The Dedication of the Priory Church of Our Lady of the Rosary & St. Dominic, London

To some people it must seem strange that we remember and celebrate the anniversary of this Church. Some might argue that it is only a building and to put so much emphasis on bricks and mortar is a rather peculiar practice. One of the most common and clichéd criticisms of the Catholic Church is that we hold our buildings in too much regard. We lavishly decorate them and fill them with elaborate statues and works of art and forget that the true Church is the people of God. The comedienne Sarah Silverman recently produced a video where she encouraged the Holy Father to sell the Basilica of St. Peter's and give the money to the poor. For many outside the Church the only values they recognise in our buildings are of a cultural, commercial and monetary nature. As Christians however we do not understand our places of worship as merely buildings. They are not just practical assembly venues or glorified meeting houses. This priory Church and all our Church buildings are mirrors that are held up before us to remind us of who we are. The world tells us that we are consumers, employees and citizens, and flashes a constant stream of icons at us every day to remind us of this. The Church building is an icon that reminds us of our deepest and truest identity. As we gather in this building, we who were scattered by diverse loyalties, backgrounds, and life-styles, are now united as the Body of Christ

Unlike the secular icons of the world, our Church buildings are not empty labels. They find their substance in what literally goes on within their walls. Through the prayer, preaching and the liturgy of the Church we encounter the risen Christ. This is especially apparent when we come together to celebrate the Eucharist, which is “the source and summit” of our entire Christian lives. Our Jewish forebears focused upon the Temple in Jerusalem. The holy of holies, the heart of the temple, was an empty space, for the Jewish people knew that God could not truly be contained in any building. Our focus is directed to Christ, the true temple, who was destroyed and rebuilt in three days. He is truly present in the tabernacles of our churches. Therefore every church in the world is the dwelling place of the Most High and the throne of God's glory. It is fitting therefore that we should build a suitable abode for Him. However, a beautiful Church is not the be-all and end-all of our faith but it reminds us that we are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the family of God”. In celebrating this building, we celebrate Christ’s victory and our salvation and that is truly something to rejoice in.

This reflection originally appeared in the newsletter of the Priory Church of Our Lady of the Rosary & St. Dominic, London, on 1st August 2010. Available here

A - Z of the Mass: Homily

The word 'homily' comes from the Greek homilia and means discourse, speaking together or in communion. Hence, in 1 Corinthians 15:33, homilia is translated as colloquia in St Jerome's Vulgate. The word connotes a familiar conversation between a pastor and his flock, using words and images that they will recognize. So, in Luke 24:14, on the road to Emmaus, the Lord is said to be "discussing as they went all that had happened", and the Greek word that 'discussing' translates is homiloun.

The 2nd-century Church Father, Origen distinguished between logos (sermo) and homilia (tractatus). The former was more structured and formal, following the style of classical rhetoric, while the latter was more direct and free. So, the homily was a popular exposition, or commentary, and application of the Scriptures. The aim of the homily is to explain the meaning of the Scriptures in both its literal and spiritual senses (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 115-119), so as to stir people's faith, and that we might all recognize Christ in the Breaking of Bread.

Although the word sermon is often used for the preaching delivered during the Mass, there is a distinction between sermon and homily that is maintained today. Sermon is more broad, and refers to any form of preaching that is not necessarily connected to the Scriptural readings of the Liturgy, and that can be heard outside the context of the Mass. So, for example, sermons can be found on Godzdogz delivered by Dominican students during Lent or Advent. However, only ordained ministers, and ordinarily the principal celebrant of the Mass, may preach within the context of the Mass. However, he may also call on one of the concelebrants, or the deacon of the Mass to perform this ministry. This liturgical preaching is more often called a homily to emphasize that it is intimately connected to the readings and prayers of the Mass.

The intimate connection between the homily and the Liturgy is emphasized by Vatican II. According to Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the homily is "part of the liturgical service" and should "draw its content mainly from scriptural and liturgical sources, and its character should be that of a proclamation of God's wonderful works in the history of salvation, the mystery of Christ, ever made present and active within us, especially in the celebration of the liturgy" (SC §35). As the homily is an integral part of the Liturgy, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal says that it is "strongly recommended" at every Mass, especially during the seasons of Advent, Lent and Easter, and on Sundays and Holy Days "[the homily] may not be omitted without a serious reason" (see GIRM §§29, 55, 65-66).

The importance of the homily is clear from its aims stated above. As the General Instruction says, "it is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life" (GIRM §65).

Classic Vocation Film

In 1964 the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph produced And The World Looks at Us, a vocations film. The Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C. have posted excerpts from it on its YouTube channel. Despite being nearly fifty years old, I was struck by how fresh, relevant and inspiring the message of the film still is.

A-Z of the Mass: Gospel

The high point of the Liturgy of the Word is the proclamation of the Gospel. The one who announces the gospel prepares to do so by prayer, and if he is a deacon, he seeks a blessing. The congregation stands, and the Book of the Gospels is carried in procession by the deacon, accompanied by lighted candles and the singing of the Alleluia verse. This verse is a greeting of the Gospel and a welcoming of the Lord who speaks to his people in the gospel reading. Other rites serve to distinguish this reading from all others: the greeting and response at the beginning, the sign of the cross made with the thumb on forehead, lips and breast, the incensing of the book, the final response, and the kissing of the book.

The Lectionary is organised in such a way that each of the Synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - is read more or less continuously through the Sundays of Ordinary Time. Those gospels also provide the readings for the Sundays of Advent and Lent, Matthew in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. Because Mark is considerably shorter than Matthew and Luke a significant part of Mark's year is given over to reading the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, the discourse on the bread of life and on the living bread. In Easter time the Sunday gospel readings are from the Gospel of John.

