Witness Christ: Walking through life with God

2016-07-30T11:06:00.000+01:00

The Irish Dominican friars rejoiced as eight of their brothers were ordained to the priesthood in Saint Saviour’s Dominican church, Dominick Street in Dublin.

The ordaining prelate was Archbishop Robert Rivas OP of the Diocese of Castries in the Caribbean. Archbishop Rivas is part of the Irish Dominican province and came specially over to ordain our eight brothers in this special year of the 800th Jubilee of the Dominican Order.

The brothers ordained to the priesthood are brs David McGovern OP, Damian Polly OP, Ronan Connolly OP, Pat Desmond OP, Daragh McNally OP, Connor McDonagh OP, Eoin Casey OP and Kevin O’Reilly OP. Our brothers were joined by many friars of the province, families and friends to witness the joyful liturgy of ordination.

2016-07-23T18:53:00.000+01:00

It has been a long time since I really posted anything on my blog... It has been two years now since my ordination, and so many things have happened. So maybe I pray and see if I should pick up blogging again to continue to share the journey...

Diaconate Ordinations 2016

2016-02-04T18:52:00.000+00:00

Brs Pat Desmond and Kevin O’Reilly were ordained by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Provincial, Fr. Gregory Carroll OP mentioned at the end of the mass that the Irish Province had not had this many deacons since the early 70’s. Please keep the new (and old) deacons in your prayers as they prepare for their priestly ordination in the summer.

Video of the Reception of the Habits

2015-09-18T19:23:00.003+01:00

We are delighted to welcome our four new novices to the Province. During the 11am mass in St. Mary's, Cork, the Provincial, Fr. Gregory Carroll OP, clothed the new novices in the habit of the Dominican Order.

The new novices were joined by their family and friends as well as many of the brethren from around the country. The Novice Master, Fr. Stephen Hutchinson OP, now takes charge of the novices for the coming year. The novices begin to live the life of a Dominican, praying with the community, having classes in the history and traditions of the Order, studying the Constitutions and spending time in personal prayer before the Lord.

The Irish province typically clothes new novices in the habit of the Order on the 14th of September, the feast of the Triumph of the Cross. Thus, not only is this day a day of celebration due to the reception of new novices, it is also a day of celebration for the wider province as the brethren remember their own reception of the habit.

Please keep the novices in your prayers during the coming year as they follow St. Dominic towards the Lord Jesus Christ. See more pictures of the habit reception here, Facebook

Diaconate Ordinations 2015

2015-05-01T10:42:00.002+01:00

The Irish Province of the Dominicans rejoiced at the ordination to the Diaconate of six of its student brothers. Br's David McGovern, Damian Polly, Ronan Connolly, Daragh McNally, Conor McDonough and Eoin Casey were ordained this afternoon by His Grace, Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin.

Many of the brothers from the wider province were present to witness the largest ordination in the province since the early 1970's.

Below is a short video capturing some of the Ordination Mass. Some photos of the event can be found here.

Video of the Solemn Profession 2014

2015-04-28T10:47:00.000+01:00

On the 7th of September six Dominican brothers made their solemn vows to the Dominican Order. The Solemn Vows are their profession to be part of the order until death.

Brothers David McGovern OP, Damian Polly OP, Ronan Connolly OP, Daragh McNally OP, Conor McDonough OP and Eoin Casey OP made their profession in the hands of Fr Gregory Carroll OP, prior provincial of the Irish Province, in St Saviour’s Church, Dublin.

Please have a look at the video below to get an impression of the celebration.

Ordination of brs. Colm Mannion OP and Luuk Jansen OP

2014-09-23T10:06:00.003+01:00

As short impression of the ordination earlier this summer:

The People Living in Darkness have Seen a Great Light

2014-01-26T20:03:00.001+00:00

Matthew 4:12-23

What is it to encounter Jesus? What effect does it have on our lives? What does he calls us to do? Do we associate our closeness to God with the effect as Isaiah prophesies, that “The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone”?

