The Lay Dominicans of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Chapter will be posting meditations for the fifteen Tuesdays leading up to the feast of our Father Dominic on August 8th.   See here for more information on the 15 Tuesdays devotion.

At the end of Mary’s pilgrimage on earth, she was taken body and soul into heaven or, as Eastern Christians would say, she fell asleep in the Lord. Consider the rejoicing throng of angels and saints that greeted her upon her entry into the heavenly Jerusalem. On the feast of the Assumption we hear in the Liturgy of King David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem and all of Israel assembled. “Play musical instruments… and make a loud sound rejoicing.” Mary, the true Arc of the Covenant, was brought to her final resting place, never more to be separated from her Beloved Son.

How fitting it is that on the feast of her Assumption, the end of Mary’s pilgrimage on earth, Our Holy Father Dominic dispersed the brethren to preach in Italy, Spain, and France, thus associating the mission of the Order with her glorious arrival in Heaven. One famous vision of heaven saw numerous saints adoring Christ but no Dominicans among them until Mary lifted her mantle and revealed the Order of Preachers, close to her and under her protection. Bl Sadoc O.P and his companions were martyred in Poland while singing the Salve Regina, and the Dominican custom of continuing to sing that song as the last prayer before the great silence of night pays homage to her as our special advocate, both in this life and in our journey to the next.

The Lay Dominicans of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Group will be posting meditations for the fifteen Tuesdays leading up to the feast of our Father Dominic on August 8th.   See here for more information on the 15 Tuesdays devotion.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul speaks of different kinds of spiritual gifts given to those baptized into Christ, distributed by the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit directs each spiritual gift toward the “common good” of salvation of souls. It is the animating character of the Holy Spirit that facilitates the preaching of the Gospel around the world by means of these special gifts, and it is for this reason that the action of the Holy Spirit lies at the very core of the mission of the Order of Preachers.

A keen awareness of the necessity of the Holy Spirit is evident from the very beginning of the Order.  As recorded in the Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic, his brothers and sisters would sometimes find Our Holy Father Dominic standing with his hands “outstretched above his head and joined together” like an arrow “which has been shot from a taut bow straight upwards into the sky”.  Dominic’s observers believed that while doing this, Dominic was begging God for the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the good of the Order.

In fact, in the Legend of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, we find that Dominic’s immediate successor also often implored the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  In one particular case, Jordan did so in order to prevent another brother from leaving the Order. On the holy feast of Pentecost, Jordan knelt and led the brothers in recitation of the ancient hymn to the Holy Spirit, the Veni Creator.  Jordan’s prayer came to pass even before the hymn was ended, and not only did the brother not leave the Order, he was also given special gifts by the Holy Spirit to eventually become “a skilled teacher and able preacher”.

Without the Holy Spirit to give life to the Order of Preachers, the Order would have no means of achieving its goal of preaching for the salvation of souls.  Each member of the Order is given different spiritual gifts to bring about that goal, and those gifts take shape in many different ways. Every Dominican ought to entrust himself or herself entirely to the Spirit in order to become the most effective instrument of God possible.  Therefore, let us never fail to imitate Dominic and Jordan in begging the Holy Spirit to pour out these gifts in abundance over the Order.

The Lay Dominicans of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Group will be posting meditations for the fifteen Tuesdays leading up to the feast of our Father Dominic on August 8th.   See here for more information on the 15 Tuesdays devotion.

“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father … I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you…if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you…When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you to all Truth” (John 20:17; John 16: 4,7,13).

As Mary Magdalene wished to cling to Jesus after His Death and Resurrection, so we often cling to the familiar to feel secure. But this clinging keeps us from venturing out to discover the unknown.

Recently, I had the chance to try indoor rock climbing.  I thought my greatest challenge would be climbing to the top. However, my elation at reaching the summit faded quickly as I contemplated my descent. There was a system in place that allowed climbers to rappel down the wall easily, but it required me to lean away from the wall and drop, without feeling any support first. It took many minutes of positive self-talk and reassurances from friends who had already finished the climb before I finally trusted.  I leaned back and fell; sure enough, the resistance was there as I easily hopped down the wall. As many times as I was reassured and reassured others, we each had to make our own decision to trust.

When Jesus was with His apostles and friends, they clung to Him; they could see Him, touch Him, and embrace Him. After many assurances that He would be with them always, He ascended into Heaven and they were seemingly left without Him. But He sent the Spirit and fed their faith with His own Body, the Holy Eucharist. Now they understood faith. They trusted and could spread the Truth of the Gospel.

Our spiritual father St. Dominic is a great example of trusting God completely. He began the Order of Preachers at a time when preachers were only bishops, and there were already many orders fulfilling the needs of the Church. He trusted in the unlikely calling to found a group of highly educated, missionary beggars, i.e. itinerant preachers.

We face the challenge in unfamiliar situations to remember our life lessons and apply them as we begin to see God’s will in everything and learn to trust that He is always with us. Let us pray for the grace to make every decision guided by our holy faith, venturing everyday towards Eternity.

The Lay Dominicans of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Group will be posting meditations for the fifteen Tuesdays leading up to the feast of our Father Dominic on August 8th.   See here for more information on the 15 Tuesdays devotion.