On weekdays we hear passages from Mark (Weeks 1-9), Matthew (Weeks 10-21) and Luke (Weeks 22-34). Some of these are passages that we hear again on one of the Sundays. What this means is that regular Sunday worshippers hear substantial parts of the four gospels over a three year period. People who attend Mass every day will hear almost all of the four gospels over a three year period. Though there are still many things about it with which one might argue, the Lectionary achieves one of the purposes of the Vatican II reform of the liturgy, to give in the Church's liturgy a more ample, more varied, and more suitable reading from sacred scripture (Sacrosanctum concilium 35).

The Gospel remains the highlight in the Liturgy of the Word and the three year cycle helps us to appreciate the characteristic flavour and style of each Evangelist. The purpose of the readings is not simply pedagogical or catechetical, however. As the Irish Dominican Eugene O'Sullivan OP put it, 'we are dealing here with a real presence of Christ ... we are dealing with prayer, with being in the presence of Christ. ... if scripture itself is given a chance, it will form us over the years with the insights that come from familiarity and love. It is in this sense that St Jerome says that 'ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ'. That ignorance cannot be cured by a rapid reading of commentaries. Prolonged familiarity alone forms the 'mind of Christ' in us' (Liturgy and Prayer, pp.100, 114). If this is true of Scripture generally, it is particularly true of the Gospels. And so we read them, over and over again, and continue to find new spiritual and theological treasures in them.

Ordination video

Ordinations at Blackfriars

Please pray for our brothers Thomas Skeats and Robert Gay who have been ordained priests and Lawrence Lew who has been ordained a deacon. The ordinations took place on Saturday 24th July and were done by Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham. In the photograph above, l. to r., Lawrence Lew OP, Thomas Skeats OP, Archbishop Longley, Manolo Puppini OP, the Archbishop's Master of Ceremonies, and Robert Gay OP.

Fr Robert is assigned to Edinburgh where he will work in the University Chaplaincy, Fr Thomas is assigned to London where he will work on the parish, and Br Lawrence remains in Oxford to complete his studies.

A-Z of the Mass: Faithful, Prayers of the

At one time the prayers of the faithful (also known as the bidding prayers) marked the transition into a new phase of the liturgy. This was the point at which the catechumens departed leaving only baptized Catholics of good standing to continue the Mass. For a number of reasons, this custom has been abandoned. Yet if we reflect upon why early Christians thought it appropriate to separate full and potential members of the Church at this moment, the ecclesial dimension of our prayers of intercession comes more sharply into focus. The liturgy of the word culminates in the Church as one body interceding for the world. In the process the members of this body exercise their baptismal priesthood.

When we recite the Creed, we are affirming that we hold the faith of the Church, one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The pattern of the prayers of the faithful (immediately following the Creed) as laid down by the rubrics of the Mass is meant to underscore this unity with the universal Church. The local Church gathered in prayer is united to the entire Catholic Church, to all who share the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence the missal recommends that the bidding prayers should go beyond the needs of the local community and embrace the concerns of the whole Church and the wider world. The Church, of course, includes the communion of saints and so we are encouraged to include our deceased brothers and sisters in our prayers. They in turn can pray for us, and this unity of the entire Church in prayer, both those still alive and the saints that have died, is neatly emphasised by the custom in England and Wales of concluding our petitions with a 'Hail Mary.' We join our prayers to those of our Mother in heaven, who is herself an image of the Church and its Mother.

The Church, then, is united. It is one body with Christ as the head. We become members of this body, members of Christ, through our baptism. Christ was anointed priest, prophet and king and through our baptism we share in this anointing. We have what is known as our 'baptismal priesthood.' We are set aside for God, called to be salt of the earth and the light on a lampstand. We are sent to sanctify the world in which we live and work. One of the ways in which we exercise our baptismal priesthood is the prayers of the faithful. Like Moses and Abraham we intercede for the people. This prayer gains its efficacy because it is made through Christ, the ultimate intercessor. Indeed, we can see the prayers of the faithful as an important reminder that in essence all Christian prayer is intercessory, for we make all our prayers to the Father, in the power of the Holy Spriit, through Christ our Lord. All true Christian prayer is Trinitarian.

A-Z of the Mass: Eucharistic Prayer

The Eucharistic Prayer forms the centre of the Mass, opening with the dialogue between priest and people in which we are called to ‘lift up [our] hearts’ to the Lord as we begin this most solemn prayer and continuing up to the great ‘Amen’ which precedes the Our Father. First of all, the priest praises God, acknowledging in what is known as the ‘Preface’ of our Prayer of Thanks (for ‘Eucharist’ is the Greek for thanksgiving) that we do well always and everywhere to give God thanks and praise. This section, which can vary in accordance with the particular feast or celebration, concludes by recalling that, in this praise and worship of God in which we are engaging, we join already in the activity of the saints and angels in heaven, and so we are called to join in the Sanctus, the heavenly song (cf. Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).

Sometimes only what follows the Sanctus is known as the Eucharistic Prayer (perhaps for convenience, because the part that comes before is more varied and is found in different places in the Missal), though strictly speaking this term should be applied to the whole thing. In the Roman Rite with which most of us are probably the most familiar, the Roman Canon (also known as Eucharistic Prayer I) was for perhaps 1500 years the only text used for this part of the Mass: in recent years several more options have been added as alternatives, drawing from the various forms of Eucharistic Prayer which we find in the different rites of the Church, Eastern and Western, and from the example of those Eastern rites which employ a variety of such prayers. These texts may emphasise different aspects, but all of them share a basic structure and fulfil the same function. What, though, might that function be?

In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the actions of the priest are modelled on those of Jesus at the Last Supper. As we recall in the words of institution – the centre of the Eucharistic Prayer, based on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist the night before his Passion - Jesus took bread and wine, blessed them, broke the bread and gave them to his disciples, declaring them to be his Body and Blood (cf. Matt 26:26-27; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20). Likewise in the Mass, the priest takes the bread and wine at the Offertory, and later breaks the Sacred Host before giving the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion. In between, however, comes the Eucharistic Prayer, which represents and brings about Jesus’ action of blessing.

