Dominican Prayer - What Is It?

Saw this at the website of the Dominican Nuns of Summit, N.J.and had to pass it along. Hope you do likewise..

Merry Christmas!

Go Be A Preacher of Mercy

The Beauty and Power of One Dominican Vocation

Here is a 100 year old Dominican whose life was well-spent. What a privilege it is to be a member of this family.

Take a few minutes to view this video (with English subtitles) offered in conjunction with the celebration of  the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Order of Preachers. 

This is one Dominican you will not soon forget..

Eucharistic Reflection - An Encounter with Christ

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

“[Our] Eucharistic Encounter with Christ in Holy Communion is that apex moment of union with God within which Christ opens Himself fully to us and we respond, each in our own degree of readiness to receive Him. All other moments of our days find their full significance at the moment of Eucharistic Communion. It is at this moment that our quality of preparation for God’s coming stands revealed for what it is. Without a doubt, we come up wanting in this marvelous exchange with God. He receives our broken humanity and we receive His divinity. Through our Eucharistic union with the Blessed Trinity, our inner poverty is filled with the Eternal riches of our Triune God.”

(From Eucharistic Adoration – Mary, the Mother of the Holy Eucharist by Barbara Jensen)

Podcast - What Is The New Evangelization? And Is It Really New?

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

In the early days of Christ's Church, it was risky business to be Catholic - persecutions, lions, crucifixions and martyrs come to mind. It is going to get more difficult again and soon.

Many argue (and correctly so) that the world is more pagan today than it was at the time of Christ. This has prompted a great deal of discussion (and confusion) about the need for a "New Evangelization". What is this "New Evangelization? And is it really new? Listen here if you want to know what I think.

Hope You Can Tune In To Elizabeth Reardon's "An Engaging Faith" This Thursday, November 12, 2015

Elizabeth Reardon has invited me to return as a guest on her radio show “An Engaging Faith” tomorrow, Thursday, November 12, 2015 from 4 to 5 PM EST. 

What an honor and privilege! We will be exploring and discussing my books, as well as offering a few free copies to some lucky listeners. We pray that God will use our words and these books to touch hearts and stir souls! 

Hope you can join us on Breadbox Media.

If the time is not convenient, go back to Breadbox Media when you have time and listen to a podcast of the show.

Guess Who Is Celebrating Their 800th Anniversary?

THE ORDER OF PREACHERS 

 THE DOMINICANS

THE PREACHERS OF MERCY

Take a Quick Peak Here

It's The Truth, Not Nuanced Language, That Will Set Us Free

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

What a treasure St. Catherine of Siena is! One does not become a Doctor of the Church by being fearful to express, teach and live God's Truth in its entirety. 

How ill-advised we are to discount, ignore or try to nuance the wisdom God has shared over the centuries through such faithful servants as she.  Less likely would we be to commit this error if our primary concern was the salvation of souls. No wonder those who wish to only tickle our ears and destroy our consciences ignore these great spiritual writers, abandoning God's Truth for a less demanding and counterfeit one.

The following words  Jesus shared with St. Catherine in the 13th century are clear and unambiguous directions to his shepherds - not only those living then but for those among us today. May we and they be given the grace, humility and wisdom to hear and follow His Inerrant Voice: 

"No rank, whether of civil or divine law, can be held in grace without holy justice.  For those who are not corrected and those who do not correct are like members beginning to rot, and if the doctor were only to apply ointment without cauterizing the wound, the whole, body would become fetid and corrupt.

So it is with prelates or with anyone else in authority. 

"An Engaging Faith" Featuring Michael Seagriff

If you missed the broadcast of "An Engaging Faith" hosted by Elizabeth Reardon and are interested in listening to the program  just click here.

My October 6th Appearance on Elizabeth Reardon's Radio Program - "An Engaging Faith"

I am honored to be the guest of Elizabeth Reardon on her radio show “An Engaging Faith” this Tuesday, October 6, 2015 from 4 to 5 PM EST.

Please pray for us and consider listening on Breadbox Media.

We will be talking about my Faith Journey, Eucharistic Adoration, Lay Dominicans, Prison Ministry and my books. God willing it will be an interesting conversation.

If the time is not convenient, go back to Breadbox Media later and listen to a podcast of the show.

