Reflection on the Gospel of Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb 11 2018.

“The more things change the more they stay the same,” (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr).

I’ve been asked what “relevant” message could be communicated “to the modern world” from scripture? To faithful Catholic Christians, the Marcan narrative instructs the reader on Christ’s divinity and the Power He has over the Laws of nature by healing a debilitating and at the time, an incurable contagious disease. This explanation works for believers as we take the message as “Gospel” but what about our neighbor? If we are to be true disciples of Christ, we must diligently love God above everything and then, love our neighbor as ourselves. Catholic Christian teaching tells us that loving someone means willing their ultimate good, which is the Beatific Vision! St. Paul tells us to “run the race as to win” the unfading crown of eternal life and to help “our neighbor by building up his spirit…according to the Spirit of Christ Jesus,” (Rom 15:-3). What does this mean, if anything, to those who profess a Christian belief and those who don’t? Certainly, the Good News of Jesus applies to all peoples and all times. How do we convince our believing and unbelieving brethren of the Truth we profess and how does “the healing of Leper” apply in a time of advanced medical and empirical science? What does the Eternal Word have to say to the modern day “Publican”, Pharisee, and everything in between in Mark’s Gospel 1:40-45? The responsibility given to all Christians to “glorify God with our lives” by allowing His grace “to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death” is no small matter for those of us who struggle with selfishness but the remedy is ever present in the antidote of the Cross. The remedy is there and no one will be excused from it. The command of Christ to go “and make disciples of all nations” was not a request but a command. In our Westernized Culture dominated by Scientism and Modernism, what could the story be telling us today? It is hard to imagine, in our outwardly “white-washed” “I’m ok; you’re ok” sanitized culture, encountering one “full of leprosy,” (Lk 5:2). We have nearly eradicated the disease in the Westernized world but the leprosy in American society is not a physical ailment but an emotional & spiritual one. In this case, we live in a culture where we walk among many who are indeed full of spiritual and emotional leprosy but “we must have the eyes to see and the ears to hear” what the signs of our time are telling us. Where is the battle ground on where we must “fight the good fight?” What are remedies we must use to ease the disease of our modern day leprosy?

In order to fight a battle, we must first know our enemy. The Saints, due to their union with God and love for neighbor, have a keen eye for human suffering and “reading the signs of the times” with great accuracy and deep reflection. According to St. Mother Teresa, “The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” It seems St. Mother Teresa’s observation regarding the plight of the West is not much different than the plight of the Leper in Mark’s gospel. According to the Levitical Law, lepers were to “live apart” separated from society, and the temple, essentially “apart from God.” They were only allowed to camp with others who were considered unclean. If that were not enough, those who were already ailing from a horrific disease, were to purposefully make themselves standout by disheveling their appearance and alert those at a distance with either ringing a bell or yelling, “Unclean, Unclean!” In today’s “compassionate society,” that would be far from “tolerant.”

Today, through inquiry and research, it is estimated that 35% of Americans admit to moderate loneliness and 17% report severe loneliness. Many, for the most part, suffer alone but not in silence. Unlike the leper in the gospels, most who are interiorly ailing do not alert anyone but go unseen and unheard. To say that they suffer in silence is highly inaccurate as they listen to the self-accusing voice crying, “unclean, unclean.” Phrases like, “I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not nice enough”, “I’m not successful enough”, “I’m not man enough,” “I’m not holy enough”, “I’m not…fill in the blank. These self-accusing statements are the soul crushing equivalent to the leper’s, “Unclean, Unclean!” The negative self-talk stemmed from woundedness and shame causes us to hide behind various facades we create for self-protection, hiding us away from vulnerability to ourselves, to others, and God. Some delve into the abundant escapes our sensual and materialistic world has to offer only to find increasing dissatisfaction in the results they provide. According to Rene Brown, “we are the most in debt, obese, addicted and medicated adult cohort in US history.” We have the highest rate of suicide between the ages 15-35. The technological advances bringing about the connected age of globalization has offered many blessing in our lives but a recent Pew Report stated a 10% reduction in “face to face and civic engagement for every hour on the internet surfing or TV watched,” (Vost, p. 152). Clinical psychologist Sherry Tuckle’s Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other observed “increased anxiety over face-to-face conversation and phone conversation among many young people today,” (Turkle, p. 109). She (Turkle) relates stories of the lonely teen who is picked up from school by her mother, only to be ignored the whole trip home by her mother, who remained absorbed in her phone,” (Turkle, p.109). For the sake of time, I will stop here but make no mistake, the list of examples of the leprous infection of apathy, indifference, self-loathing, narcissism, and most importantly willful and unwilful alienation from God has rivaled the plight of the Leper in Mark’s Gospel for the Leper was bold enough to ask for help. He brought his woundedness and shame before Jesus to heal and later bear on the Cross. Today, it seems we have the combination of the leper and the paralytic in one but this is not without hope as “where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.” It is the sick who are in need of the Divine physician and it all start with the healing of each Christian soul called to preach. In order to be our brother’s keeper we must “know ourselves in the Light of Christ” and ask for His Love, Mercy and healing for we cannot give what we do not have.

