O God, the beginning and the end of all things, Who are always the same, and Whose years never fail, we now, at the close of another year, pray in thanksgiving and gratitude, and offer You our deepest thanks for the fatherly care with which You has watched over us during the past, for the many times You have protected us from the dangers of soul and body, and for the numberless blessings, both temporal and spiritual, which You have showered upon us. May it please You to accept the homage of our grateful hearts which we offer You in union with the infinite thanksgiving of Your divine Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.

 

Te Deum at the close of the Year and beginning of the New Year

 

We praise you, O God: we acclaim you as the Lord. Everlasting Father, all the world bows down before you. All the angels sing your praise, the hosts of heaven and all the angel powers, all the cherubim and seraphim call out to you in unending song: Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of angel hosts! The heavens and the earth are filled with your majesty and glory. The glorious band of apostles, the noble company of prophets, the white-robed army who shed their blood for Christ, all sing your praises. And to the ends of the earth your holy Church proclaims her faith in you. Father, whose majesty is boundless, your true and only Son, who is to be adored, the Holy Spirit sent to be our advocate. You, O Christ, are the King of glory, Son of the eternal Father. When you took our nature to save mankind, you did not shrink from birth in the Virgin's womb. You overcame the power of death opening the Father's kingdom to all who believe in you. Enthroned at God's right hand in the glory of the Father, you will come in judgment according to your promise. You redeemed your people by your precious blood. Come, we implore you, to our aid. Grant us with the saints a place of glory everlasting. Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance. Rule them and uphold them for ever and ever. Day by day we praise you: we acclaim you now and to all eternity. In your goodness, Lord, keep us free from sin Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy. May your mercy always be with us, Lord, for we have hoped in you. In you, Lord, we put our trust: we shall not he put to shame.

 

"God is glorious,God is pure light, the radiance of truth and love. He is good. He is true goodness, goodness par excellence. The angels surrounding him begin by simply proclaiming the joy of seeing God’s glory. Their song radiates the joy that fills them. In their words, it is as if we were hearing the sounds of heaven. There is no question of attempting to understand the meaning of it all, but simply the overflowing happiness of seeing the pure splendour of God’s truth and love. We want to let this joy reach out and touch us: truth exists, pure goodness exists, pure light exists. God is good, and he is the supreme power above all powers. All this should simply make us joyful tonight, together with the angels and the shepherds."
Benedict XVI

 

With every good wish and blessing of the Infant King born for us this night from the Dominican Rosary Apostolate in Ireland.

“Let not your heart be disturbed… Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.” (Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego)

Stay very close to the crib of this most beautiful Child, especially during these days of his birth. If you love riches, here you will find the gold the Kings left Him. If you love the smoke of honors, here you will find that of incense. And if you love the delicacy of the senses, you will smell the perfumed myrrh which perfumes the entire holy stable. St. Padre Pio

 

Let your goodness, Lord, appear to us, that we, made in your image, may conform ourselves to it. In our own strength we cannot image your majesty, power and wonder; nor is it fitting for us to try. But your mercy reaches from the heavens, through the clouds, to the earth below. You have come to us as a small child, but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of your eternal love. Caress us with your tiny hands, embrace us with your tiny arms, and pierce our hearts with your soft, sweet cries.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

 

"The veneration of Mary is the surest and shortest way to get close to Christ in a concrete way. In meditating on her life in all its phases we can learn what it means to live for and with Christ – in the everyday, in an unsentimental matter-of-factness that nonetheless enjoys perfect inner intimacy, Contemplating Mary’s existence, we also submit to the darkness imposed on our faith, yet we learn how we must always be ready when Jesus suddenly asks something from us."

Hans Urs Von Balthasar.

 

“In vigilance, she received the announcement that changed the history of humanity. In vigilance, she kept and contemplated, more than any other, the Almighty, who became her Son...In the vigilance of her maternal heart, Mary followed Christ right up to the foot of the cross where, in the immense sorrow of a pierced heart, she accepted us as her new sons. In vigilance, she waited with certainty for the Resurrection and was assumed into Heaven.”

 Cardinal Piacenza

Prayer to Our Lady of the New Advent

O Lady and Mother of the One who was and is and is to come,
dawn of the New Jerusalem, we earnestly beseech you,
bring us by your intercession so to live in love that the Church, the Body of Christ,
may stand in this world’s dark as fiery icon of the New Jerusalem.
O Jesus living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants,
In the spirit of Thy holiness, in the fullness of Thy might,
In the truth of Thy virtues, in the perfection of Thy ways,
In the communion of Thy mysteries.
Subdue every hostile power in Thy Spirit,
For the glory of the Father. Amen

Today begins the Novena to Mary Immaculate.

Novena Prayer for the Immaculate Conception
O most pure Virgin Mary conceived without sin, from the very first instant, you were entirely immaculate. O glorious Mary full of grace, you are the mother of my God – the Queen of Angels and of men. I humbly venerate you as the chosen mother of my Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lords chose you for the singular grace and honor of being His beloved mother. By the power of His Cross, He preserved you from all sin. Therefore, by His power and love, I have hope and bold confidence in your prayers for my holiness and salvation.
I pray first of all that you would make me worthy to call you my mother and your Son, Jesus, my Lord.
I pray that your prayers will bring me to imitate your holiness and submission to Jesus and the Divine Will.
Hail Mary, full of Grace,.......
Now, Queen of Heaven, I beg you to beg my Savior to grant me these requests…
(Mention your intentions)
My holy Mother, I know that you were obedient to the will of God. In making this petition, I know that God’s will is more perfect than mine. So, grant that I may receive God’s grace with humility like you.
As my final request, I ask that you pray for me to increase in faith in our risen Lord; I ask that you pray for me to increase in hope in our risen Lord; I ask that you pray for me to increase in love for the risen Jesus!
Hail Mary, full of Grace,.......
Amen.