In his letter to the Corinthians, St Paul reminds us that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, then our Faith is vain, worthless, without foundation. It is nevertheless common to hear prominent, well credentialed people speaking of the ‘truth’ of the Resurrection rather than its ‘historicity.’ They may not deny that the Resurrection is historical but instead emphasize the faith of the early Christians, or the archetypal significance of the event, or other things that say less than what St Paul insists upon. That way of speaking manipulates distinctions that the Church has made since at least St Augustine to differentiate parts of Sacred Scripture that are true in only an allegorical or poetic way from those that recall historical facts.

The Resurrection as a fact of history underlines the objective goodness of creation. Those who defend the ‘truth’ of the Resurrection while denying that it actually happened deny the inherent goodness of creation and make it conditional on human will. It is good because of what people believe, rather than being good because God proclaimed it so and sent his only Son to redeem it.

Our Holy Father Dominic insisted on the goodness of the created, material world to the Albigensian men and women who denied vehemently that it was. Dominicans follow his example when they defend the Resurrection as a fact of history and not a pious myth. In this, members of the Order of Preachers have the special protection and intercession of the first person to see the empty tomb, the first to tell the apostles it was empty, the first to see the Lord in his risen flesh. St Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, exemplified contemplative love bursting forth into action that first Easter Sunday. For that she has been venerated as a patroness of the Order almost since its founding. May her intercession and that of St Dominic gain for each of us the grace to proclaim to the world Jesus Christ risen from the dead.

The Lay Dominicans of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Group will be posting meditations for the fifteen Tuesdays leading up to the feast of our Father Dominic on August 8th.   See here for more information on the 15 Tuesdays devotion.

The cross was a means of capital punishment that was intended to send a message through ultimate humiliation of the person, but through Christ, it has become the ultimate symbol as a gift of salvation.  Within the suffering and pain Our Lord endured upon the cross, Christ paid the price for our own faults and shortcomings. Christ crucified was an act of true sacrificial love that must burst forth from each of us, like the blood and water that gushed forth from His pierced side.

In this act of sacrificial love God reached out to us through His Son to give us a way to return to Him.  God has no need of our love, but He would not leave us abandoned and orphaned because He created us in his image and likeness, a uniqueness in creation.  Within each of us is planted the desire to return to Him, which we can only accomplish by following His way. This way is like a “Bridge” that St. Catherine of Siena would describe.   Unlike any other bridge, instead of walking across we must climb upwards, as Jesus was lifted high upon the cross. With our first steps, we must place ourselves at His feet. The nails are protruding holding His feet tight, like the things of this world that have bound each of us.  We must find the strength to release ourselves moving ever upward. We are not alone, this cross became Jesus’ final pulpit where He gave us His mother as ours, she too was at the foot of the cross and joins us on this journey. Like Our Holy Father Dominic we must rely on Mary’s intercession to help us keep our eyes on the holy.  The rosary a cornerstone of a lay Dominican’s prayer life, leads us bead by bead on this climb. Once you have completed the journey of releasing yourself, you arrive at His pierced side. It is the most beautiful ache of His heart that you come to know. The ache and desire for His most beloved to be with Him, to know Him. Oh, Sacred Heart of Jesus live in me, and I in You!  Oh, Immaculate Heart of Mary pray for us!! Finally, you reach the most beautiful stop on your ascent, a peace where you are at His mouth. You hear his words of thirst and desire to draw His children to Himself. St. Theresa of Calcutta once said, “Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, feelings of loneliness, are nothing but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have been so close that He can kiss you.” All of these are gifts of the cross.

These gifts of the cross are not gifts to be hoarded or left unopened, they are treasures of redemption.   In order to redeem us Christ had to take upon himself our sinful nature, then be lifted up on the cross as an admirable exchange for our sin.  This shedding of His blood flung open the doors of heaven allowing us to renter into relationship with our creator. A union that is now solidified in the Eucharistic celebrations of the church.  In the liturgy of the Eucharistic, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is made present to us at the mass. In receiving the Eucharist we become one with Christ and each other.   In becoming one with Christ we also join with Him in His plan of salvation.  A plan that sometimes asks us to accept difficulty, hardship, and persecution.  In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus reminds us, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt. 16:24) Our suffering can be used to help save the world and each other.  Asked why we suffer, it is out of love. This is why Jesus suffered and died for each of us. As a follower of Christ, we bear with each other’s faults because Christ bore our faults, so much so that it saved us from ourselves.

Christ did not hold our shortcomings against us, He said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  We must also recognize, Jesus showed us how to love one another, through forgiveness. Each of us have family, co-workers, community members, or neighbors that irritate us.  The way of the cross would require us to reach out in compassion and love to these people, because they are our neighbors. Like the Good Samaritan we are to reach out with love so that others can know Christ did not just come to redeem some of us, He came to redeem all of us.  As Dominicans this is part of our preaching mission to take this news out to all we meet. With arms outstretched as Dominic in his 6th way of prayer may we all strive to be Christ to others in words, thoughts, and deeds.  Jesus you are the way, the truth, and the life!