Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Today  is the memorial for St. Rose of Lima - one of three Dominican Saints who walked the streets of Lima, Peru in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. St. Martin de Porres and St. John Macias are the other two. Neither of them were priests but both were what we would call today Dominican cooperator brothers.  St. Rose and St. Martin knew each other. She died before St. John Macias entered the Order. He never met the Rose of Lima. Martin and John, however, spent much time in each other's company. How blessed a city Lima was at that time - to have in its midst such three simple, humble, and holy souls. As I mentioned in a 2013 post, St. Rose treasured the great spiritual value of sacrificial suffering and invited us to do likewise. If you are interested to learn why, you can read about it here. Today, I wanted to share another marvelous trait this Saint displayed during her lifetime which I discovered while reading Cultivatin...

Today is the feast day of another Dominican Saint, St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639). The monthly listing of Dominican Saints and Blesseds whose feast days are celebrated in November, describe St. Martin as "first a Lay Dominican, then infirmarian, barber, worker among the poor, remarkable wonder-worker, and Church appointed patron of social justice, cooperator brothers and hair dressers".   The Dominican Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours tells us that "[in] his life of prayer Martin was especially devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and to the passion of our Lord".   Excerpts from the homily of Pope John XXIII at the Saint's canonization set forth in today's Office of Readings provide more detail of this humble servant:   "Whenever he would contemplate Christ's terrible torture he would be reduced to tears. He had an exceptional love for the great Sacrament of the Eucharist and often spent long hours in prayer b...

Another Wednesday and another opportunity to thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for their weekly invitation to re-post our favorite articles on Worth Revisiting . Go there now (and every Wednesday) and let an interesting group of Catholic bloggers nourish you in your Faith journey. V isit Allison at   Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of each week.   They have much to offer. Here is my contribution: A Glimpse of St. Louis Bertrand (Originally published October 9, 2012) [This year we did not celebrate the memorial of St. Louis Bertrand, the patron saint of my Lay Dominican Chapter, since it fell on a Sunday. We should not pass this saint by. How about if we take a look at him today?] St. Louis Bertrand, O.P. (1526-1581)             His early years – On January 1, 1526, one hundred and seven years after the death of St....

Today we celebrate the feast day of another Dominican Saint and Pope, St. Pius V (1504-1572). He led the Catholic Reformation. He also organized a Rosary Crusade throughout Catholic Europe which is believed to be the reason why the Catholic naval forces were able to decisively defeat the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, effectively thwarting their plan to take over the rest of Europe .   The Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours for the Order of Preachers offers us this glimpse of Pius V:   “Pius used to say that the special duty of the Roman Pontiff was to strive with all his power to preserve divine worship, ecclesiastical discipline, and the upright morals of all who lived in Rome . Therefore he took great care to restore the liturgy to its original splendor in those places where it had been neglected and to restore the life and morals of all ranks of persons to the way of true piety.   Since Pius clearly saw that nothing was more odious to G...

Today is the feast day of St. Albert the Great (1206-1280). Who was this noted Dominican friar?    The following brief summary from the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic ( St. Joseph ’s Province) highlights some of his accomplishments; “German Bishop, theologian of renown, philosopher, scientist, diplomat, inventor, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas…crisscrossed his diocese on foot and so nicknamed “Doctor Boots by his contemporaries. “Universal Doctor’ of the Church…”   Today also marks the 11th anniversary of the opening of the chapel of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in my former parish.   Why not commemorate both of these great occasions by taking a look at what St. Albert the Great had to say about the Eucharist: “This sacrament [the Eucharist] is profitable because it grants remissions of sins; it is most useful because it bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life...Nor can we do anything more pleasant. For what is better...

Today our Dominican family celebrates the memorial of St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617). She was the first canonized saint of the Western hemisphere, a contemporary of St. Martin DePorres and Saint John Macias , and “patron saint of Lima, Peru, all the Americas, the Phillippines, India, florists, gardeners, and people ridiculed for their piety” .   The Office of Readings today offers this excerpt from her writings for our fruitful meditation and response:   Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.” When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me an...

Ordinarily we would have commemorated the feast day of St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) last week on April 5th. But this year that day was Holy Thursday. Since this Dominican saint was an outstanding preacher whose passion and zeal for the salvation of souls knew no bounds, I did not want to wait unitl next year before sharing a little bit about him. There is much we can learn from him today. His early years – Prior to his birth in Valencia, Spain on January 23, 1350, Vincent’s parents, William and Constance, had several experiences which led them and others to understand how uniquely gifted would be the child in Constance’s womb. A Dominican friar appeared to William in a dream and told him he would have a son who would be a “prodigy of learning and sanctity,” whose wondrous deeds would be known throughout the world, who would fill “heaven with joy and Hell with terror,” and who would accomplish these things as a Dominican priest. [i] Sometime thereaft...