When reading the Gospel I wondered how the people at the time experienced the coming of Jesus. Was it at all clear that Jesus is the great light that came into their lives. Capernaum was a wealthy town. It had a big fishing business, a luxurious trade. In a busy town with tradesmen going to and fro, the presence of Jesus could have been perifial in the bigger picture. Especially if there wasn't as big group of followers as yet.

They might have heard of the preacher, talking in the synagogue on Sundays, possible some miracles associated with Him, but did it make a difference during the week? Maybe they thought the light was the wealth and business that had come their way, which had reduced the poverty, and allowed a somewhat more comfortable life.

Maybe the world doesn’t change that much, and history repeats itself. Only recently here in Ireland the Celtic Tiger seemed to be the light for so many people. While the tiger was prowling around, a lot of people though the sky was the limit. But such lights do not last.

Or the literal artificial light of computer screens and mobile phones. People being up all night being engaged in their virtual world, another light that seems to enlighten our lives, but a light which ultimately too does not provide the fulfilment we as humans seek and eventually fails. So how do we come to know the light, how to we recognise what is the true light, how do we find Jesus and come to the depth of spiritual nourishment we all desire and need?

The story of the calling of the Apostles is one of those stories to reflect upon and to help us discover. It gives us some insight in the way the encounter with Jesus can happen. The Gospel today might suggest an impulsive action by the Apostles; that at the drop of a hat they just left everything and followed Jesus. This can sound very far removed from your or my experience of encountering Jesus. For most people it isn’t a lightening flash on a dark night; no instead it is more like the slow brightening of sky at a the beautiful sunrise. The slow discovery and enlightenment which happens when we start to seek out and search for Jesus in our own personal lives. When He step-by-step leads us to open in front of us the beautiful mosaic of which our world is created. Often it will involve a bit of a search, sometimes even without knowing what to search for, and often it requires some patience.

The four apostles didn’t encounter Jesus for the first time, there at the lake of Galilee either. Just earlier in the Gospel we read that Jesus had already cured Peter's mother in Law, so He was acquainted with Peter’s family. We also know that at least Andrew, Peter and John had already encountered the Lord at the river Jordan. It was them who went out to search in the first place, to see what was happening there, and subsequently were drawn to Jesus when John the Baptist pointed Him out.

For most people, the relation with Jesus is something that develops. A call to follow Him, be it in a direct service as a religious or priest, or be it in any other vocation; is not an impulsive reaction, but the result of a readiness to respond to the call of our Lord.

The four Apostles kept leading normal lives. They were actually quite wealthy men. Luke mentioned that Peter was James’s and John's business partner, and Mark tells us that James and John left their father with the people they employed, also suggesting a fishing business. But in it was the aspect of “the being ready”, to be attentive, and to allow ones self to follow the Lords call whatever He asks. It is to be attentive to the sound of His voice in our lives.

Through a slow growth in our closeness to Jesus, a real friendship which can develop over time, we become attentive to the way He is guiding us. We usually need to keep doing whatever way our lives lead us, as Peter and Andrew are working and catching fish, but we need to be attentive to the Lord’s voice too, maybe as James and John are more contemplative mending the nets and preparing for what is to come. We live in the world, and participate, but are also attentive to The Lord. Both are needed in life, and both allow us to be ready to respond when the Lord asks us to follow Him.

What is it to encounter Jesus? What does it mean to be called? These are questions each of us need to ask ourselves in the depth of our souls. To know what God is calling us to do is something that will be enlightened if we engage in the patient dialogue He is always inviting us to, to listen to the whispering voice in our hearts.

God is not often shouting at us, but He is always there with us to guide us in a more intimate, subtle way! He is the light shining, trying to enlighten our darkness, waiting for us to stop hiding, and step out into the light which He radiates and wants to share with us, enlightening the path of our lives.