“It has always been the habit of Catholic in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary, and to seek for peace in Her maternal goodness; showing that the Catholic Church has always, and with justice, put all her hope and trust in the Mother of God. And truly the Immaculate Virgin, chosen to be the Mother of God and thereby associated with Him in the work of man’s salvation, has a favour and power with Her Son greater than any human or angelic creature has ever obtained, or ever can gain…” Pope Leo XIII

"Devotion to Mary will make possible in you a better understanding of Christ and a more intense union with his mysteries. You will receive Christ from his mother's arms and she will allow you to love him and imitate him." (Pope Pius XII)

Today Dominicans celebrate the Feast of our Co-Protectress, St. Catherine of Alexandria, Martyr. Saint Dominic received many heavenly visions of her and chose her with Mary Magdalene to be Protectress of the Dominican Order. Catherine is the patron of philosophers because of the wisdom and reasoning with which she spoke in defence of the faith.
Tradition has it that she appeared twice in visions during the early days of the Order, plus again in the 16th century. She was one of the Virgins along with St. Cecilia who accompanied the Blessed Virgin Mary when she gave Bl. Reginald the scapular. She also accompanied the Blessed Virgin in the vision in which St. Dominic saw the Virgin Mary sprinkling the brethren while they slept. Lastly, she again accompanied the Blessed Virgin, along with St. Mary Magdalene (co-patroness of the Order), in preparation for the painting of the miraculous image of St. Dominic in Soriano.

From the ''Vitae Fratrum''
“Once when St Dominic was passing the night in the church in prayer, about midnight he went out and entered the dormitory. After looking at his brethren he resumed his prayer at the entrance of the dormitory. While standing erect as he prayed, he chanced to glance to the other end of the dormitory and saw three very comely ladies advancing towards him, of whom the central figure seemed to be a lady more dignified and of higher rank than the others. One of the two attendants (St. Catherine of Alexandria) carried a beautiful and resplendent vessel of holy water, and the other (St. Cecilia) a sprinkler, which she presented to the third who walked between them. This one sprinkled the brethren and blessed them, but as she passed along doing so there was one friar whom she neither blessed nor sprinkled. St Dominic observed this attentively, and noting whom it was, followed the lady as far as the lamp which hung in the middle of the dormitory: there he threw himself at her feet and began earnestly to beg her to say who she was, although he knew very well all the while.
Now at that time the beautiful and devout anthem, the Salve Regina, was not sung in the convents of our brethren and sisters in Rome, but merely said kneeling. Then the lady addressed St Dominic and said: ‘I am she whom you greet every evening, and when you say “Turn then our Advocate,” I prostrate myself before my Son for the preservation of this Order.’ St Dominic then inquired who her companions might be, where unto she made answer: ‘One of them is Cecilia and the other Catherine.’ Upon this St Dominic made further inquiry touching the brother whom she had passed by, and why she had neither sprinkled nor blest him with the rest: at this she answered: ‘Simply because he was unworthy of it.’ Then she resumed sprinkling and blessing the remaining friars, and went away.”

Let us pray.
O God, you gave the law to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai, and through your holy angels, wonderfully put in that same place the body of the blessed Catherine, your virgin and martyr; grant, we beseech you, that by her merits and intercession, we may reach that mountain which is Christ. Through Christ our Lord.

 

"The greater the charity of the Saints in their heavenly home,
 the more they intercede for those who are still on their journey

 and the more they can help them by their prayers;
 the more they are united with God, the more effective those prayers are.
 This is in accordance with Divine order, which makes higher things react upon lower things,
 like the brightness of the sun filling the atmosphere."
St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P.

"Hail, holy throne of God, divine sanctuary, house of glory, jewel most fair, chosen treasure house, and mercy seat for the whole world, heaven showing forth the glory of God. Purest Virgin, worthy of all praise, sanctuary dedicated to God and raised above all human condition, virgin soil, unplowed field, flourishing vine, fountain pouring out waters, virgin bearing a child, mother without knowing man, hidden treasure of innocence, ornament of sanctity, by your most acceptable prayers, strong with the authority of motherhood, to our Lord and God, Creator of all, your Son who was born of you without a father, steer the ship of the Church and bring it to a quiet harbour"
 (Homily by St. Germanus on the Presentation of the Mother of God).

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom

Mary, Seat of Wisdom (also known as Our Lady of the Chair or the Latin name Sedes Sapientiae), is a very old title for Mary.  As with all of Mary’s titles, it highlights one specific aspect of her life and experience – specifically, her role as the one who gave birth to Christ.
Artistic representations of Mary, Seat of Wisdom often show her seated on a throne, holding the Christ child on her lap and offering him for adoration.  Many early Christians saw Christ as Wisdom incarnate; therefore, by holding him on her lap, Mary becomes the “seat” of wisdom.  On another, deeper level, the title also refers to the fact that Mary “held” wisdom inside her by carrying Christ in her womb.

“All-holy Father, eternal God, in your goodness you prepared a royal throne for your Wisdom in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary; bathe your Church in the radiance of your life-giving Word, that, pressing forward on its pilgrim way in the light of your truth, it may come to the joy of a perfect knowledge of your love.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”  Amen.