While reflecting on what to write on the Mass readings, I remembered that we will be reading St. Therese: Story of a Soul. Using her example, Mother Teresa, often cited and performed St. Therese’s, “doing little things with great love” often with “miraculous” results. We live in a the time where formal preaching of Thomistic philosophy, sacred theology, canon law, papal encyclicals, etc are reserved for academia, Conferences, After-Mass Church activities and meetings like this. How do I know this? I have been told by several people, including family. Experiences standing in line (anywhere), waiting for my tires, work luncheons, waiting for my to-go order, etc has shown me deep discussions on Catholic Spirituality and evangelization are necessary but prudence on situational awareness is of utmost importance. In the general public, formalities in evangelization are not the best and have been told so. In a long conversation about, scripture, life, and family, my sweet little brother gave a very eye opening fraternal correction. Basically, “you have always been smart and sound intelligent but no one hears what you are saying. Take it down and listen to us rather than talk at us.” Ouch! Months later, taking a class on Ignatian discernment of spirits, I relatively heard the same thing my brother said, which is basically “listen and stop trying to save and fix people” that is God’s business. Another time, a man with leukemia said to me “how do you expect to help a drowning man if you are drowning yourself?” If I am inundated with spiritual leprosy, I must come to the Lord, humble myself, and ask “Him to make me clean;” then, get out of His way, take His hand and allow Him to “guide me on His path, His Way” as the Christian needs no other wisdom than Christ’s.” (A Monk, p.74).

So, what do we do to heal our culture from the emotional and spiritual leprosy of our day and age. What I learned from humble and experienced folks are this. Listen and listen in prayer. This is very important and the most problematic for many people. In a discussion, a man admitted to me that he was an atheist. Being an atheist of his atheism, I didn’t listen or believe him, which rendered the conversation useless because I was unable to meet him where he was. As a candidate to the Lay Dominicans, we are to “be aware of the signs of our times,” making “the presence of Christ alive” (Curtis and Woods, p. 62) at all times to all people. The old phrase “what would Jesus do” might be cliché but is still profound. Like St. Dominic, Christian Catholics, particularly Dominicans, are to immerse themselves in prayer and the study of the gospels in order to know “what our Lord would do.” Many times it was His presence that captivated people and this was also made manifest in His saints. As St. Francis once said, “preach the gospel. If necessary use words.” From my experience this is the approach we should use in the day-to-day monotonous grind of our state in life. Like St. Therese said, “Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them,” (St. Therese). To Drive home this point of doing little things with great love, I will leave you with this true life story.

