At Wednesday’s General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI continued to introduce the Church to his thoughts and aspirations for the Jubilee Year for Priests.

Building on the reflections he offered last week, the Holy Father described further the great connection existing between the identity of the priest and his mission.  If after the Council, the pope explained, more emphasis has been placed on the priest’s service than on his sacramental identity, then the time has come to reunite these two in the popular Catholic imagination, at least for the sake of appreciating the authentic fruitfulness of the priest’s service.  As in the life of Christ, identity and mission—word and sacrament—come together inextricably in the life of the priest, who is sacramentally configured to Christ to continue his presence and mission in the world.  As it was for Christ, so it is for the priest. Identity first, and from this flows mission.

The pope observed that we see here the primacy of the divine initiative.  God always acts first with his grace in the lives of Christians, and this is especially true in the lives of priests. Through the grace of ordination, priests are united personally to Christ the Head of the Church, and from this identity flows the priest’s explicitly supernatural mission—in word and sacrament—of reconciliation and sanctification. It must be noted, the pope explained, that the priest’s sacramental identity distinguishes his mission from all other forms of service, both in the Church and in the world.

The Holy Father concluded his remarks by recommending specific spiritual practices for the Jubilee Year for Priests, including Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and for priestly vocations.

General Audience Address
July 1, 2009

Dear brothers and sisters:

As you know, with the celebration of First Vespers for the solemnity of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Pauline Year has come to a close — the year that marked the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Let us give thanks to the Lord for the spiritual fruits that this important initiative has brought to so many Christian communities.

As a precious heritage of the Pauline Year, we can reap the Apostle’s invitation to go deeper into the knowledge of the mystery of Christ, so that he becomes the heart and center of our personal and social realities.

This is, in fact, the indispensable condition for a true spiritual and ecclesial renewal. As I already emphasized during the first Eucharistic celebration in the Sistine Chapel after my election as the Successor of the Apostle St. Peter, it is precisely from that full communion with Christ that “flows every other element of the Church’s life: first of all, communion among all the faithful, the commitment to proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel, the ardor of love for all, especially the poorest and lowliest” (1st Message at the End of the Eucharistic Concelebration With the Members of the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, April 20, 2005).

This is true in the first place for priests. Because of this, I thank Divine Providence, which now offers us the possibility of celebrating the Year for Priests. It is my heartfelt wish that this will be an opportunity for interior renewal for every priest, and consequently, [a year of] firm reinvigoration in the commitment to his own mission.

Just as during the Pauline Year, our constant reference point was St. Paul, so in the coming months we will look to St. John Vianney, the holy Curé d’Ars, recalling the 150th anniversary of his death. In the letter I wrote to priests for this occasion, I wanted to emphasize what shines forth in the existence of this humble minister of the altar: “the complete identification of the man with his ministry.”

He often said that “a good pastor, a pastor after the heart of God, is the greatest treasure that the good God can give to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy.” And almost unable to conceive the greatness of the gift and the task entrusted to a poor human creature, he sighed, “Oh how great is the priesthood! … If he could understand himself, he would die. … God obeys him: He pronounces two words and Our Lord descends from heaven at his beckoning and enters into a tiny Host.”

In truth, precisely considering the binomial “identity-mission,” every priest can better see the need for this progressive identification with Christ that will guarantee him fidelity and fruitfulness in the evangelical testimony.

The very theme of the Year for Priests — Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests — shows that the gift of divine grace precedes every possible human response and pastoral accomplishment, and thus, in the life of the priest, missionary proclamation and worship are never separable, just as the ontological-sacramental identity and the evangelizing mission are not separable.

Apart from that we could say the objective of every priest’s mission is “cultic”: so that all people can offer themselves to God as a living host, holy and pleasing to Him (cf. Romans 12:1), that in creation itself, in people, it becomes worship and praise of the Creator, receiving from it that charity that they are called to abundantly dispense among each other.

We clearly see this in the beginnings of Christianity. St. John Chrysostom said, for example, that the sacrament of the altar and the “sacrament of one’s brother” or, as they say, the “sacrament of the poor,” are two aspects of the same mystery. Love for neighbor, attention to justice and to the poor, are not just themes of social morality, but rather the expression of a sacramental conception of Christian morality, because through the ministry of the priest, the spiritual sacrifice of all the faithful is carried out, in union with that of Christ, the one Mediator: the sacrifice that priests offer in an unbloody and sacramental manner awaiting the new coming of the Lord.

This is the principal dimension, essentially missionary and dynamic, of priestly identity and ministry: by way of the proclamation of the Gospel, those who still do not believe are begotten in the faith, so that they can unite their sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ, that translates in love for God and neighbor.

Dear brothers and sisters, faced with so many uncertainties and struggles, it is urgent to recover — also in the exercise of priestly ministry — a clear and unmistaken judgment about the absolute primacy of divine grace, recalling what St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: “The smallest gift of grace surpasses the natural good of the whole universe” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 113, a. 9, ad 2).

The mission of every priest depends, therefore, also and above all on the awareness of the sacramental reality of his “new being.” The priest’s renewed enthusiasm for his mission will always depend on the certainty of his personal identity, which is not artificially constructed, but rather given and received freely and divinely. What I have written in the encyclical “Deus Caritas Est” is also true for priests: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (No. 1).