Today the Order of Preachers celebrates its heavenly members, All Saints and Blesseds of the Dominican Order, even though Dominicans only take profession of vows until death.
Fixed in God by love, the Dominican lives for this alone: united with Christ in each of its acts, through Him, with Him and in Him, it thinks only of glorifying the Father by continual adoration and of saving souls who will glorify Him eternally. It lives in the Church, through the Church, for the Church, in a spirit of brotherhood with all men, eager to communicate to them the Truth which is achieved in Love.
You might like to pray the Litany for the Friars, Nuns, and Lay Dominicans throughout the world. Happy Feast Day and through the intercession of the Saints may the Order fulfill its mission to Praise, Bless and Preach the Truth.
Happy Feast Day!

Litany of The Dominican Saints and Blesseds
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. ...Lord, have mercy.
...Christ, have mercy.
...Lord, have mercy.
...Christ Graciously Hear Us
God, the heavenly Father... have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world........have mercy on us
God, the Holy Spirit...... have mercy on us
Holy Mary.............pray for us
Holy Mother of God
Holy Virgin of Virgins
All you holy angels and archangels
All you holy Patriarchs and Prophets
All you holy Apostles and Evangelists
All you holy martyrs
All you holy virgins and widows
All you holy men and women

Saint Michael.....pray for us
Saint Gabriel
Saint Raphael
Saint Joseph
Saint John the Baptist
Saint Mary Magdalen
Holy Father Augustine
Holy Father Francis
Blessed Jane of Aza
Blessed Reginald ...pray for us.

Holy Father Dominic
Holy Father Dominic ...pray for us.
Blessed Bertrand.........pray for us
Blessed Mannes
Blessed Diana
Blessed Jordan of Saxony
Blessed John of Salerno
Blessed William and Companions
Blessed Ceslaus
Blessed Isnard
Blessed Guala
Blessed Peter Gonzalez
Saint Zdislava
Saint Peter of Verona
Blessed Nicholas
Saint Hyacinth
Blessed Gonsalvo
Blessed Sadoc and Companions
Blessed Giles
Saint Margaret of Hungary
Blessed Batholomew of Vincenza
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Raymond of Penyafort
Blessed Innocent V
Blessed Albert of Bergamo
Saint Albert the Great
Blessed John of Vercelli
Blessed Ambrose
Blessed Cecilia
Blessed Benvenuta
Blessed James of Varazze
Blessed James of Bevagna
Blessed Benedict XI
Blessed Jane of Orvieto
Blessed Jordan of Pisa
Saint Emily
Blessed James Salomonio
Saint Agnes of Montepulciano
Blessed Simon
Blessed Margaret of Castello
Blessed Augustine Kazotic
Blessed James Benefatti
Blessed Imelda
Blessed Dalmatius
Blessed Margaret Ebner
Blessed Villana
Blessed Peter Ruffia
Blessed Henry
Blessed Sibyllina
Blessed Anthony of Pavonio
Saint Catherine of Siena
Blessed Marcolino
Blessed Raymond of Capua
Blessed Andrew Franchi
Saint Vincent Ferrer
Blessed Clara
Blessed John Dominic
Blessed Alvarez
Blessed Maria
Blessed Peter of Castello
Blessed Andrew Abellon
Blessed Stephen
Blessed Peter Geremia
Blessed John of Fiesole
Blessed Lawrence of Ripafratta
Blessed Anthony della Chiesa
Saint Antoninus
Blessed Anthony Neyrot
Blessed Margaret of Savoy
Blessed Bartholomew of Cerverio
Blessed Matthew
Blessed Constantius
Blessed Christopher
Blessed Damian
Blessed Andrew of Peschiera
Blessed Bernard
Blessed Jane of Portugal
Blessed James of Ulm
Blessed Augustine of Biella
Blessed Aimo
Blessed Sebastian
Blessed Mark
Blessed Columba
Blessed Magdalen
Blessed Osanna of Mantua
Blessed John Liccio
Blessed Dominic Spadafora
Blessed Stephana
Saint Adrian
Blessed Lucy
Blessed Catherine Racconigi
Blessed Osanna of Kotor
Saint Pius V
Saint John of Cologne
Blessed Maria Bartholomew
Saint Louis Bertrand
Saint Catherine de Ricci
Blessed Robert
Blessed Alphonsus and Companions
Saint Rose
Saint Dominic Ibanez and Companions
Blessed Agnes of Jesus
Saint Lawrence Ruiz and Companions
Saint Martin de Porres
Blessed Peter Higgins
Blessed Francis de Capillas
Saint Juan Macias
Blessed Terence
Blessed Ann of the Angels
Blessed Francis de Posadas
Saint Louis de Montfort
Blessed Francis Gil
Saint Matteo
Blessed Peter Sanz and Companions
Saint Vicent Liem
Saint Hyacinth Castaneda
Blessed Marie
Blessed George
Blessed Catherine Jarrige
Saint Ignatius and Companions
Saint Dominic An-Kham and Companions
Saint Joseph Khang and Companions
Blessed Francis Coll
Blessed Hyacinthe Cormier
Blessed Pier Giorgio
Blessed Bartolo
Blessed Michael Czartoryski
Blessed Julia Rodzinska
All holy Dominican brothers and sisters ...pray for us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world ...spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world ...graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world ...have mercy on us.
Let us pray...
God, source of all holiness, you have enriched your Church
with many gifts in the saints of the Order of Preachers.
By following the example of our brothers and sisters,
may we come to enjoy their company
for ever in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son, who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen

“Again and again in recent Marian apparitions the rosary has played a part; it has happened that Mary has fingered the beads along with those praying the rosary. Why should this be? So that we should prefer to pray to her and not to Christ or to the Father? On the contrary, so that it is from her point of view, from her memory, that we should look at the mysteries of Jesus’s life, and thereby at those of the Trinitarian embodiment of salvation. Our eyes are bleary and dull: if you will forgive the metaphor, we must put on Mary’s spectacles in order to see exactly."
Hans Urs Van Balthasar.

