Catherine of Siena: Prayer and Action

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

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

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

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

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

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

Join us for Compline

COMPLINE BEGINS AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL 2008 ...

Praying the Rosary 3 - The Rosary as a Lenten Devotion

The Christian life may be regarded as a journey of transformation or “conversion” which we are called to travel step by step throughout our life. The annual season of Lent, which is itself a journey towards Easter, reminds us that the Christian journey is never over and done with in this life but requires sustained commitment and constant practice. The Rosary - a prayer which is also based on repetition and constant practice – is a journey in the company of Mary deeper into the mystery of Jesus Christ. The Rosary therefore blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian which we live even more intensely during Lent.

The Rosary is usually recited on a chain of fifty beads which are divided into five decades. Each of these decades represents a particular moment or ‘mystery’ in the life of Christ. As our fingers move through the beads of each decade we recite the Hail Mary prayer ten times while meditating upon a particular event in the life of Christ or His Mother. At the beginning of each mystery we pray the Our Father and at the end of each mystery we say 'glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end, Amen'. There are in total four sets of mysteries – joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious - covering all the major events in the life of Christ. The Rosaries which Dominican Friars wear on their habits sometimes have enough beads for all twenty mysteries.

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the three traditional ascetical practices associated with Lent. During this season we are invited to intensify our life of prayer, that vital activity which sustains and deepens our relation to God. If the Rosary has sometimes been called a “compendium of the Gospel” we might just as easily call it a “compendium of prayer” consisting of praise, petition and contemplation and comprising some of the most important prayers in the Christian tradition. The “sorrowful” mysteries of the Rosary can be considered of particular importance as we journey through Lent towards Holy Week because with these mysteries we contemplate the individual moments of Christ’s Passion – such as His scourging and crowning with thorns, carrying the Cross, and Crucifixion and death – in anticipation of the light of the Resurrection on Easter Day.

Praying the Rosary 2 - The Rosary and the Dominican Vocation

Recently, the Master of the Order, Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa, wrote a letter on the Rosary, declaring that this year should be a 'Year of the Rosary' for the Order. In his letter Fr Carlos, suggested that the Order undergo a process of re-discovering the importance of the Rosary in Dominican life, both as a prayer by which we contemplate the mysteries of salvation, and also as a means by which the Gospel may be preached.

The letter begins by treating the memories that we may have of the Rosary: these may be our own, or ones that have been passed on to us. These will help us, Fr Carlos suggests, to rediscover its importance in our own lives, and what it has meant to others. He recounts the story of the persecution of Brazilian Dominicans in the 1970s, and of a brother being dragged away, shouting for his Rosary to be brought to him. Such a moment showed forth the Rosary's importance to that brother. Why then might the Rosary in particular be so important to us?

The Master's answer is that the mysteries we contemplate in the Rosary are very much associated with the events of our own life. Each mystery speaks to us of the mysteries of salvation brought to us through the incarnation, and in a special way of the effect those mysteries have in our own life. There are few prayers that better speak to us and make God present to us in all our needs than the Rosary. Fr Carlos recounts his journeys throughout the world, visiting the Order, and how these have shown him how often people turn to the Rosary as a prayer in their deepest needs: in poverty, war, and violence. He encourages the Dominicans to see the Rosary as gift: it is a prayer that can be said at any time, in any place, alone or together. Sometimes maybe all we are able to do is to grasp the beads in our hands, 'grasping the hand of Mary herself'. It is a prayer for the whole of our lives, whether as a young child receiving our first Rosary as a gift, a young Dominican novice, receiving the Rosary with the habit, or as a symbol of lifelong devotion, at our side when we are laid to rest at the end of our lives.

In the letter, the Order is presented with a call to re-discover the value and place of the Rosary in our personal and community prayer, our contemplation and preaching. Perhaps reviving the praying of the Rosary is something that we should all be involved in as Catholics. We might wish to think about placing the prayer at the centre of our prayer lives this Lent, praying that it will help prepare us to worthily and reverently celebrate the mysteries of our salvation.

Lectio Divina: Praying the Scriptures - Part 2

In the first post on lectio divina, we looked at its origins, value to the Christian and the basics of its practice. There are, however several other things that are worth thinking about.

How do we choose suitable passages for lectio divina?
One of the potential problems of lectio divina comes with selecting suitable Biblical texts. At one level, there is nothing wrong with using our favourite passages of the Bible, using lectio divina as a way of exploring their riches, and allowing God to speak to us through them. But we must be careful that we don't just stick to those passages that we like or choose ourselves. This is because we can get into the situation where we start to choose what we want God to be saying to us - a 'pick your own' approach. We need to find a way of choosing texts that is less subjective.

As Catholics, we believe that the Bible is God's gift to the Church, to a believing community. The fact that we are part of that community and not just an individual alone with God is important. Our interpretation of the Bible must be carried out within the Church. One of the best ways of choosing the texts for lectio divina is to use the texts that the Church gives us in the lectionary. We may want to make it part of our daily prayer to spend time in lectio divina with the Gospel of the day. Or we may even prefer to take the readings for the following Sunday, and go back to them several times. Either way, this means we are open to allowing the text that is given to speak to us, to give us a message that comforts, stirs, disturbs us.

