”, and so, not just what we would desire in an ideal world. To be sure, one might argue that we are doing this for the good of the Church and for Christ’s sake, but I also think that a certain humility requires us to ask if we are so sure that God has mandated us to do this work for him: for one of the dangers of the blogging phenomenon is that every person becomes his own editor and publisher, every blog becomes a pulpit and there is no accountability. One of the benefits of a group blog like Godzdogz and of writing as a religious friar is that I am accountable to my community, and this, I think, is no bad thing if we want to learn prudence and humility.

A particular vice that aggrieves me and that is not infrequently seen on the blogosphere is detraction, which in Aquinas' great Summa falls under the area of justice. Detraction “strictly speaking is taking away a person’s character by drawing attention to anything that detracts from that character”. Although the intention of admonition does take away the sinfulness of the act, Aquinas notes that “all the same, a man should pick his words carefully, since uttered incautiously they might take away a person’s character, and a fatal wrong might be done without even intending it.” I think this is even more serious if it is directed at our pastors and especially a bishop who is, by consecration, a successor of the apostles. I think the blogs have helped in some areas to fuel such discussions and they have certainly been a tempting place for people to comment and say such things. We may complain – as the flock has always done – about decisions made by our superiors, but to impugn their character, or to judge them guilty of heresy, or to speculate maliciously about their motivations is clearly not good for the Church or for us. The fact is that the blogosphere can be a forum for vicious activity and we should seek not to defend that but to guard our tongues and typing fingers. While our modern world defends free speech, and freedom of opinion, let us be on guard for these can lead to great vice. As the Scriptures say in many places, but here, I am quoting from the Wisdom of Ben Sira: “As you hedge round your vineyard with thorns, set barred doors over your mouth; as you seal up your silver and gold, so balance and weigh your words. Take care not to slip by your tongue and fall victim to your foe waiting in ambush.” Moreover, freedom is a gift that we have to exercise responsibly and this requires the exercise of virtues like courage and temperance, that is, not only the strength to say the truth but to do so wisely and in the right way and time.

So, what can we say in our blogs? St Paul says: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”. And so, I believe that the blogosphere, and indeed, other instruments of the internet, can help us in the mission given to all the baptised. This is not surprising, for if we are preachers of the gospel, we will naturally use everything in our lives and in our world to give glory to him who has saved us and to preach his Word to all nations. Joseph Ratzinger once said: “The Church will have to develop a great deal of imagination to help the gospel remain a force in public life, so that it may shape the people and pervade their life and work among them like yeast.” The internet is just one such area of public life, and it will work for good if we write about the Gospel, seek to disseminate truth and balanced opinion, and help shape our readers in virtue. Perhaps we can take other pointers from Ratzinger. He noted that “nowadays, particularly among the most modern representatives of Catholicism, there is a tendency toward uniformity… I believe that a great deal of tolerance is required within the Church, that the diversity of paths is something in accordance with the breadth of Catholicity – and that one ought not simply to reject it, even when it is something contrary to one’s own taste.” So, there are blogs for every taste, and it is good that these flourish in the Church and work together for the common good and serve the mission of the Church.

In an aphorism commonly attributed to St Augustine, he is believed to have said, “in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.” This should be the creed of all our social communications. It is with care, study and prudence that we are able to distinguish between essentials and doubtful matters, and if we should fear anything in blogging, let us fear a failure in charity.

Gentle Thoughts

The following reflection is by Brother Thomas Casey OP who tends the gardens at St Dominic's Retreat House, Montenotte, Cork

I was around the town of Youghal a few days after the Tour de France whizzed through. The street cleaners had done a fine job of cleaning up and the main street was as clean as a brass penny. I was in no hurry so I took it easy. It was a good time for a stroll and a look around.

As the sun was going down I was distracted by the long shadows thrown by high gables, and then my eye lit on a chimney pot of a derelict building. It wasn't so much the chimney pot, but the spray of pink flowers which stuck up out of it. They were catching the last light, moving and weaving, demanding attention. For those of you who work hard and have long hours, it's good to slow down and look at things like this. As a side benefit I can tell you it is good for the soul because it allows gentle thoughts to have their say.

The first curiosity was how did the flowers get there? Who planted them? Was it a bird or the wind? And of all the seeds which are scattered throughout the world why did this one land here? And how did it survive? But there they were, the fruit of chance, and proud they were, sitting on top of a building where the occupants who had lives to live had lived them and were long gone. If someone moved in now and renovated the building, the flowers would have to go, being a hindrance to the draught in the fireplace and considered nothing but weeds and a nuisance. For the moment, however, these flowers reigned supreme. Who knows, they might have preferred a plot in some lady's garden but it seemed to me that they were doing just fine and were happy to bloom where they were planted.

And I said to myself, 'there you go, sometimes wishing you were somewhere else, doing something else'. That's the way with a lot of people, always restless. I suppose one of the gifts of youth is to be on the move, seeing how best to make a life, and hoping for happiness. For those, like me, who are old, and have wandered down many a byroad unexpectedly, it is great to be able to say, 'well I did my best with the lot that fell my way'. And just like the flowers in the chimney pot of an old house, I now bloom where I am planted and with the help of the good Lord remain faithful to the end.

News and views from the Provincial Chapter

The English Dominicans held their Provincial Chapter at Blackfriars, Oxford this week, opening with Solemn Mass of the Annunciation on 31 March. Fr Allan White, the out-going Provincial (his second four-year term of office coming to an end with this chapter), presided and Fr Mark Edney preached about our mission being like Our Lady's - one is sent to us so that we can be called and in receiving God's grace we may respond to this call by also being sent to bring Christ to the world.

At the end of Mass the Capitulars (those friars who are members of the chapter by reason of their office and those elected as delegates from various parts of the province) processed out of the church into the Chapter Room to elect a new Prior Provincial. Shortly afterwards, a bell rang to summon the other friars present in the priory to hear the outcome of the election.

Fr Allan announced the good news that Fr John Farrell had accepted his election as Prior Provincial of the English Province for the next four years. Later that day the election was confirmed by the Master of the Order.

The Chapter then proceeded with its business of electing those who are to be responsible for writing up the Acts (or decisions) of the Provincial Chapter as well as new provincial councillors. In the evening, the fathers of the Chapter assembled with the Oxford brethren for Solemn Vespers; this was the new Provincial's first liturgical celebration with the brethren and we were joined by our regular weekday congregation.

The Provincial specifically asked that "the ancestors" - the relics of the Order's saints - be brought out and placed on the High Altar and these were duly incensed and venerated during Vespers.



Following Vespers, the brethren gathered for a celebratory dinner in the Refectory.

From Tuesday to Thursday the Chapter was devoted to discussions and decisions about various aspects of the life and mission of the Order in Britain and in the Caribbean Vicariate (Grenada and Barbados). It also made further appointments of brethren to assist the Provincial in various capacities. The main business of the Chapter finished on Thursday, 3 April. 

While the Acts of the Chapter are still being written up in Oxford by those elected to do so (these are called 'diffinitors'), the rest of the Capitulars have now returned to their respective priories.

Please pray for our new Prior Provincial, Fr John Farrell, and the brothers of the English Province, that we may respond with open hearts to the call given to us to continue St Dominic's mission of preaching for the salvation of souls.