The Priory Institute Holy Week Online Retreat - Free of Charge

Holy Week 2019

A Reading of the Gospels through Lectio Divina

This year, the Priory Institute offers a free retreat based on the Gospels of Holy Week and the Gospel Reading for Easter Sunday. This retreat is made up of eight, 10 minute, recorded sessions with presenters who will guide participants through a reflective reading of the Gospel Reading, following the format used by Lectio Divina communities.

Lectio Divina is understood in this way:

Lectio Divina is an old Latin term that translates as “Sacred Reading” – Reading in which we encounter the presence of God in the Past and Today. It is a traditional way of reading Scripture which fosters communion with God and communion with one another.  It is a journey of Reading, Recognising, Responding, Resting In and Reflecting on the word of God. 

We do not read for information but for transformation of ourselves and our world.  Many are finding it helpful in deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ, celebrating his presence and activity in the world today, and challenging us to enter more fully into it. 

Lectio Divina is a way of Reading, a way of Prayer, a way of Doing Theology and a way of Building Community, and all at the same time.  It has the potential to usher in a whole “new spiritual springtime” in our personal lives and church today.

(from https://newrydominican.com/lectio-divina)

The presenters are

• Fr John Littleton, Director of the Priory Institute
• Fr Brendan Clifford OP, St Mary's Priory Cork
• Sr Sabine Schratz OP, Director of Lumen Spirituality Centre, Blackrock
• Sr Beatrice Clarke OP, Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia (Nashville), Limerick
• Sr Rose Miriam OP, Diocesan Advisor, Diocese of Limerick

The retreat will begin on Palm Sunday, 14 April December and continues over the following seven days.

Registration must be complete by 12 April.  

Retreat Delivery
This Holy Week retreat is offered entirely online with one video reflection per day.  Reflections are available cumulatively as the retreat progresses. The video reflections will be made available each morning and the final reflection on the Gospel Reading for Easter Sunday will be available on April 21.

Cost
Free of Charge, but you must register with your email address and have access to the internet to participate.

More Information
Email: enquiries@prioryinstitute.com
Tel: +353 (0)1 4048124.

To register go HERE

11th December 2016 - Third Sunday of Advent (Year A) - Gaudete Sunday

On this third Sunday of Advent - Gaudete Sunday - we are joined on this weeks programme by Sr Mara Grace from the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia who are have moved into Limerick at St Saviours on Glentworth St. She reflects on Advent and also joins us for our regular weekly reflection on the weekly gospel. We have some liturgical odds and ends as well.

You can listen to this weeks programme podcast HERE.

Gaudete Sunday
Certain Sundays throughout the liturgical year have taken their names from the first word in latin of the Introit, the entrance antiphon at Mass. Gaudete Sunday - the third Sunday of Advent is one of these. The Introit for Gaudete Sunday is taken from Philippians 4:4,5: "Gaudete in Domino semper" ("Rejoice in the Lord always").

"Rejoice: the Lord is nigh." 

As Christmas draws near, the Church emphasizes the joy which should be in our hearts over all that the birth of our Saviour means for us. The great joy of Christians is to see the day drawing nigh when the Lord will come again in His glory to lead them into His kingdom.  The oft-repeated Veni ("Come") of Advent is an echo not only of the prophets but also of the conclusion of the Apocalypse of St. John: "Come, Lord Jesus," the last words of the New Testament. Like Lent, Advent is a penitential season, so the priest normally wears purple vestments. But on Gaudete Sunday, having passed the midpoint of Advent, the Church lightens the mood a little, and the priest may wear rose vestments. The change in colour provides us with encouragement to continue our spiritual preparation—especially prayer and fasting—for Christmas. For this same reason, the third candle of the Advent wreath, first lit on Gaudete Sunday, is traditionally rose-coloured. 