(Saint Saviour's Dublin, 26-01-2014)

Credo Series - Episode 13

2014-01-22T11:25:00.000+00:00

In this the thirteenth and last episode in this series on the Creed we look at the phrase: "and I look forward to the resurrection from th dead and the life of the world to come". Fr. Terence Crotty OP speaks with bro. Ronan about the resurrection.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Credo Series - Episode 12

2014-01-20T19:24:00.000+00:00

In this the twelfth episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". Rosemary Swords talks with Fr. Ciaran about the baptism.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

2014-01-19T21:31:00.000+00:00

John the Baptist is baptising in the river Jordan with the baptism of repentance, a baptism in which people confessed and repented from their sins while being submerged in the waters. It must have been quite a busy place, as we can read in the Gospels that the whole of Judea and Jerusalem came out to John to hear him preach and to be baptised by him.

But as soon as Jesus entered the scene John the Baptist recognised Him among all the others. In a way everything, all the hustle and bustle, comes to a halt… a change happens, a move in the air. It is not the first time Jesus has this effect on John, as he leapt in the womb of Elisabeth when Mary came to visit her cousin before his birth, and now again John is caught by the presence of Jesus. John’s ministry was the start of the proclamation of the Gospel, the call to repentance, but this is not the end but only to prepare the way of the Lord. Indeed not only is John stopped in his tracks at the sight of Jesus, in a way everything stops in its tracks. This is the effect that the encounter with Jesus has. It marks the beginning of a new time, as there is a new start, for John there at the river Jordan, but also for us.

Confession and repentance of our sins, while necessary to be open to Gods grace, are only the beginning. It is as it were the prologue of the story of God and his people. But God want to give us so much more, He wants to give himself to us, with unity to us, and to become our best friend. It is appropriate that repentance was preached first. Saint Paul teaches that union with God, the participation in God though grace, is not compatible with a life in serious sin. Sin can prevent and destroy our communion with God. So repentance of our sins is necessary in order to have a true communion with God into our lives. However, the next step is to recognise Jesus as John did, and to ask Him to ‘baptise’ us, not with the baptism of repentance, but with the Holy Spirit.

Maybe like running a race, it is putting on the gear and get ready. Even if the trainer can be hard on the team, it is not because the trainer wants to inflict difficulty but wants to prepare the team for the event to come. While many people think the Church is only about sin, or interested in sin, dealing with sin is only the beginning of the journey we are invited to start. It is, as it were, only the first step before we can start the real journey. Sadly, however, maybe not that many people actually turn up at the start line, and are already turned away before anything exciting has happened, let alone finishing the race and win the price.

In order to be able to life our lives to the full Jesus wants to give us the Holy Spirit. It is probably the most recognisable form of grace, and the Holy Spirit can enrich our lives and turn it around. The Holy Spirit invigorates us, and helps us to participate in the fullness of life which is not possible in any other way. Jesus baptises in the Holy Spirit, He wants to give us the Spirit so we too can be transformed and be taken into communion with God.

This is a concept maybe not appreciated that much in contemporary society, but a reality nevertheless which is there for us to receive. A free gift given by God, but a gift which like any gift needs to be accepted, while God is eager to give it to us.

Jesus is saying to each of us who come to Him, “come and see”. To open our hearts, and to discover the reality that is there. Come to the house of the master, join in His happiness, and take part in the banquet. To put on the gear and go to the start line and not hang around indecisive and turn away.
I do realise that the image of the race might put some people off, and encourage others. Personally I think running can be enjoyable while difficult. However it always leaves me refreshed afterwards, and so it the experience of our faith once we live it out. Jesus wants to be close to us and console us deep down when needed, to help us and give strength when we struggle, to give us the deep abiding joy, fulfilment and peace that nothing else can give. The only thing we have to do is to accept who Jesus is and to ask Him to help us “to come and see”.