A few days ago I was listening to a lecture by a Dominican priest by the name of Fr. Brown. In his presentation on “connectivity” he began his lecture with a heartbreaking story of a man by the name of John Kevin Hines. The young man was born early to drug addicted bipolar parents and was later adopted by a loving couple by the name Patrick and Debra Hines, who later divorced. As he reached his late teens, he did well in athletics but suffered from a mental leprosy, bi-polar disorder axis 1 with psychotic features. On September 24, 2000, he made the choice to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. He described the day as one of ambivalence and social apathy due to the indifference of his fellow man. While he sat on the crowded bus that would take him to the bridge, he sobbed but no one asked him if he was ok. The bus arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge destination and John Hines slowly made his way off the bus sobbing. He stopped before getting off to dry his face and the bus driver said, “Hey kid, you want to hurry up. I have a route to finish.” The young man got off the bus swirling with the “voices telling him he must die” while thinking “how much he wanted to live but can’t.” He began to sob again with pervading thoughts that no one cares. In the last moments, he thought if one person, shows that they care, he will not jump. The moment came! Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to the person with tear drenched hopeful eyes only to be met with more indifference. Handing Mr. Hines a camera, the man asked if he would take a picture of him and his family. John Hines turned away from the tourist and threw himself of the Golden Gate Bridge falling 200 ft. By the grace of God, John Hines survived the jump and has been telling his story across the country to a vast and attentive audience who are privy to the social leprosy many face today. Yes, I thought this was an extreme case but unfortunately, it is not. Listening to this story gave me a sense of helplessness but as mentioned before, “where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.” Mr Hines, like others who have similar stories, gave us the remedy and it is love! He said, “I’m not asking anyone to be responsible for my happiness and I am not asking anyone to take care of me!” BUT, “if you see someone who is obviously distraught and in pain, take the time to ask them, ‘are you ok?’ ‘Can I help you?’” Just the touch on the shoulder from the indifferent tourist gave him hope. No one even looked at him and if they did, they ran from him as the Jews ran from the Leper in Mark’s gospel. Herein lies, where the little things with great love will go a long way. As St. Mother Teresa’s of Calcutta said the West has a hunger for love. It has a hunger for God. Love is the remedy and can begin with something small but worth an emotional and spiritual fortune. It can start off with a smile as St Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “If someone does not have a smile, give them yours.” So, smile it could save someone’s life!

Our next meeting will be 2pm on January 13, 2018 in the Religious Education building at Holy Rosary Parish.

Inquirers will discuss the History of the Dominican Laity. More information and the syllabus for the year can be found here.

Candidates for admission will be discussing Chapters 1-9 of ‘St Martin de Porres: Apostle of Charity‘ by Giuliana Cavallini. Consider the following questions while reading:
1) What virtue/s or beatitudes/s did St. Martin demonstrate? Please give details with specific examples.
2) What early influences lead to his sanctity?
3) Is this a credible account of his life? Why did it take so long for St. Martin de Porres to be canonized compared to St. Rose? What do you think his response to these issues might be today?
4) How can you apply his struggles/behaviors to your journey to sainthood?

Professed members will be discussing “Dignitatis Humanae”.  Some optional readings that may help with discussion:
1.  The wikipedia summary of the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act (very short).
2. Pope Benedict XVI’s call for an hermeneutic of continuity starting about half way through this speech at the sentence ‘The last event of this year on which I wish to reflect here is the celebration of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council 40 years ago.’
3.  Thomas Pink on Conscience and Coercion.
4. Martin Rhonheimer on The “Hermeneutic of Reform” and Religious Freedom (starts about 1/4 of the way down the page).

The group study will continue with Book 2 Chapters 15-25 of “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross translated by E. Allison Peers. A reflection will be given on those chapters.

December 9th, 2017
Dark Night of the Soul, Book 2:7-14 and Reflection on Divinization

We continue our journey with St. John of the Cross as he lays out for us the process of the Dark Night of the Spirit, applying the lines of the first stanza. According to St. John, one thing that can be surely ascertained from this experience is that the Night of the Spirit, in which the soul is purged more completely such that it is “humbled, softened, and purified” in preparation for Divine Union, is that it “will last for some years” and will be marked by intense periods of suffering that are broken by periods of rest and “abundance of spiritual communication”. These intervening periods seem to the soul to last forever, and St. John suggests that this is because “possession by the spirit of one of two contrary things itself makes impossible the actual possession and realization of the other contrary thing”. Nevertheless, particularly in periods of sweetness, during which the soul experiences flashes of hope and a “foretaste” of what is to come, when it feels most secure and alert, it is “dragged down and immersed again in another and a worse degree of affliction”. In describing this, St. John also provides a glimpse of what it is that the souls in Purgatory experience, in which they suffer greatly at wondering whether they will ever go forth from it, although they already have the habit of the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.

As we can expect, St. John goes deeper: these intense periods of suffering experienced by the soul during this dark night involve a sort of “unknowing” in which the “memory is also purged of meditation and knowledge” and is “annihilated” so that it may be divinely prepared for divine union. He brings before us here that the Divine Light has the effect of “darkening” the soul, whereas a soul that is not simple or pure is actually “less dark”. This effect of a light that “darkens” seems backwards from what we might expect. He likens this to the effect of a ray of light entering through the window of a room which, if it passes out of the room through another window on the other side, has the effect of not brightening the room at all. On the other hand, if there are specks in the air of the room for the light to strike, the light is reflected off these specks and brightens the room. It is this “darkening” effect caused by the Divine Light that we hope to achieve in that the “specks” that are manifest in the soul are, so to speak, “brought to light” in order that may be purged away. These imperfections are then readily seen. Once this darkening effect is achieved in the soul by the Divine Light, the ultimate result here is, as St. John says, a “great comprehensiveness” of any particular thing, natural or divine — a “poverty of spirit” in which we are in a state of, as St. Paul says, “having nothing and possessing all things” — “able freely to share in the breadth of spirit of the Divine Wisdom”.