In this month of November, Dominicans have a special patron for the Holy Souls St. Juan (John) Macias, O.P. St John was a Dominican Lay brother and a close friend of St. Martin De Porres and St. Rose of Lima. He devoted his life like St. Martin caring for the poor and suffering who came to the priory door of St. Mary Magdalene in Lima, and to keeping the Virgin Mary company while praying the Rosary many times a day.

Our Lady taught this holy doorkeeper the sublime mysteries of the Rosary. It was through the most powerful Marian prayer on earth, the Rosary, that he would release great numbers of souls from purgatory. The Holy Souls often appeared to St. John begging his powerful intercession, asking him to offer his labours and prayers for their suffrage, "Give us prayers", they cried with one voice. "Oh brother John, you are the friend of the poor and sick! Be our friend too! Help make us worthy to be with God and His Blessed ones." Several times daily, St. Macias also sprinkled Holy Water on the ground, a practice he insisted was a great help to these unseen sufferers.

On his deathbed, St. John confessed to his Dominican brethren that prayers and penances offered for the faithful departed and most especially the Rosary are most pleasing and acceptable to God. St. John the Evangelist whom John Macias had great devotion, revealed to him in a vision that his prayers had liberated more than 1.4 million souls from their confinement. On his deathbed, it was said, the heavens opened and those souls rushed down to escort him to heaven.
May we never forget to pray and remember the Holy Souls in this Month of November as we make our rounds of the beads, for we too one day will be holy souls relying on the mercy of God and the prayers of others.

The Rosary - our Dominican heritage

As October draws to a close it seems fitting to call to mind once again the powerful gift entrusted to us in the Holy Rosary, this extraordinary Gospel prayer in which is so beautifully intertwined our Contemplative gaze on God and our Apostolic outreach to the world and its needs.

One of the most appealing aspects of the Rosary is its versatility. It is truly a prayer for all seasons of life, all stages of growth, all moods and humours.

Through it we can be brought into wrapt attention, lost in God, as the rhythmic cadence of the repetitive Hail Mary stills our bodies, quietens our minds and brings us into the depths of our own being where God simply is and we are simply present with Him.

There are other times when the mysteries themselves hold our attention, coming alive for us. These are times of great reflective fruitfulness when new insights into God and his ways light up our path and renew our enthusiasm for God and the things of God, making it possible for the Word to become flesh in us.

Then there are the days when we feel lost and lonely, anguished and confused and the Rosary becomes our lifeline. We don’t know how to pray .We are too agitated and distressed to quieten down but by picking up the beads and just vocally repeating the prayers we are expressing with our bodies our desire to be one with Jesus in His Sufferings. At these times we are perhaps most truly Mary’s children, sick wounded hurting, fearful for ourselves or for others, but holding on to mammy’s hand and leaving it to her to explain to Jesus the Divine Physician  of our bodies minds and spirits what ails us and what grace we need from each mystery. In each hail Mary we pray ‘pray for us sinners’ but at times like this Mary not only intercedes for us but we leave her to pray for us, do our praying for us. I learnt to pray like this when I was very ill and was too weak to concentrate. Like all loving mothers except much more so, Mary knows us better than we know ourselves and if we just somehow remain there, she will untangle all the knots and the very chains that bind us will be the same ones that draw us with her into Heaven.

At all times the Rosary can be a powerful prayer of intercession but especially in times of suffering and neediness it can move us out of our preoccupation with our selves. We may begin off focusing on the mysteries longing for them to bring us relief but gradually something inside us changes. As we unite our suffering with those of Jesus He gives us his awareness of the needs of all for whom He suffered. He expands our hearts to care for others, to desire their salvation, to want relief for them in their pain, to want them to know as we ourselves know the compassion and comfort of our loving Saviour. In our anguish we can look around us and ask that by his wounds someone else in anguish may have the peace our hearts long for. Our pain becomes a gift when it opens us to the pain of others. It becomes something to be grateful for, something we can even choose to accept if our suffering united to those of Jesus can be of help to someone else. This is the transforming power of the Rosary, this is the mysteries being active in us.

When we have been hurt or when we have hurt others lingering with the sorrowful mysteries can bring healing and penitence. They can teach us how to love, how to forgive, how to understand.

There are times when we are aware of receiving great grace and insight as we pray our Rosary but there are too the long days of simply being faithful to our recitation, allowing the mysteries to unconsciously create the atmosphere in which we live, the very familiarity of the prayer almost imperceptibly making God present, as it were. I always think of my grand parents in this context. At night they would sit together watching TV and as bedtime approached they would turn off the TV and take out their beads. Still sitting together on the sofa they would begin their prayer. By that simply act of taking up the beads, an act as routine as brushing their teeth, a ritual done daily without fail, they changed a place of recreation into a place of deep prayer. To be with them at that time was to be in the presence of God.

As the years begin to creep up on us and old age manifests itself in numerous little ways, making us a little fearful if not of death then perhaps at least of the process of dying, the Glorious mysteries may become specially precious. It is good to reflect on the home coming that awaits us. It helps to look forward in certain hope to the joys of the Resurrection. The Glorious Mysteries remind us that our life is the story of our return to the Father’s house. Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us and at the right time He will come to take us to Himself. The assurance that Jesus is coming closer, reaching out to draw us into his embrace where we will be with Him forever provides comfort and brings peace.