Central, then, to the Eucharistic Prayer, is the recounting of Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper – the so-called Institution Narrative – in which we believe that Jesus, speaking through the instrument of his priest, declares the bread and wine on the altar to be his Body and Blood. This, then, is the most obvious blessing, where ordinary food and drink are taken and made holy by God, in accordance with Jesus’ promise and instruction. Closely linked to this is the prayer for God’s blessing upon the gifts of bread and wine in the section of the prayer which we call the Epiclesis (Greek for ‘calling down’), which in the Western Eucharistic Prayers precedes the Institution Narrative and points to its significance. So, for example, in Eucharistic Prayer II, the priest says, ‘Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ’.

As we have noted above, however, the Eucharistic Prayer, as its name suggests, is a prayer of thanks, and this giving thanks is closely related to the blessing which we have noted as being at the heart of the prayer: indeed, though this is not very clear in the current English translation, the 1^st and 3^rd Eucharistic Prayers, combining the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, present Jesus’ blessing and giving thanks as one action: gratias agens benedixit (‘giving thanks he blessed it’). So it is in the context of our giving thanks to God for the great mercies shown to humanity throughout salvation history – his great deeds which we recall in a section of the prayer known as the Anamnesis (Greek for ‘recollection’) – that He makes present for us in the Sacrament Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, towards which all history points, and from which all God’s mercy flows. The anamnesis of the Roman Canon shows this very well when it says:

Father, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son.
We, your people and your ministers, recall his passion,
his resurrection from the dead,
and his ascension into glory;
and from the many gifts you have given us
we offer to you, God of glory and majesty,
this holy and perfect sacrifice:
the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.

It is union with Christ in his eternal Sacrifice, his eternal outpouring of love in which we glimpse his relation to the Father, which the Church seeks and for which, as his Mystical Body, she exists. In the Eucharistic Prayer, then, in which that Sacrifice is made present for us, we remember also and pray for the Church in various ways. We commemorate the Pope and our diocesan Bishop who guarantee and symbolise the unity which we enjoy by our common participation in the Eucharist. In commemorating the saints, we recall that this Sacrament, the ‘source and summit of Christian life’ as Vatican II teaches (Lumen Gentium 11), unites Christians across all time and space, and makes the Church one in Christ’s one eternal Sacrifice. We pray for all the faithful, living and deceased, bringing the whole Church and her needs (and in particular those who might be named during the prayer) before the Lord as we seek to be united with him, and with his action of blessing by which he shows his great mercy.

In the Eucharistic Prayer, then, Christ, acting through his priest, blesses the bread and wine, uniting the priest’s action to his action in the Last Supper, by which the bread and wine become his Body and Blood: so, as we give thanks for God’s great mercy, the Sacrifice of the Cross, in which we see the fulness of that mercy, is made present: thus we bring the whole of the Church’s life before God, asking that we may share in the mercy which is made present for us in the Sacrament.

Videos on Dominican life

As part of the Order's preparations for the General Chapter in Rome from 1-21 September 2010, a series of videos about the Dominican life has been made and uploaded to the Order's YouTube channel. The areas covered are Dominican Government, Study (part 1 & part 2), the Order's Mission (part 1 & part 2), and the Consecrated Life, with interesting interviews given by the Master of the Order, and his assistants (called socii).

If you would like to know more about the Order of Preachers, and catch a glimpse of our life and mission as it is lived internationally, have a look at these videos either by going directly to the YouTube channel or by clicking the links above.

In addition, please pray for the Order and for those who will be attending the General Chapter in September, asking the Holy Spirit to bless their counsel and decisions, and to help them in the election of a new Master for the Order.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Genesis 18:1-10; Psalm 15; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42

The world we live in is a fast, relentless world. In the west the mantras of multitasking, of working and playing hard, within a 24/7 hive of activity are constantly bubbling underneath our day to day lives. This focus on being busy is not a new thing but in the early 21st century we have reached a new level of intensity and pace that in many ways is damaging to us as humans but also damaging to our Christian lives. The western world’s obsession with production and results has trickled down into our entire subconscious. We can get so caught up in this cycle that our perception and awareness can become damaged. As Christians we can lose focus on our true goal, on our true calling to the Gospel and friendship with God. We see this tension in the sisters Martha and Mary.

Jesus arrives in their town and is welcomed into their house. The Lamb of God, the Word Incarnate, God Himself is in under their roof and he is teaching. God is with Martha and Mary in the most tangible way and yet Martha is distracted: she busies herself with serving. Of course her intentions are noble. The treatment of guests is a very important element of Middle Eastern culture, as we saw in Abraham’s treatment of the angelic trio in our first reading and Jesus is the most important guest of all. Martha’s failing is not with what she is doing but her focus during her action. Jesus tells her that she is “anxious and troubled about many things”. She has allowed these concerns to divert her focus. God Himself is in her house speaking to her and she is more concerned with place settings and pouring wine for her guests.

All of us can have similar tendencies. It is very easy to lose ourselves and put on the blinkers of work and functions. When we do this we can gain perceptible and obvious results. If we have a clear objective and boxes to tick it is much easier for us to be satisfied with what we do. This mentality even affects the life of the Church; we can turn devotions into rattling through prayers; we can turn liturgy into merely following the rules and the general instruction; we can turn ministries into meeting targets and ticking boxes. It is so easy for our focus to turn from our true goal; for our ears to lose track of the God speaking to us in hearts.

We feel secure when we can perceive our results easily. A relationship with God is not an easy thing, from our side, to sustain. We need to keep focused on it. We need to keep our attention on the Lord. He is our guest. He dwells in us and we need to be humble enough to spend the time at the Lord’s feet listening to his teaching like Mary. This does not restrict our activities. If anything it opens up a whole world of possibilities for us but must do so in a way that we do not put up barriers to accepting the friendship of God which is constantly offered to us. We must at all times, in whatever we do, to be ready and able to listen to the voice of God.