Commenting on the second line of the poem, “Kindled in love with divine yearnings”, St. John brings to us the analogy of the log of wood. The “divine light whereof we here speak acts upon the soul which it is purging and preparing for perfect union with it in the same way as fire acts upon a log of wood in order to transform it into itself.” The wood is assaulted by fire and passes through a number of observable stages. Those of us who have actually sat and watched a log in the fireplace or around a campfire or bonfire will recognize this image well.
1. The fire begins to dry the log by driving out its moisture and causing it to shed the water which it contains within itself.
2. Then, the fire begins to make the log black, dark, and unsightly, and even to give forth a bad odor.
3. As the fire dries the wood little by little, it brings out and drives away all the dark and unsightly accidents which are contrary to the nature of fire.
4. Finally, it begins to kindle it externally and give it heat.
1. At last, the fire transforms the log into itself and makes it as beautiful as fire.

All of this is caused in the log by the fire itself. So it is with the fire of contemplative love, before it “unites and transforms the soul in itself, it first purges it of all its contrary accidents”. Again, St. John brings us an image of how the souls are afflicted in Purgatory. One of the key points St. John is driving at here is that, as the wood grows hotter and takes on the fire in itself, it is, in effect, “enkindled”, and “enkindled in love”, even if the soul doesn’t realize it while this is actually going on. When the fire is removed, only then is it possible to “see how much of it has been enkindled” as the fire takes form and shape in the soul itself. The soul then finds itself enveloped by a passion, a hunger and thirst, for Divine Love. As St. John says, “The touch of this love and Divine Fire dries up the spirit and enkindled its desires, in order to satisfy its thirst for this Divine Love, so much so that it turns upon itself a thousand times and desires God in a thousand ways and manners, with the eagerness and desire of the appetite.” Likened to David in a psalm, “My soul thirsted for Thee: in how many manners does my soul long for Thee!” Again, the marvelous nature of what it means to be “enkindled in love with yearnings”. This is the very nature of God — consuming, enkindling, drawing and pouring forth.
In Chapter 13, St. John says that the soul, once it has gone through this process, achieves a “mystical intelligence” that “flows down into the understanding” though the will remains dry. In this state, the “presence of God is felt, now after one manner, now after another”. As Mary Magdalene sought the Lord upon discovering Him not in his tomb, or “with the yearnings and vehemence of the lioness or the she-bear going to seek her cubs when they have been taken away from her and she finds them not, does this wounded soul go forth to seek its God.” “It feels itself to be without Him and to be dying of love for Him.”

Finally, in Chapter 14, does St. John start explaining the final three lines of the first stanza. Those which refer to “happy chance” and going “forth without being observed” and “my house being now at rest”. For it was a “happy chance” that all of the lower faculties, passions, affections, and desires be “put to sleep” by God, thus enabling the soul to venture toward God “without being hindered by these affections”, as one who seeks to be united with her Divine Beloved.

St. John ends here by noting that, “none can understand it,… unless it be the soul that has experienced it”, so far be it from me to sit here before you and act as one who has experienced these things. The most I can possibly do is suggest that this is presented before us as a profound meditation. What should we be taking away from this sojourn with St. John? Indeed, what does it mean for us today, right now? There’s obviously a lot here. I want to call your attention to what I think is the key point of all of this. Recall St. John’s image of the burning log, becoming consumed by fire such that it eventually takes on the quality of Divine Fire.