Credo Series - Episode 11

2014-01-18T20:23:00.000+00:00

In this the eleventh episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "The Church is One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic" Fr. John Harris OP talks with Fr.Ciaran about the Church.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Credo Series - Episode 10

2014-01-16T20:22:00.002+00:00

In this tenth episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets" Bro. Luuk Dominiek Jansen OP will talk with Bro. Conor about the role of the Holy Spirit.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Nightfever Ireland

2014-01-12T20:26:00.000+00:00

The idea behind Nightfever is simple – open a city centre Church at night, fill it with candle-light and prayerful live music, and invite passers-by inside. It's an opportunity to invite people to pause for a moment, to put aside their initial plan and to come into the Church to light a candle. The Church is open to all, and visitors can stay for as little or as long as they wish.

To find out when the next Nightfever is happening near you, or to set up a Nightfever event in your local Church, visit www.nightfever.org or www.facebook.com/nightfeverireland

Credo Series - Episode 9

2013-12-01T19:52:00.000+00:00

In this ninth episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom shall have no end." Fr. John Harris OP will talk with Bro. Ronan about the final judgement.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Credo Series - Episode 8

2013-11-29T19:04:00.003+00:00

In this eigth episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father." Monica will talk with Bro. Ronan about the ascension.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Appeal for the Philippines

2013-11-15T17:27:00.000+00:00

This short video is our appeal to support the people in the Philippines after the disaster of the typhoon last week.

Symposium - the New Evangelisation - Part 1/3

2013-10-28T21:21:00.000+00:00

The topic during our monthly Symposium this month was 'The New Evengalisation'. This first talk out of the three given on this topic is by Fr. Terence Crotty OP. The other two are by Rosemary Sword and Fr. Brian McKevit OP.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

2013-10-27T23:05:00.001+00:00

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus is telling us in todays Gospel that we should be like the tax collector, and not like the pharisee. This might for us not be that much of a shock. Civil servants are defiantly not seen as sinners, and we are used to read in the Gospels that the pharisees are the ‘bad ones’ in the time of Jesus. Jesus is often told to associates with tax collectors, and even has an apostle who used to be a tax collector.
However in Jesus; time it was a shock!

Tax collectors worked for the Roman Empire, and as such were seen as people who worked for the occupying forces. As we can read in many passages in the Gospels people counter tax collectors as sinner and Jesus is often rebuked for seeking association with them. It was well known that tax collectors had a set amount of revenue they had to bring in, and any surplus they kept themselves. They often charged people more then was due, and as such became very wealthy over the backs of others. The Pharisee, after his list of in-virtues behaviour of the rest of mankind, sees the tax collector as even worse.

So why does Jesus here advertise the idea that we should be as, what was considered, a public sinner? Well, this cuts to the core of the reality which comes with the revelation of Jesus. In Jesus’ time, but also in our time, religion was often considered as an institution. While Israel was the chosen people of God, who knew the Lord as a personal God, over the years this relationship had transformed not into a deeper communion and friendship with God, but had developed to be a formal religion, consisting mainly in the keeping laws and precepts without much real conversion of heart and love of God. As such the Pharisee in the Gospel considered himself righteous, as he was keeping all these regulations to a T.

The Jewish Law makes us aware of what is sinful and not, but sin itself does not have the root in the keeping of regulations and prescripts. Sin has foremost to do with the profound relation of a person with God, and is ultimately unmasked as humanities rejection of God and the opposition to Him. Sin separates us from God’s love, not by a rejection of God himself, but by OUR rejection of His love. What is fundamental in love is communion, and the opposite of communion is being centred on the self. As we can read in Genesis, Adam and Eve rejected God’s command by eating from the three of knowledge of Good and Evil. It was then that they broke the communion with Him. The result was that suddenly they became aware of themselves, not as a positive thing as a result of knowing good and evil, but by starting to center attention on themselves, and strikingly, accuse each other of the wrong done, as we can see the pharisee does.

The more we separate ourselves from God, the more we become centred on ourselves. The father we are from God, and the more centred on ourselves, the less we see how we are falling short by the measure of pure love. But on top of that, the more we fall away from the love of God, the more we start to see ourselves as the measure of the universe. We start to look at everything around us by the worth we attribute to ourselves.

