St Dominic Part 2: Celebrating St Dominic through Poetry.

 CELEBRATING ST DOMINIC GUZMAN SERIES.

St Dominic:
Celebrating St Dominic Guzman Series Icon.

ST DOMINIC GUZMAN

This year we celebrate the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Dominic, who died in Bologna on 6th August, 1221. His feast day is celebrated on 3^rd August in Australia but on 8^th August for the rest of the universal church.

Over the next few weeks,  I will share with you  information about  St Dominic which I have acquired from our church notices The Dominican     Some art you may not have seen, some extracts from contemporary documents about Dominic, prayers to St Dominic and some other delights.

In this post we consider some of the qualities of St Dominic through poetry.

 

Surely the greatest of the poets inspired by Dominic’s life was Dante Alighieri (you might say, Italy’s Shakespeare) who described our patron as l’amoroso drudo de la fede cristiana, il santo atleta – “the loving bridegroom of the Christian Faith, the holy athlete.” (Paradiso, XII, 11,50) Although a Life of St Dominic in verse appeared in both medieval French and English, nothing quite rises to the magnificence of Dante. In modern times, however, Dominic has inspired a number of poets in English. Over the next few weeks, we will share a few.

HOMMAGE TO A SAINT He was a man who wept. And in his tears glistened, all saw, love human and tender, human because divine, divine because wrung from prayer, from an agony of truth. ‘Ah Lord, what will become of sinners?’ Alone he waited, in a place he could not convert, carrying alone, through the years of disappointment, a task that had seemed begun.

The Word of God burned in him fiercer than fire, deeper than flood, banishing fear and comfort; a Word uttered in silence, echoing still, breaking the night into groans of entreaty. This, then, was Dominic, his signature barely visible on the scrolls of history; a trace of a smile still lingers over the vineyards where they tried to kill him, but found death died in his eagerness to die.

He founded an Order, people say, Say rather: friended. He was their friend, and so at last, in spite of themselves, they came. He gave them an Order to found. Those eyes, wet with the tears of truth, knew Truth. And Truth – seeking still to become frail flesh – did not disdain to clothe itself in the very disappointments, the indifference and inadequacy of others.

The faith of God in humankind makes, every now and then, someone come true. And then a heart is rhythmed to the very beat of God, a mind to truth, and a mouth to gospel, wooing the matter of humans to God.

Such a man was Dominic, messenger of God’s love, a carrier of his infinite pain and hope, a hurricane and a haven, hurling torrents of peace through the civilized corridors of comfortable half-truths of plump correctness and wizened zeal; to dwellers in ancient darkness long familiar, a disturbing possibility of day.

And yet, after all, a man. A man at home with popes and peasants and fading gentlewomen, a man of beautiful hands and ungrey head, ‘The night for God, the day was for his friends’, nemo communior, so they said in wonder so still they forgot to wonder. Emmanuel, God with us, God like us: the ordinary always the vehicle of Infinity.

Such a one was Dominic, not loud in the display of strange religion, loud only in his mere humanity, too mere for ‘sanctity’, too mere for chroniclers to tell of much, too mere to hide the dewfall of God’s light. A fragrance still, still fragrance of far home, to exiles stooped to very grave-side of forgetfulness sudden remembrance – Ah! What will become of sinners? Pray, pray for us, bearer of the torch, pray for us sinners, pray for our world of drab.

Simon Tugwell, The Way of the Preacher (Prouille 1977) Published by Darton Longman & Todd  

 

In our parish notices ‘The Dominican’, there is a delightful insert for the children and young at heart which you can download here.   You will find it on page 4 of the supplement.