What resources are available to help with lectio divina?
This website can be used to find the readings of the day, arranged according to date.

There are also many books available, and two in particular are really worth reading:

• David Foster OSB. Reading with God: Lectio Divina. Published: Continuum, 2005. – This is a superb book by a Monk of Downside Abbey in England. It is well written and clear, but not overly complicated.
• Mariano Magrassi OSB. Praying the Bible: Introduction to Lectio Divina. Published: Liturgical Press, 1998. – This is a little ‘heavier’ than Foster’s book, but is a really fine book by the late Archbishop of Bari, Italy.

Some tips:

• There are many websites about lectio divina, but few that give well written, in depth accounts. Be discerning! It can easily get to the point with prayer that we spend far more time reading about it than doing it. Once we know the basics, we just have to try, and persevere.
• For some people it might help to be guided by one who has some experience of lectio divina. Such a person may also be able to provide help by suggesting particular passages that might help reflect on particular questions or problems that life poses.

If you are unsure where to start, and don't want to launch into the cycle of daily readings, any one of the following passages might help:

Genesis 2:4-9
Isaiah 55:6-9
Matthew 7:7-11
Matthew 15:32-39
1 John 4:7-16

Lectio Divina: Praying the Scriptures - Part 1

Lectio divina is a form of prayer that has a long history in the Church, and is especially associated with the monastic and religious life. It is a way of prayerful reading, where our hearts and minds are open to God. The main text for lectio divina is the Bible.

So why should we read the Bible?
We believe that the Bible is much more than a book of nice stories. We believe that the Bible contains religious truths, truths about God. So these are not just stories, but a very important way in which God speaks to us. It is the word of God. But the word of God is not just some text on a page. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

What the passage is saying is that the word of God has the power to change us and speaks to us now, here, today.

Reading the Bible is an important part of our growth in the Christian life. Reading it in a prayerful way will change us. But if we want this to happen, we must learn some particular skills, ways of reading and listening. We need to be able to listen for the still, small voice of God. Through gentle listening we become aware of the presence of God in the Scriptures.

How do we do lectio divina?
Traditionally, lectio divina was seen simply as a very slow, deliberate reading of the Bible so that the words could be learned off by heart. The idea was that if a monk knew texts of the Scripture off by heart, he could take these words with him in his mind and heart wherever he went. Particular passages would also come into his mind in particular situations, and so the words would be his constant companion. Thus the words were an important part of the monk’s relationship with God.

These days, people tend to think of 4 stages of lectio divina:

Lectio: We read the text. But not as we would read a newspaper or normal book. We read slowly.

Meditiatio: When we are reading a passage, slowly and attentively, we may find a part that is particularly attractive, some words or a word that grabs us. We should stop and think about it for while. We can repeat it a few times in our mind for a few minutes.

Oratio: This is when we speak to God, responding to that part of the passage that has attracted us. In other words, we make our own response to God’s invitation.

Contemplatio: I think the best way of describing this is that we just remain quiet and still for a few moments after having spoken to God in prayer.

Some thoughts:
1) Remember that prayer is God’s gift. We cannot just use methods and think that God will do things for us. God works in our lives through his grace. We are not in control. Lectio divina is simply a way for helping us be attentive, and to create space and time in which God can speak to us through the Bible. Sometimes lectio divina may make us ‘feel’ good, but more often we won’t notice any difference. Prayer is not just about feeling good, but about allowing God to transform us, and helping us to love him and others. God works on us in ways that we cannot know.

2) Always start by making the sign of the cross, then say a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to help you, and end with a prayer of thanksgiving.

In our second post, we will have a look at some of the resources available to help us with lectio divina. Some passages will also be provided as examples.

Genealogy

During First Vespers of Christmas in Blackfriars, Oxford, the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Matthew is sung in Latin using Dominican chant. Below is a video of this beautiful and joyful proclamation of the Gospel sung by Br Benedict Jonak, OP.

fr Geoffrey Preston, O.P. (1936 - 1977)

Geoffrey Preston was was born in Winsford, Cheshire, where his grandmother lived, on 24 February 1936. He grew up in Beeston Castle where his father was the local blacksmith, as his grandfather had also been before him, and he was steeped in the Methodist tradition of his forebears. As Aidan Nichols OP, who was one of his novices, has written: "To this element in his upbringing belong his sense of the transcendence of God and his feeling for the local congregation as fully the church in its own place, as well as his love for the Bible and his extraordinary inwardness in getting beneath the skin of the scriptural text." He is also remembered for his love of Wesleyan hymns "though his rendering of them resembled a cow roaring"!

After attendance at the local grammar school and two years of national service with the Royal Air Force, he went up to read History at Durham University where he was active in various societies, a prize-winning debater, and "most improbably for a man of his physical proportions, the Tennis Club." Geoffrey was a voracious reader with "a delight in information on matters common and out-of-the-way alike" and his cell was crammed full of books on every conceivable subject, many "rescued" from second hand bookshops, and from his books he gleaned a collection of quotations which he used in his preaching and writing. It is said that "he never read without a pencil beside him, even in works of fiction". Eventually his treasury of books would became the nucleus of the Geoffrey Preston Library of the Catholic Chaplaincy at Leicester University, for he had been prior of Holy Cross, Leicester from 1976 until his premature death.