Having received such an extraordinary gift of grace with their “consecration,” priests become permanent witnesses of their encounter with Christ. Beginning precisely from this interior awareness, they can plentifully fulfill their “mission,” by means of the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. After the Second Vatican Council, the impression has come about that in our times, there is something more urgent in priests’ missions; some believed that they should in the first place build up a distinct society. On the other hand, the verses from the Gospel that we heard at the beginning call our attention to the two essential elements of priestly ministry. Jesus sends the apostles, at that time and now, to proclaim the Gospel and he gives them the power to cast out evil spirits. “Proclamation” and “power,” that is to say “word” and “sacrament,” are therefore the two foundational pillars of priestly service, beyond its many possible configurations.

When the “diptych” consecration-mission is not taken into account, it becomes truly difficult to understand the identity of the priest and his ministry in the Church. Who in fact is the priest, if not a man converted and renewed by the Spirit, who lives from a personal relationship with Christ, constantly making the Gospel criteria his own? Who is the priest, if not a man of unity and truth, aware of his own limits and at the same time, of the extraordinary greatness of the vocation he has received, that of helping to extend the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth?

Yes! The priest is a man totally belonging to the Lord, because it is God himself who calls him and who establishes him in his apostolic service. And precisely being totally of God, he is totally of mankind, for all people. During this Year for the Priest, which will continue until the next solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us pray for all priests. May there be an abundance of prayer initiatives and, in particular, Eucharistic adoration, for the sanctification of the clergy and for priestly vocations — in dioceses, in parishes, in religious communities (especially monasteries), in associations and movements and in the various pastoral groups present in the whole world — responding to Jesus’ invitation to pray “to the lord of the harvest that he may send workers to his harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

Prayer is the first task, the true path of sanctification for priests, and the soul of an authentic “vocational ministry.” The numerical scarcity of priestly ordinations in some countries should not discourage, but instead should motivate a multiplication of opportunities for silence and listening to the Word, and better attention to spiritual direction and the sacrament of confession, so that the voice of God, who always continues calling and confirming, can be heard and promptly followed by many youth.

One who prays is not afraid; one who prays is never alone; one who prays is saved! St. John Vianney is undoubtedly a model of an existence made prayer. Mary, Mother of the Church, help all priests to follow his example so as to be, like him, witnesses of Christ and apostles of the Gospel.

(translation)

(photo credit)

Eleven men begin their postulancy July 5 at Providence College in Providence, R.I.  Read the brief biographies of these 11 to find out what sort of men God is drawing to the Province of St. Joseph.

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Huy Hoang, 22

I was born in Lemoore, California but was raised in Woodbridge, Virginia. I am the older brother of my twelve-year-old sister Theresa.

Catholicism was not the most important thing to my family growing up. It was more of an association, and so I hovered my way through the Sacraments. After receiving Confirmation in eighth grade, I fell away from the faith by not going to Mass every Sunday and refusing to go to Confession. I grew in a deep apathetic relationship toward God.

When I was seventeen years old, I underwent a profound reversion experience back to the Catholic faith. Upon entering college at the University of Virginia, I decided to go back to Mass. From day one, I fell in love with the preaching of the Dominican friars in Charlottesville. I was prompted to study the Catholic faith, so I would oftentimes try to find a private space where I could read the Scriptures, read the Catechism, or anything about Catholicism that I could get my hands on. The preaching of the Dominicans also prompted me to confess my sins and to put my trust in the Lord. I made my first confession in over five years since drifting from the Faith.

As I grew in my love for the Catholic faith, an “itch” kept bothering me to look into the holy priesthood. I sought spiritual advice from the Dominicans in Charlottesville who helped me through the process of discerning a vocation to the priesthood by their example and their counsel. The Dominican Order was the best fit for me as I loved reading about the history of the Order, the saints, and writings of Thomas Aquinas. Most importantly, I grew in my appreciation for constant prayer, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. Praying the Rosary daily during my college years, our Blessed Mother has truly led me to love her Son!

I just graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Religious Studies and Sociology, and I plan to spend time with my family before heading off to Providence College for the Postulancy. I am looking forward to living the Dominican life and am open to whatever our Lord has planned for me as a preacher for the salvation of souls. (Huy is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)
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Daniel Traceski, 22

I was born in Rockville, CT, the fourth of six children.  My father works as a Systems Analyst for an automotive supply manufacturer and my mother works part time as a secretary and bookkeeper.  My two older sisters are married with children; the oldest son is unmarried and teaches high school math, and my younger siblings are in college and high school.  I have lived in Somers, CT, all my life and all but one member of my immediate family still live in Connecticut.  All are practicing Catholics, thanks be to God.
I attended local public schools through high school, at which time I first began to research into the religious life.  In 2005 I enrolled at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida and joined the “Pre-theologate Program,” a discernment program for men attending classes at the university.  We lived on our own floor in the men’s dorm under the charge of two priests and benefited from the many spiritual directors available.  I studied in the liberal arts core curriculum, and this past Spring I graduated with a major in philosophy, a minor in classical languages and several electives in theology.  St. Thomas Aquinas has consistently been my preferred thinker.