May God use us to touch hearts and stir souls.

What A Beautiful Way To End A Day

Podcast - Who Was That Man?

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Have you ever walked past a beggar on the street and later wondered who he was? I have...

Listen to my experience here.

Need Help Discerning A Dominican Vocation?

Hats off to T.J. Burdick for this amusing vocation discernment exercise…be sure to view the videos and the comments. Take a gander here.

Oh, the joy and magnificence of being a Dominican!

Sodom, the Flood, and Today

As I'm sure we all know now, on June 26, the Supreme Court arrogated to itself the authority of legislating that all states must allow "same-sex marriage".

Let's look at it, first, as law

The Court has created a new right, never previously unknown
The Court has ignored the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, i.e., The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
There is widespread belief that, coexistence of this ruling and the First Amendment being tenuous at best, Religious Liberty and Free Speech will suffer in the days ahead.
Beyond that, however, let's look at the spiritual dimension.

Homosexual activity is a sin

Contrary to the claims of its apologists, the biblical  condemnation of homosexual activity is absolutely clear.  There are the Levitical condemnations.  There are the Pauline condemnations.

Some have made the claim that Jesus never spoke against it.  However, he spoke of heterosexual marriage as having been instituted by God (Matthew 19).  Also, He was a faithful Jew, adhering to the Mosaic Law - which has clear condemnation of such activity. And, don't forget, in the Gospel of John, he identifies Himself as the One who gave the Law to Moses ("Before Abraham was, I AM"), the very one who spoke the Levitical condemnation of homosexual behavior.
And then, there's Sodom

Now, some have claimed that the sin of Sodom was lack of hospitality.  Frankly, this doesn't fit the facts (Genesis 19). Besides, can you picture hurling down fire and brimstone whole yelling, "be more hospitable"?

The men of Sodom, young and old, came to Lot's house, seeking to have sex with  - "to know" - Lot's visitors, two angels in human form.  Lot said  “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly".  The Sin of Sodom is without question homosexuality - not that there were practicing homosexuals in Sodom, but that, not only was it the societal norm, but the society sought to impose it on others.  And, just as Sodom tried to get the angels to accept their sin, so the Homosexual Lobby is pushing to get the church to accept their sin and bless the "marriages" (as stated above, they've already been victorious in the Supreme Court).

Is this not the situation in which we find ourselves today?  Homosexual activity isn't something that is only done in whispers, or maybe a wink.  It is flaunted in parades, it is taught to our children in school.  And the symbol?  Do you know the Biblical story of the first rainbow?

“And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it.”Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Gen 9:8-17)

First God tells them to be fruitful and multiply (and isn't homosexual activity contrary to this?), then, he tells them that the next time He destroys the earth, it will be with fire. Finally, he says that the rainbow is a reminder that the earth will never again be destroyed with water.

Can you see what has happened?  The "Gay" lobby flaunts God's command to be fruitful and multiply, and then takes as its symbol a sign of God's mercy.

And how will God destroy the earth in the next judgment?  By fire.
How did he destroy Sodom?  "Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;" (Gen 19:24) - a foretaste of the judgment to come, perhaps?

My friends, God's judgment for this is clear - and it's closer than many of us think.
But, hope is not lost.

God warned Abraham of the destruction of Sodom.  Abraham plead with God, and, eventually, God told him that, if there were ten righteous people to be found in Sodom, He would not destroy the city.

Lot alone was righteous in Sodom, and he was given warning so that he could escape in time.

"If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and heal their land and forgive their sins" (2 Chronicles 7:14)

And, even if judgment comes, God has given us the means of deliverance, just as He provided the Ark for Noah and his family.  The Church is the Ark today.  It has long been likened to a great ship carrying people. Be OF the Church, not just IN the Church. Remember, there were Jesuits in Hiroshima, living the message of Fatima.  The house in which they lived, at the center of the atomic blast, was untouched.

Had To Share - Our Father Dominic

(Image Source: Ordo Praedicatorum)

We Stand With You Lord - No Matter The Price We May Be Asked To Pay!

May the following words penned more than 50 years ago by Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. encourage us during these trying times and our pending exile in a world that has, for the most part, turned its back on the Lord who created them, died for them, yet still offers all of us eternal life:

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

"There was pain in Egypt - yet, I say it was heaven.