It’s fortuitous that our study of the Dark Night overlaps with the season of Advent and Christmas, for indeed what St. John points us to in the Dark Night is fundamentally what is key to our salvation. What do we celebrate at Christmas, anyway? It’s the birth of Christ, the fruit of the Incarnation — Christ becoming man, taking on our humanity. But why did God become man? While there are many reasons for this (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 456-459), the ultimate reason is that God shared in our humanity so that we might become, as St. Peter asserts, “partakers in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Or more shockingly to the point, to quote St. Athanasius of Alexandria: “The Son of God became man so that we might become God” (“On the Incarnation”, 54) This is what we celebrate at Christmas. This is the “Reason for the Season”. Divinization, divine sonship, filial adoption, or as the Eastern Christians refer to it: Theosis. This is fundamentally and ultimately what salvation is all about (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 51-52, 460). This happens by grace, which is God’s own Divine Life shared with us in the sacramental life of the Church. It begins in us early, at baptism, even if for most of us it isn’t completed until later, beyond death. In baptism, we have already become new creations.
There’s a beautiful Christmas antiphon that has been set to music that expresses well what we celebrate at Christmas: an exchange between humanity and Divinity: the “O Admirabile Commercium”. Roughly translated:

O wonderful exchange:
the creator of the human race,
taking our flesh upon him,
deigns to be born of a virgin;
and, coming forth without seed of man,
bestows his Divinity upon us.

I offer this as my reflection only because I think we lose sight of this concept and its importance. How emphatically do we teach others that our salvation is essentially understood as our divinization? Indeed, it’s a great mystery, and I don’t think the wider culture really grasps what this means. Theologian Eric Sammons puts it this way: “Too often we look at Heaven as just a really great Earth: we eat whatever we want, we hang out with whomever we want, and we never get sick or hurt. But Heaven is less about what we do and more about what we become. When we enter into Heaven, we are transformed into a new creation: while keeping our human nature, we participate in the divine nature.” (See blogpost from The Divine Life)
I think we may shy away from this concept more because when it is most improperly understood, it sounds like a pagan idea: the idea that we become God. But really, we don’t become beings who radiate our own individual divine nature apart from God. What we become is solely dependent upon the one true God, for the divine life in which we partake is His. I find the truth of this idea to be extremely compelling in evangelization. This may surprise you, or perhaps not, but this idea is truly paradigm-shifting for many Catholics when they hear it. This, in spite of the fact that it shows up throughout the Catechism and is even present in the text of the Church’s liturgy.
In one of his sermons on Pentecost, our brother in the Order, Fr. John Tauler, one of the great 14th century Dominican mystics, preached the following:

What God has in himself by nature, that he now imparts to the soul by grace: the divine being, unnamed and without form or manner of existence that we can express. And now everything that is done in that soul God himself does, acting, knowing, loving, praising, enjoying… One can no more speak of this state clearly than he can speak clearly of the divine life itself. To men and angels it is far too high for expression.

Indeed, all good works we do proceed from the work of grace within us, however incomplete it may be. Grace is Divine Life. In the West, our teaching of grace and merit is rooted in this concept. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very clear about this (par 2006-2011):

Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining “the promised inheritance of eternal life.” … The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men.

So everything we have, everything we are, and everything we become is due to God. Let’s us meditate on this as we read St. John of the Cross. Let us meditate on this as we observe Advent and Christmas.
One final thought, lest you think I am done preaching about this. I want to leave you with a story from the Desert Fathers in the Christian East:

“Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, ‘If you will, you can become all flame.’”

Make this your goal: become aflame and go forth, setting the world on fire! Merry Christmas!

Our next meeting will be 2pm on December 9th, 2017 in the Religious Education building at Holy Rosary Parish.

Inquirers will discuss the Pillars of Dominican Life.  More information and the syllabus for the year can be found here.

Candidates for admission will be discussing Chapters 9-11 of ‘St Rose of Lima‘ by Sr. Mary Alphonsus.  Consider the following questions while reading:
1)What virtue/s or beatitude/s did St. Rose demonstrate?
2)What early influences lead to her sanctity?
3)Is this a credible account of her life or is it hagiography?
4)How can you apply her struggles/behaviors to your journey toward sainthood?

Professed members will be discussing “Gaudium et Spes” Part 2.   Each person should bring a question that they had while reading the text that they were not able to answer or would benefit from group discussion.

The group study will continue with Book 2 Chapters 7-14 of “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross  translated by E. Allison Peers.  A reflection will be given on those chapters.

Our next meeting will be 2pm on November 2017 in the Religious Education building at Holy Rosary Parish.

Inquirers will discuss the place of Study in the ideal of St Dominic.  More information and the syllabus for the year can be found here.