I first thought about the Dominicans in High School, having learned of their historical role in the Church through my Catholic upbringing.  In college I began to discern the province of St. Joseph, having recognized my desire to preach and to strengthen theology, especially by the light of St. Thomas.  I look forward to work in parishes and an apostolate to repair poor catechesis and theology.  Years down the road, I would love to do work in missions, apologetics, and the ministry of preaching to priests.
(Daniel is a candidate for Dominican Priesthood.)
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Jeffrey Reese, 23

Born on September 22, 1985 in Lawton, Oklahoma, I’ve lived most of my life in Annapolis, Maryland. I have two younger sisters and I’ve been truly blessed to grow up in a wonderful family that takes seriously its Catholic faith. In 2007, I graduated from Dickinson College with a double-major in Philosophy and Religious Studies. Since then I’ve worked as a legal assistant in a DC law firm, been a substitute teacher at my parochial high school, and taken graduate classes in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America.
Philosophy is my passion. Topically, I focus on metaphysics and ontology, though I also enjoy epistemology and ethics, and chronologically I have great interest in both medieval and 20th century continental thought. The ancients are ok too. My non-philosophical interests include literature, poetry, theology, music, liturgy, and generally anything that pertains to cultivating Catholic intellectual culture. I thrive on conversation and discussion. I played tennis in high school and was a fencer in both high school and college. Also, my favorite dessert is hot apple pie, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and coffee.

My path to the Dominicans has been winding – even loopy – but the Lord is wonderful and has never ceased to shower me with His blessings. I first learned about the Order while at World Youth Day in Cologne, only to arrive back at college the next year to find that our new chaplain was a Dominican from Nigeria. Still, even providential encounters are small blessings when compared to the people the Lord has put into my life. I have an incredible group of friends, truly faithful and in love with the Church, who have shown me more love and support than I could have ever imagined. The Lord has placed many good and holy priests in my path to help me along the way, and my immediate family has been outstandingly supportive of my vocation.

So, why the Dominicans? Because of the intellectual life and the mix of contemplation and apostolate? Because of the life in common and the communal celebration of the liturgy? Sure, all of that is important. But the truest answer I can give is something much more basic. As I come to know the Lord better, He is constantly revealing me to myself. He shows me the heart He has given me, and it’s a Dominican heart, already clothed in the habit. Next to that, everything else just feels like a stock answer.
(Jeff is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Michael Dickie, 25

I grew up in Nashua, N.H. with one younger brother.  I was baptized as an infant and, as a child, went to Mass regularly with my family.  By the time I reached high school, however, I had fallen away from the sacraments.

After high school, I studied economics at James Madison University.  While in college, I experienced a longing for God that led me back into the arms of Holy Mother Church.  I came to understand the reality of Jesus in the Eucharist.  It was before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration that I first felt God calling me to serve him more deeply.

Junior year I joined the Knights of Columbus.  We had a house just off campus.  We had many non-Catholic visitors come through and the conspicuous nature of our Catholicism—we had a large picture of John Paul II and a crucifix on the wall—meant that there was always an opportunity to explain the faith.  I studied the Catechism and read the Scriptures to understand and defend the teachings of the Church.  This experience is what led me to St. Dominic and his Order of Preachers.

For the past three years, I have lived in Philadelphia and worked as an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Last year, I helped to found a community house in an unused rectory.  There are ten of us, single, Catholic men, living under one roof.  We pray and share meals together regularly.  While some of my house mates are discerning the married life, the experience of living in community has only strengthened my desire to live the common life of the Order.

It is my desire to live the mission of the Order: to praise, to bless, and to preach.  In particular, I want to preach on university campuses.  I want to help my generation and the next understand that the unknown God they long for is Christ Jesus.  (Michael is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Christopher Cuddy, 25

I was born in Seoul, Korea on March 25, 1984. An evangelical Protestant couple from Western Pennsylvania adopted me when I was three months of age. Our family is very tight-knit. My father is a mechanical engineer. My mother is a loving and devoted homemaker. I have four younger sisters (two of whom were also adopted). Two sisters (Bethany and Jamie) work for an evangelical book distributor. Jamie got married last summer (2008). My sister Jennifer is currently a student at Geneva College. My mother homeschools my youngest sister, Lisa. The entire family has been very supportive of my Dominican vocation.

While in college, I received many graces that led me to seek full communion with the Catholic Church. St. Thomas Aquinas was my Confirmation patron. In 2006, I received a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. After graduation I worked as a director of evangelization and youth minister for several parishes in my home diocese. I have also tried my hand at publishing and public speaking on topics related to Catholic life.

Above all, I was drawn to the Order of Preachers because of its commitment to both the contemplation and the preaching of God’s Truth.  Further, I found attractive the Dominican emphasis on communal life as it is centered on the beauty and power of the Church’s liturgy. For my part, I hope eventually to teach theology within a religious environment. More than anything else, however, the thought of being a simple lover of the Truth and a preacher of God’s grace draws me.  (Christopher is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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George Bagan, 25

I am from Waseca, Minnesota, a town of about 10,000 people in southern Minnesota. I am the son of Thomas and Claudette and the brother of my sister Tierney, who is 16 months younger than me. After graduating from Waseca High School in 2002, I attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal music education. As my faith gradually developed during my time there, I started more seriously to discern the priesthood and religious life. I knew that if I experienced God calling me to the priesthood, the time following graduation from St. Olaf would be the time to move toward that calling. Because of this, I spent time in a summer discernment household program offered by the Companions of Christ, a fraternity of diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. As a result of doing this, I was ready to commit myself to studying for the priesthood, and one of the priests recommended that I consider the eastern province of the Dominicans.

The first thing that attracted me to the Dominicans was that many of them taught at colleges and universities, which was the occupation I was considering most strongly during the end of my time at St. Olaf. However, as the Dominicans remained first in my mind throughout the time since then, I have come to be attracted to the semi-contemplative and community life that the Dominicans live as well as the charism of preaching and the emphasis on study and the intellectual life.