Nichols recounts how Geoffrey's encounter with Anglo-Catholicism confirmed his "horror of the demonstrative in religion though he saw good ritual as avoiding just such inauthentic over-statement". And so, Geoffrey converted to Catholicism via the Church of England in 1958. He spent a year teaching history in Blackpool before joining the Order where his desire "to get as deeply as possible into a living and articulate theological culture" was fed and in the Order his "zest for knowledge and a call to communicate to others" was fulfilled. He made profession on 28 September 1962 and was ordained priest on 15 July 1967.

Geoffrey lived as a religious in a time of great change for the Church and the question 'Where is God to be found?' would shape his response. According to Nichols, Geoffrey realised that "the clues to [God's] presence could only be uncovered in some rapport with the liturgical, spiritual and theological tradition which linked the church now with the time of Jesus and his disciples". Nevertheless, the process of finding God in a time when old certainties were called into question, and a traditional form of religious life was being re-evaluated, was one of interior suffering for Fr Geoffrey. From this suffering "issued a striking ministry of teaching and preaching and pastoral care. His gifts as a liturgist, a man of ritual, were out of the ordinary. He had a facility for combining the intimate with the solemn which made it thankfully impossible to claim him as either a progressive or a traditionalist" and this was a great gift indeed in a time of considerable polarisation. Thus, he was a pastor able to carry the burdens of God's people, whether they were impatient for change or distressed by it. These were certainly useful skills for someone who was appointed Master of Novices in 1970 and again in 1974 but he eventually resigned the position, though not without pain.

Fr Geoffrey's "theological and spiritual balance" which his novices appreciated seems to have had deep roots in a constant rumination of the Scriptures. According to one enclosed Carmelite, "one could feel that here was a man speaking of what he knew, and what he knew not 'through flesh and blood or through the will of man' but through the grace of the Father".

Preparing for a summer preaching tour of South Africa and on the eve of submitting a collection of writings to a publisher (edited posthumously for publication by Aidan Nichols OP), Geoffrey collapsed in Hawkesyard Priory, Staffordshire (where he is buried), and was diagnosed with gall-bladder problems but the surgeons could not operate immediately because of his size. As Nichols remembers, Geoffrey took communion to the sick "by bicycle... daily and perilously, for his girth had by now reached Falstaffian dimensions." He subsequently died, aged 41, of a heart attack with his brethren by his bedside; a death which might be regarded "not so much tragic as the plucking of ripened fruit."

How might we remember this "enormous, bovine, cheerful, inquisitive and childlike man"? Perhaps we can judge for ourselves from the three books which were published after his death. So many of his brethren and friends remember him with fondness and deep affection as a "generous and compassionate" pastor and Fr Nichols' biographical sketch exudes a certain devotion towards his former Novice Master. Indeed, the Province's obituary notices says that he was "foremost a preacher whose life and words he let be shaped by God and speak of God", a phrase used of our holy father Dominic himself. But the most memorable image we have is one offered by one of the brethren who remembers Geoffrey Preston as "that great mass of a man in a slightly grubby cream serge Dominican habit, occupying an armchair with the air of a beached whale, a rosary in his fingers and the Authorised Version of the Bible on his tummy."

May he thus repose eternally in the bosom of the Lord whom he loved and served so well.

Healing for Mary's Dowry

During the John Paul II Pilgrimage to Walsingham, Br Lawrence Lew OP gave the following talk which we reproduce here for the Feast of the Assumption:

"Chaucer in the Prologue to his Canterbury Tales says that after the April rains, people long to go on pilgrimages and so, he fell in with 29 others who were journeying to Canterbury. That was in the 14th-century when the tradition of calling England ‘The Dowry of Mary’ was already well established.

We 21st century pilgrims follow in the tradition of Chaucer and his folk in ways both alike and different. Unlike them, we are clearly not walking after the rains have ceased, and the shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury no longer exists. But we are a similar band of twenty-odd pilgrims, journeying to the heart of Mary’s Dowry, to her shrine at Walsingham. Soon, we shall pray in the Slipper Chapel which was built just half a century before Chaucer wrote his Tales. Some of us even look similar to those pilgrims because of the medieval habits we wear, although it is hoped that the religious and clergy in our band are less quarrelsome, and maybe just slightly less bawdy! But despite these differences, we can be certain that the essence of our pilgrimages, though separated by seven centuries, is the same.

The medieval pilgrims travelled to Canterbury to look for a miracle, and particularly for healing. Chaucer says, “Of England to Canterbury they wend, the holy blissful martyr for to seek, who helped them when they were sick”. And we? Why do we walk in this manner to Walsingham? Are we sick? What do we seek from the holy blissful Virgin Mother of God?

We may not be physically unwell, at least not yet, but we are certainly all wounded and in need of God’s healing, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have sustained the wounds of original sin, and the wounds that a sin-filled world inflicts on us. Thus, pilgrimages are undertaken as an act of penance. The sacrifice and hardship of a pilgrimage is a vital reminder of Christ’s call that we should deny ourselves, take up our Cross and follow him. So, this pilgrimage is a living enactment of the sequela Christi, the following of Christ, even if on this walk, we are not carrying a physical Cross. And in this act of following Christ, we find life, healing and salvation, for if we have died with Christ, we shall rise with him and reign with him.