And this is the move Jesus is addressing here when telling the parable about the pharisee and the tax collector. The pharisee is confident before God, he is telling God what to think at best, but probably more likely was talking to himself as the Gospel said. He was standing by himself, moving upfront. The temple was a public place, and he would have many eyes upon him, and that is where he showed off how good he was. But was his thanks to God a real thanks? Or was it a display of splendour of himself? It is this that Jesus warns us about elsewhere in the Gospel, not to parade your virtues before others, but instead seek the confines of ones room and pray in secret. That is much more in line with the tax collector, who stood back, possibly even in the court of the gentiles. Whereas the pharisee made an appearance, the publican made a request for Gods mercy.

He that humbles himself shall be exalted. The power of God's grace can bring good out of evil; the tax collector possibly had been a great sinner, and out of the greatness of his sin was brought the greatness of his repentance. See, on the contrary, the power of Satan's malice in bringing evil out of good. It was good that the pharisee was no extortioner, nor unjust; but the devil made him proud of this, with pride being the reason of the fall of Satan himself, and made the pharisee get absorbed with himself and this led to his ruin. It was not because he necessarily did anything wrong, leaving out the fact he was judging the tax collector, but the fact that he had no relationship with God, and no perception of the reality of the loving relationship God is calling us to.

Like the man we encountered a few weeks ago in the Gospel, the rich man, who didn’t notice Lazarus laying at the gate. Lazarus was taken up to heaven, while the rich man found himself in hell. That rich man was not by any means said to be a bad man either, but he didn’t have the love in him to notice his neighbour who was in need. As such he was a sinner, as he was divorced from the love of God and found himself after his death in the same situation in hell.

Our faith is supposed to be real. Our faith is not a faith of rules and regulations, it is a faith of action and communion. God is calling us into communion with him, he WANTS to share His divine life with us. Living as a Christian who is just following a set of regulations is like living as the Pharisee. At the end of the day it is only good for outward appearance, but not much good for the inner development of the soul. The tax collector who realised that he is falling short however sought out God, he came to the temple. God is always waiting for us, here in the church, especially in the sacrament of confession. The tax collector opened his heart to God, and allows God to give him the strength and grace to grow little by little towards the eternal destiny for which we are all made.

(Saint Saviour's Dublin, 27-10-2013)

Prayer? What is prayer?

2013-10-20T12:53:00.001+01:00

(Luke 18:1-8)

What struck me mostly in the Gospel this week is when Jesus says at the end of the Gospel “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth”. The previous chapter of the Gospel is about how people lived their lives going about their business, but not thinking about what was to happen. There was no connection with the here and now, and the eternal reality which is God, and they found that their daily toil ended in nothing as suddenly the end came.

What is the alternative? Prayer, continual prayer so teaches Jesus.

When we don’t pray we don’t have real faith. We might have some believe, but faith is something more then believe. One of the priest I live with said once that faith is like a guide-stick, who somebody who is blind uses. It guides you along live, prevents you from straying from the right path, but nevertheless it does not give you sight of where you are going.

Faith is like that, it guides us, even if we don’t know it. Believe, on the other-hand, is something that might give us trust in an endpoint, but does not help us to get there. Faith is more then belief. It is an assurance which flows forth out of the communion we have with God himself. It is a life changing reality which comes forth out of the love we receive from God. Faith is nourished by the love of God, when God takes us by the hand, God who is the guiding-stick and leads us through life. An ordinary belief which is not build on a communion with love does not lead anywhere… God is not so much absent as not invited in… the aid is offered, but not accepted.

But how do we except Gods help, and develop a life-giving faith.

Prayer is the way to make sure our faith is alive and formed. Our faith is this burning flame, hopefully a furnace, which lights our way. It gives us guidance and, it is the result of our communion with God.

So Prayer!

What is prayer?