Queen of the most Holy Rosary, in life and in death, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus

Contemplative Dominican Sisters, Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
 www.dominicannuns.ie

"Almighty God and his holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs…These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened by her food, guided by her spirit, supported by her arm, sheltered under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build with the other… By word and example they will draw all men to a true devotion to her and though this will make many enemies, it will also bring about many victories and much glory to God alone."
St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

Hail Mary.
Who, Mother, pays you this respectful homage?
It is Heaven itself, an angel, one of the greatest in the court of Heaven, who comes down and Humbles himself before you, an humble young girl, a little flower of Judea.
Oh! what joy I experienced in saying over and over again, with the Archangel Gabriel, "Hail Mary"!
So you are so great that Heaven bends down to you! Yes you are great—for you are
Full of Grace.

Of grace, of Divine life, of that life, which the first Eve lost for herself and for us all, alas! You alone escaped the universal stain; the tide of evil stood before your heart driven back by the very Hand of God.
And you are a solitary whiteness in the midst of guilty humanity! You are Immaculate, fair Lily of Juda. How beautiful you are, oh, Mother Mary. Beautiful as the star of night that reflects the light the sun.
Mirror of Justice, in which is reflected the holiness of the Father, the purity of the Word and the infinite love of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, yes, you are "full of grace." That is why
The Lord is with Thee.

Yes, to be sure . . . you are the tabernacle of the Lord, and you Can say " May Christ live in me." But did you not say when you pronounced your fiat on the day of the Annunciation, "May Jesus live in me that I may give Him to the world"?
Mother, will you help me to keep Christ within me? May He live, may He grow in my young soul that I may give, Him to others, like you, to many others who do not know Him, or do not love Him enough.

Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women.
And all generations to the end of time will call you " blessed," will praise you as the glory of humanity; the woman most pure, most splendid, most simple; the most illustrious and the most humble, the masterpiece and the pride of the Creator.
How I wish to unite my voice to the concert of praise; my feeble voice in the eternal canticle which ascends to you. Yes; you are blessed, O Mary, beyond all women.
And Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb.

Behold the explanation of all your greatness. You are Mother, the Mother par excellence, the Mother of God.
How can I explain your dignity, your sanctity? Must not all that approaches the Divinity be pure? Oh, you are nearer God than any one else.
How can I explain the universal devotion that is offered to you? Must not the ciborium which contains the Sacred Host be treated with special reverence? But what is a. ciborium of gold compared with the living ciborium which you are, 0 Mary, Mother of God?
Jesus Himself has honoured you, and with what filial love!
How I wish to honour you, to bless you, to be a little flower on thy altar.
But I make bold. Since you are the Mother of God, you are not only great and holy, but you are kind and loving—and I say to you:—
Holy Mary Mother of God, Pray for Us Sinners.

How the tone of my prayer changes now that I speak to you of myself and of my brethren.
I bow down my forehead, covered with the sign and the shame of sin. Poor sinners!
But you will not refuse to listen to the prayer of the poor, of the poorest of all men, of the sinner.
"Never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection was left unaided." But why should I fear? You have said " yes " to all the petitions, to all the appeals of souls in the course of all the ages.
Say " yes " to me
Now
Mother! At every moment I must support my feebleness through your power. Now, in the time of dangerous youth, of follies which I would commit every day if I listened to the world and to the "evil one" who whispers to me counsels of cowardice. Now . . .
And at the Hour of Our Death.

My death, quite near, perhaps. Can it be that you will not be there in the supreme anguish to sustain me, to console me, to receive my soul, to bring it to the judgment seat of Jesus, to plead my cause? oh, my advocate!
But you will be there, and you will pray for me (and I will be saved.
Yes, saved! With you, with Jesus /or all eternity.
Because every day of my life I will say over and over again in the fervour of my filial confidence:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

"Brothers and sisters, in this place it is amazing to think how three children entrusted themselves to the interior force which had inflamed them in the apparitions of the Angel and of our heavenly Mother. In this place where we were repeatedly requested to recite the rosary, let us allow ourselves to be attracted by the mysteries of Christ, the mysteries of Mary’s rosary. The recitation of the rosary allows us to fix our gaze and our hearts upon Jesus, just like his Mother, the supreme model of contemplation of the Son. Meditating upon the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious mysteries as we pray our Hail Marys, let us reflect upon the interior mystery of Jesus, from the Incarnation, through the Cross, to the glory of the Resurrection; let us contemplate the intimate participation of Mary in the mystery of our life in Christ today, a life which is also made up of joy and sorrow, of darkness and light, of fear and hope. Grace invades our hearts, provoking a wish for an incisive and evangelical change of life so that we can say with Saint Paul: “For me to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21) in a communion of life and destiny with Christ."

Pope Benedict XVI. Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima

Happy Feast of Bl. John Paul II

Proclaiming Christ with Mary

 

"The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge, in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at different levels of the Christian experience. Its form is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation, capable of forming Christians according to the heart of Christ. When the recitation of the Rosary combines all the elements needed for an effective meditation, especially in its communal celebration in parishes and shrines, it can present a significant catechetical opportunity which pastors should use to advantage. In this way too Our Lady of the Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ. The history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer."
Rosarium Virginis Mariae by Bl. John Paul II

O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that the blessed John Paul the Second should preside as Pope over your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole Redeemer of mankind. Who lives and reigns.

 

"For Christians, the first of books is the Gospel

and the Rosary is actually the abridgement of the Gospel."

 

Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, OP

 

"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. The Church has to launch out “into the deep” in the new millennium beginning with the contemplation of the face of Christ.”

Blessed Pope John Paul II

 

 

"It is patience that reveals every grace to you,

and it is through patience that the saints received all that was promised to them."