Mary saw raw, rampant paganism all about her, yet she nursed God at her breast; she had to listen to false gods being called upon, yet she heard the Word of God utter His first human word. And while the sight of pyramids standing out against a setting sun, and the shimmer on the waters of the Nile told her not only that she was in exile, but that her whole people had once been here, yet when she gazed into the starry light in His eyes and knew that it had been kindled from light in her own and that He was the Maker of the stars, Egypt and exile was heaven. It was here she saw Him take His first step, listened to Him laugh in baby glee, felt His tiny hand caress her cheek and tangle in her hair; it was here that she bathed, clothed, fed her Baby who was God; it was here that she tucked God in bed and sang God to sleep; it was here that her whole night and day, her whole being, her whole existence was God who was also her Child.

If to know and love God is heaven, then to labor and live and love Jesus in Egypt is a heavenly exile." 

 (From God, A Woman and The Way)

Last Day - June 26 - for Free or $.99 Catholic e-books via Indie Catholic Authors

Last day! Don't miss out on this great opportunity to get copies of outstanding Catholic e- books (both fiction and non-fiction) by going to Indie Catholic Authors. 

There are treasures there waiting for you at prices you can not beat.

God empowers the words of others to touch hearts, stir souls and change lives. There are some books there He may be inviting you to read.

What are you waiting for? Come fill your e-book library for around $15.00!

Free or Nearly Free Catholic e-Books Today Through June 26

Great opportunity for free or $.99 cent copies of e-books from a great group of independent authors - today through June 26. Two of my books, Forgotten Truths to Set Faith Afire! and I Thirst for Your Love, are available for this limited time for only $.99. Both books have received the Seal of Approval from the Catholic Writers' Guild.

What an opportunity to fill up your e-book library for around $15.00 - all genres - fiction and non-fiction.

So go here and start downloading these great books. Would you let others know of this great offer????

Don't Miss Out On ThisCatholic Book Sale Next Week - Mark Your Calendar June 24-26

Discounts and Freebies

Major Catholic ebook sale next week!

June 15, 2015 Connie Rossini 1 Comment

Fifteen members of Indie Catholic Authors are hosting a sale of their ebooks from June 24-26.  All books are sale priced at $0.99 or less. You can buy a whole new library for less than $15!
Participating authors include:

• John C. Connell
• Mary Ann D’Amico
• Jeannie Ewing
• Ellen Gable
• Melanie Jean Juneau
• Jane Lebak
• Tom McDonough
• Gil Michelini
• Larry Peterson
• Connie Rossini
• Marianne Sciucco
• Michael Seagriff
• Cheryl Ann Wills
• Dawn Witzke
• John Paul Wohlscheid.

Among the titles, readers will find spirituality, memoir, fiction, a children’s book, and a collection of short stories. The books are available for Kindle, Nook, and iBooks. Some are also available in paperback and audiobook (although those formats are not discount at this time).

See our new blog header for individual titles.

On Wednesday, June 24, we’ll post all the details about each book here, including buy links.

This is our first joint sale that focuses exclusively on ebooks. Could you help us spread the word by joining our Thunderclap campaign.? Sign up to have an automatic tweet, Facebook or Tumbler post on the 24th at noon. We need at least 100 participants to blast social media with our message. Click here to help. Thanks!

Join us on Facebook to chat with authors throughout the day. We’ll also have giveaways (on both Facebook and here at our blog) from authors Connie Rossini, Marianne Sciucco, Ellen Gable, and Jeannie Ewing. We can’t wait to see you there!

Rosary Reflection - It's One or The Other - Not Both

(Art Work of Marge Hendry-

Photo©Michael Seagriff)

 “No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary: either they will give up sin or they will give up the Rosary.”

          (Bishop Hugh Doyle)

Rosary Reflection - Have You Enlisted Yet?

Rosary Refection - The Efficacy fo the Rosary

(Photo©Michael Seagriff)

“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”

(Sister Lucia dos Santos)

Rosary Reflection - The Rosary Will Bring A Harvest of Holiness

(Image Source: Marge Hendry

Photo©Michael Seagriff)

[Another prophetic but ignored excerpt and plea from the Apostolic Letter On The  Rosary of The Virgin Mary]

The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn”.