Meet the Promoter for our Dominican Nuns

We're blessed in Blackfriars to meet Dominican brothers and sisters from all over the world who come to Oxford for a variety of reasons, and occasionally, we thought that our Godzdogz readers might want to find out a little about them, and their work in the Order world-wide. Some of our readers may recall our feature series on the Dominican cooperator brother vocation, and we have also mentioned our apostolic sisters, the Dominican laity, and secular institutes. However, the Dominican family also includes contemplative nuns, the praying heart of the Order.

This July, fr. Brian Pierce OP, a son of the Southern U.S. Province of St Martin de Porres, visited Oxford for a few days. fr. Brian has been a Dominican since 1982, has been a missionary in Latin America where he was among a team of friars who founded a community in Honduras, and is currently the Promoter General of the Nuns of the Order of Preachers. He is based in Santa Sabina, the Dominican headquarters in Rome, but is often on the road visiting the contemplative sisters, or attending conferences. While he was in Oxford, we managed to sit him down for the following interview.

* * * * *

Can you tell us a little about what brought you to the Order?

When I was 17, I was chosen by my high school to study in Peru as part of a foreign exchange student programme. Nothing shaped my life more than that experience. It broke open the world for me. It was my first time out of the United States, and I was in Cuzco, Peru. Peru in those days was under a dictatorship, and there was great civil unrest. I saw the world of the poor for the first time, and it broke me open. The political situation there moved me to study political science and Spanish in university because my experience in Peru raised so many questions for me, and I needed to find some answers. After I joined the Order, I returned to Peru to study theology for a year, to further my thinking about God, the Church, and the poor.

However, I entered the Order through my association with the Dominican nuns. I went to university in west Texas, and began to practice my faith more seriously through the help of the campus ministry. One day, a sign went up saying that the chaplaincy was organizing a trip to a monastery. Now, I came from quite a Protestant part of Texas, and I'd never seen any religious before. I don't think I even knew they existed, and I thought that the trip to a monastery was going to be an excursion to an archaelogical dig. I thought I was going to see something from the past, because I never thought that monasteries still existed as living places!

So, where did you go?

Instead of an archaeological site, we were taken to the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, Texas. It was a modern Dominican monastery with 35 nuns. It really pulled up the rug from under me, and I encountered religious, and their life for the first time ever. This experience raised many questions in my heart, and my experience of their contemplative life broke me down from inside to make me rethink my life. I wondered: why would anyone devote their lives to God, and silent contemplative prayer in this way? I just didn't believe that something like this was for real, so a few weeks later, I went back to see if they were still there, and if it had not all been put on as an act for us! It was real, and it really drew me in.

What effect did this have on your vocation?

The palpable silence of that monastery transformed me. I had no idea of what silence meant … but that experience of silence drew me.

I considered monastic life for myself - Trappist, Benedictine - but when push came to shove, I joined the Dominicans without any idea of what the friars did; I was drawn by the nuns. It was a gut reaction, and I would go to their monastery and sit there for 3 - 4 hours, and the nuns would come and go and sing the Office. I didn't tell my friends, but I would just go and sit there.

The nuns would welcome me, and were as hospitable as they could be, but they must have been confused as I was. After a year or so of this, I became a friend of theirs, and I would go and help in their garden, and I would have some conversations with the Prioress.

What are Dominican nuns, and how do they preach?

For me, a community of nuns cares for a space of silence, and this was what drew me. They ensured that the silence did not become filled with anything else. One day I stumbled into this space and it changed my life. It was something I felt profoundly from the depths of my being, and not something I rationalised or intellectualised about. I think that a monastery that cares for silence in our world is already a great preaching.

Timothy Radcliffe's last letter as Master of the Order was about the Dominican contemplative life. It was called 'A City Set On A Hill'. This is a wonderful Scriptural image of what our monasteries are, and in that way they are a great preaching.

We Dominicans are the only contemplative Order who don't put our monasteries in hidden places. We don't flee from the world; there's no fuga mundi in our tradition. This flight from the world is not in our vocation. Yes, we come to live an enclosed life, but it's set on a hill, so that everything that the nuns do is something that has to be visible as light. A Dominican monastery only has meaning to the extent that it illuminates because everything that the nuns do is supposed to go out as light.

What does your job as Promoter General of the Nuns entail?

Because the nuns have a relationship with the Master - they make their vows to him, as we friars do - so the Master names a brother to be like another arm of his.

Through the Promoter General the Master can be more present to the nuns. The Master has 6000 brothers to visit, and 3000 nuns, so he needs help in this task. So, my job is to be present as a brother to the nuns in the name of the Master.

It's important to see that I don't visit them as a visitator. I come and listen as a brother, and I do formation work with them, give retreats, conduct Lectio Divina on the Scriptures, look at our Dominican spirituality, and recently we've been studying the discussions of the last Roman Synod on the Word of God. Where possible we bring together communities from nearby monasteries for these study sessions.

How have you found the ideals of the Dominican contemplative life to be lived out?

The nuns are like us friars in many ways, and there are shadows that enter that light too. I had probably put them on a pedestal when I was younger, but now I see that like us they also struggle to follow Christ and their vocation as faithfully as possible, trying to live rooted in God. Living in community is tough in an enclosed monastery, and a lot of what the nuns want to talk about sometimes is how hard it is to live together.

Like our own brothers' communities, there are good people, and people who are struggling. But I think I have discovered a couple of saintly mystics in every monastery I have visited. I spot them in about ten minutes; I can see holy people when they walk into my life, and we have some real saints in the monasteries.

The greatest joy of this work for me is when I find myself in conversation with one of these holy nuns. I walk away filled with that light.

What are your hopes and thoughts for the future?

My hope is that there would be a monastery of nuns in every country. I think the nuns are the heart of the Order, and there's a difference when there are nuns in a country. They really become a place of gathering, and the other branches of the Order - friars, apostolic sisters, laity - gather around them.

What surprises me is that even in countries where vocations are dropping drastically, there is still a steady drip of vocations to women's monastic life. I think apostolic communities will continue to go through great changes, but there's something permanent about monastic life. It won't die out; it's an archetypal symbol for humanity.

