The most recent issue of Time magazine included the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Of course, the list included movie stars, sports figures, politicians, musicians, and television personalities known to most of us. But it also included a preacher trained by the Dominicans at the Angelicum in Rome.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is not only the spiritual leader of New York’s 2.6 million Catholics, but he is the most prominent Catholic figure in the United States and its’ greatest defender of religious liberty. He is beloved by all for his humility, compassion, intelligence, and exceptional communication skills. During his time in New York, he has earned the nickname “22-minute Dolan” for his 7:30 AM weekday Mass. Although he may only preach a 3-minute sermon, because “people have to be at work by 8:00,” they leave the Cathedral with words of wisdom to face the day.

He also offers homiletical insights and social commentary on his popular blog, “The Gospel in the Digital Age.” Cardinal Dolan responded to his inclusion in Time’s list by saying: “While the only list I really think about is the scroll of heaven, I must admit appreciation at this selection, and being counted among such influential people. The only ‘influence’ I might have comes from faith, prayer, family, friends, and the ones I serve.”

See the video player below to follow Cardinal Dolan’s most recent sermon:

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Also watch the 60 minutes interview below with Morley Safer, as Cardinal Dolan discusses the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, his current mission and the state of the church in America.

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“God alone.”  This was the motto of St. Louis Marie de Monfort (1673-1716, feast – April 28), who is most known for his work True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.  It might seem ironic that someone who would spend his life spreading a true form of devotion to Mary would have as his motto, “God alone.”  Yet, for St. Louis, Marian devotion can only be understood in light of a proper understanding of the true worship of God.

St. Louis de Montfort was a priest, a third order Dominican, and the founder of two religious communities.  He spent the greater part of his priesthood traveling around Europe by foot and preaching about the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The best summary of his teachings on Mary can be found in his True Devotion, which he prophesied would be hidden by Satan.  This prophesy came true, and the work was hid for over 100 years until its first publication in 1842.  In this work, he lays out the Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary, and in that form of consecration we are able to see what his teachings about Mary are based on.

For St. Louis de Montfort, someone consecrates himself to Mary so as to be more fully consecrated to Christ.  He wrote:

As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God’s creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus. (True Devotion, 121)

In other words, consecration to Mary has the purpose of drawing us closer to God.  And thus, his motto: “God alone.”  All is done through Mary, but for God.

Almighty and eternal God, who made the Priest Saint Louis an outstanding witness and teacher of total devotion to Christ your Son through the hands of his Blessed Mother, grant us that, following the same spiritual path, we may constantly spread your Kingdom.  Through Christ our Lord.

Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics

Fr. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., assistant professor of biology and instructor of theology at Providence College, has written a introductory book on Catholic biomedical ethics.  The book, Biomedicine and Beatitude, is issued as a part of the Catholic Moral Thought series edited by Fr. Romaus Cessario, O.P.

The publisher, The Catholic University of America Press, describes the book as follows:

How are the patient, the physician, the nurse, and the scientist called to grow in holiness in their particular vocations? This introductory text, written from within the Catholic moral tradition, narrates a bioethics that emphasizes the pursuit of beatitude in the lives of those who are confronted by moral questions raised by biomedicine and the other life sciences.

The Catholic moral vision that informs this volume is rooted in the moral life described by the Lord Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the Mount. As Pope John Paul II taught in his moral encyclical, Veritatis splendor, we imitate Christ by seeking, with God’s grace, to perfect ourselves through our actions and the virtues they engender. In this way, Catholic bioethics differs from other contemporary approaches to bioethics that focus on either the outcomes of human acts or the procedures that protect the autonomy of the human agent.

Besides ethical questions raised at the beginning and the end of life, Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., discusses the ethics of the clinical encounter, human procreation, organ donation and transplantation, and biomedical research. Finally, the text discusses the realities faced by citizens of faith living in a free and democratic society that is at the same time postmodern, secular, and liberal.

For more information, or to purchase the book, see the Friars’ Bookshop.

A Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine

Fr. Walter Walter Wagner, O.P., the pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York City, has just released a new book, A Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine.  Before becoming pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer, Fr. Walter served for many years as the Master of Novices for the Province of St. Joseph.  When founded by St. Dominic, the Order followed the ancient Rule of St. Augustine, and still follows it as its basic rule of life.  As Novice Master, Fr. Walter prepared an extensive series of talks reflecting on the Rule in light of contemporary life.

Fr. Walter’s conferences have now been edited and published as a book by the Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, NJ.  The nuns offer the following description of this new work:

In a series of seventeen conferences, Fr. Walter Wagner, O.P. of the St. Joseph Province of the Order of Preachers offers his reflections on the Rule of Saint Augustine. With wisdom and wit Father unearths hidden treasures in this ancient Rule and concretely applies the Rule to 21st Century Dominican Life as it is lived today by thousands of priests, brothers, nuns, sisters, and lay men and women. Enlightening and challenging, both brand-new postulant and wisened Diamond Jubilarian will benefit from this delightful commentary. The conferences were transcribed from the original audio recording of the 2011 Annual Retreat preached to the Dominican Nuns of Summit, NJ by Fr. Walter Wagner, OP and edited for publication.

For more information, or to purchase the book, see the Friars’ Bookshop.

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.

Sketchbook

Lumen Gentium, 6

Often the Church has also been called the building of God.  The Lord Himself compared Himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the cornerstone. On this foundation the Church is built by the apostles, and from it the Church receives durability and consolidation. This edifice has many names to describe it: the house of God in which dwells His family; the household of God in the Spirit; the dwelling place of God among men; and, especially, the holy temple. This Temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Holy Fathers and, not without reason, is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. As living stones we here on earth are built into it. John contemplates this holy city coming down from heaven at the renewal of the world as a bride made ready and adorned for her husband.

Dominus Iesus, 13

The thesis which denies the unicity and salvific universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ is also put forward. Such a position has no biblical foundation. In fact, the truth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and only Savior, who through the event of his incarnation, death and resurrection has brought the history of salvation to fulfillment, and which has in him its fullness and center, must be firmly believed as a constant element of the Church’s faith.

The New Testament attests to this fact with clarity: “The Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14); “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In his discourse before the Sanhedrin, Peter, in order to justify the healing of a man who was crippled from birth, which was done in the name of Jesus (cf. Acts 3:1-8), proclaims: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). St. Paul adds, moreover, that Jesus Christ “is Lord of all”, “judge of the living and the dead”, and thus “whoever believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:36 Acts 10:42-43).

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q2, A7

Whether it is necessary for the salvation of all, that they should believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ?

I answer that as stated above, the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion is the way by which men obtain beatitude; for it is written (Acts 4:12): “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” Therefore belief of some kind in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation was necessary at all times and for all persons, but this belief differed according to differences of times and persons. The reason of this is that before the state of sin, man believed, explicitly in Christ’s Incarnation, in so far as it was intended for the consummation of glory, but not as it was intended to deliver man from sin by the Passion and Resurrection, since man had no foreknowledge of his future sin. He does, however, seem to have had foreknowledge of the Incarnation of Christ, from the fact that he said (Gen 2:24): “Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife,” of which the Apostle says (Eph 5:32) that “this is a great sacrament . . . in Christ and the Church,” and it is incredible that the first man was ignorant about this sacrament. But after sin, man believed explicitly in Christ, not only as to the Incarnation, but also as to the Passion and Resurrection, whereby the human race is delivered from sin and death: for they would not, else, have foreshadowed Christ’s Passion by certain sacrifices both before and after the Law, the meaning of which sacrifices was known by the learned explicitly, while the simple folk, under the veil of those sacrifices, believed them to be ordained by God in reference to Christ’s coming, and thus their knowledge was covered with a veil, so to speak. And, as stated above, the nearer they were to Christ, the more distinct was their knowledge of Christ’s mysteries. After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the Incarnation, of which we have spoken above. As to other minute points in reference to the articles of the Incarnation, men have been bound to believe them more or less explicitly according to each one’s state and office.