After graduating from St. Olaf, I decided to enter the Pre-Theologate program at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. I started as a full-time student but have been a part time student for the past two years while being employed as a music director at a local parish. During my second year at Ave Maria, I also taught 5-12 music at the Ave Maria Grammar and Preparatory School, and during my third year, I was an Adjunct Instructor of Music at the University, serving as the assistant conductor of the choirs and the instructor for the first year musicianship class. I graduated from Ave Maria in May of 2009 with the Bachelor of Arts in philosophy.

As a Dominican, I am interested in studying philosophy, theology, liturgy, and music, and though I would still like to teach, most everything that the Dominicans do is of interest to me.   (George is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Charles Shonk, 28

The youngest of four boys, I was raised in Lancaster,  Ohio, a small, semi-agricultural town. After going to an all-boys Catholic high school, I attended Denison University, also in Ohio, and got my undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Latin. Then I came to New York City and started full-time volunteer work, first as a second grade teacher for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Brooklyn, then as a high school teacher for the Marist Brothers in Manhattan. During those two years, I lived as a volunteer in religious community with the brothers and, to my surprise, began to discern a vocation to religious life. In 2007, after two more years of teaching and living on my own in New York City, I entered the Dominican Order.

I enjoyed life as a Dominican novice, and my experience at the Novitiate was a positive one; but I felt compelled, before taking simple vows, to leave the Order to test what I believed to be a call to monastic life.  I spent much of 2008 visiting Benedictine monasteries, trying out, as far as possible, the life of a monk.  This was an invaluable vocational experience which,  even as it deepened my appreciation for monasticism, strengthened and confirmed my original calling to the Dominicans.  Thus, when I decided, at the end of 2008, to reapply to the Order of Preachers, I did so with more perspective and a clearer sense of purpose.

My first acquaintance with the Dominican friars was at St. Patrick Church in Columbus, Ohio, where my family attended Mass when I was a teenager.  Later on, in college, I had the opportunity to study the philosophy and natural theology of St. Thomas. Practically speaking, however, it was getting to know Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P., and volunteering at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York, combined with visits to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., which were the most important motivating factors in my initial application to the Order.

Some day, I would like to serve in a parish. Teaching and mission work also appeal to me. My pastimes and hobbies include reading, writing, walking/thinking, listening to classical music, and playing the piano and organ.  (Charles is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Andy Forbing, 29

I began discerning a vocation to religious life shortly after I was received into the Church, in 2006 at age 26.  While in the RCIA program at my parish, St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Ann Arbor, MI, our pastor gave the talk on “Holy Orders”, and said to us, “Every young Catholic male needs to ask himself, ‘Am I being called to be a priest?’”  At the same time, the local council of the Knights of Columbus had been formulating a plan to purchase a house for young men, which would work closely with the parish priests, and provide an opportunity to discern God’s will for their lives.  I moved into the Fr. McGivney House, a men’s house of discernment, in the fall of 2007, and have had many opportunities to spend time with great priests and seminarians, attend retreats and conferences, and have abundant encouragement in my spiritual life.  Additionally, I have had the opportunity to live with (up to) 8 other men of varying ages, backgrounds, and stages of life- all under one roof.  Though this has been quite difficult at times, I am frequently reminded by our pastor that “As iron sharpens iron, so too does man sharpen his fellow man.” (Proverbs 27:17).

Most of my relationship with the Church have been the result of several “coincidences” happening at the same time.  When I examine my life, my interests, my friendships, and all the places where I could have gone wrong, I see God’s Hand working in marvelous, miraculous ways throughout.  I believe God is calling me to the Dominican Order, to the Province of St. Joseph, so that I may consecrate myself to him fully, and serve Him with all my skill, with all the gifts He has given me.

My family has been supportive of my vocational discernment.  My two brothers (one older, one younger), my sister-in-law (younger brother’s wife), and my parents have understood that I believe that this is God’s will for my life, and they want me to do what it is that I believe will make me happy.  Since I graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2003 with a BA in Public Relations, I have wanted to do charitable work, and this journey to the postulancy with the Order of Preachers has been a blossoming of my greatest desires, especially of developing a closer relationship with the Lord.  (Andy is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Thomas “Tom” Reagan, 31

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and Cincinnati, the oldest of three children.  When I was in fifth grade, my youngest sister died.  While I never doubted God’s existence, I nonetheless became angry with God.  Over time, however, this experience became the catalyst to a deep confidence in the Lord and in His providence.

Upon graduating from Purdue University with a B.S. in Computer Engineering, I worked for IBM for seven years as an engineer and later as a project manager.  Over time, I began to feel the Lord calling me to become a Catholic speaker and a third order Dominican.  With this in mind, I quit my job to pursue my masters in theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Still, the idea of the priesthood had not been a thought to me since my early twenties.  In fact, it was not until completing my masters degree last summer that the thought occurred to me again.  While in Adoration one evening, my meditation led me to realize that while those things that one leaves behind in responding to any vocation are indeed a sacrifice, an even greater aspect of vocational sacrifice exists in the act of giving of one’s self in order to bear fruit for the Lord.

Upon realizing this positive aspect of sacrifice, I began to consider the fruits of being a married man (for I had a serious girlfriend) versus those of being a priest.  Rather suddenly, an idea struck me: “Wait, do You want me to become a priest?”  Still, that wasn’t the idea that startled me.  What startled me was the simple fact that I found myself attracted to the idea.  Thanks be to God for teaching me the lesson of providence early!  (Tom is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Todd Derbes, 33

I was born and raised in New Orleans. My parents, Fred and Judy, have been married for thirty-eight years. Our family is of French origin. My younger brother, Ryan, works in the financial industry, is married, and lives in Florida with his wife and their one-year-old daughter, Joleigh. My parents still live in New Orleans where my father works as a computer consultant, and my mother works part-time in advertising sales. In the summer, she also teaches young children to swim. My family is supportive and loving.