In 1400, Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, said: “…we English being the servants of her special inheritance, and her own Dowry, as we are commonly called, ought to surpass others in the fervour of our praise and devotion.” That is the goal for England and I think we here certainly share some of that praise, devotion and fervour. There is a Dominican motto, emblazoned on the logo of Blackfriars Hall in Oxford: laudare, benedicere, praedicare; to praise, to bless, to preach. Let it be our motto and a reminder of our goal as Mary’s Dowry: let us praise God, let us bless His holy name with devotion, and let us preach his Gospel of salvation with fervour.

We are also walking this pilgrimage for another reason, with the intention of evangelising England. Our society is clearly sick. All around us, symptoms of its illness can be seen, and yet our fellow countrymen do not recognise and acknowledge their need for the Divine Physician. Christ has come to call sinners to repentance, that we might have life to the full. What sick person does not go to a doctor? The one who doesn’t know he is sick, and so the disease silently kills the person. England needs a doctor, our society needs Christ and it cries out for Him minute by minute. Indeed, England’s need, and our need, is for salvation, for that word, ‘salvation’, is derived from the Latin salus, meaning health. Let every step we take be a prayer for our nation that she may come to realize her need for the healing that only Jesus, the Saviour of all people, brings.

What exactly is a dowry? Basically, it is a present given to a new husband by the bride upon marriage. It took the form of land, goods or money. Why is a dowry given? Because a wedding is near. But whose wedding is near? Every Sunday at Vespers we sing: “Alleluia. The marriage of the Lamb has come. And His bride has made herself ready.” So the wedding that is near, is that of the Lamb, Christ himself. It is the banquet of all the blessed in heaven. The bride is the Church, and the image of the Church is none other than Our Lady. The idea of the Dowry of Mary is profoundly connected to the gift of England – as a people – to Christ at his wedding banquet. Are we ready for that wedding? Yes, and no.

The fact is that we, who are baptised and saved by Jesus, are already invited to this marriage feast and share in its delights. As Pope Benedict said: “For us, the Eucharistic banquet [the Mass] is a real foretaste of the final banquet foretold by the prophets and described in the New Testament as ‘the marriage-feast of the Lamb’, to be celebrated in the joy of the communion of saints.” But in another sense, we are still not there yet. We are the Church Militant, fighting the good fight – as St Paul puts it – and running the race. We are on the way, pilgrims in via, learning to perfect how we praise, bless and preach. As such, a pilgrimage like this reminds us of the journey that we are all on together, moving towards heaven, our true homeland. The Dominican Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, once said that Christians suffer from “eschatological amnesia”. What he meant is that often we live and work as if this life is all that mattered, forgetting that we are actually pilgrims travelling through this life on the way home to God. To be a pilgrim is to have a destination in mind, to be continually moving towards it, and our goal is God Himself and the life of beatitude with and in Him.

This should not be taken to mean that we ignore the plight of our fellow travellers. No. We journey together, we help those who lag behind and we support one another, for we are called to love God and to love our neighbour. Indeed, St Augustine said that “If you see charity, you see the Trinity”. In a sense then, Christian charity in action is a foretaste of the beatific vision. Thus, Pope Benedict wrote in his first encyclical that “Love of neighbour, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful… For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being.” The Holy Father goes on to say that “practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ. My deep personal sharing in the needs and sufferings of others becomes a sharing of my very self with them… I must give to others not only something that is my own, but my very self; I must be personally present in my gift.” Here we have an explanation of how we can best become Mary’s Dowry: through love, the kind of love in which we are ourselves the gift, given to others, for the love of Christ.

In a recent letter to Chinese Catholics, the Pope explained how a nation is brought to know and love Christ. I think his words can also apply to us in England and remind us how we can most effectively praise, bless and preach. Pope Benedict said: “Today, as in the past, to proclaim the Gospel means to preach and bear witness to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, the new Man, conqueror of sin and death. He enables human beings to enter into a new dimension, where mercy and love shown even to enemies can bear witness to the victory of the Cross over all weakness and human wretchedness. In your country too, the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen will be possible to the extent that, with fidelity to the Gospel, in communion with the Successor of the Apostle Peter and with the universal Church, you are able to put into practice the signs of love and unity.” Put into practice love and unity. May this pilgrimage, in which we journey as one and have communion with one another and with the Lord be such a practice, an expression of Christian love. May this pilgrimage truly be a holy preaching, as we praise and bless the Lord together. May our love and unity be a reflection of the life of the Church in our land.

One way we might show our love and unity is through joy, and in song. It is said that our holy father, St Dominic, as he walked the length and breadth of Europe would break out into song. This joy, this confidence in God’s salvation is truly attractive. A few years ago, I’d returned from the Philippines. Sitting on the train from Manchester airport, I noticed how glum and miserable everyone looked, and I noticed this because it was in stark contrast with the joy and cheer I found in the Philippines, Asia’s most Christian country. I hope that we Christians in England are signs of joy in our communities, in our country. May it be a deep joy rooted in our hope of eternal life with God and the saints.