*************

Sr Mara Grace joins with Lorraine reflecting on Advent as a preparation season for Christmas and reminds us that no matter where we are in our lives we are wanted for ourselves to be present in this present moment no matter what to experience that current joy. Together they reflect on prayers and ideas to help us prepare including reflecting on the weekly readings and to take the opportunity to receive the sacrament of confession. Simple and repetitive suggestions but presented as a reminder to us to renew and turn again before the celebration of the Christ child.

Sr Mara Grace's reflection is excerpted from the main programme HERE.

Nashville Dominican Sisters Facebook in Limerick

Gospel - Matthew 11:2-11

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
“Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
As they were going off,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
“What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3; 3rd week of Advent

Saints of the week
December 12th - Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 13th - St Lucy
December 14th - St John of the Cross
December 15th - Saint Florentius of Bangor
December 16th - Martyred Women of North-West Africa
December 17th - Saint Lazarus of Bethany

July 4th - Feast day of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati - Salt + Light TV

“Verso l’alto”

 

July 4 is the Memorial (Feast Day) of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. The following is the homily of Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB preached on Monday, July 14, 2008 during WYD Sydney at the Prayer Vigil and Eucharistic Adoration with the body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia.

Dear Friends,

Dear Wanda, niece of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati,

What an honour and privilege it is to be here with you this evening in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia! Led by the young adults of Canada’s Catholic Christian Outreach [CCO], one of our nation’s outstanding movements for Catholic university students, we have gathered together to adore Jesus, gift of God for the life of the world. And young people of the entire world have also come here, to pray around the mortal remains of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati during World Youth Day 2008.

We have just listened to the blueprint for Christianity in that magnificent text of the Beatitudes from Matthew’s Gospel [5:1-12]. The Beatitudes in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount are a recipe for extreme holiness. Every crisis that the Church faces, every crisis that the world faces, is a crisis of holiness and a crisis of saints.

If there was ever an age when young men and women needed authentic heroes, it is our age. The Church understands that the saints and blesseds, their prayers, their lives, are for people on earth; that sainthood, as an earthly honor, is not coveted by the saints or blesseds themselves.

3rd July 2016 - The Dominican Friars Leave Limerick - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

On this week's programme John has an interview with Fr. Frank Downes O.P., the Prior of St. Saviour's Dominican Priory in Limerick, about their sad withdrawal from their Limerick foundation. The full programme is available HERE.


The Dominican Friars

At the midterm assembly of their Province in September 2014 it was decided that the Dominican Friars would withdraw from their Limerick foundation in Glenworth Street where they have been ministering since July 1816.  Their presence in the diocese dates back to 1227.  Their departure is one of great sadness for the Dominicans and indeed for whole of Limerick who hold the Dominicans in fond esteem, yet Fr. Frank wished to express their immense gratitude to each and all who have supported them down through the years in so many kind and varied ways. 

The team here on Sacred Space would like to extend our gratitude to the Friars on our own behalf and on behalf of the good people of Limerick who will be sad to see them go. We wish God's blessing on them for their future and assure them of our prayers. Fr. Frank's interview excerpted from the main programme is available HERE.  

You can read more about the history of the Dominican Friars in Limerick HERE.

The church will remain open with daily Mass at 1pm (Monday to Saturday) beginning on Monday July 4th.  The Sunday Mass schedule has not been announced as yet.

Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia

Fr. Frank also expressed his gratitude that the Dominican presence remains with the arrival of the Dominican sisters of Saint Cecilia on Friday 19th August.  You can read more about their new foundation HERE.


Thanksgiving Mass
We invite you to join with us on Sunday July 3rd for a Mass of Thanksgiving and Farewell at 3pm followed by light refreshments in the Pery Hotel next door to us.

Gospel - Luke 10:1-12. 17-20

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!” And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you”. But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, . “We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near.” I tell you, on that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with that town.

The seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name.’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.’