Though I was not raised Catholic, my parents sent me to Catholic school beginning in the eighth grade. My high school teachers left an impression on me. When I arrived at New York University for college, I undertook pre-medical studies, paying my own way through school. I credit the proximate cause of my coming into the Catholic Church to the great authors of the Catholic tradition: Augustine, Aquinas, and Dante, among others.

I came to know that practicing medicine was not my future. Instead, I began teaching high school. My work experience in education extends to the present, as I have most recently served on faculty at Georgetown Preparatory School in the Washington, D.C. area.

Race car driving has been a hobby of mine.

I was drawn to Dominican life and vocation as a student and as a teacher, and because of an opportunity to take courses in Rome, I have had the chance to meet Dominicans while traveling in Europe.  (Todd is a candidate for Dominican priesthood.)

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Fr. Steven Bird, 44

I have a younger brother and sister. We grew up in Pennsylvania.  My commitment to study began in high school and grew in college.  During my senior year I worked as a peer tutor in my college’s workshop for writers, the place where students went to get help with their term papers.  Surprised by how much I enjoyed my work there,  I decided to become a teacher.

At the same time I was becoming serious about my interest in the Catholic faith.  The Confessions of St. Augustine gave me my first clue that the search for truth could take a long time.  Soon I had made enough of my own mistakes to know, like him, the meaning of regret and to see the need for repentance.  Then when I read the Gospel of John, I rejoiced to see that the light we desire is a Person, one of whom I had heard much but had known little.  He who is the Way has shown us the path we are to walk if we desire to be happy.  I saw also that the Catholic doctrine on the moral life is the fulfillment and elevation of the teachings of the Greek philosophers I had encountered in my college philosophy classes.  This recognition became one of the motives of my conversion.  I owed it primarily to the little introduction to the Summa written by Walter Farrell, OP, My Way of Life.

I was received into the Church at the age of twenty-eight, and by the age of thirty I was in seminary.  I was sent to Rome for theology and studied at the Angelicum where my favorite subject was ecclesiology. Ordained a priest in 2000, I have served since then in several parishes in the Diocese of Peoria.

There are many reasons why Dominican life is attractive to me.  One is that it seems to be an excellent support for the Church’s work of preaching.  Preaching, to remain vital, needs to be sustained by deep prayer and a regimen of study, neither of which is easily obtained without the guidance of a tradition and the support of a community.  Dominicans are blessed with both of these.  Only a few within the Church have a Dominican vocation but they, if they are faithful to their calling, contribute in a unique way to the building up of the Church as a whole.

On Thursday, the brothers spent a day of retreat with the other camp counselors spiritually preparing to help the poor children of the South Bronx find the Lord this summer.  The retreat day included a trip to the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Washington, NJ and was full of prayer and adoration.  Please pray for the brothers, the Missionaries of Charity, and the other camp counselors as they seek to bring the Gospel to the children of the South Bronx this summer.

(A group picture of the camp counselors - Br. Albert is too the left, and Br. Peter Martyr is a bit hidden toward the middle of the back row.)

(Br. Albert adoring the Most Blessed Sacrament.)

Happiness?

Thursday, July 2, 2009.  What is happiness? Can I be Happy? Br. Justin Brophy, OP, will explain how happiness is the goal towards which all human beings strive and how that affects the way we ought to live our lives and our relationship with God.

Finding Freedom

Thursday, July 16, 2009.  Free will has a purpose. It was given by God in order that we might make our way out of ‘slavery in Egypt’ to the ‘Promised Land’ of worship into his presence. Rev. Br. James Brent, OP, will present this talk about how to find real freedom.

Finding Christ

Thursday, July 23, 2009.  In the Gospel of John tells us: “He who believes in me … out if his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Learn the meaning of these words from Rev. Br. James Brent, OP, and discover what it means to find Christ.

Why did they do that?

The New Translation of the Mass

Thursday, July 30, 2009.  The U.S. Bishops are completing a new translation of the Mass into English, which will likely be completed by next year. This will be a significant change in the words we hear at every Mass. Br. Justin Brophy, OP, will explain why these changes are being made and will also highlight the major differences between are current translation and the new translation that will be replacing it.

The Bible:  Whose is it Anyway?

Fr. Anthony Giambrone, OP, will present a series of talks on the place of Scriptures in the Church. His lecture will include the proper interpretation of Scripture, the origins of some of the books of Scripture, and how we understand the inspired text in the context of God’s revelation of Himself. Fr. Anthony is in Zanesville for the summer as he prepares for further studies in Scripture in Jerusalem this fall.

All talks are in Rosary Hall (in the Church undercroft) at St. Thomas Aquinas parish beginning at 7:00pm.

Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P.,  gave the following talk on Dominican spirituality at a vocation weekend in Washington, D.C..  Click here to listen: Dominican Spirituality

Fr. Cessario is Professor of Systematic Theology at St. John’s Seminary School of Theology in Brighton, MA.  He is Senior Editor of Magnificat, the largest monthly Catholic devotional in circulation in the United States.  He is also Associate Editor of The Thomist which is the distinquished theological journal published by the Province of St. Joseph.  He has published many articles for theological journals and has authored many books including Introduction to Moral Theology; Christian Faith and the Theological Life; Perpetual Angelus: As the Saints Pray the Rosary and most recently from Magnificat Press The Seven Last Words of Jesus.  He earned is his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Université de Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1980.