In 1982, at a Mass in Wembley Stadium, Pope John Paul II said: “Brothers and sisters! …We must be a people of prayer and deep spirituality. Our society needs to recover a sense of God’s loving presence, and a renewed sense of respect for his will." In his words we find inspiration for how, by the grace of God, we may evangelise England, and for what we seek from Our Lady at her Shrine:

"Let us learn this from Mary our Mother. In England, the Dowry of Mary, the faithful, for centuries, have made pilgrimage to her shrine at Walsingham. The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, present here, lifts our minds to meditate on our Mother. She obeyed the will of God fearlessly and gave birth to the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Faithful at the foot of the Cross, she then waited in prayer for the Holy Spirit to descend on the infant Church. It is Mary who will teach us how to be silent, how to listen for the voice of God in the midst of a busy and noisy world. It is Mary who will help us to find time for prayer. Through the Rosary, that great Gospel prayer, she will help us to know Christ. We need to live as she did, in the presence of God, raising our minds and hearts to him in our daily activities and worries ...

Certainly, our fidelity to the Gospel will put us at odds with the spirit of the present age. Yes, we are in the world, indeed as disciples of Christ we are sent into the world, but we do not belong to the world. The conflict between certain values of the world and the values of the Gospel is an inescapable part of the Church’s life, just as it is an inescapable part of the life of each one of us. And it is here that we must draw on the patience which Saint Paul spoke about in his letter to the Romans: 'we groan inwardly as we await our salvation, in hope and with patience.'"

I think this pilgrimage is just one of many signs of England’s own pilgrim journey home to God. There are so many signs of hope in the Church in England, little acts of praise, devotion and fervour … let us thank God for these works of His grace, and walk this pilgrimage as an act of thanksgiving.

At the end of this pilgrimage, our feet may well need healing, but we know that by God’s grace, our hearts and souls will have been healed a little more; healed by the love and unity in Christ that we have found. At the very least, we should be more united and loving than Chaucer’s pilgrims! Only then can our witness be genuine. Let us pray that God’s Holy Spirit will use this love and unity, which he has stirred up among us, to heal England, so that we may once more be called ‘Dowry of Mary’, a people given to Jesus and ready for his eternal wedding banquet."

Dominican Pilgrimage to Walsingham

On Sunday 20 May, Dominican friars and sisters, lay Dominicans and friends of the Order made a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Here are photos from that wonderful day of prayer and fraternity; click on them to enlarge:

"The Rosary is fundamentally nothing more than a specially arranged synthesis of Marian Devotions with a truly Trinitarian and Christological orientation. That is what makes it essential and irreplaceable as a genuine devotion to Mary" - Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P.

"O alone of all women, Mother and Virgin, Mother most happy, Virgin most pure, now we sinful as we are, come to see thee who are all pure, we salute thee, we honour thee as how we may with our humble offerings; may thy Son grant us, that imitating thy most holy manners, we also, by the grace of the Holy Ghost may deserve spiritually to conceive the Lord Jesus in our inmost soul, and once conceived never to lose him. Amen" - Walsingham pilgrims' prayer, believed to have been composed by Erasmus, c.1511

Easter Liturgies

Here are some photographs of our Easter liturgies.

The Paschal candle, painted by Br Thomas Skeats OP, the sacristan.

The Easter fire is prepared in the garden by Fr Denis Minns OP and it is blessed:
"Father, we share in the light of your glory through your Son, the light of the world..."
The blessed fire is then used to light the Paschal candle.

The priory church is filled with the new light of Easter lit from the Paschal candle. In the words of the Exsultet, it is "a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to the honour of God".

Br Robert Mehlhart OP led the schola of friars in singing some of the psalms during the Vigil and also conducted the volunteer choir. At the Vigil, the 'Blackfriars Mass' by Br Bruno Clifton OP was sung for the first time, as well as Palestrina's Sicut cervus and pieces of traditional chant.

The Paschal candle burns from Easter until Pentecost, a symbol of the risen Christ.

Solemn Vespers was sung on Easter Sunday and during the Magnificat, the High Altar and the people are incensed.

Sunlight floods the east window during Vespers. This natural light too reminds us of Christ. As the Exsultet says: "He is that morning star that knows no setting, Jesus Christ your Son who came back from the dead to shed his clear light on all humankind".

We wish all our Godzdogz readers a happy and blessed Easter!

Exsultet - Rejoice!

Many of our readers will be familiar with the Exsultet, the great hymn of praise to the paschal candle, as it appears in the Roman Missal. In Blackfriars Oxford we sing it to a tune adapted from Dominican chant and using a unique translation of the Latin text. Br Bruno Clifton OP sings it here in this setting, with photographs by Br Lawrence Lew OP

The prayer of the prophet Jeremiah

The video above is a recording of Oratio Jeremiae prophetae, part of the Office of Tenebrae for Holy Saturday. It is sung at Blackfriars this year by Robert Gay OP. Here is a translation of the text:

The prayer of the prophet Jeremiah

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace!
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.
We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought.
With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.
We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough.
Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities.
Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand.
We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.
Women are ravished in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.
Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
Young men are compelled to grind at the mill; and boys stagger under loads of wood.
The old men have quit the city gate, the young men their music.
The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim,
for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
But thou, O Lord, dost reign for ever; thy throne endures to all generations.
Why dost thou forget us for ever, why dost thou so long forsake us?
Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!
Or hast thou utterly rejected us? Art thou exceedingly angry with us?