Humanity's heart searches for God, and some people are called to symbolise that in a radical way. A monastic life is that kind of symbol; they do what all of us know deep in our hearts, even non-believers. It's a pull to something Absolute. The contemplative nuns just do outwardly what the heart wants anyway.

Now, every contemplative Order has a third of its monasteries in Spain. We have 1000 nuns in Spain, but this is increasingly difficult to sustain as Spanish culture and life changes. But recently, I met a young Spanish girl who had just entered a Spanish monastery. She was bubbly as any other 25 year old, and although her friends and family don't understand her decision, it was something she just had to do. She's coming home to God. It was exciting to meet her. Even in our life as friars, we don't take risks as great as someone who enters an enclosed monastery.

Monasteries can only be born from monasteries because it's a lived experience, and they can found a new monastery. It has to happen at the right moment, in God's time. Places like Vietnam and India were very important for the foundation of a monastery. With those now taking root, I think England is now high up on the list of places with a need for Dominican nuns' monastery.

I hope that in the not too distant future that monastery is born again here in England. I think that the seeds that were blown into previous monasteries here are still around. And one day, one of these seeds will fall on a piece of fertile ground, and a monastery in England will be sown again. If 2 or 3 young English women were to come together with this desire, this will be the sign from God.

* * * * *

Let's pray that the Lord will move the hearts of young women to respond generously and courageously to his call, and that in the Lord's time, the re-foundation of a Dominican nuns monastery in England will come to pass.

Here are some photos from the websites of the Lufkin Dominican nuns and the Summit Dominican nuns. And here is the website of the Dominican Nuns' at Drogheda, Ireland, the monastery nearest to England.

St Thomas Tweets

Well not exactly ... the Twitter user @summatheologiae has decided to tweet an article of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae on Twitter everyday. There are 2669 articles in the Summa so this is going to be a long term project but it is a worthy one. It helps to bring the thought of St. Thomas to as many people as possible in an easy and accessible way. There is also of course the wonderful 1920 English translation of the Summa available at New Advent.

Follow the Summa Theologiae on twitter here and whilst you are there why not follow the Godzdogz twitter feed here.

H/T to the always excellent Hermeneutic of Continuity

A-Z of the Mass: Doxology

Through Him, with Him, in Him,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

all glory and honour is yours Almighty Father,

forever and ever.

Amen.

At the end of the Eucharistic Prayer the priest takes the paten with the host and the chalice and elevates them both, whilst singing or saying the doxology, ‘Per ipsum et cum ipso et in ipso ...’, 'through him, with him, in him ...' The congregation respond ‘Amen’. The term doxology is a constructed from the Greek words δόξα (glory or praise) and λόγος (word). Short hymns of praise to God were used in Synagogue worship, usually following psalms and canticles, and the Church has continued and expanded this tradition in her liturgies and devotions.

The Eucharistic prayer concludes with a stirring expression of praise that permeates through the entire Eucharistic Prayer. We offer praise to the Father, through Christ and in the Holy Spirit. This Doxology points to our salvation through Christ the High Priest, now present in the Blessed Sacrament. Through Christ’s sacrifice, humanity’s relationship with God is reconciled. He is our mediator, our petitioner and our intercessor. He is now present in the living memorial of the paschal sacrifice, “the living bread from heaven “. It seems highly apt that before we make communion that the Church offers these words of praise and glory to God but we must not forget the importance of the response: The Great Amen.

In responding to the Doxology we demonstrate that the prayers offered by the priest are offered on behalf of the whole Church. We also affirm and acclaim the great salvific work of Christ. As Pope Benedict says this great act of love is God’s ‘Yes!’ to humanity. In responding positively we say ‘Yes!’ to the great gift of grace and salvation that God has offered us embodied in the Holy Eucharist.

Friar on BBC Radio Oxford

fr Lawrence Lew OP, who was born in Malaysia, was invited by BBC Radio Oxford to give a live interview on their Travellers' Tales programme. The 20 minute programme looks at the life journeys of people from all over the world who have settled in Oxfordshire.

The interview is currently here on the BBC iPlayer, and the segment with fr Lawrence begins at around the 1hr 16min mark, with a break for music in between, continuing at around 1hr 30mins until 1 hr 41 mins.

A-Z of the Mass: Communion

In the Summa Theologiae, St Thomas reminds us that, since the Fall, mankind has had to rely upon receiving God’s grace through material things which are perceivable to the senses (ST III 61,1) It is in this way, by the very things we know and which are familiar to us, that God reaches out to us and ultimately draws us back to him. Of all these material things, or sacraments, which God uses to draw us ever closer to him, Holy Communion or the Eucharist is the greatest.

The reality which we call Holy Communion or Eucharist is established at the Lord's Supper. As we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus first offered the apostles that which He was about to change, bread and wine - ordinary staples as familiar to the disciples as they are to us. He then changed or consecrated the bread and wine and gave to them that which had become His own Flesh and Blood, as Communion: “Jesus took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to His disciples and said, ‘Take you and eat, this is my Body.’ And taking the chalice He gave thanks and gave it to them saying’, ‘Drink you all of this. For this is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28).

In Chapter Six of St John's Gospel, we see most clearly how Christ emphasizes the complete necessity of being nourished by His Body and Blood if the supernatural life we receive at our Baptism is to be nourished and sustained. It is worth quoting at length; “I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in Him” (John 6: 53-56).

In this pivotal moment - the institution of the Eucharist - Christ gave us His own Body, and His own Blood shed in establishing the New Covenant. This was a single act in history but one which Christ commissioned the disciples, and thus His Church, to re-enact. This is so that this one ultimate sacrifice in history remains constantly efficacious and constantly made effectual for us all in each legitimate celebration of the Eucharist. It is re-presented through the sacrifice of Mass performed by the historical entity which is the Church of Christ through its validly ordained priests and bishops.