 St. Pachomius

 

Prayer of Pope Francis to Our Lady

(From the encyclical “Lumen Fidei”)

Open our ears to hear God’s word

And to recognise his voice and call.

Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps,

To go forth from our own land

And to receive his promise.

Help us to be touched by his love,

That we may touch him in faith.

Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him

And to believe in his love,

Especially in times of trial,

Beneath the shadow of the cross,

When our faith is called to mature.

Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe

Are never alone.

Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus,

That he may be light for our path.

And may this light of faith always increase in us,

Until the dawn of that undying day

Which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!

 

"The history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us?"

Bl. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 17.

 

"If it is made possible, I intend to come to you in order to see the faithful gathered in Jerusalem, and especially the Mother of Jesus: they say of her that she is honorable, affable, and arouses wonder in all, and all wish to see her. But who would not wish to see the Virgin and to converse with her who bore the true God? ...With us she is glorified as the Mother of God and the Virgin full of grace and virtue. They say of her that she is joyful in troubles and persecutions, does not grieve in poverty and want, and not only does not get angry with those who offend her but does good to them still more... All who see her are delighted."

 

Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. John.

Pic: Reliquary of Sts. Clement and Ignatius, San Clemente Rome

 

 

"The heart of a mother is a marvel of mercy. When we fear to go to God, when we are overwhelmed by our unworthiness,  we can go to Mary, because God has entrusted to her the realm of mercy."

Bl. Dom Columba Marmion, OSB

 

To Mary, the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary

 

O Virgin Mary, grant that the recitation of thy Rosary for me each day, in the midst of my manifold duties, a link of unity in all my actions, a tribute of filial piety, a sweet recreation, a help to walk joyously in the path of duty. Grant, especially, O Virgin Mary, that the study of thy fifteen mysteries may gradually form in my soul a pure, bright, fortifying, sweet-scented atmosphere which will penetrate my will, my memory, my understanding, my imagination, my entire being. Thus will I acquire the habit of prayer while working, without the help of formulas, by interior movements of admiration and supplication, or by aspirations of love. I ask this, O Queen of the Holy Rosary, through Dominic, Thy son of predilection, the illustrious preacher of thy mysteries, and faithful imitator of thy virtues. Amen.

 

Bl. Hyacinth Marie Cormier, O.P. (1832-1916).

 

"The world being unworthy to receive the Son of God directly from the hands of the Father,
 he gave his Son to Mary for the world to receive him from her."
Saint Augustine

Blessed Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, with renewed gratitude by your motherly presence we unite our voice to that of all generations that call you blessed.
We celebrate with you the mighty works of God, who never gets tired of bending over mankind, beset by evil and wounded by sin, with mercy to heal and to save it.
Mother embrace with benevolence this act of entrustment that we make today with confidence, before this your image which is so dear to us.
We are confident that each of us is precious in your sight and that nothing is alien to you of all that dwells in our hearts. We are touched by the gaze of your sweet eyes and welcome the comforting caress of your smile.
Safeguard our lives in your arms: bless and strengthen every desire for goodness, revitalize and nourish our faith, sustain and brighten the hope that stirs the soul and charity;guide all of us on the path of holiness.
Teach us your same love and preference for the young and the poor, the marginalized and the suffering, for sinners and those whose hearts are lost: gather all under your protection and deliver us all to your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Pope Francis. 13th October 2013

Mary: Early Dominicans and their love for her. 
The Marian Dimension of the Order of Preachers.