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We adore your crown, Lord, alleluia, alleluia.  We recall your glorious triumph.  Alleluia.  With glory and honor you crowned him, Lord, alleluia.  You gave him power over the works of your hand, alleluia.

Christ Crowned with Thorns by Fra Angelico

These words constitute the versicle that were used yesterday in the Dominican Rite’s Office for the feast of The Lord’s Most Holy Crown of Thorns.  In addition, the first part of this antiphon remains the invitatory antiphon in the current Dominican propers to the Divine Office on the Fridays of the Easter season.  But, why celebrate an instrument of the Passion during the Easter Season?  More will be said to explain this on May 4th when we look at the Order’s current celebration of the Votive Mass and Office of the Passion of the Lord, but for now, it’s interesting to note that the Order specifically celebrated a feast commemorating the Lord’s Crown of Thorns.  Why during the Easter season then, and why the Crown?

The historical origins take us back to 1239 when St. Louis, King of France, sent two Dominican Friars, Stephen and James, to Constantinople.  The following year, they returned with the Crown of Thorns, for which St. Louis built Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.  He also then gave the friars some of the thorns from the Crown and asked the friars to celebrate the anniversary of its reception in the Sainte-Chapelle.  Soon after, about the middle of the 13th century, the friars added this anniversary to their calendar, on which it was celebrated until the 20th century.

But, aside from historical origins, there is also a spiritual reason – the Paschal Mystery as a whole.  It is through Christ’s passion that our redemption is brought about.  Thus, during this season in which we commemorate our freedom from sin and death and our new life in Christ, it is a great privilege, and even a blessing, to celebrate a feast commemorating one of the instruments that brought about this gift.

One of the antiphons at Lauds reads:

The thorns grow red with blood as they make Christ bleed; they cleanse the world from sin and open again the gates of heaven, alleluia.

This crown, that was used by men to mock the Lord, was used by the Lord to show men what true kingship is all about – sacrifice.  His love, displayed so vividly on the cross, appears even greater when we consider that He is the king who died for love of His subjects.  This crown of scorn, then, became a crown of glory for the King of Glory.  And thanks to the blood of Christ, some of which was shed by this glorious crown, the gates of heaven have been opened, and we can join the Eternal King, where He reigns from His throne, crowned in glory.

Almighty God, we, who on earth, recall the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ by honoring his crown of thorns, beseech you that we may be worthy to be crowned with glory and honor in heaven, by him; who lives and reigns with you.  Amen.

Providence College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley O.P. joined The Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, Sr. Jane Gerety, RSM, president of Salve Regina University and the heads of various Catholic hospitals and health services organizations in Rhode Island in opposing the Obama Administration’s proposed Health & Human Services (HHS) policy regarding contraception and birth control. Father Shanley and the others have signed a letter to the members of the Rhode Island congressional delegation stating their opposition to the HHS mandate on the grounds that it denies these Catholic institutions the constitutional rights of religious liberty. The letter also affirms that the “accommodation” offered by the Administration falls short of the requirements of moral law.

Read the letter sent to members of the congressional delegation.

The Easter Vigil with the Queen of Heaven

Homily for the Easter Vigil
Religious Sisters of Mercy, Domus Guadalupe
7 April 2012
+ J. Augustine Di Noia, O.P.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Irresistibly, as we have contemplated the mysteries of the Passion of Christ in Mary’s company, our attention has been drawn to the mystery of his Holy Nativity. As Blessed John Paul wrote, “No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary” (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, §10). Why? Because “in a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance which points to an even greater spiritual closeness” (ibid.). As we sang at Christmas, “O that birth forever blessed, / When the Virgin full of grace, /By the Holy Ghost conceiving,/ Bore the Savior of our race; / And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer, / First revealed his sacred face, / Evermore and evermore” (Prudentius, Of the Father’s Love Begotten).