 

 

Collect for 16th Sunday of Year B

 COLLECT SERIES

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COLLECT SERIES

The Collect for 16^th Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

 

Show favour, O Lord, to Your servants

and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace,

that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity,

they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following questions emerged:

1. What is the main area in my life that I wish to ask God favour for this coming week?

2. How can I cooperate with God’s grace this coming week?

3. What are the commands that I need to be watchful this coming week?

4. What are the commands of the Lord that I find difficult to keep?

5. How will I make progress in my spiritual life this coming week (even in this period of lock down?)

 

 

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Jesus takes the apostles away to a quiet place for retreat, so that they can pray and be together, and deepen their faith and commitment. However, when their boat comes ashore, a crowd of people are already there before them and are waiting for them. The planned retreat must now give way to the needs of this hungry people, who are hungry for more of what Jesus has to offer them. Jesus could have turned that boat around and gone off in search of another place for peace and quiet. But he did not do that since to do that is to close your heart to human need.

 

The sight of these people has a profound effect on Jesus. He is deeply moved by what he sees - people who seem lost and directionless, people who seem vulnerable to every wind that blows. They are people like sheep without a shepherd.

Shepherds, as we know, provide leadership and good guidance for sheep, finding new pastures for them and keeping guard over them in the watches of the night, so that predators may not attack and kill them. So many people in the world are like sheep without a shepherd, easy prey for those who would take advantage of them and destroy them. Life should not be like this. Everyone deserves to be loved and cared for, but the world is full of sorrow. That is why the retreat had to wait. Jesus saw needy people and responded right away.

The world needs shepherds. Everyone needs a shepherd. Without the care and love and protection of a shepherd we will all be lost. We will be vulnerable to those who wish to exploit us for their own selfish and cruel ends. Sometimes people fall through the cracks in society. No one seems to be responsible, and young people and poor people are left to die by the wayside.

When we see a need  do we respond to it in some way or do we close our minds and hearts to the person who is in need.  Jesus tells us in the scripture that ‘whatever we do to the least of our brethren, we do to Him’.  He also reminds us in Matthew’s Gospel that at the end of time, we will be judged (Mt 25).

God's opportunity.

 

REFLECTION AND PRAYER SERIES.

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

 

My Scripture reflection is 

 

''Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”’   
(Lk 12:34)

 

Christ The Redeemer.

 

 

My post is called:

 

God’s opportunity.

Life may take my worldly treasures,

But not my integrity

Time may frustrate all my dreams,

but not God’s opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

Eucharistic Prayer Part 6: Memorial Prayer and offering.

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The Mass at Nazareth

Part 6  ‘Memorial Prayer and Offering’.

Characteristic of all the Eucharistic Prayers is a statement of offering, which is linked to and in conjunction with the Memorial Prayer. It is an explicit declaration that the Church is offering the ‘bread and cup’ or some other elaborated equivalent.  

 

Eucharistic Prayer 1 requests that ‘the offering be accepted as were the sacrificial gifts of Abel, Abraham and Melchizedek’.  Eucharistic Prayer 11 speaks of offering ‘this life-giving bread, this saving cup’.  Eucharistic Prayer 111 refers to ‘this holy and living sacrifice,’ while Eucharistic Prayer 1V refers to the offering ‘Christ’s body and blood’.

 

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2007) explains this ‘offering’ as follows:

‘In this memorial, the Church- and in particular the Church here and now assembled- offers the spotless victim to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Church’s intention is that the faithful not only offer this victim, but also learn to offer themselves and so to surrender themselves, through Christ the Mediator, to an ever more complete union with the Father and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all’. (p.28).

 

In other words, there is only one offering action in the Mass, and it is celebrated during the Eucharistic Prayer.  It is an offering made by the whole Church, but especially by the community assembled in faith.  In a prayer of praise, the church unites itself to Christ who ‘forever lives to make intercession’ (Heb 7:25).

 Since the Eucharistic Prayer is the pledge of future glory, we also recall the Virgin Mary, the apostles, the martyrs and all the saints who already share in the heavenly banquet announced and prefigured by the Eucharist.  Therefore, the Eucharistic Prayer names only those with whom the ecclesial community share the faith.  