 “The brothers ought to cherish the Orders traditional devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, Queen of Apostles. She is the example of meditation on the words of Christ and of acceptance of one’s mission.”
In our formulae of profession, Dominicans unlike other religious promise obedience to Mary, we promise in filial devotion to obey Mary, Mother of God, the immensely caring Mother of our Order
Blessed Humbert of the Romans,  tells us of a vision received by a French Cistercian Monk, who stated he saw the most august Queen of heaven upon her knees with her hands clasped tearfully begging her son to have pity on his mother’s request. In words she thanked her Son for choosing her as his mother and queen of heaven, yet her heart was full of pain because countless souls were lost, after you all yours sufferings for them my son, they don’t know you and what was offered for their salvation, namely your precious blood. She begged her son, asking that the gift of redemption should not be lost to them.
Our Lord pleaded with his Mother as what more could he do, he has sent prophets and saints, martyrs, doctors and confessors. What more mother am I to do for them? She wept more and in tears replied, my son is not for me to teach you who know all things, but I know that you can find some remedy for this terrible tragedy of ignorance. For three days the mother pleaded on her bended knees before her Son, and finally we are told he rose to his feet (like a good Dominican, took three days to answer) and said, I know sweetest Mother, that sinners are being lost for want of preachers, having none to break for them the bread of the holy scriptures or teach the truth, or open the books now sealed to them, I will send new messengers, a new order of preachers to call and lead the people to everlasting joy. The monk saw the image of Dominic and his friars being sent into the world clothed in the habit white for purity and the black of humility, each blessed by the Christ and his mother.
The order thus comes from the heart and tears the virgin mother, who kneels before her son pleading for mercy, the original title given to our Lady by the first friars was Our Lady of Mercy. The Dominican Vocation comes from the heart of Mary, the call we have received to follow Christ Jesus comes from the heart of Mary, the unique call we have originates in the heart of the Mother of Mercy.
 In 1217 at the first stages of the orders beginning we see the Order at the service of the Bishop of Toulouse, Dominicans were originally therefore of diocesan right.  Our Father Dominic chose the feast of the Assumption, the 15th of August as the day to divide his community; commentators have said that this was chosen by Dominic as the real Pentecost day for the Order.  At Pentecost Mary was gathered with the apostles in the upper room, consoling and strengthening them in their fear. Mary was present when the apostles were sent forth to the four corners of the world. So too with Dominic and his friars, they couldn’t all stay together, they must go and so gathering his brothers together in the safe company of Mary, he sent them forth under the mantle and protection of the queen of apostles, she who supported the apostles would support and protect his sons. We are told he gathered the brethren and announced to them, “hoarded grain goes bad” sending them to Spain, Italy and to the Capital Paris to the university. The apostolic fire that came from the mother’s heart now sends them out again in love for mankind. It has been the prayer of the virgin which upholds the ministry of the word, she who conceived in her womb the word made flesh, prepares the way in each one of us for the word. The Dominican must continually turn to Mary when fear of the apostolate frightens us……it is her intercession which matures the fruit of our labour in the hearts of men and women. If the word is to be born in the hearts of men and women today, the way is prepared by she who first welcomed the word with her yes. Think too of the prophesy of Simon, a sword will pierce your own soul too, after gathering around her the  sons of her son, Mary too must let them go, the heart if it to be shared must be broken.
After the great sending out of the brethren, the frailty of the first friars emerged. Of the four friars sent to Spain, two returned discouraged by their lack of success, the brethren sent to bologna, were half starved because the local people did not support these strange new friars and the friars considered leaving the order completely, but the mother was watching over.
In 1218 Blessed Jordan tells us,  blessed Reginald of Orleans who was a great priest, scholar and lecture in canon law at Paris, fell ill and was dying, this one of St. Dominic’s favourite sons and our father Dominic gave himself over to prolonged prayer, but it seemed useless, Reginald was near death. One night as he lay on his deathbed the Virgin Mother of Mercy appeared to him, she anointed him with healing oil and revealed to him the habit of the Order, asking that the surplice of the canons be replaced by a scapular of the Blessed Mary and a symbol of the yoke of Christ. Reginald was healed immediately and with haste informed father Dominic of the Virgins wishes to have the habit changed. The story reminds us of how the friars always turn to their mother in time of need and how the habit of the order is hers and a reminder down through nearly 800 years of her protection and love.
Another vision  father Dominic received was one night after he returned from his vigil in the church, he walked into the dormitory and saw this beautiful woman passing through the centre of the dorm sprinkling the beds and sleeping friars with holy water, Dominic fell to his knees and asked who she was… she replied, I am she whom you invoke each night at the Salve Regina, when you sing, turn then most gracious advocate, I prostrate myself before my son for the preservation of the order, he then turned and saw our Lord seated in majesty with all the orders around him, but not one of his friars,  The Lord smiled and said, I have given your Order to my Mother and Mary opened her mantle to reveal  to Dominic his sons and daughters hidden beneath the folds.
Dominicans are Marian, we breathe with a love for Mary, the Mother of Apostles and the Mother of Mercy, we promised obedience to Mary in our vows, for as Blessed Humbert says’ it is by the hands of Mary the we hand over to God the radical ownership of our being and of our possessions. It is by her heart that we consecrate ourselves to divine worship and to the salvation of souls.

Virgin Mother Mary,
Protectress of our Order, with trust we approach you.

We, your preachers, fly to you who believed in the words sent from heaven and pondered them in your heart. We stand close around you, who are always present to the gathering of apostles.
In you the Word was made flesh, that same Word which we receive, contemplate, praise together and preach.  Therefore, under your guidance we today devote ourselves anew to the ministry of the Word.  Furthermore, we declare to you that, hearing with you the Word within ourselves and anointed by the Spirit, whose sacred vessel you pre-eminently are, we are consecrated in the name of Jesus Christ to the evangelisation of the world.
With the eyes of your heart enlightened, you understood the mystery of the Word. Through you we, too, are able to perceive the presence of that same Word in the history of our time, so that we may finally contemplate him face to face.
Through you the Father sent his Son into the world that he might save it.  Through you we will be powerful in the sight of your people, becoming witnesses of that truth which frees and of that love which unites.
To this Sanctuary where you are revered as Queen of Ireland we bring the needs of the Dominican Family, and here we ponder them and thus in the presence of God’s people, I consecrate the Dominican Province of Ireland and all our family to your Immaculate Heart.
Do you, Mother, give us strength and preserve the harmony of our family, so that what was begun by our profession may be brought to completion by our love for one another, for the salvation of the world and to the praise and glory of God.

Our Lady, Queen of Preachers and Mother of Mercy, pray for us.
Our Holy Father St. Dominic and all our Dominican Saints and Blessed’s, pray for us.

Very Rev. Gregory Patrick Carroll, O.P.
Prior Provincial of the Province of Ireland.

13th October 2013. National Basilica of Our Lady Queen of Ireland. Knock.

 

“Think of how the world would change if one million of children prayed the Holy Rosary.”

Saint Pio de Pietrelcina

 

http://www.milliondetei.ru/english.html

 

Annual Dominican Pilgrimage to Knock.

Sunday October 13th. 2013.

Anointing of the Sick. 2:30pm

Holy Mass: 3:00pm. (Followed by Rosary Procession.)

The Dominican Province of Ireland will be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Prior. Provincial Fr. Gregory Carroll, O.P during the Holy Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland in the presence of the Dominican Friars and the branches of the Dominican Family in Ireland.

 The Consecration coincides with the Consecration of the World by Pope Francis in Rome on Sunday.

 Why not join us on this wonderful day, the Official Marian Day of the Year of Faith.

 Praise be Mary Immaculate, Queen of the Holy Rosary and Protectress of the Friars Preachers.