Rosary Reflection -Contemplating The Face of Christ While Praying for Peace

God willing, every Saturday in the month of May, I will share some short reflection on the Rosary.

I begin with this insightful and prophetic excerpt from St. John Paul II’s 2002 Apostolic Letter on The Rosary of the Virgin Mary:

“The Rosary is a way of contemplating the face of Christ seeing him – we may say – with the eyes of Mary. For this reason, it is a prayer that drawing upon the core of the Gospel is in full accord with the inspiration of the Second Vatican Council and very much in keeping with the direction I gave in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio ineunte: the Church has to launch out "into the deep" in the new millennium beginning with the contemplation of the face of Christ…

St. Catherine of Siena - The Willingness To Suffer for The Salvation of Souls

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

On this feast day of the great Dominican Saint, Lay Dominican, Doctor of the Catholic Church, and mystic, St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), I wanted to share one of my favorite (but  challenging) excerpts from The Dialogue:

"The willing desire to suffer every pain and hardship even to the point of death for the salvation of souls is very pleasing to me. The more you bear, the more you show your love for me. In loving me you come to know more of my truth, and the more you know, the more intolerable pain and sorrow you will feel when I am offended.

You asked for suffering, and you asked me to punish you for the sins of others. What you were not aware of was that you were, in effect, asking for love and light and knowledge of the truth. For I have already told you that suffering and sorrow increase in proportion to love: When love grows, so does sorrow. So I say to you: Ask and it shall be given to you; I will not say no to anyone who asks in truth. 

Consider that the soul's love in divine charity is so joined with perfect patience that the one cannot leave without the other. The soul, therefore, who chooses to love me must also choose to suffer for me anything at all that I give her. Patience is not proved except in suffering, and patience is one with charity, as has been said. Endure courageously, then. Otherwise you will not show yourselves to be—nor will you be faithful spouses and children of my Truth, nor will you show that your delight is in my honor and in the salvation of souls."

Eucharistic Reflections - Holy Thursday - I Want My Priests and My People Close to Me to Console Me

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Holy Thursday should be among the most treasured days in our Church as we commemorate and give thanks for the Gift of the Eucharist and the Priesthood.

It must be an occasion for the spiritual re-invigoration of our priests and of all whom they serve.

God is quite clear as to what He expects from His priests! - to make the Eucharist the center of all that they do - all that they do.  This begins and is sustained only by spending time in His Eucharistic Presence, adoring Him, listening to Him and allowing Him to complete their priestly transformation into other Christs,

His expectations and pleadings have not changed over the centuries.  Sadly, He still awaits a universal and affirmative response from many of His priests.

Thank God that through the following two reflections, Father Mark at Vultus Christi has the courage to share those expectations with his brother priests and with us. 

Here are two brief excerpts from each of Father's posts and the links to where you can read them in their entirety.

After pondering these stirring words, will you love your priests enough to get copies of these reflections into their "sacred and venerable" hands? Will you too make the Eucharist the center of all that you do? Will you also come into His Presence? Will you pray unceasingly for the sanctification of our priests?

[Image source: Wikimedia Commons]

Christ’s First Mandate to His Priests - Watch and Prayer With Me

"...I wanted them to understand by this that unless a priest keeps watch and perseveres in prayer, all else will be in vain.He will dispense the substance of My mysteries, but without the sweetness of a heavenly unction, without the fire and light of a personal experience of My Divine Friendship. This is why I beg My priests to become adorers:to begin to keep watch and pray close to Me in he Sacrament of My Love. [Read full post here.]

 

The Night of My Agony and Betrayal 

"The renewal of My priesthood in the Church will begin from the fire of love that blazes in the Sacrament of My Body and Blood. I call all priests to seek My Eucharistic Face and to abide in My presence. I want all My priests to discover My open Heart, My living Heart beating with Love for them,and pouring forth a purifying stream of Blood and of Water for their holiness, and for the life of the world. I summon all My priests into My Eucharistic presence.They must learn that in My company is the fullness of joy. They must discover in the Sacrament of My Love the sweetness and strength of My Divine Friendship...." [Click to read in its entirety.]

