“Boots.”  That was the common name for St. Albert the Great (1193/1206-1280, feast – Nov. 15).  Wherever he went, he traveled humbly by walking.  He traveled all throughout Europe…and walked on each journey.  He could have ridden a horse as a bishop (since he was no longer bound to the Dominican’s rule forbidding the riding of horses).  Yet, if he hadn’t walked, would his eyes and his mind have been as perceptive?

St. Albert the Great is a one of the 3 Dominican doctors of the Church (with St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Catherine of Siena), and is known as the Universal Doctor and the Doctor of Science.  Tradition has it that he knew everything about science that was possible to know in his day.  Regardless of whether or not the skeptics desire to disbelieve such an astounding claim, it is certain that his knowledge was incredibly extensive.  His writings ranged from philosophy to Scriptural commentaries to scholastic theology to botany and zoology.  It was said that he even made a sort of robot.  He did experiments on animals, such as finding out that the myth that ostriches liked to eat iron was true and that there probably existed an animal that we now know as the polar bear.  It was simply amazing how much he wrote, especially since he was a professor, a provincial, and eventually a bishop.

But in all his studies, his travels by foot showed not only a sense of obedience to the Dominican Rule, but also something much more.  They show his love for science and God’s providence.  When you walk on a road that you would normally drive, you see so much more.  Nature becomes real in a new way.  Instead of passing you by, it approaches you, offering to invite you into something deeper.  This is probably what St. Albert saw.  In his traveling thousands of miles all throughout Europe over and again, he not only saw things previously unknown to him, but he began to understand in a new way.  It is probably because of this and because of his deep contemplative prayer life that he could write works on animals, plants, and God, all with such profound depth.  And at the same time, he could teach the Church’s brightest student, whose mind worked more deeply than any human person had yet done.  That student was the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Albert is an ideal model not just for Dominicans, but for all Christians.  While he might exemplify the friar’s life of study, contemplation, and preaching, he also teaches all of us to gaze upon the world and see God’s hand in creation.  He teaches us the importance of seeing Divine providence at work.

O God, you have made the blessed Albert, your bishop and doctor, great in subjecting human wisdom to divine faith; grant to us, we beg of you, so to tread in the footsteps of such a master, that we may enjoy the perfect light in heaven.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

On Monday November 21st, Dominican friar Fr. John Corbett, O.P., will lead a lively ecumenical discussion on our connection with the departed in his talk, “The Communion of Saints.”  Fr. Corbett is an Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at The Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception.

The talk begins at 7:30 pm in the 1823 Cafe at the Episcopal Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.  The Seminary and cafè are located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria.

Admission is free and is open to students and to the public.  The talk will be followed by a traditional Irish music session with The Deserving Poor Boys.  The evening is intended to provide an opportunity for ecumenical dialogue between a lively talk and excellent music.

In this episode of Word to Life, Fr. Gabriel Gillen, O.P., Fr. Bruno Shah, O.P. and Fr. Mark Edney, O.P., discuss the readings for the Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Fr. Edney is President of the International Dominican Foundation and lives in the priory of Santa Sabina in Rome. They are joined by Derrick Chambers, who played professional football for the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Chambers studied at Oxford University and then Princeton’s Theological Seminary before converting to Catholicism.

The following books were recommend by Derrick Chambers during the show:

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Each week, a Dominican member of the Provincial Preaching Advisory board prepares this Preacher’s Sketchbook in anticipation of the upcoming Sunday Mass.  The idea of the Preacher’s Sketchbook is to take quotations from the authority of the Church–the Pope, the Fathers of the Church, documents of the Councils, the saints–that can help spark ideas for the Sunday homily.   Just as an artist’s sketchbook preserves ideas for later elaboration, so we hope the Preacher’s Sketchbook will provide some ideas for homiletical elaboration.

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Sketchbook

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“You were faithful in small matters… Come, share your master’s joy”

“I have kept the Lord always before me; since he is at my right hand, I shall not slip” (Ps 16[15],8). For if there is one thing that Jesus asks of me, it is to lean on him, entrust myself to him alone, abandon myself to him without reserve… We should not try to control God’s actions. We must not count the stages in the journey he asks us to undertake. Even if I feel like a boat adrift, yet I must give myself wholly to him.