“The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“The Rosary is a form of prayer very well adapted to the feelings of God’s people, very pleasing to the Mother of God and efficacious in obtaining graces from Heaven. The Second Vatican Council recommended this prayer to all the children of the Church, in a very definite manner, although without being explicit, merely stating that great importance should be attached to those practices and exercises of devotion to Mary which the Magisterium of the Church has always recommended down through the centuries.”
Pope Paul VI

”Let those who think that the Church pays too much attention to Mary give heed to the fact that Our Blessed Lord Himself gave ten times as much of His life to her as He gave to His Apostles.”
 -Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

Prayer to Our Lady of Evangelization
O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of his Church, we
are mindful of the role you play in the evangelization
of souls who do not yet know Him. We are mindful of
how missionaries came with the power of Christ’s
Gospel and committed the success of their work to you.
As the Mother of Divine Grace you were with the
missionaries in all their efforts.

And as Mother of the Church you presided over all the
activities of evangelization and over the implantation of
the Gospel in the hearts of the faithful. You sustained
the missionaries in hope and you gave joy to every new
community that was born of the Church’s evangelizing activity.
You were there with your intercession and your prayers,
as the first grace of baptism developed, and as those
who had new life in Christ your Son came to a full
appreciation of their Christian calling.

We ask you, Mary, to help us to fulfill this mission of
evangelization which your Son has given to his Church
and which falls to us. Mindful of your role as Help of
Christians, we entrust ourselves to you in the work of
carrying the Gospel ever deeper into the hearts and
lives of all the people.

We entrust to you our missionary mandate
and commit our cause totally to your prayers.
To Jesus Christ your Son, with the Father, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit be praise and thanksgiving forever and ever.
Amen.
Bl. Pope John Paul II.

 

If I remember well it was 1985. One evening I went to recite the Holy Rosary that was being led by the Holy Father. He was in front of everybody, on his knees. The group was numerous; I saw the Holy Father from the back and, little by little, I got lost in prayer. I was not alone: I was praying in the middle of the people of God to which I and all those there belonged, led by our Pastor.

In the middle of the prayer I became distracted, looking at the figure of the Pope: his pity, his devotion was a witness. And the time drifted away, and I began to imagine the young priest, the seminarian, the poet, the worker, the child from Wadowice… in the same position in which knelt at that moment, reciting Ave Maria after Ave Maria. His witness struck me. I felt that this man, chosen to lead the Church, was following a path up to his Mother in the sky, a path set out on from his childhood. And I became aware of the density of the words of the Mother of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego: “Don’t be afraid, am I not perhaps your mother?”.

I understood the presence of Mary in the life of the Pope.

That testimony did not get forgotten in an instant. From that time on I recite the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary every day.

 

Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis.

Dominicans today throughout the world and the Church Universal celebrate a Patronal Feast, Our Lady Immaculate, Queen of the Rosary.

Dominicans breathe with a love for the Virgin and treasure the gift we have received to spread devotion to the Rosary. The Rosary is simply for us the Gospel on the string that hangs from the left hand side of our religious habits. When the friar preacher rises from his study desk he is constantly reminded that his contemplation of mystery of Jesus Christ continues with him, for the gentle jingle of the beads that hang from the habit calls us to continual meditation and prayer in the presence of Lord’s mother. To sit or kneel with her, and look through her eyes, to ponder in our hearts what she pondered in her Immaculate heart. The life of the Virgin is completely absorbed and transfixed with Jesus her beloved Son,  and it is to him alone that she draws those she received at the foot of the cross, when Our Lord said to her, Woman behold your son. Mary wishes to see her Son in us through a life of virtue and so she intercedes continually to bring us closer to him. We too are asked like St. John,  “Behold your Mother,” to bring her to our homes, our hearts and our prayers and to our study for she is the most eminent of teachers. The Dominican life is an absorption in the contemplation of the Word made flesh, and that contemplation begins with Mary, who brought forth the word. The Rosary is an immersion in Jesus, making present in our minds and hearts the life of the Lord in any given moment of the day.

To pray the rosary is to be immersed into the mystery of Jesus Christ. These mysteries are of his life, the mysteries of his grace and the mysteries of his love for each one us. When the bead pass through our fingers the mind united with the soul is truly plunged into Jesus Himself. The Rosary therefore is Jesus filling our souls, our intelligence, our memory, our imagination, our vision. At each instant and in all the mysteries it is always His Person that comes to the fore, but the reality is always unique, always the same: it is Jesus.

The Rosary is not only Jesus filling the spirit; it is also Jesus penetrating and taking over the heart to warm it and set it afire. How can anyone one remain in front of a blazing fire, without being penetrated, in turn, by its warmth? And what comes forth from all the mysteries of the Rosary if not warmth, and the flame of love? How can we not love the One who lavishes such love on us? The One who gives Himself without reserve?

The Rosary therefore is  time of intimacy with Jesus and Mary, during which all the rest is forgotten. It transports us into what is most intimate to the Christian life to penetrate us with its grace and to rekindle it ceaselessly within us. One who practices the Rosary in this way is at the wellspring of a true holiness, peace and joy.

Happy Feast Day.

 

Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the center, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what he did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the center of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory. May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can “water” society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the center of each “Hail Mary.”
                                                                                                          Benedict XVI. May 3, 2008

 

 

"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, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, 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. With the holy Rosary, we will save ourselves; we will sanctify ourselves; we will console our Lord, and obtain the salvation of many souls."

 Sr. Lucia, Seer of Fatima. Dec 1957

 

What is the Role of the Dominican Rosary Apostolate in our modern times?

 

1. To write truthfully about Mary.
2.  To have Mary truly praised among the children of God
3.   To have Mary truly loved by all. 
4. All to Jesus through Mary.