Holy Communion is therefore not simply a liturgical tradition instituted by Christ, it is Christ – His own Body and Blood - made really and truly present for us under the ‘species’ of bread and wine. It is important to emphasise that this consecration is to be understood as a genuine change of one substance – bread and wine – into another – the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. (More on Transubstantiation later in this series …)

In partaking of the Eucharist, the individual in communion with the whole Church realizes and declares that grateful response to God’s offer of grace, his self-communication, which preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. Thus the principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus; therefore as Christ said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6: 56).

15th Sunday of the Year - Mucking In, Not Mucking Up

Readings:Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37

"Cleanliness is next to godliness" is an ancient proverb but we can take it to an extreme. There is a virtue in being willing to get our hands dirty from time to time, as we see in the parable Jesus tells in today’s Gospel. The Samaritan is happy to muddy himself by reaching across cultural and religious boundaries and help his fellow man.

In many ways the inaction of the priest and the Levite in today’s Gospel is comparable to out attitudes in modern day western society. The inaction of the Levite and the priest is partially based upon the Jewish Laws of purification. We also live in a society which does not want to get its hands dirty, either literally or figuratively. People want a quiet life without any fuss. Today’s health and safety regulations, fear of litigation and the loss of community, have allowed a culture of passivity to grow up within society. Generation X has been succeeded by Generation Y-“Generation whY Bother?” People do not want to intervene or stick their necks out. People do not want to rock the boat. This attitude is in conflict with the Christian life. The genteel image of ‘Jesus, meek and mild” does not mean that Christians are limp saps who go with the flow. We are called to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength, and to love our neighbour. We can not stand by the water dipping in our toe; we have to dive fully into life with Christ. This means that have to be prepared to get our hands dirty. We have to be prepared to roll up our sleeves and live our faith. We can not be lukewarm and be passively Christian. We can not just be along for the ride.

God is not a passive and silent observer. He does not keep to Himself. He is involved in creation in the fullest sense. He is not afraid to get stuck in. The imagery in the Book of Genesis, where God forms man from dust, is a marvellous one. It shows God getting stuck in and literally getting his hands dirty in the act of creation, but God’s intervention does not stop at creation. In the person of Jesus we see God's greatest intervention in creation. In the incarnation God takes on human flesh. God does not stand afar off but comes right amongst the mess that was humanity. Through his death and resurrection Jesus does the dirty work for us. He takes all the sin of the world and all the failings of humanity upon himself on the cross. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty to save us.

Jesus tell us to be “perfect as the Father is perfect” and we must imitate his example. As Christians we must not shy away from the struggles and messiness of life. We can not be isolated from the world. We must not only engage with it but be in it. We must be unafraid to speak out when there is injustice, whatever the consequences of our protest. We must be willing to contribute our time and effort to bring the love of God to all our neighbours. All of us must be prepared to be a Good Samaritan and be ready to get our hands dirty.

This reflection originally appeared in the newsletter of the Priory Church of Our Lady of the Rosary & St. Dominic, London, on the 11th July 2010. Available here

Ordination in London

Our brother David Rocks OP was ordained to the priesthood on Saturday 3rd July, the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, by Bishop George Stack at the Priory Church of Our Lady of the Rosary & St. Dominic, London.

It was a truly joyful day with fr. David joined by his family, friends and brothers from the Provinces of Ireland and England.

More photos and information can be found at the Irish Dominican Vocations blog and Witness Christ: Walking Through Life With God

A-Z of the Mass: Berakah

Knowledge of the Jewish prayer, the berakah, can help to shed a lot of light on our understanding of the Mass. The berakah derives its name from the Hebrew verb barak, ‘to bless.’ Such prayers of blessing occur throughout the bible: ‘Blessed is the Lord for ever’ (Ps. 89.52), ‘Blessed be the Lord who has given his people Israel rest as he promised: not one of the promises he made through his servant Moses has failed’ (1 Kings 8:56), ‘Blessed be God’s name from age to age for all wisdom and power are his’ (Dan 2:20).

Often such blessings occur with other elements such as a supplication or a thanksgiving (hodayah). For instance, Solomon’s berakah above continues with a supplication: ‘The Lord our God be with us as he was with our forefathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us’ (1 Kings 8:57). Daniel’s berakah continues with an expression of thanks: ‘To thee, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for thou has given me wisdom and power.’ (Dan 2:23). And of course, Jesus is recorded as saying the blessing and giving thanks during the Last Supper.

It is likely that in the 1st Century AD, it would have been very typical for Jews to say a grace at the end of meals that contained a berakah together with a hodayah (a thanksgiving) and a supplication. Praising God is a blessing for those who bless him. The Jews blessed and thanked God for his past actions such as their liberation from Egyptian slavery, but they also looked to the future. The nation was not yet fully liberated and Israel still continued to suffer, so the people expressed the hope that God would bring to completion what He had begun.

God’s act of redemption reached its fulfilment on the Cross when Jesus said ‘It is accomplished.’ The Eucharistic celebration is a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving and it is a commemoration of God’s saving act in which He gives Himself totally to us. So the Mass is the fulfilment of the berakah. Not only does the Church continue Israel’s prayer of blessing and thanksgiving, but in the Eucharist we also have the definitive answer to the prayer ‘May God never leave us nor forsake us.’

Invocation 2010

From 2 - 4 July 2010, the National Vocations Office for England & Wales staged its first ever national vocations festival for young men and women aged 16 - 35. The event was called Invocation 2010, and the venue was Oscott College, the seminary of Birmingham archdiocese. fr Gregory Pearson OP and fr Lawrence Lew OP were among over a hundred other religious in an array of habits, as well as diocesan priests and seminarians who converged on Oscott. There, we were joined by about 300 young people from all over the country for liturgies, prayer, inspiring talks, interesting workshops, and much conversation. The religious were encouraged to sleep in tents in the grounds of the college, which fr Gregory and I duly did. Camping in our habits was a surprisingly pleasant and uncomplicated experience especially as we were blessed with such fine weather!