If this seems difficult, remember that we are not called upon to succeed but to be faithful. Fidelity, even in small things, is important – not for the sake of the thing itself, which would be the concern of a small-minded soul, but for the sake of the great thing which is the will of God. Saint Augustine said: «Small things remain small, but to be faithful in small things is a great thing. Isn’t our Lord just the same in a poor guest as in a great one?» (cf. Mt 25,40).

Benedict XVI

The “talent” was an ancient Roman coin of great value and precisely on account of the popularity of this parable it has become synonymous with personal gifts, which everyone is called to develop. In reality, the text speaks of “a man who, going abroad, called his servants and handed over his goods to them” (Matthew 25:14). The man in the parable represents Christ himself, the servants are his disciples and the talents are the gifts that Jesus gives them. For this reason such gifts, apart from natural qualities, represent the riches that the Lord Jesus has left us as a legacy, so that we bear fruit with them: his Word, deposited in the holy Gospel; baptism, which renews us in the Holy Spirit; prayer — the “Our Father” — that we address to God as sons united in the Son; his forgiveness, which he commanded to be brought to all; the sacrament of his immolated Body and his Blood that he poured out. In a word: the Kingdom of God, which is Christ himself, present and living among us.

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On the first Thursday of November, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Rhode Island met with young men and women from the  young adult group at St. Pius V Dominican parish in Providence, Rhode Island. The night consisted of  adoration with Vespers, which was followed by a discussion led by the bishop. The point of conversation was primarily around the witness of evangelization that these young men and women are called to have especially in their generation, but also to the whole world.

During the discussion Bishop Tobin remarked, “The church really needs your presence, the gift your of faith, your enthusiasm, your joy and conviction that you can bring to help build up the body of Christ.”

“Go out and share your faith and values with others,” he said. “Take the message of the Gospel with you into the world. Live your life in a way that attracts people to Christ.”

The full article (with accompanying video) is available on the Rhode Island Catholic website.

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Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP, associate professor of biology and instructor of theology at Providence College, is to be a featured presenter at an upcoming Vatican conference on adult steam cell research.  The conference, entitled “Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture“, begins today (Wednesday) and is gathering 350 scientists, religious figures, politicians, educators and industry representatives.  The opening address will be given by Hon. Tommy Thompson, the former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Fr. Austriaco’s topic will be “Will the Advancement of Life Sciences Change Our Vision of Man?”

The Conference is a three-day international conference on adult stem cells and the promise they hold for health care.  It is described by its organizers as, “an exclusive event targeting a select number of participants, including the foremost experts in Adult Stem Cell research along with recognized leaders in the life sciences, medicine, religion, ethics, and public policy.”  The sponsors for the conference include the U.S. Stem for Life Foundation and by the Pontifical Council for Culture.

On 8 November, the Dominicans commemorate our deceased members in the Order, those who, having completed the tasks of this life, have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. The video below shows the annual tradition of the student brothers who visit the nearby cemetery of our deceased brethren and pray for them. Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P. wrote the following article about todays’ memorial.

I remember hearing once a description of the relative advantages of the various religious orders. The Carmelites were the Order you wanted to pray in, the Benedictines were the Order you wanted to sing in, the Jesuits were the Order you wanted to work in. But what about the Dominicans? Well, the old saying was that that the Dominican Order was the one you wanted to die in. To answer the obvious retort, this was not because the Order was so difficult to live in.

Rather, the Order has always had a reputation for its solicitude for its dead. We Dominicans have long had customs and practices that turn our prayers to those who have gone before us. In our houses we still have the custom each day of gathering in the “cloister of the dead”-the place in our Priories where in the early days of the Order the Friars would have been buried-to pray the Psalm De Profundis for the Friars whose anniversary of death falls on that day.

This is in addition to our great many “Suffrages” for the dead. When a brother dies, all of the priests of the Province offer Mass for his soul. Our convents say Mass weekly for our deceased brothers. We even have our own All Souls’ Day – November 8 is “Dominican All Souls,” in honor of our deceased brethren. But our concern for the dead extends beyond the Friars Preachers, to regular Masses said and prayers offered for our Dominican sisters, our families, and our benefactors.