*****

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire

Centre for Liturgy

English Dominicans

Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 2; 14th week in ordinary time

Saints of the Week

4th July - St. Elizabeth of Portugal
5th July - St. Antony Mary Zaccaria
6th July - St. Maria Goretti
7th July - St. Maelruain
8th July - St. Kilian
9th July - St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companion Martyrs

7th February 2016 - Interview with the Nashville Dominicans - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

On this weeks programme the SS102fm team are joined by a special guest all the way from Nashville, Tennessee - Sr Mara Grace Gore who introduces us to the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia. We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as some liturgical odds and ends and notices.

The podcast of this weeks programme available HERE.

Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia (Nashville Dominicans)

(left to right): Sr. Rose Miriam, Sr. Mara Grace, Sr. Beatrice, Sr. Caitriona,
Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia who are coming to Limerick in Aug 2016

Sr Mara Grace joins us on this weeks programme to introduce us to the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia.

The Nashville Dominicans are establishing a community in Limerick diocese from August 2016 with the plan being for them to take up residence in the Dominican Friary on Glentworth St as the Dominican Friars will be withdrawing after over a 750 year association with Limerick.

Sr Mara Grace tells us about their order, the work that they do and reflects also on the meaning of consecrated life in the world today.

Our interview with Sr Mara Grace was recorded on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord which is also the World Day for Religious Life and this year also marked the end of the Year for Consecrated Life.

Previous post from SS102fm including a couple of YouTube videos about the Nashville Dominicans.

The interview with Sr Mara Grace is excerpted from the main programme and is available here.

Gospel - Luke 5:1-11

From Limerick Diocesan Weekly Newsletter:

This Sundays gospel account sees Simon and ther fishermen listening to Jesus. They must have been impressed, for when he asked to go out in their boats they willingly let him. From Simons boat, Jesus taught the crowd and then afterwards he encouraged the disciples to put down their nets for a catch.

We have been on a special Synod journey in this diocese. Maybe you have watched from the shoreline, maybe you were in the boat or maybe you were encouraging others to listen .... no matter where you were up to now, now you are invited to put down your nets. 

• Have you an opinion on what we should vote on in this Synod? If so speak to your delegates this week (not next week)
• Did you intend to pray for this Synod, but forgot. Start again this week
• Are you struggling to think of proposals for the Synod? Ask for help and ideas, this week not next week! 

Let no one say next Autumn that 'someone should have ...' or 'where is the thing I thought was important'. Simon was not invited to lower everyones nets for them - every fisherman was called to work. And every Limerick parishioner, staff member, cleric or religious is called on this Synod jounney now.  

‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch’. ‘Master,’ Simon replied ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets for a catch.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.

If we are willing to step our of our comfort zone in prayer, word and deed - we know that God will bless our work, a thousand fold.

So let us be brave and reckless and confident this month.

Let us engage and discuss and propose and listen. 

Let us be disciples not observers on this Synod journey.

*****

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours -  Psalter - Sunday - Tuesday - week 1
                                                   Wed - Sat - Week 4

Saints of the Week
February 8th - St Josephine Bakhita
February 9th - St Ronan of Lismore
February 10th - Ash Wednesday - Day of Fast & Abstinence
February 11th - Our Lady of Lourdes  also St Gobnait
February 12th - St Ethelward of Lindisfarne
February 13th - St Catherine del Ricci also Bl Jordan of Saxony

Christmas present for Limerick Diocese - Nashville Dominican Sisters to arrive in Limerick August 2016 - UPDATED

Limerick Diocese Script (Christmas 2015):

Limerick is set to turn a religious tide by attracting a new order to the city in 2016 with the arrival of Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia (a.k.a. Nashville Dominicans) to take over the Priory and breath new life back into St Saviour's Church, Glentworth Street.

Four sisters will arrive in Limerick from the US in August 2016 and begin their work of prayer and community outreach.

The move will take effect less than two years after the Dominican Friars in Ireland announced it had embarked on a process of re-organising its commitments in Ireland in view of falling numbers and would be withdrawing from Limerick.

