St. Mary Magdalene and the Dominican Order

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Today the universal Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene - great sinner transformed by the forgiveness, mercy and grace of her beloved Lord into a great saint.

Over the centuries various spiritual writers have referred to her to as the Apostle to the Apostles, the Evangelist of the Resurrection and the Apostle of the Ascension.

The Dominicans have a great devotion to Mary Magdalene as explained here by the Nashville Dominicans. She is also the patroness of the Dominican Order. You can find out why by watching this most informative presentation by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P..

Before visiting those sites, why not join the rest of the Dominican family, by reading the following excerpt from the Life Of St. Mary Magdalene by Rabanus Maurus, which is offered as the second reading in today’s Office of Readings  in the Dominican supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours:

Beware of what you desire...

The great Dominican preacher, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), never hesitated speaking the Truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might make his listeners. 

Why? He had one and only one concern - the salvation of souls. 

How do these words of his make you feel?

A Lenten Reflection from St. Thomas Aquinas

(St. Agatha's, Canastota, NY)

I have been journeying through Lent this year with the aid of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. I thought you might find the following worthy of reflection and contemplation this Passion week:

“The Passion of Christ suffices to reform completely our entire life. For whosoever desires to live perfectly, need do nothing more than despise those things which Christ on the cross despised, and love the things which Christ loved. For no example of virtue is absent from the cross.

Why I am a Christian, and a Catholic

I've had people say, "you can't really believe that Christian stuff, can you?"

And then, once I became Catholic, some (certainly not all) Protestants began with, "You don't really believe all that Mary stuff, do you. Or that it's not bread and wine, but Jesus? Really?"

Well, let's start with why I'm a Christian.

At age 20, I wasn't really Christian in thought, word, or deed. I was exploring various philosophical and Eastern religious alternatives. But then I was confronted with reality.

The simple fact is that the New Testament documents are THE BEST ATTESTED DOCUMENTS of the ancient world, bar none.We have 9 manuscripts of Caesars Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, all of them dating from the 10th century. Scholars never voice any doubts about their authenticity.

Yet, we have literally tens of thousands of New Testament manuscripts, some of them dating from mere decades after the life of Christ, even within the lifetime of the Apostles. If one applies the same criteria to them that one applies to any other other ancient manuscript, there is no doubt whatsoever that they are, indeed, authentic and were written by those to whom Tradition ascribes authorship.

In addition, there is much internal evidence to suggest their authenticity. Take the Gospel of Luke, for example. It includes medical terminology of the day - exactly what one would expect of a 1st century physician. And it contains historical detail which has only otherwise recently come to light through archaeological means, e.g., Quirinius's governing of Syria in the late first century BC.

So, the New Testament is authentic. But, what of the content?
There are two factors which I find compelling.

One - Jesus was one of three things.
If He was not, as he claimed, the Son of God, indentifying Himself with YHWH ("Before Abraham was, I am"), then either he deliberately misled (i.e., he was a liar; hardly the "good man" that his non-Christian 'fans' would have him be), or he was deluded. So, Lord, Liar, or Lunatic? Liar and lunatic seem beyond absurd.

Two - the Resurrection. The apostles claimed this from the very beginning. Unless it's true, it's a truly absurd claim. So, if Jesus wasn't resurrected, why didn't Rome produce a body? Why didn't the Sanhedrin produce a body? Why would the the apostles go to their death for what they would KNOW to be a lie?
So, either one must accept the resurrection, or accept that the Romans, the Jews, and the Apostles all acted in an absurd manner.

So, I'm a Christian.

But, at about 31-32 years old, I was confronted with the question of what became of the Church Jesus left. Is it today's Catholic Church, is it today's Orthodox Faith, or some form of Protestantism. Examining the earliest post Christian writings, I found bishops, I found a belief that the bread and wine in the Eucharist somehow truly becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus.
I asked myself - did the Church go THAT far astray as soon as the last apostle died? Did Christ allow his spotless bride to become spotted? Did He leave her or forsake her?

Of course not!!!

I could no longer accept the Protestantism in which I'd been raised.

But, having been Protestant, I could never, EVER be Catholic. So I became Orthodox.

But the more I read, I kept coming across the information that I summarize here:  
https://www.facebook.com/notes/lou-pizzuti/first-post-apostolic-work-supports-the-papacy/548019735243684

Tomorrow, I celebrate the 19th anniversary of my reception into the Catholic Church, after God dragged me in, screaming and kicking.

(originally published 2/28/2014)

Novena to St. Dominic - July 30-August 7

(From the website of the Nashville Dominicans)

 

 

Why not join our Dominican family in praying a Novena to St. Dominic, our Father and founder of the Order of Preachers, as we prepare to celebrate his feast day on August 8?

You can find the short form Novena here, or an expanded version here.

Dominicans at Adoration

Recent image from the General Chapter of the Order of Preachers taking place in Trogir, Croatia. This image was recently posted on the website of  the Dominican Nuns at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J. Visit the good sisters here.

 

 

Monday Musings - So When Can We Expect to Hear Humane Vitae Preached at Sunday Masses?

(Image from Biblebios.com)

If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.

 

I recently read a short but interesting article written by Father Michael Orsi. It is entitled How Same-Sex Marriage Won. You can read his article here at Catholic Exchange. 

As I am wont to do, I simply passed it along to several social media sites with the same question I posed in today's post. That's all I did. What a stir it created.  

I did not have time to join the on-going and often troublesome discussion but did forward another relevant piece I discovered on Homiletic & Pastoral Review (HP&R), entitled Celebrating "Humanae Vitae" 45 Years Later. You can find this excellent article by the well respected editor of HP&R and Jesuit, David Vincent Melconi, S.J., by clicking here.  

Maybe I am naïve but I was caught off-guard by the nature of the discussion these two articles sparked. Reading some of the comments became excruciatingly painful - a hard but valuable lesson learned by this wannabe evangelizer.   

Even though you have not read the discussion to which I have been referring, I think you will understand the thrust of it by reading what follows:

 

Since I initiated this discussion, let me offer my final comments as we bring this discussion to a merciful conclusion.   

There have been so many twists and turns from the initial orientation of this discussion, I could not possibly respond to all that has been raised – save for expressing sadness and disappointment for the pain that denial of God’s Truth causes His Most Precious and Sacred Heart and for the times we have failed to be as charitable as we should have been in responding to the multiple issues raised herein.   

The sinfulness of contraception did not begin with the issuance of Humanae Vitae. No matter how many bishops, priests, theologians or lay people challenge the authenticity of Pope Paul VI’s courageous encyclical, contraception is and always has been an “intrinsic evil” and “grave sin” - not just for Catholics but for all human beings.  This fundamental and vital Truth and its eternal implications must be preached from all our pulpits. I suspect that will not happen unless and until we return to the primary mission of our Church – not alleviating the physical, material, emotional and addictive behaviors of the poor, oppressed and marginalized (all worthy efforts for sure) but the salvation of souls.