Thomistic Circles Schedule, Academic Year 2009-2010

September 24, 2009

Honorary Lecture by Dr. Alasdair MacIntyre
“What Should a Philosophical Education be Nowadays ?”
Dominican House of Studies, 7 PM

October 16-17, 2009

“Thomism and the Renewal of Contemporary Theology”
A Theological Conference

Fr. Richard Schenk, O.P. (DSPT, Berkeley, CA)
Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P. (St. John’s Seminary, Boston)
Dr. Rudi Te Velde (University of Amsterdam)
Dr. Matthew Levering (University of Dayton)
Dr. Reinhard Hütter (Duke Divinity School)
Dr. Bruce D. Marshall (Perkins School of Theology at SMU, Dallas)
Dr. Greg La Nave (PFIC, Washington, D.C.),
Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. (PFIC, Washington, D.C.).

February 19-20, 2010
“Secularism and the Natural Desire to Know God”
A Theological Conference

Keynote Address: His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Fr. John Corbett, O.P. (PFIC, Washington, D.C.)
Dr. Russell Hittinger (Warren Chair of Catholic Studies, University of Tulsa)
Dr. Paul Griffiths (Warren Chair of Catholic Studies, Duke Divinity School)
Dr. Bruce D. Marshall (Perkins School of Theology at SMU, Dallas)
Dr. Reinhard Hütter (Duke Divinity School)

For more information please contact:assistant@dhs.edu

Click below for the audio of today’s show.  After examining the readings for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, I was joined in the studio by Thomas Peters, a popular Catholic blogger known as the American Papist.  Thomas and I discussed how the new media can be a helpful tool in the work of evangelization.  And at the end of the show Fr. Bill Garrott, OP, the vocation director for the Province of St. Joseph, joined me to discuss the Jubilee Year for Priests.

Click below and enjoy!

PROGRAM NOTE: “Word to Life” will not air next week due to the Fourth of July holiday.

The question of whether or not God suffers - whether His very deity places Him beyond the reach of suffering and evil - has serious implications on how we can correctly perceive human suffering. Though classical doctrine long held that God is impassible - that is, He does not suffer - most twentieth-century theologians have asserted just the opposite, declaring that God does indeed suffer and in so doing shows true solidarity with the suffering of human beings. Some contemporary theologians, however, have begun to argue forcefully once again in favor of divine impassibility.

James F. Keating and Thomas Joseph White, O.P. have gathered here a selection of essays that consider how God’s suffering or lack thereof can relate to our redemption from and through human suffering. The contributors - Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox - tread carefully but surely over this thorny ground, defending diverse and often opposing perspectives. Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering is an excellent contribution to the latest stage in this difficult and important theological controversy.

The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon here.

As we have come to expect from the Holy Father, his concerns are primarily theological and spiritual; only in a second moment does he turn to practical matters. In this context, he explains that, contrary to popular practice, priests and their people must first understand who and what the priest is before they can appreciate fully the value of what he does.  Here, the pope holds to the old Thomistic adage that a thing acts according to its being.  Applied to the lives of the ordained, the adage would have us say that priests act according to who they are.  Therefore, Pope Benedict explains, the entire Church—priests and laity alike—must recognize priests first and foremost as sacred persons set apart to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice, which requires of them a deep and unshakable interior union with Christ. This is key for understanding priestly ministry properly, the pope says, for it is out of the identity and interiority of the priest that the vast range of his service flows, including his preeminent task of proclaiming the Word.

In sum, Pope Benedict has set as a goal of the Jubillee Year for Priests the reconciliation of two seemingly divergent understandings of the priesthood—one based on the priest’s identity and the other on his service.  The two are not opposed, the Holy Father explains.  The ministry of the Word and the ministry of the Eucharist are not opposite and competing forms of service.  As we see in the Mass itself, the two are inextricably linked. So too in the life of the priest. The priest’s ministry of the Eucharist underlies, and at the same time is prepared for by, his ministry of the Word.

GENERAL AUDIENCE ADDRESS
June 24, 2009

Dear brothers and sisters,

Last Friday, June 19, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the day traditionally dedicated to pray for the sanctification of priests, I had the joy of inaugurating the Year for Priests. The year was proclaimed on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the “birth into eternal life” of the Curé d’Ars, St. Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney. Entering into the Vatican basilica for the celebration of vespers, almost as a first symbolic gesture, I paused in the Choir Chapel to venerate the relic of this saintly pastor of souls: his heart. Why a Year for Priests? Why particularly in memory of the holy Curé d’Ars, who apparently did nothing extraordinary?

Divine Providence has ordained that this personage would be placed beside that of St. Paul. As the Pauline Year is concluding, a year which was dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles, the epitome of an extraordinary evangelizer who made various mission trips to spread the Gospel, this new jubilee year invites us to gaze upon a poor farmer turned humble pastor, who carried out his pastoral service in a small town.

If the two saints are quite different insofar as the life experiences that marked them — one traveled from region to region to announce the Gospel; the other remained in his little parish, welcoming thousands and thousands of faithful — there is nevertheless something fundamental that unites them: It is their total identification with their ministry, their communion with Christ. This brought St. Paul to say: “Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). St. John Vianney liked to repeat: “If we had faith, we would see God hidden in the priest like a light behind glass, like wine mixed with water.”