It will also take place in a special year for the Dominicans worldwide with the 800th anniversary of their foundation by the Spaniard, St Dominic. The Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia itself is a community founded in Nashville in 1860 and flourishing in the United States today.

The remarkable turn of events that has led to the Sisters of St Cecilia coming to Limerick started with an initial speculative contact by Limerick Bishop Brendan Leahy to the Sisters' headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I knew I would be in a long line of bishops making such requests but I decided at least I'd put my name down on the list," he said.

To Bishop Leahy's amazement, he got an immediate reply as the sisters came back to say they were interested in exploring the possibility. Two sisters came last summer and were taken with Limerick, where they were hosted by the Mercy Sisters in Westbourne. Bishop Leahy and Diocesan Secretary Fr Paul Finnerty spent a day showing the sisters around Limerick and soon after they returned to the States the community made the decision they wanted to come to Ireland and Limerick seemed the right place. Commenting on their new move to Limerick Mother Ann Marie, the Prioress General of the Order said, "Our entire community is very excited about being part of the life of the Church in the diocese of Limerick....This is a gift and privilege for us. In our community's early history, we had several sisters who were from Ireland, and a good number of our sisters are of Irish descent. The four sisters who will begin serving in the Diocese of Limerick in August of 2016 are eager to learn more about, and come to know personally, a people who have given so much to the Church".

The timing of the sisters arrival comes almost 800 years since the Order of Preachers (as they are known) came to Limerick in 1227 and established in a number of locations including Kilmallock and Limerick city. They are in Glentworth Street since 1815. The four Dominican sisters will live in the Dominican Priory in Glentworth Street, thereby providing continuity of prayer and the Dominican presence in St Saviour's.

With their distinctive while habits, the Sisters of St Cecilia, whose work is mainly in education, pastoral outreach and youth ministry, will be a significant presence in Limerick.

[snip]

Bishop Brendan Leahy continued," I think this is a wonderful development. It will be a clear sign of hope for us all in this year when we are having a Synod. I look forward to welcoming the sisters and I know they will get a warm reception from the good-natured Limerick people who appreciate the contribution that Religious sisters have made in Limerick as we saw earlier this year when a civic reception was held to mark that contribution.

In this year dedicated to Consecrated Life, it is like a gift from God to us that we can now look forward to the arrival of new young Dominican Sisters who will surely also be an inspiration to young people".

******************

 

 



 

 

UPDATE:

 

Some initial coverage of the news from Limerick Leader

 

Some questioning of the logic behind the move in terms of understanding of roles

Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) celebrate their 800th birthday

In 2016, the Order of Preachers will celebrate a Jubilee Year with the theme “Sent to preach the Gospel”.  This marks the 800th anniversary of the official foundation of the Order by Pope Honorius III. The Jubilee Year will be celebrated by Dominicans all around the world - friars, sisters and lay people - from 7 November, 2015 (Feast of All Saints of the Order) to 21 January, 2017 (the date of the official Papal Bull Gratiarum omnium largitori of Pope Honorius III).

Information and resources

Information regarding the worldwide celebration of the Jubilee within the Order and various useful resources may be found at http://www.op.org/en/jubilee

Calendar of events for Irish Province

The Irish Province will collectively celebrate the opening of the Jubilee year in St. Mary’s Tallaght on the 5th of November, 2015, while each individual community will celebrate it locally on the 7th of November.

A programme of events to be celebrated by the Irish Province during the Jubilee year can be found here.

(All details of these events have not yet been finalised but will be updated in due course)

UPDATE:

 

 

UPDATE No 2:

 

Link to the international website of the Dominicans which has the news items for the Jubilee including their song for the year!