Candidates for admission will be discussing Chapters 6-8 of ‘St Rose of Lima‘ by Sr. Mary Alphonsus.  Consider the following questions while reading:
1)What virtue/s or beatitude/s did St. Rose demonstrate?
2)What early influences lead to her sanctity?
3)Is this a credible account of her life or is it hagiography?
4)How can you apply her struggles/behaviors to your journey toward sainthood?

Professed members will be discussing “Gaudium et Spes” Part 1 – Ch 2-4.   Each person should bring a question that they had while reading the text that they were not able to answer or would benefit from group discussion.

The group study will continue with Book 2 Chapters 1-6 of “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross  translated by E. Allison Peers.  A reflection will be given on those chapters.

The Aquinas Lecture at University of St Thomas is this Thursday, October 19, 2017 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM. More information here

Our next meeting will be 2pm on October 14 2017 in the Religious Education building at Holy Rosary Parish.

Inquirers will receive an introduction to Lay Dominican history and review the formation guidelines.  More information and the syllabus for the year can be found here.

Candidates for admission will be discussing Chapters 1-5 of ‘St Rose of Lima‘ by Sr. Mary Alphonsus.  Consider the following questions while reading:
1)What virtue/s or beatitude/s did St. Rose demonstrate?
2)What early influences lead to her sanctity?
3)Is this a credible account of her life or is it hagiography?
4)How can you apply her struggles/behaviors to your journey toward sainthood?

Professed members will be discussing “Gaudium et Spes” Part 1 (Introduction and Ch 1-4)

The group study will continue with Chapters 8-11 of “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross  translated by E. Allison Peers.  A reflection will be given on those chapters.

The Lay Dominicans of Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Group joyfully announce that the Rites of Admission, Temporary Promise and Permanent Promise will be celebrated during the 12:30 Mass at Holy Rosary Parish on Sept 17, 2017.

Four new members will be admitted to the Order and begin a year of discernment as Candidates.  Two Candidates, having completed their year of discernment will be making a three year commitment to live as Lay Dominicans.  One Candidate, having discerned for three years since making his temporary promise will be making a life time commitment to live as a Lay Dominican.

Please join is in praying for all seven of those making commitments to the Family of St Dominic.  A small celebration will follow in the parish hall.

Update Sept 8th: this event is still taking place on Sept 9th.

Last year, the worldwide Dominican Family celebrated the 800th
anniversary of the foundation of the Order of Preachers by St. Dominic
de Guzman in 1216. Lay Dominicans, together with the friars and
sisters, met together to commemorate Dominic’s memory and his
devotion to preaching the Good News. The Queen of the Most Holy
Rosary Lay Dominicans would like to invite all who are interested in
understanding this special vocation to join us for a brief
introduction to see what it is like to be a part of this worldwide
family that prays, studies, and preaches.

Where: Religious Education Building, Holy Rosary Catholic Church
3617 Milam St., Houston

When: Sept 9, 2017; 2-4 PM

Reflection – Sunday Mass Readings
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Given to Lay Dominicans – August 12, 2017

How many people have seen the movie, “Apocalypse Now”? It’s a movie set in the
throws of the Vietnam War. The whole story centers around a river patrol boat that slowly snakes up a winding river into Cambodia on a top secret mission. Along the way, one of the characters named “Chef” in the boat, decides he wants to go ashore to fetch some mangoes. As he goes into the jungle looking for mangoes with Martin Sheen, they suddenly notice the jungle gets quiet. Thinking it is the enemy nearby they slowly move searching, their weapons at the ready, when out of nowhere a tiger lunges at the men. Chef freaks out and runs back to the boat screaming, they jump in the boat and take off with the crew shooting into the jungle. The whole time he keeps yelling, “Never get out of the boat! Never get out of the boat!” His fear of getting out of the boat will influence the character the rest of the movie.
In our gospel today, we also have a boat story. A boat story that will center around faith and faith in action. In the passage today, we see Jesus revealing his divinity to his apostles once again. I say once again, because the passage immediately preceding today’s reading in Matthew’s Gospel was the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. So, when Jesus comes out to meet the apostles by walking on the water, and then calming the seas brings us back to the Old Testament books of Job (Job 9:8), Habakkuk (Hab 3:15) and the Psalms. For example, in Psalm 89 we read, “Thou dost rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, thou stillest them.” (Ps 89:9) Control of the elements is an Old Testament attribute of God. These Apostles being good Jews would know this. St. Paul makes reference to Christ’s divinity in the second reading. Jesus is also revealing himself to the apostles with direct words. When Jesus calls out to the men in the boat who confuse him as a ghost, he tells them, “It is I.” This phrase in Greek can also be translated as “I am” which is the identifier of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The apostles’ great profession of faith at the end of this passage shows they are seeing Jesus as God. But what about us? Each one of us to must see Jesus as God. We too must be able to see Jesus as Lord and Savior, the ruler of the heavens and earth, the Pantocrator. That is when we can say “Truly, you are the Son of God!” However, to say these words requires much of us. We cannot just say these words, and nothing else. To say this profession of faith ourselves, comes with responsibility! If you are a daily communicant, or read the daily mass readings on your own, on Thursday the Gospel on the Feast of St. Lawrence from St. John states, “Whoever serves me, must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” (Jn 12:26) At Friday’s mass for the memorial of St. Clair from the gospel of Matthew, it states, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matt 16:24)  That responsibility means we cannot stay in the boat where it is safe, we must venture out into the rough seas to bring the Gospel to others! At baptism, we receive a prophetic charism which requires us to get out of the boat! Discipleship demand we get out of the boat. Discipleship demands we leave our safe-space and bring the good news to others. We cannot be like Chef and say, “never get out of the boat,” but instead be Peter and with eyes on Christ, step out.