The objective of this Year for Priests, as I wrote in the letter sent to priests for this occasion, is to support that struggle of every priest “toward spiritual perfection, on which the effectiveness of his ministry primarily depends.” It is to help priests first of all — and with them all of God’s people — to rediscover and reinvigorate their awareness of the extraordinary and indispensable gift of grace that the ordained ministry is for he who receives it, for the whole Church, and for the world, which would be lost without the real presence of Christ.

Undoubtedly, the historical and social conditions in which the Curé d’Ars lived have changed, and it is justifiable to ask oneself how it’s possible for priests living in a globalized society to imitate him in the way he identified himself with his ministry. In a world in which the customary outlook on life comprehends less and less the sacred, and in its place “useful” becomes the only important category, the catholic — and even ecclesial — idea of the priesthood can run the risk of being emptied of the esteem that is natural to it.

It is not by chance that as much in theological environments as in concrete pastoral practice and the formation of the clergy, a contrast — even an opposition — is made between two distinct concepts of the priesthood. Some years ago, I noted in this regard that there is “on the one hand a social-functional understanding that defines the essence of the priesthood with the concept of ’service’: service to the community in the fulfillment of a function. … On the other hand, there is the sacramental-ontological understanding, which naturally does not deny the servicial character of the priesthood, but sees it anchored in the being of the minister and considers that this being is determined by a gift called sacrament, given by the Lord through the mediation of the Church” (Joseph Ratzinger, Ministry and Life of the Priest, in Principles of Catholic Theology).

The terminological mutation of the word “priesthood” toward a meaning of “service, ministry, assignment” is as well a sign of this distinct understanding. The primacy of the Eucharist is linked to the sacramental-ontological conception, in the binomial “priest-sacrifice,” while to the other [conception] would correspond the primacy of the word and service to the proclamation.

Considered carefully, these are not two opposing understandings, and the tension that nevertheless exists between them should be resolved from within. Thus the decree “Presbyterorum Ordinis” from the Second Vatican Council affirms: “Through the apostolic proclamation of the Gospel, the People of God are called together and assembled. All belonging to this people … can offer themselves as ‘a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God’ (Rom 12:1). Through the ministry of the priests, the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is made perfect in union with the sacrifice of Christ. He is the only mediator who in the name of the whole Church is offered sacramentally in the Eucharist and in an unbloody manner until the Lord himself comes” (No. 2).

We then ask ourselves, “What exactly does it mean, for priests, to evangelize? What is the so-called primacy of proclamation?” Jesus speaks of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God as the true objective for his coming to the world, and his proclamation is not just a “discourse.” It includes, at the same time, his actions: His signs and miracles indicate that the Kingdom is now present in the world, which in the end coincides with himself. In this sense, one must recall that even in this idea of the “primacy” of proclamation, word and sign are inseparable.

Christian proclamation does not proclaim “words,” but the Word, and the proclamation coincides with the very person of Christ, ontologically open to the relationship with the Father and obedient to his will. Therefore, authentic service to the Word requires from the priest that he strains toward a deep abnegation of himself, until being able to say with the Apostle, “It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.”

The priest cannot consider himself “lord” of the word, but rather its servant. He is not the word, but rather, as John the Baptist proclaimed, (precisely today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist), he is the “voice” of the Word: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’” (Mark 1:3).

Now then, to be the “voice” of the Word doesn’t constitute for the priest a merely functional element. On the contrary, it presupposes a substantial “losing oneself” in Christ, participating in his mystery of death and resurrection with all of oneself: intelligence, liberty, will, and the offering of one’s own body as a living sacrifice (cf. Romans 12:1-2). Only participation in the sacrifice of Christ, in his kenosis, makes the proclamation authentic! And this is the path that should be walked with Christ to the point of saying with him to the Father: Let it be done, “not what I will but what you will” (Mark 14:36). The proclamation, therefore, always implies as well the sacrifice of oneself, the condition so that the proclamation can be authentic and effective.

Alter Christus, the priest is profoundly united to the Word of the Father, who in incarnating himself, has taken the form of a slave, has made himself a slave (cf. Philippians 2:5-11). The priest is a slave of Christ in the sense that his existence, ontologically configured to Christ, takes on an essentially relational character: He is in Christ, through Christ, and with Christ at the service of man. Precisely because he belongs to Christ, the priest is radically at the service of all people: He is the minister of their salvation, of their happiness, of their authentic liberation — maturing, in this progressive taking up of the will of Christ, in prayer, in this “remaining heart to heart” with him. This is therefore the essential condition of all proclamation, which implies participation in the sacramental offering of the Eucharist and docile obedience to the Church.

The holy Curé d’Ars often repeated with tears in his eyes: “What a frightening thing to be a priest!” And he added: “How we ought to pity a priest who celebrates Mass as if he were engaged in something routine. How wretched is a priest without interior life!”

May this Year of the Priest bring all priests to identify themselves totally with Jesus, crucified and risen, so that in imitation of St. John the Baptist, we are willing to “decrease” so that he increases; so that, following the example of the Curé d’Ars, they constantly and deeply understand the responsibility of their mission, which is sign and presence of the infinite mercy of God. Let us entrust to the Virgin, Mother of the Church, this Year for Priests just begun and all the priests of the world.

(translation)

(photo credit)

Brethren, awesome it is for me to be speaking to you. If you are wondering how this ever happened, so am I. You will have to address Father Dominic, our Prior Provincial to learn why.