Our Dominican sisters from the New Forest (above) were part of a press conference given at Invocation 2010. Also represented at the event were the Dominican sisters of St Catherine of Siena, Stone (below)


Over the weekend, the liturgy was served with noble simplicity by the seminarians of Oscott College, with music provided by Youth 2000 and the college organist. Three archbishops celebrated the Masses: Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham on Friday, Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark on Saturday, and Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster on Sunday. Each day we gathered for the Divine Office and Mass in Oscott's historic Pugin chapel, and on Saturday there was a beautiful candle-lit Eucharistic procession around the grounds, and an uplifting Reconciliation service.



Gathered in a large marquee on the grounds of the college, talks were given by Dom Christopher Jamieson OSB on holiness (sanctity) as finding refuge (sanctuary) in God's arms, Dr Andrew O'Connell on evangelisation in our post-modern culture, Sr Gabriel Davison (Poor Clares) on loving God in community and religious life, and by Archbishop Vincent Nichols. The Archbishop's talk summed up our experience over the weekend: that God was still calling people to religious life and priesthood, and that the future of the Church was an exciting one, with so many young, modern people with a message of hope and love for our country. For this weekend, we experienced the Church in a microcosm, and we saw how his Spirit had moved each of us to respond to his call in our various ways.


The weekend was truly inspiring for all who attended. None of us knew what to expect when it began because this was a new event, but we placed our trust in the Lord and put out into the deep. I was very encouraged to be able to talk to other young religious and priests, and inspired by the talks and workshops on such topics like prayer, catechesis, growing in holiness, and priesthood, and preaching through religious art. We also had plenty of opportunities for quiet reflection, including all-night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In many ways, this weekend was like a special retreat that helped to confirm our own vocations.

Most importantly, we were able to be present with the young people who had come to Oscott to spend time with the Lord and seek his will for their lives. It was a privilege to journey with them, to talk with them in a relaxed and 'safe' environment, and share their stories. fr Gregory helped lead a discussion group, and I shared my vocation story with the 'Compass' religious vocation group. For many of us, this weekend was a sanctuary in which we were able to find refuge in God's arms and seek his face. And we came away greatly blessed, encouraged, and strengthened because we could see how bright the future of the Church promises to be. May the Lord grant us the grace to say 'Yes' to his call.

All photos courtesy of Marcin Mazur. For more photos, visit the Flickr set. A blogger who was at the event as a 'discerner' has also written about Invocation from his point of view.

Dominicans and the Challenge of Thomism

In early July some eighty friars gathered at the priory of St Joseph in Warsaw for a four day conference on 'Dominicans and the Challenge of Thomism'. Organised by brothers from Warsaw, Toulouse and Washington it brought together teachers and students who have specialised in various aspects of the thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the Order's greatest theologian.

The mornings were given to plenary sessions concerned with Aquinas's philosophy, systematic theology, and moral teaching. Some of the Order's most renowned exponents of Thomism spoke including Lawrence Dewan OP of Ottawa, Serge-Thomas Bonino OP of Toulouse, Gilles Emery OP of Fribourg, Romanus Cessario OP of Boston, and Wojciech Giertych OP of Rome. The afternoons were devoted to work in smaller groups where shorter papers were given by scholars from around the world.

Most of the participants came from Europe or North America but there were also brothers from Australia, Vietnam, China and Nigeria. Those who attended from the British Isles were Vivian Boland OP, director of the Aquinas Institute at Oxford, Simon Gaine OP, now of the London community and lecturer at Blackfriars, John Harris OP, regent of studies of the province of Ireland, and Alan O'Sullivan OP, an Irish Dominican who studied at Blackfriars and is currently completing doctoral studies at Fribourg.

For enthusiasts of the thought of Aquinas it was a veritable banquet of rich food and fine wine. Again and again the enduring principles of Aquinas's philosophical and theological approach were shown to have lost none of their relevance in the task of thinking through contemporary challenges in the Church and in the world. The form of life best adapted to the study of Aquinas's writings was recalled, a life of contemplation (for Dominicans this means both study and prayer) in what Thomas's teacher, Albert the Great, called the joy of the society of friends - either a college of professors who also share faith and prayer together, or a Dominican community which is always, as our French brothers put it, une ecole de theologie.


Some of the friars leaving the priory church after one of the offices (note fr Simon Gaine on the left wearing his distinctive sun hat). For more photographs of the event see here. For the conference website see here.

A - Z of the Mass: Altar

The altar is the most important furnishing in a church; it is its heart. This is because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "On the altar, which is the center of the church, the sacrifice of the Cross is made present under sacramental signs" (§1182). As the place where Christ's sacrifice is celebrated, it is elevated, like Calvary was. Moreover, it is customarily (but not necessarily) made of stone to give it permanence, to call to mind the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem, or Noah's stone altar, and also to commemorate Christ's Passion and death, because as St Thomas Aquinas observes, "Christ's body was laid in a stone sepulchre" (ST IIIa, 83, 3).

However, the altar is also made of stone because it stands as the symbol and image of Christ himself, and "the rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:3). The idea that the altar is the primary symbol of Christ is found in the Fathers. For example, St Ambrose said that "The altar represents the body [of Christ] and the Body of Christ is on the altar". So, St Thomas says that "By the altar Christ Himself is signified, of Whom the Apostle says (Hebrews 13:15): "Through Him we offer a sacrifice of praise to God." Hence the consecration of the altar signifies Christ's holiness" (ST IIIa, 83, 3). So, the altar stands for Christ who died for our salvation.

As such, relics are traditionally placed in the altar to signify the martyrs gathered around Christ, which is an image from Revelation 5, and it is not the relics that make the altar holy, but rather, the altar (as a symbol of Christ) makes them, and indeed the whole church holy. Placed at the focal point of a church, then, it is all the saints - the holy people of God - who are gathered around the altar for the Eucharist. In this sense, the altar stands too for the risen and glorified Christ.