 

 



UPDATE No. 3:

 

11th October 2015 - Rosary Apostolate Ireland

On this weeks programme John and the SS102fm team are joined by Fr John Walsh OP who reflects on the rosary and tells us about the Rosary Apostolate of the Dominican Order. We have our regular reflection on the gospel as well local notices and other liturgical odds and ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

The Rosary Apostolate

Our Lady of the Rosary with St Dominic and St Catherine

This week we are joined by Fr John Walsh OP who is the Irish Dominican Province’s Promoter of the Holy Rosary. 

The Rosary Confraternity is a spiritual association under the patronage of the Order of Preachers.  Confraternity members strive to pray the entire Rosary during the course of each week.  The members share in the daily prayer of the Dominican Fathers for the living and deceased and for many indulgences.

On the programme Fr John reflects on the rosary and how it is a summary of scripture on a string  of beads. He leads us through the various mysteries and gives some tips on praying the rosary.

If you would like to enrol in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary and to share in its spiritual benefits and graces, simply send your name and address to Fr. Walsh at the

 

Irish Dominican Rosary Apostolate and Confraternity, 42 Parnell Square Dublin 1. 

You will receive a lovely package of prayer cards, leaflets and rosary beads.   You will also benefit from knowing that you are linked in prayer with others all over the world who are dedicated to spreading devotion to Mary and love of her Divine Son through this holiest of prayers.

You can listen to the interview with Fr John HERE.

Irish Dominican Rosary Apostolate & Confraternity is on Facebook.

You can read more about and learn to pray the rosary here, and here. Catholic Culture has a listing of resources around the rosary available here including all the papal encyclicals issued on the rosary.

Gospel - Mark 17:10-30

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - psalter week 4, 28th week in ordinary time

Saints of the Week

12th October - St Edwin of Northumbria
13th October - Various saints including Our Lady of Fatima as it is the anniversary of the last apparition at Fatima and the miracle of the "dancing sun"
14th October - St Callistus (martyr, Pope)
15th October - St Teresa of Avila
16th October - St Margaret Mary Alcoque
17th October - St Ignatius of Antioch

Schools of Prayer - Pray As You Go Padcast

Monks, nuns and priests in Catholic religious communities often have deeply prayerful lives that bring them closer to the Lord. So what can we learn from those with a devotion to great saints like St Thérèse of Lisieux, St Dominic, St Benedict, St Francis of Assisi, St Clare, St Bernard and St Ignatius? What do each of these 'teachers' offer us as a tool for prayer?

Pray as You Go has a series of podcasts about Schools of Prayer available HERE.

Introductory podcast is below:

22nd March 2015 - Interview with Br Conor McDonagh OP - 5th Sunday Lent (Year B)

On this weeks programme John, Anne and Shane and joined by Br Conor McDonagh who shares his Dominican story and what it means to be a young religious in Ireland. We have a short reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as some other odds and ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks programme HERE.

Interview with Br Conor McDonagh OP

Br Conor and Sr Louise after his diaconal
ordination 15th March 2015

Br Conor McDonagh OP joins John and Shane on the programme this week to share his journey to becoming a Dominican friar and onto his diaconal ordination on 15th March. 

In what is an interesting discussion, Conor reflects on what it means to be a Dominican and a in a particular way to reflect on what it means to be a young religious in Ireland today. Conor reflects on the challenges and opportunities that religious have as people of encounter and how religious life is an opportunity of evangelical witness.

You can listen to Conor's interview excerpted from the main programme HERE.

You can find out more about the Irish Dominicans from their website.



Conor was also involved in the video that was produced to mark the Year for Consecrated Life:

Gospel - John 12: 20-33

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feastcame to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.Whoever loves his life loses it,and whoever hates his life in this worldwill preserve it for eternal life.Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.The Father will honor whoever serves me.
“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?‘Father, save me from this hour’?But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.Father, glorify your name.”Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

Here I am, imperfect, concerned, broken. 

I give it all to you - I let go trying to be in charge and 

I will let God be God in my life.

Prayer of Confession

(inspired by John 12:20-33)

Lord, we confess that we love our lives as they are.

We struggle with even the idea of change.