 

Christ, through the Church in every Mass gives us the opportunity to unite, offer and surrender ourselves, our lives and those whom we love to Him. The Mass is so rich in meaning and provides us with many grace-filled moments throughout.   

 

Do we fully appreciate the wonderful gift Christ gives us in the Mass for our pilgrim journey?    

 

Celebrating St Dominic Guzman part 1

 CELEBRATING 

ST DOMINIC GUZMAN SERIES

St Dominic Guzman:
Celebrating St Dominic Guzman Series.

This year we celebrate the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Dominic, who died in Bologna on 6th August, 1221. His feast day is celebrated on 3^rd August in Australia but on 8^th August for the rest of the universal church.

Over the next few weeks,  I will share with you  information about  St Dominic which I have acquired from parish church notices The Dominican  (St Dominic's Parish East Camberwell Australia).    Some art you may not have seen, some extracts from contemporary documents about Dominic, prayers to St Dominic and some other delights.

Let us begin this series with the oldest known portrait of St Dominic, painted some twenty years after his death, and some of the grains of information that we have about his youth in northern Spain.

1 hope that each week you will find something to delight, interest or challenge you.

The Mascarella Table at Bolgna. 

The oldest known portrait of Saint Dominic (detail), c. 1235. 

 This is the earliest portrait we have of Dominic and his companions, and it gives us insight into his understanding of his mission in the Church. The image shows Saint Dominic with a halo in the centre, in the company of forty-eight of his brother preachers, seated at the same table. He is at dinner at the first convent in Bologna, known today as Saints Mary and Dominic of Mascarella, where he and his companions, who arrived in Bologna during the winter of 1218, lived for a few months. The faces of Dominic's companions suggest that they came from different countries in Europe, as indeed they did. The painting has been there since about 1235, and happily remains largely intact, despite being painted over at one time and sawn in three at another. It even survived an attempt by the Dominicans in Bologna to steal it! 

“We will celebrate Saint Dominic not as a saint alone on a pedestal, but as a saint enjoying the communion of a meal with his brothers, united by the same vocation to preach the Word of God and to share the gift of food and of drink from God ”, explained the master general of the Dominicans, Brother Gerard Francisco Timoner, the present Master of the Order (and so the 87th Successor of St Dominic.)

 

THE YOUNG DOMINIC GUZMAN Some extracts from the Libellus of Bl. Jordan of Saxony.. Jordan of Saxony’s Little Book on the Origins of the Order of Preachers (the Libellus) is quite different. He was a close personal friend of Dominic, and succeeded him as Master of the Order. He consulted three important witnesses of the first days of the Order who were still alive (Bertrand of Garrigua, Peter Seila, and John of Navarre), and was witness himself to the later years of Dominic’s life, as well as the transfer of his body from the cemetery to the tomb in the church in 1233. For Dominic’s infancy, of course, he had to rely on second-hand accounts, though he may well have heard many details direct from the mouth of his friend, Dominic, when they travelled and worked together.

His mother’s dream A boy named Dominic was born … in the town of Caleruega. Before his mother conceived him, she saw in a vision that she would bear in her womb a dog who, with a burning torch in his mouth and leaping from her womb, seemed to set the whole earth on fire. This was to signify that her child would be an eminent preacher who, by “barking” sacred knowledge, would rouse to vigilance souls drowsy with sin, as well as scatter throughout the world the fire which the Lord Jesus Christ came to cast upon the earth. From infancy this child was carefully reared by his parents and a maternal uncle, an archpriest who lost no time training him in the practices of the Church. In this way the child, whom God had destined to be a vessel of election, was from his earliest years pervaded with an odour of holiness which always clung to him.