As tonight we sing, not Stabat Mater Dolorosa but Regina coeli laetare, Alleluia, we cannot fail to notice that the next lines of the antiphon recall precisely her divine maternity to identify the Risen One: Quia quem meruisti portare, Alleluia / Resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia. Our Lady’s “gaze of sorrow” is now “transformed into a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection”(John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 10) because it is the face of one formed in her womb upon which the glory of the resurrection now blazes forth.

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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.

Sketchbook

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 599

Jesus’ violent death was not the result of chance in an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances, but is part of the mystery of God’s plan, as St. Peter explains to the Jews of Jerusalem in his first sermon on Pentecost: “This Jesus (was) delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.”  This Biblical language does not mean that those who handed him over were merely passive players in a scenario written in advance by God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 632

The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 674

The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel”, for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.”  St. Paul echoes him: “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” The “full inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of “the full number of the Gentiles”, will enable the People of God to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, in which “God may be all in all”.

Bl. Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 79

We are the people of life because God, in his unconditional love, has given us the Gospel of life and by this same Gospel we have been transformed and saved. We have been ransomed by the “Author of life” (Acts 3:15) at the price of his precious blood. Through the waters of Baptism we have been made a part of him as branches which draw nourishment and fruitfulness from the one tree.  Interiorly renewed by the grace of the Spirit, “who is the Lord and giver of life”, we have become a people for life and we are called to act accordingly.

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Altar of St. Agnes

St. Agnes of Montepulciano (1268-1317, feast day – April 20) became a cloistered Dominican nun after having spent time as a nun in monasteries which followed both the Franciscan and also the Augustinian ways of life.  Thanks to a vision in which St. Dominic claimed her as his own, St. Agnes founded a Dominican monastery in Montepulciano.

Yet, St. Agnes’s life teaches us something else very important – the purpose of the Dominican nuns in the life of the Order.  With Dominicans, there are both  cloistered nuns as well as active sisters (who often teach).  St. Dominic founded the cloistered nuns before he founded the friars.  For 10 years, the nuns that St. Dominic had gathered prayed for St. Dominic and the men who eventually joined him in the holy preaching.

The same is true even to this day.  Dominican cloistered nuns continue to pray and do penance for the work of the friars – the salvation of souls.  One author put it this way:

The primary object of the Order of Preachers is to preach the Word of God and to save souls.  Saint Dominic also instilled into his first daughters this apostolic spirit; so much so that by common consent they came to be known as Sisters Preacheresses.  To accomplish the salvation of souls through the medium of prayer and penance has ever been regarded by the sisters [i.e. cloistered nuns] as a primary duty.  They are to stand, Moses-like, on the mountain top with arms uplifted in supplication to aid those who fare forth on the apostolate to combat heresy and vice. (Dominican Saints, 189)

St. Agnes of Montepulciano exemplified this during her life.  She lived a life of intimate prayer with the Lord.  He bestowed many gifts on her including ‘snowflakes’ shaped like crosses and flowers from heaven while she would pray.  He also gave her a crucifix which He wore around His neck.  She likewise had a great love of penance and devotion to Christ’s passion.  She begged God’s mercy upon sinners, just like St. Dominic had done before her.  In both of these ways, she was able to unite her prayers and penances to the work of the salvation of souls, particularly by being in a monastery attached to the Dominican friars whose very goal it was, and still is, to preach for the salvation of souls.

St. Agnes continues to exemplify the Dominican charism, as she still intercedes for all of us from heaven.  May God open our hearts to the graces He wishes to bestow on us through her intercession.

O God, you were pleased often to shed a heavenly dew over the blessed Agnes, your virgin, and to adorn with various fresh-blown flowers the places where she prayed; mercifully grant, through her intercession, that we be sprinkled with the unfailing dew of your blessing and be made fit to receive the fruits of immortality.  Through Christ our Lord.