Even some of the practices of the Church regarding the dead can be traced to the Dominicans. Priests today may offer three Masses on All Soul’s Day. This was first a practice of Dominicans in Spain, which the Pope eventually extended to the whole Church. The oldest known version of the great All Souls’ Day Sequence Dies Irae is found in an early Dominican Missal. Some even speculate that it was written by a Dominican Friar.

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On Friday, November 4, the Holy Father celebrated Vespers in a very full St. Peter’s Basilica to open the new academic year for all of the Pontifical Universities in Rome, including the Dominicans’ own Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the ‘Angelicum’). Vespers was celebrated on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of seminary studies. Although the Pontifical Universities are attended by seminaries, religious, and the lay faithful, the Pope chose to address his comments particularly to the spiritual and academic formation of priests.

In his homily, the Pope spoke especially on the conditions necessary for a priest to be fruitful in his ministry to shepherd the community. The Pope underlined three factors that aid a priest’s ability to grow in accord with Christ in his own priestly life.  First, he must encounter the Lord Jesus, he must be struck by the very person of Christ, his words and actions. The priest must be “affascinato”–fascinated with–the person of Christ.  In this way, he is capable of hearing Jesus’ voice above all of the voices of the world. The priest is called to be the instrument of Christ’s presence into his own time, but he can do so only by that intimate relation with Jesus Christ that is friendship.

Second, priests are called to be “amministratori dei Misteri di Dio”–administrators of the mysteries of God–, not for themselves alone but for the people of God. Just as the priest himself is chosen by God in the sacrament of Ordination, so he must choose daily to give himself over to the love of God and of neighbor. To be a priest is to follow in the complete self-gift of the love of Christ expressed on the cross, remembering that growth in ministry is characterized not by success but by the cross.

Finally, the logic of the foregoing means that what it means to be a priest is to serve, especially in the example of one’s own life. This life of service is shown especially in the priest’s careful attention to his flock, his faithful celebration of the liturgy, and his ready solicitude for all his brethren, especially the poor.  Is is in living a life of “carità pastorale”–pastoral charity–that the priest truly lives his vocation.

A complete text of the Pope’s homily can be found on the Vatican website in Italian.  The Holy See also has a video of the Vespers celebration.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt. 5:8)

The universal Church celebrates her feast of all the pure of heart, all those who see God – All Saints Day – on November 1.  Likewise, many of the great religious Orders celebrate a feast for their own saints.  The Dominican Order happens to be one of them (feast day – Nov. 7).  The Dominicans were the second Order (after the Benedictines) to receive this privilege from the Holy See.  In response to the request of Cardinal Vincent Maria Orsini, OP, in 1674, Pope Clement X wrote:

Rightly, my Lord Cardinal, ought your Order to celebrate the solemnity of all its Saints on one appointed day; for, if we wished to assign to each of its holy sons his own special feast, we should have to form a new calendar, and they alone would suffice to fill it.

So not only does the Order have the privilege to celebrate her great saints like Our Holy Father Dominic, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, St. Martin de Porres, St. Peter Martyr, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Agnes of Montepulciano, as well as our countless number of blesseds, but we also get to celebrate the holy friars, nuns, sisters, and third order members who have lived throughout these past almost 800 years.  According to the General Chapter of Valencia in 1337, there were 13,370 martyrs between 1234 and 1335.  There were another 26,000 in the 16th century alone.  Martyrs, confessors, virgins, and holy men and women all have their place of honor in the Order.  Friars, worn down through constant contemplation, study, and preaching; nuns who lived lives of great prayer, silence, and penance; sisters who educated 1000s of souls; and third order members who sanctified the world – these are the “forgotten” saints who are also celebrated on this day.

But why celebrate them?  It’s not just so that they can have their day on the calendar.  As our Book of Constitutions states, it’s because they “provide us with an example by their way of life, a fellowship in their communion, and an aid by their intercession,” so that we may be “moved to imitate them and may be strengthened in the spirit of our vocation” (cf. LCO, nn. 16 and 67).

May we thank God on this great feast and turn to the example and intercession of the hundreds of saintly Dominicans so that they may guide us on our journey.

O God, who has pleased to make the Order of Preachers fruitful in an abundant progeny of Saints, and has gloriously crowned in them the merits of all heroic virtues, grant unto us to tread in their footsteps, that we may at last be united in perpetual festivity with those in heaven whom we venerate today under one celebration upon earth.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.