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn again to the Lord your God.

Good Friday Liturgy

Some moments from our liturgy at Blackfriars Oxford, captured on camera:

A distinctive feature of Tenebrae is the triangular hearse with fifteen unbleached candles. As the psalms are sung, the candles are progressively extinguished. This represents the abandonment of Christ by his disciples.

At the end of Tenebrae, the cantors stand in the middle of the choir and at the steps of the High Altar and implore God's mercy and the brethren and congregation respond with the words of Philippians: "Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross."

At the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, the Cross is lifted high and venerated.

Friars and people creep to the Cross - an ancient liturgical practice. Three times along the way the brethren prostrate themselves and the people kneel as they approach Christ's throne of mercy - his holy Cross.

A moment of stillness after the liturgy...

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ

In Blackfriars on Good Friday St John's account of the passion is sung to a setting based on Dominican chant. It is usually sung by three people and a small choir. However, this recording was made during a rehearsal by Fr Richard Ounsworth OP and Br Bruno Clifton OP and so only two voices are employed.

We wish to share part of our liturgy with you and offer this video as a way of using music and art to pray and meditate on the Lord's Passion.

Film Review: Die Grosse Stille (Into Great Silence)

Philip Groening waited thirteen years before the Carthusian monks at La Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble felt ready for their life to be filmed. The result is this 164-minute film that takes us, as its English title puts it, Into Great Silence. It is the first ever cinematic record of life at the Carthusian mother house. To achieve this poetic and beautiful evocation of the life of St Bruno's austere monastic order, Groening lived in the monastery and follow the monastic routine. He spent just three hours a day filming material for this documentary, accumulating in total 120 hours of film.

The film was selected for the Edinburgh Festival last year and has been lauded across Europe but it can only be seen at select cinemas in the United Kingdom. Although I did not wait as long as Groening to enter the great silence I had been anticipating its UK release for some time. It is well worth the effort of finding a cinema where it is being screened.

Die Grosse Stille allows one to experience Carthusian life through the cinematic art. The viewer is immersed in the silence, rhythm, seasons and chant of monastic life in this beautiful alpine monastery and enveloped in the serenity of the contemplative life in which God's presence is sought. In the silence of the monastic life - punctuated by the steady cadence of bells - even the ordinary jobs of chopping wood, mending a shoe or cutting woolen cloth for a new habit are embued with profound care as these menial tasks and routine chores are offered to God with love. In the midst of such silence, the conversations that take place during the weekly recreation are savoured and become precious, for the lips of the monks are otherwise opened only in praise of God through the chants and prayers of the liturgy. The monastic liturgy is sensitively filmed and we are allowed to glimpse also the hidden life of the monks in their cells, at work, in the cloister and even playing in the snow.

It was a special thrill to hear the monks sing the ancient Carthusian chant and discern certain tones that it shares with Dominican chant. Other aspects, such as the white habit (which included a black hooded cloak for the novices), the adoption of various bodily postures in prayer, and a scene of the monks eating together (as they do on Sundays and great feasts) in their austere refectory, reminded me of the influence of Carthusian life on St Dominic and the first Dominicans. It seemed to me that I was viewing the life of our spiritual ancestors.

I was also touched at seeing a novice, Dom Benjamin, being received into the community, taken to his cell by the other monks who prayed with him in his cell for that first time. We see him later learning to chop wood, sing plainsong and chant the readings during the night office. In many ways I felt a sense of connection with him, as I too am still so new to the adventure of religious life.


Scriptural texts repeatedly puntuated the film, in particular Jeremiah 20:7, You have seduced me, O Lord, and I have let myself be seduced, words that seem to explain why La Grande Chartreuse exists.

Religious life is a mystery and a gift, a divine call that no film can ever adequately reveal, but Die Grosse Stille does help us to see how God's grace - like the gently-falling snow that surrounded the monastery - is powerfully and silently at work in the lives of those who fall in love with the God of love. This is a cause for wonder and thanks, and as one views Groening's documentary, one cannot help but enter the silence and begin to contemplate this grace at work in one's own life, calling us to surrender all for love of Him.


To discover more about the Carthusian vocation, click on the links above, or visit the Parkminster website

Compline at Blackfriars

The office of Compline is sung at Blackfriars, Oxford each Wednesday in the eight teaching weeks of term. It is one of the most beautiful of the Church's liturgies with its quiet meditations on trustfulness and sleep, on death and God's watchful care. You are welcome to join us. It begins at 10.00 p.m. The church will be open from 9.45 p.m.

Worthy Successor of St Dominic

"The Rule of the Friars Preachers. And this is their Rule: to live virtuously, to learn, to teach."

These words of Jordan of Saxony reveal a friar whose experience of the Dominican life, as much as his studiousness, informs his conduct in regular observance. Born in Burgberg, Westphalia at the end of the twelfth century, he received the habit from Bl Reginald of Orleans (whose feast we celebrated yesterday) on 12 February 1220, becoming Provincial of Lombardy only one year later and then first successor to St Dominic as Master of the Order not long after. We can only imagine the weight of such a task as the new order lost its founder. And yet, there is only a hint of this apprehension in Jordan’s own writings:

"I had only been in the Order one year and had not struck root as deeply as I ought to have done. I was to be placed over others as their superior, before I had learned to govern my own imperfection."