During the liturgy it is honoured with incense, and at its consecration, it is washed in holy water, anointed, clothed with white linen, and given candles, just as the baptised Christian is. As the altar is a symbol of Christ, it is fitting that there is only one, and it "represents the place where Christ himself steps into time and space among us. It thus represents him, himself, and deserves utmost reverence even outside the liturgy". Thus, the altar stands also for the incarnate Christ, and his dignity which we share through our baptism.

The Catechism adds that "the altar is also the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are invited". As such, it calls to mind the meal aspect of the Eucharist, but this is not in opposition to the sacrificial aspect. As the CCC §1383 says: "The Christian altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present in the midst of the assembly of his faithful, both as the victim offered for our reconciliation and as food from heaven who is giving himself to us".

So, at the altar, Christ gives himself to us for our sanctification, and he is offered by the Church, the "entire Christ", to the Father in the Holy Spirit for the greater glory of God. We are privileged to share in this offering whenever we participate in the Mass. Hence, we must prepare the altars of our hearts so that our entire lives might truly be a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God. Thus, Romano Guardini says: "The two altars, the one without and the one within, belong inseparably together. The visible altar at the heart of the church is but the external representation of the altar at the centre of the human breast, which is God's temple, of which the church with its walls and arches is but the expression and figure". Therefore, the altar also stands for us, who are also made in the image of Christ through baptism and the Eucharist. As with an altar, Christ is given to the world through us Christians, and sacrifice is offered to God through our lives immolated and transformed by grace.

Quodlibet 32 - Theological and Cardinal Virtues

A Godzdogz reader asks about the connections between the theological and the cardinal virtues.

Before answering this question, it's helpful to first think a little bit about the relationship between the virtues and the moral life. The traditional Catholic view sees the moral life as the quest for human happiness and the virtues are seen as the best way to attain this happiness. From a purely philosophical point of view, virtues can be understood to be good habits which enable a person to perform excellent actions. As children grow up into adults, they form various habits which enable them to behave in certain ways. For example, the ability to speak, the capacity to enjoy certain foods, or the tendency to be considerate to other people are all examples of habits which govern the way a person acts. For a child, the corresponding activities may be very difficult to perform to begin with, but with enough encouragement and support, these habits become like a second nature. Because of habits, the child grows up into an adult who is able to easily perform and find pleasure in many different sorts of activity.

The activities that stem from a person's habits may be either good or bad – they may be activities that direct a person either towards or away from their fulfilment and happiness. This view of morality is not to be confused with utilitarianism which seeks pleasure and avoids pain. The virtuous life is centred on joy which is rooted in truth and is communicable to others, and although pleasure may go together with joy, it is also possible to be joyful whilst one undergoes great trials. The morally virtuous person will have acquired a variety of habits which enable them to habitually perform morally good acts, and the chief of these habits are the cardinal virtues: temperance, courage, justice, and prudence. For example, with enough effort, a person who lacks the virtue of courage may grow to be courageous and love acting courageously if they are rewarded for performing courageous acts and criticized for performing cowardly acts.

So where do the theological virtues fit in? Augustine's solution to this question is to see the cardinal virtues as four forms of charity:

Temperance is love giving itself entirely to the beloved; courage is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the beloved; justice is love serving only the beloved and therefore ruling rightly; prudence is love distinguishing wisely between what hinders it and what helps it (from De moribus ecclesiae catholicae)

So the nature of the cardinal virtues will depend on who or what is most loved. Therefore, if the cardinal virtues are to help us attain perfect happiness, we need to know what we should love most of all. At this point, faith comes to the help of reason: we should love God with all our hearts. This love is taught and inspired by Christ and it is the principal Christian virtue. The theological virtues transform the classical understanding of virtue. They are a gift from God, and no amount of human effort can inspire the love that makes us friends with God.

From a purely natural point of view, Jesus´ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is impossible to follow. Naturally, people who mourn or who are persecuted are not happy. But Christ puts us in direct contact with God so that we are raised above our human nature and so are genuinely able to follow his teaching. With the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, we become capable of performing acts of temperance, courage, justice and prudence which are infused with a quality of holiness.

Dominican Family Day 2010

Lest it seem that the Dominican students in Oxford only attend parties or solemn liturgies, below are photos from a recent day of study, discussion, and reflection. The Dominican Family day, which is so called because it involves all the branches of the Dominican Order - the friars, nuns, apostolic sisters, laity, and secular institute - was held this year on 26 June in Stone, Staffordshire. Stone is the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of the English Congregation of St Catherine of Siena, known affectionately as the 'Stone Sisters'. Dominicans from all over the English Province, as well as the Irish Province, converged on Stone for fraternity, study, and prayer.

The theme of the Family day was: 'The Collapse of Western Christianity', with talks given by Francis Davies, a lay Dominican, and fr Richard Finn OP, who is Regent of Studies of the English Dominican province. The theme was rather dramatic, and focused on the radical change in Catholic parochial life, and the practice of the Faith in Europe, and particularly in England, Wales and Scotland. Some very helpful statistics and anecdotes were presented to stimulate discussion and reflection. The tone of the presentation, though, was hopeful, and the aim of the first talk was to present the situation in a level and balanced way so that we could find opportunities for preaching the Faith. It is all too easy to blame external factors like secularism, or creeping Islamicization, but Francis cautioned against this. Rather, he challenged us Dominicans to draw on our tradition, and to find ways to preach to our fellow Catholics, and non-Christians, today.

The second talk, which followed lunch, was an exercise in ressourcement. fr Richard looked at the role of confraternities in medieval Europe, which were strongly supported by the Dominicans. Although one cannot simply imitate the past, he suggested that the confraternities were a way of reaching out to people on the margins, engaged the imagination and emotions through piety and devotion, and appealed to the concerns and needs of various communities within the Church. There were no easy answers to our contemporary situation, but all agreed that the resources for moving forward could be found in our Dominican tradition and history.

This day was completed with Mass, during which the Prior Provincial preached. He called us to follow Christ who observed the details in the world around us, to see people's needs, and to bring them to the Lord for his blessing and transformation by grace.