This gospel we have just heard narrates strength beyond our strength, strength working through the preaching of the Word and healing at the very touch. “Go,” Jesus says, “proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.” To whom does Jesus speak? Today the liturgy commemorates among the first generation of Christians Saint Barnabas, who stood in support of Saint Paul’s exceptional conversion. The Sacred Scriptures manifest over and over again how human inadequacy is taken over by God. This day is no exception to the divine strategy.

We mark with honor our graduated ranks of Jubilarians. We are witnesses of that divinely free strategy of lifting human frailty beyond itself. I ask myself, now almost 77 years of age, now in the ranks of jubilarians, what lies ahead? What will eternity be? What will priesthood mean in the eternal homeland? I ask what most of my Ordination classmates already know, their having passed beyond this life. In the experience of being washed in the divine mercy, an experience in which we all place our trust, what purpose does the indelible mark of my priesthood carry in the homeland? Will eternity be spent, I muse, in distributing Holy Communion to endless lines of the redeemed? I jest, of course, for the wedding feast of the Lamb will fulfill all need.

Jesus, our High Priest, has gone before us. He is our anchor-hold in eternity. The indelible marks of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders derive from Him even as we remain earthbound. Not all here present have received the charism of Holy Orders, yet all here present are baptized, are in grace, the grace from above. We trust that. This realization has to impact our understanding of our life now on this planet. The kind of life Bishop McManus [of Worcester] and Bishop Tobin [of Providence] and our friars have been speaking to us about. Let this teaching have its impact on us. Yes, by reason of the charismatic marks on our souls.

In my present assignment which is at the site of my early formation in the Order, as I sit from time to time in my old choirstall at St. Joseph’s church in Somerset, Ohio, I ponder the changes the Church in America has gone through since our class ordination in 1959. I think of my classmates and the pathways unknown to us at that time. Yet there is the present and there is the future.

Pope John Paul II, when still Cardinal, felt free to affirm: “We can say that in a certain sense the doctrine concerning Christ’s priesthood and our share in it is at the very center to the teaching of Vatican II and contains, in a certain manner, all that the Council wished to say about the Church, mankind and the world.” [quoted in Kosicki's Icons of Mercy, p. 79.] If we understand the priesthood of Christ as expressive of the self-giving love that is always happening in the Blessed Trinity, and our participation in that priesthood as a drawing of all things to its source, then what Pope John Paul II said does move us. [see "Josephinum, Journal of Theology", vol. 13, no. 2, pp.197-208.]

St. Thomas teaches the purpose of the sacramental character of Sacred Orders is ordered to divine worship in this life and in the next. [III, q. 63, a. 5, ad 3] After this life’s end, its purpose, in a different context, remains. Being a priest forever is not fiction. The ontological distinctiveness endures. Our first reading this evening from the Acts of the Apostles emphasizes the ministerial aspect of evangelization where the new converts are first called Christians. But their leaders could not have lasted very long if they defined their ministry solely by what they did and not by who they were.

In the sacramentary used at Mass there is a communion prayer to Our Lady which urges: “Mary, Holy Virgin Mother, I have received your Son, Jesus Christ. With love you became His mother. Gave birth to Him, nursed Him, and helped Him grow to manhood. With love I return Him to you, to hold once more, to love with all your heart, and to offer to the Holy Trinity as our supreme act of worship for your honor and for the good of all your pilgrim brothers and sisters.” As Dominican Friars, we can express that prayer with special intensity because of our vows, and our Order’s dedication to the Queen of the Apostles — whether our configuration to Christ is by reason of the common priesthood of the faithful or the ministerial anointing.

60 years of Ordination:
John Linus Sullivan, O.P.
Malcolm Sylvester Willoughby, O.P.
Adrian Ludger Dionne, O.P.
Vincent Ferrer McHenry, O.P.
Nadra Benedict Joseph, O.P.
Walter Urban Voll, O.P.
Edward Maurice Gaffney, O.P.

50 years of Ordination:

Thomas Vincent DiFede, O.P.
Paul Edward Seaver, O.P.
James Bernard Muller, O.P.
William Cyril Dettling, O.P.
William Luke Tancrell, O.P.

40 years of Ordination:

Joseph Anthony Scordo, O.P.
Bernard Frederick Langton, O.P.
Jon Stuart McPhail, O.P.
Eugene Matthew Rzeczkowski, O.P.

25 Years of Ordination:

Thomas Kevin Kraft, O.P.
Edmund Augustine Ditton, O.P.
Gerard Arthur Lessard, O.P.

Brother Jubilarians, we can testify from experience what today’s gospel relates: without cost you have received from heaven, without cost you are to give. Whatever village you enter, wish it peace, if not received, let your peace return to you. Matters did not always go well between Saint Barnabas and Saint Paul. Their collaboration had a falling out because of differing points of view. In the end, there was healing. First-century or twenty-first-century, we find our stability in the one same Lord.

We are told that Saint Barnabas bore the descriptive name “son of encouragement”. I conjecture he would encourage us that when all seems to fail, when the written words of Jesus seem worn from usage, should that ever happen, then simply behold His wounds. The wounds of Jesus. Let them speak. It will be enough. This is from the Holy Spirit.

Brother Jubilarians, we cannot help but be grateful that God has brought us so far, grateful for all who have helped us along the way, and made this journey possible in so many circumstances. We ask that Christ bless all those with whom our daily lives have intersected these many years. With the Jubilee comes an inner joy which no one can take away. We know from the grassroots that there is no happiness without the sacrifice. God keep us all in his peace. God bless you all.