I will share one of my boat stories with you. When I started formation in the diaconate, I chose to enter another ministry of service. This ministry was unlike anything I had ever done. This ministry was bringing communion to patients at a nursing home. This was going to be very challenging for me because of my previous history with nursing homes. When I was a teenager in the 1970’s (yes, the 1970’s) my grandparents on my father’s side owned a flower shop. I would deliver flowers for them on the weekends. At times, it involved going to nursing homes. My experience was opening the door and the smell of urine was so strong that in the couple of minutes it would take me to walk from the door to the desk and leave, my clothes were saturated with that smell the rest of the day. When I delivered flowers to a room, I noticed in some of the rooms urine on the floors under the beds. Then there was the yelling of certain patients that was constant. It was a pretty dark place. Years later when my grandmother (on my mother’s side) was placed in the nursing home, conditions were much better. She shared a room with others and many times, someone would call me over to talk and they would say to me, “My children placed me in here and abandoned me. They don’t come to see me. Why would they do that?”  As a young man, I had no answers to those questions. Again, a pretty dark place.

Now fast-forward to a few years ago. My first day to bring communion I was a bit apprehensive, but I got out of the boat. As I walked in I could hear someone in one of the back rooms wailing. My memories came rushing forward, and like the apostles, the seas just got a bit rougher. I made it through the list of people which took some time, but I kept hearing the person wailing in the background, and it got to a point where I had to leave. I got to my car and all of the emotions from years ago came crashing down and I cried like a baby in my car. At that point, I had doubts whether I could do this ministry or not. So, two choices were placed in front of me. I could be like Chef and “never get out of the boat,” stay I my safe space, OR I could have the courage to continue. I chose the latter and I will share that to this day, that was the most fulfilling ministry I’ve done. Faith requires action! Faith requires us to get out of the boat. The apostles didn’t stop once Jesus ascended to heaven. At first they were lost, but once they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they all got out of the boat and began to evangelize the world!

Here’s the good news, we too are all given the spiritual tools we need to get out of the
boat. At baptism, we are given the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. In the virtue of Faith, the Catechism teaches, “man freely commits his entire self to God.” ( CCC 1814)  In the sacrament of confirmation, we receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that evangelized the world is in us to give us the strength we need to venture out of the boat, no matter how rough the seas are or strong the wind is in our face.  Therefore, when we think to ourselves that I can’t do hospital ministry, as Jesus told the apostles today with has his arm stretched, “Come out of the boat, it is I. Do not be afraid.” When we say, “I’m not worthy to be an Extra Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion,” Jesus has his arm stretched out saying, “Come out of the boat, it is I. Do not be afraid.” When we say I don’t want to be involved with youth ministry because I don’t know how to relate to teenagers, Jesus has his arm stretched out saying, “Come out of the boat, it is I. Do not be afraid.” When we come up with every excuse NOT to get out of the boat, Jesus has his arm stretched out saying, “Come out of the boat, it is I. Do not be afraid.” It is when people see Jesus in YOU, where you bring the virtue of Hope to people in dark places, when they see Jesus in you through your faith in action in love of neighbor, they too can have the courage to get out of the boat.