 

His time at University In due time he was sent to Palencia for instruction in the liberal sciences, which flourished there in those days… While he was a student [there], a famine arose and almost all Spain was stricken. Being moved with pity for the poor at the sight of their misery, he resolved at once to put into practice our Lord’s counsel and do all he could to relieve the wants of the dying poor. He sold all his belongings, even his books, which he very much needed in that city. Establishing a centre for almsgiving, he distributed his goods and gave them to the poor. This example so stirred the souls of his fellow students and masters in theology that, seeing how stingy their own help had been in comparison with this young man’s liberality, they began to give alms in greater abundance.

Called to the priesthood: a canon at Osma cathedral Reports about him reached the Bishop of Osma, who, after carefully verifying all that he heard, summoned Dominic and made him a Canon Regular of his church. At once he began to shine as a special star among the canons. His humble heart and extraordinary holiness made him an odour of life unto life among them and as sweet-smelling frankincense in summertime. …He frequented the church day and night. He prayed without ceasing and, making use of the leisure afforded for contemplation, he scarcely ever left the monastery grounds. God gave him the singular gift of weeping for sinners, the wretched, and the afflicted, whose sufferings he felt within his compassionate heart, which poured out its hidden feelings in a shower of tears… It was his custom to spend his night watches in prayer and, having shut the door, to pray to the Father in secret

Canonised (declared a saint) in 1234. 

Collect for 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B.

 COLLECT SERIES

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COLLECT 

The Collect for the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B reads as follows:

 

O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray,

so that they may return to the right path,

give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians

the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ

and to strive after all that does it honour.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

 

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged:

1. What is the light of Your truth in my life?
2. How does God guide me along the right path?
3. What is my attitude towards the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
4. How do I strive to honour Christ in my life?
5. What steps will I take to honour Christ more this coming week?
6. What steps will I take this coming week to make this Collect Prayer my own in my life?

 
GOSPEL REFLECTION

The Gospel for today is from St. Mark.6:7-13.  Christ is the Son of God and could have chosen to spread His Gospel of peace and love, his message of eternal salvation, to the whole world without human help.   However, Jesus chose His disciples who showed human weakness as well as strength to start the work of evangelisation.  Jesus sent their own fellowmen to bring them the message. This choice showed his divine love and understanding of weak human nature, much better and much more effectively than the use of any of the supernatural means which he could have employed.

God, and Christ is God, gave man the gift that we call freewill.  We are able to choose between alternatives. God wants humanity to choose heaven as his eternal home, but He wants usto choose it without compulsion or coercion. He will have volunteers in heaven not conscripts. When we choose Heaven, we must also choose the means of going there. This means is through prayer, being in relationship with God, through the Church and its Sacraments and through fellowship with each other.   

By appointing mortal men to bring the news of salvation, the news of heaven, and the means of getting there to all of us, Christ has given us the chance of exercising our freewill and therefore of meriting heaven. Refusal to accept would hardly be possible if Christ informed us miraculously or taught us in person. If some extraordinary individual could persist in refusing, his refusal would be utterly inexcusable.

God's mercy and love can reach into the darkest corners and produce fruit from the most unlikely and apparently most neglected of orchards.

Sometimes we may feel we are walking alone along the road less travelled.  We are never alone because Jesus is always with us.  We need to be strong and when we feel weak, we can lean on Him.   We need to make the daily commitment to desire Heaven and do everything we possibly can to walk on this journey by the choices we make.  There are many things we need to do in our lives but we might want to ask ourselves whether these are bringing us closer to God or drawing us away. Even the smallest thing can pull us away or if we do it in God’s strength then it has the capacity to draw us closer.  What will we choose?  Will we walk the path towards Heaven this coming week?

We are almost half way through the liturgical year.  This week may be an ideal opportunity to review our spiritual journeys so far this year.  What is working well?  What needs improvement?  How do I want to grow spiritually by the end of this liturgical year?  We are either moving forward or backward and never sitting on the fence still.  So, which direction are we going in right now and which direction do you wish to head by the end of the year? Take stock this week and devise a plan to move forward.

May God continue to show his mercy and divine understanding towards ourselves and to humanity who is such need of Him.