We wrestle with the thought of doing things differently.

But we know that the life we cling to is only a half-life.

Only you, O Lord, can give us true life in full.

Forgive us for holding onto the wrong things.

Teach us by your Spirit to let go of our agendas and assumptions.

Help us to let go of our self-righteousness and false notions of power.

Give us the strength and courage to try new things.

Encourage us – and even push us –

to let go of ourselves so we can fully embrace you, Holy God.

We pray these things in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.

~ written by Amy Loving, and posted on The Worship Closet: The Place for Creative Worship Ideas. 




Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy


Liturgical odds and ends

Liturgy of the Hours: psalter week 1; 5th week of Lent

Saints of the Week

March 23rd - St Turibius
March 24th - St Macartan (anniversary of the death of Archbishop Oscar Romero)
March 25th - Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
March 26th - St Mochelloc of Kilmallock
March 27th - St Rupert of Salzburg
March 28th -Bl Donal O'Neylan

O happy day! - Cross post from Pilgrims Progress

Sr Louise with the neo-deacon Damian,OP

“We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning
he had meant us to live it” (St. Paul to the Ephesians).

On the 15th of March 2015, the Dominican Province in Ireland was in great celebration for the ordination to diaconate of 6 of their brothers:
Br. David McGovern, Br. Damian Polly, Br. Ronan Connolly, Br. Conor McDonough, Br. Eoin Casey and Br. Daragh McNally. 

In the Catholic Church, the diaconate is the first of three ranks in ordained ministry. Deacons preparing for the priesthood are transitional deacons. As ministers of Word, deacons proclaim the Gospel, preach, and teach in the name of the Church. As ministers of Sacrament, deacons baptise, lead the faithful in prayer, witness marriages, and conduct wake and funeral services. As ministers of Charity, deacons are  leaders in identifying the needs of others.

It was very fitting to have this liturgical celebration on Laetare Sunday, where the introit antiphon calls us to rejoice: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her.” The ordaining prelate was the Most Reverend Diarmuid Martin, who over the past few years has been a frequent visitor to St. Saviour’s Priory for the various ordinations to diaconate and to priesthood. Part of the liturgy for the ordination entails an ‘examination’ for those who are to be ordained. The questions posed are worth reflecting on: 

“Are you willing to be ordained for the Church’s ministry by the laying on of hands and the gift of the Holy Spirit? 
Are you resolved to discharge the office of deacon with humility and love in order to assist the bishop and the priests and to serve the people of Christ?
Are you resolved to hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, as the Apostle urges, to proclaim this faith in word and actions as it taught by the Gospel and the Church’s tradition?
Are you resolved to maintain and deepen a spirit of prayer appropriate to your way of life and , in keeping with what is required of you, to celebrate faithfully the liturgy of the hours for the Church and for the whole world?
Are you resolved to shape your way of life always according to the example of Christ, whose body and blood you will give to the people?

In this examination, we get a glimpse of what the deacon is called to be at this point of his journey. It also gives direction for the journey which lies ahead as he continues towards the day of his ordination as a priest. It is all encapsulated in the phrase which the Bishop prays as he presents the Book of the Gospels to the new deacon:“Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you are.Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach.” (Rite of Ordination).

With the new decaon Conor

A very poignant part of the rite of ordination is the Litany of the Saints, where the protection of the saints is invoked upon those who are to be ordained. As we call upon these men and women of God to intercede, we are mindful of the journey which they have walked in striving for holiness whilst on earth. It was wonderful to see lots of children present at the celebration and following all that was going on. Who knows what was going through their curious minds as they watched the ceremony! Friends, family and well-wishers joined with the Dominican brothers gathered from the various communities in Ireland to witness these young men move one step further towards being priests for God’s Church. Our sincere best wishes and prayers are with them all and may the Lord continue to raise up vocations, holy men and women to serve Him joyfully! 

For more news about the ordination, check out the Dominican website here.