(Libellus on the Beginnings of the Order of Preachers)

Jordan oversaw the refinement of the Constitutions and began many traditions that are still observed in the Order today: for instance, encyclical letters from the Master to the brethren and the singing of the Salve Regina after Compline. There are many stories and words from and about Blessed Jordan, who guided his brothers and sisters in the footsteps of Dominic for fifteen years and drew over a thousand novices in the Order. He is, for this reason, the patron of Dominican Vocations and after Compline on Wednesdays at Blackfriars we pray to him for "talented and devoted men and women to consecrate their lives to God".

It has been said that "Jordan who, more than any one man after St Dominic himself, created the spirit of the Order, gave to it a joy and an informality in its daily life which are amongst its greatest treasures, for they enshrine and express a whole theology of religious life." This spirit of joy and laughter is shown in just one story from his in the 'Lives of the Brethren', the Vitae Fratrum:

"When on his way home to his convent with a fresh batch of novices, as they were all saying Compline together, one of them fell to laughing, and the rest catching on joined in right heartily. Upon this one of the blessed Master’s companions made a sign for them to be quiet, which only set them off laughing more than ever. When the blessing had been given at the end of Compline, the Master turning to this friar rebuked him sharply: ‘Brother, who made you their master? What right have you to take them to task?' Then addressing the novices very gently, he said, ‘Laugh to your heart’s content, my dearest children, and don’t stop on that man’s account. You have my full leave, and it is only right that you should laugh after breaking from the devil’s thraldom, and bursting the shackles in which he held you fast these many years past. Laugh on, then, and be as merry as you please, my dearest sons.’ They were all very much relieved on hearing him say so…"

Jordan and two of his confreres were killed in a shipwreck on 13 February 1237 returning from the new priory in Acre in the Holy Land. This would have seemed a tragedy for the Order were we not assured of his continued love and intercession from heaven. We thank God for the gift of so worthy a successor to St Dominic. Br Lawrence at Oxford has written this prayer to Jordan:

May Blessed Jordan of Saxony pray for the Order of Preachers today and always, and grant an increase of vocations to the Dominican Family. May he stir up the hearts of young men and women, as once he did on this earth, with a fervour for Truth, to give themselves in its service in the Order of Preachers. May he clothe us, his brothers and sisters, with his zeal and passion for Christ the Word, and may he give us cause joyfully to laugh in his company for ever. Amen.

Blessed Jordan, pray for us.

Commemoration of our Deceased Parents

On 7 February each year Dominicans pray for their deceased parents. The conventual Mass is offered for them and the Office of the Dead is sung. Brother Alistair Jones OP reflects on the significance of this annual liturgical commemoration:

Death leaves all kinds of unfinished business. When we die most of us will not have become all we should have been - there will have been words of tenderness and forgiveness never spoken, damaging relationships never mended, kinds of trust never learnt. We will have not changed in ways in which we might have changed. So we will die still in need of spiritual healing. The time between death and the vision of God – the time that we call purgatory - essentially is a time for this kind of healing.

It is difficult to hold onto any picture of the beyond. Experience of the death of a loved one brings home all the strangeness of death. An actual death makes it perfectly clear how little we know. But it is possible to make a guess what this time – if it is a time - will be like. The poet Dante wrote a long poem about purgatory - the poem is, in effect, a long guess. Dante thought that this period of being between worlds would be both painful and acutely joyful. He thought the pain and the joy would be God’s way of touching parts of ourselves that we have hardened and brutalised. The pain would be bitter-sweet, it would be suffered in the knowledge that it was a way of undoing all the self-inflicted effects of sin, in the knowledge that it was God’s way of loosening our sclerotic hearts. Above all, purgatory would be a place of renewal. It would be a place of renewed sociability, of remaking the bonds between people, which had been broken by sin. It would also be a place of renewed and purified community with God.

There is a lot of sense and wisdom in Dante’s vision of the healing flames. If purgatory is a place of healing, it must be a healing that can penetrate human nature through and through, and perhaps all real healing like all real change involves something bitter-sweet.

Today we are praying especially that that healing will come home to our dead parents, whose lives are now a mystery to us, but who claim our time and attention. Perhaps we are likely to know our parents’ need for healing best of all. It is easy to know the weaknesses and failures of those we have lived with. But knowledge of someone’s weakness – especially when it is mixed with gratitude to that person – should be a cause of love and nothing else. Our prayer for our dead parents is the best expression which we can give of that love.

Sequence for Candlemas

In the 9th and 10th centuries, there arose a new form of hymnody, the Prose or Sequence which was sung after the Gradual (the anthem between the Epistle and Gospel at Mass). In the Dominican Missal, the Sequence Laetabundus, may still be sung at the Third Mass of Christmas, the Epiphany and Candlemas. It begins thus:

"Let the faithful choir
Joyfully rejoice,
Alleuia!

The womb of the undefiled one
Has brought forth the King of kings:
A thing of wonder..."

There were quite a number of sequences written to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ, but the most famous Nativity sequence is this one. It was once sung all over Europe - the oldest surviving manuscript evidence is from the 11th century - being especially popular in England and France. Unlike other early sequences, it was written in rhymed stanzas and this came to influence later hymns and verses.