Guest Blog - My Lay Dominican Brother Was Willing To Pay The Price for His Faith. Will You?

Let’s be honest. Up to recent years, it has not been too difficult to live as a Catholic in these United States. But that is changing.

Efforts have been underway for some time to undermine our right to the free exercise of our religious beliefs.

For the most part, we have sat silently, acquiescing to such a radical agenda.

In the not too distant future, each of us may have to make the same type of choice my Lay Dominican brother, Roman Gorski, had to make some years ago in his native Poland – forfeit his physical comfort, and freedom or lose his soul.

He has given me permission to share his story, not to bring attention to himself but in hopes it will serve as a clarion call to all Catholics and Christians in this nation – be ready to suffer for your Faith.

Although lengthier than most of the work I have shared on this blog, the article is well-worth your time.

Strengthened by Faith by Mr. Roman Gorski, O.P.

(Image Source: From the House Tops)

[This firsthand account by Roman Gorski, who lived in Poland at the same time as Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, tells of his struggle to keep the Faith in an atheistic regime.]

On October 16, 1978, I was in a streetcar in my college town of Lublin, Poland, when a stranger en­tered the car and announced: "Have you heard the news? Cardinal Wojtyla from Krakow is our new Pope." It was shocking news and hard for me to believe. When I arrived at my college dorm, my colleagues were also excited­ly talking about the new Pope. Why did this news make us so happy? Why was it so important to us? In Poland, for all practical purposes, it was challenging to keep the Faith and now the person in the highest position in the Church comes from our country. It was like a miracle from Heaven, and a sign for all Catholics that God is still in charge, no matter how powerful governments may appear.

I grew up in a very patriotic Cath­olic family. To understand Poland it is essential to know that Church and politics cannot be separated there like in other countries. Members of my family fought against the Russians in the 1863 insurrection. My grand­mother's twin brothers joined the battle against the Russian Army in the First World War and again in 1919 against the Bolsheviks. One of the twins died in combat, killed by the Soviets. Only nineteen years later, in September, 1939, we faced another war when Po­land was attacked by Germany from the west and the Soviet Union from the east. Our allies, France and England, abandoned us in the fight. During the German occupation, in the Second World War my father and grandfather joined the Resistance fighters, only to be forsaken by the so-called Big Powers that they had defended, and our country was given over to Soviet domination. 

The Soviets established a repressive, Godless system, which lasted almost 50 years, ending in 1989. During this period many Polish patriots were killed or arrested. The Church was persecuted. The press, radio, TV, and publications were all censored. The word "God" was removed from school textbooks and public life. The regime wanted "to put God in the closet," but no matter how they tried, the Communists could not take Him out of our lives and our souls. They knew this and they were afraid to close all of the churches in Poland until they "converted us" to their atheistic ideology. They wanted to "own us," but we were not for sale!

Remembering Fra Angelico

[Sharing a post that first ran in 2012]

Some of us employ words to fuel our contemplation. Others like early Renaissance painter, Fra Angelico (Blessed John of Fiesole 1395-1455), whom Dominicans remember today, used paint brushes to nourish hungry souls.

1- (The Nativity)

2-(The Crucifixion)

3 - (The Christ Crucified)

                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                          

4- (Lamentation)

                                                          
                        
His depiction of our Father Dominic in many of these scenes is a reminder of where we should also fruitfully place ourselves during times of meditation and contemplation.

And of course, we need to spend time with our Blessed Mother:

5- (The Madonna and Child)

                                                   
Fra Angelico pray for us!

(Sources: 1 and 2: Convent of San Marco, Florence; Images 3 and 4:Wikimedia Commons; and Image 5:Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

On The Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas

I recently began reading St. Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton. I highly recommend this book!

Although I do not know if the following tale Chesterton shares about our Angelic Doctor is true, I just had to share it with you:

"It was of him [St. Thomas Aquinas] that the tale was told, and would certainly have been told more widely among us if it had been told of a Puritan, that the Pope pointed to his gorgeous Papal Palace and said, "Peter can no longer say 'Silver and gold have I none' "; and the Spanish friar an­swered, "No, and neither can he now say, 'Rise and walk.' "

St. Thomas Aquinas pray for us.

Have You Looked Into The Mirror Lately?