This Sequence is believed to survive today only in the Dominican liturgical books and the recording above is from Blackfriars, Oxford. The Latin words and music may be found here and a full translation here.

The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity

The week of the 18th to the 25th of January is the octave of prayer for Christian unity. A group of Dominican students attended a celebration of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom at the Orthodox Parish of the Annunciation, Oxford. Each year the parish celebrates a special liturgy to mark the octave, to which members of other Churches and denominations are invited. In his homily the celebrant, Bishop Kallistos Ware, spoke of the pain caused by divisions amongst Christians. He stressed the need for courage and patience in the search for true unity.

In the encyclical Ut unum sint, the late Pope John Paul II, reminds us that ‘the unity of all divided humanity is the will of God… On the eve of his sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus himself prayed to the Father for his disciples and for all those who believe in him, that they might be one, a living communion. This is the basis not only of the duty, but also of the responsibility before God and his plan, which falls to those who through Baptism become members of the Body of Christ, a Body in which the fullness of reconciliation and communion must be made present’ (UUS, 6).

The encyclical reminds us of the importance of prayer in the work of bringing about the unity to which we are called: ‘When brothers and sisters who are not in perfect communion with one another come together to pray, the Second Vatican Council defines their prayer as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement. This prayer is a very effective means of petitioning for the grace of unity, a genuine expression of the ties which even now bind Catholics to their separated brethren. When Christians pray together, the goal of unity seems closer… If Christians, despite their divisions, can grow ever more united in common prayer around Christ, they will grow in the awareness of how little divides them in comparison to what unites them' (UUS, 21-22).

Here is a prayer for Christian unity written by the Orthodox priest and theologian, Fr. Sergei Bulgakov (1871 – 1944):

O Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, thou didst promise to abide with us always. Thou dost call all Christians to draw near and partake of Thy Body and Blood. But our sin has divided us and we have no power to partake of Thy Holy Eucharist together. We confess this our sin and we pray Thee, forgive us and help us to serve the ways of reconciliation, according to Thy Will. Kindle our hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Give us the spirit of Wisdom and faith, of daring and of patience, of humility and firmness, of love and of repentance, through the prayers of the most blessed Mother of God and of all the saints. Amen.

Blessed be his Holy Name

In 1274 the Council of Lyons entrusted to the Order of Preachers the task of promoting reverence for the Holy Name of Jesus and countering profane and blasphemous uses of it. In 2002 Pope John Paul II re-instituted the feast of the Holy Name, celebrated now on January 3.

One of the earliest Christian creeds is simply 'Jesus is Lord'. Saint Paul tells us that it is on account of his obedience and love that Jesus is given the divine name 'Lord', the name that is above every name, the name before which all creation bows (Philippians 2:9-10). The honour evoked by this divine name extends also to His human name, Jesus. which is entitled to similar honour and respect.

An alarming anecdote tells of a child asking her parents why Mary and Joseph named their child after a swear word! It remains the case that many people use the name 'Jesus' in swearing so that the child's experience is not unusual. The commemoration of this feast is one way to counteract such abuse and to give due honour to the Holy Name.

[The following hymn may be sung to any long meter tune]

HYMN IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY NAME
by Br Lawrence Lew, O.P.

Sing we of that most precious name,
The name by which all men are saved,
That angel hosts adore and fame,
That shatters evil and the grave.

The name before whom devils quake,
The name proclaimed before all time,
The name that took flesh for our sake
The name told oft in verse and rhyme.

This name foretold by angel sent,
And promised to the one Most Pure;
The name to whom she gave assent
Became mankind’s salvation sure.

The name that came in quiet of night,
In lowly pomp led out to die.
The name that humbly veiled its might
Is now raised up to God on high.

This name the prophets spoke of old
And chosen men did tell abroad,
To bring to faith by preaching bold
And in this name confess the Lord.

This name is love, let evils cease,
It conquers sin and death and fear,
Brings end to sorrow, hastens peace
And is a cry for justice clear.

Behold! To every Christian soul,
This name brings joy and hope divine;
Across the Church, from pole to pole,
Gives comfort to the one who pines.

Sing we of this most glorious name
Invoked in prayer, called on by men;
For saints and sinners, still the same:
Jesus, O Jesus Christ, Amen!

Book Review

Martin Laird OSA, Into the Silent Land: The Practice of Contemplation Darton, Longman and Todd, London, 2006

One question that often puzzles people: what is contemplation? It is likely that if you asked this question of ten different people who are in some way classed as ‘contemplatives’, you would get ten different answers. The lack of an agreed answer is off-putting, and those who had ideas about practising it might be discouraged and decide to leave it to others. If this sounds familiar, then Martin Laird’s book will make you think again. For Laird, contemplation is nothing more than ‘seeking communion with God in the silence of our hearts’ (Laird, page 1). Being contemplative is something that we are all called to – it is in our nature.

How then are we to set about becoming contemplative? Laird tackles this by first assessing a common problem – that we all too easily think of God as some distant ‘thing’, somewhere out there, far removed from us. The early part of his book seeks to remind us that we discover the sacred within, because God is, as St. Augustine put it,