One way to pray is to read the bible. St. Paul said to Timothy that “from [scripture] you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Scripture nourishes us, as scripture is the Living Word of God. When I became a Catholic eleven years ago I did so because I started to pray. I opened up my heart to God and allowed Him to guide me. As I didn’t know how to pray, one way was spending a couple of minutes in a church each day asking God to help me, the other was to read 10-15 minutes of scripture every night before going to bed. It was this reading of scripture, the instruction of the Living Word into my soul, to which I contribute the change in my life.

But building up this relationship with God takes a bit of time. The colleague, responsible for the turn I made, said to me that if I would be consisted in my attempt to find God, and would persevere for a month, or two or three, then I would see the change in my life very clearly. And it didn’t take that long, I noticed God’s presence much quicker, and I opened my heart to accept it. I want to say this to illustrate the truth that Jesus teaches us in the Gospel.

Persevere in prayer! Justice will be done speedily. The Ancient Greek meaning of Justice, according to Plato at least, is the right ordering of things. God will see to it that things will be ordered rightly, that things will be done justly. But this does not always happen in the time we want, but it happens in Gods time. For God the temporal situation in which we find ourselves is NOT the most important thing. If we ask for something here and now, it is only of minor significance compared to the Good God has in store for us for eternity. That is the bigger picture to which justice is orientated. It is the picture of the beatific Vision, which will be the good in store for us who are willing to take that road.

The road to Heaven is a road of love, it is a road on which we let go of selfishness, and seriously start to engage with the personification of love, which is God and who we encounter in Jesus.

Again, what is prayer!

This is what prayer is!

It is the letting go of self, engage with the love of God, and loose yourself in it. It is like the human experience of falling in love, and especially the experience of falling in a mutual love. But it is only comparable, as it is life lead by a blind-mans-guide-stick, often without seeing much of the road ahead walk. It is love, and we are lead tenderly by the hand of God, but first we need to let go and trust.

Even when things get though, we need to trust God is there, like Moses who had Aaron and Hur to support his arms in prayer, so God himself supports us in times of need if we let Him!

So what about you?

What is your experience of faith? The experience of prayer. Is it this deep, insensible experience of the more, that which something for which our heart is ultimately yearning? This inexplicable, yet tangible assurance which is at the core of our lives? That is faith! That is what it brings.

I sometimes wonder how many people are aware of this gift of faith which God is offering us, and life it. How many pray daily and read a bit of the scriptures, and continue to see their lives transformed. 22 years of my live I didn't realize the reality of who God is, and the beautiful change this discovery makes in ones live. Realizing ultimately what we are made for.

I say this not because I am a Dominican and because I want to ‘win souls’ for the Church. NO, it comes forth from my own experience of the profound Joy of MY faith and how much I want others to experience this joy!

Only when I opened my heart and started to search out God did this reality open up for me. Through starting to say a prayer. To persevere in this unknown, and un-sensible activity, and to be surprised that after some time it suddenly is at the core of my whole life.

This is an experience like no other, it is deeper than any words can describe, and sometimes only be utterable in groans. But please let us be open to God, if you don’t read a bit of the New Testament each day, maybe consider it, open your heart, and let yourself be surprised! God has draw me in, and want to do the same for all of us!

Who is Jesus in our lives?

2013-06-21T17:32:00.002+01:00

In this weeks Gospel, Jesus is praying alone, but it happened that "the disciples were with him;" (Luke 9:18 RSV). Jesus asks the disciples who the people say He is. At least two things seem striking in this opening passage. The first is that Jesus is praying alone, but that the disciples are with him so he is not that alone, and the second that Jesus asks them who the people say He is, and also asks us this question.

To begin with there are different ways of reading this line. It can be taken that Jesus was praying alone, and that His disciples were with Him all the time, like praying together in a community or a family while still having at the same time a personal intimate conversation with God in ones own heart. But it can also be taken that the disciples came to Jesus while he was praying. Either way we get a little glimpse of the importance of prayer, something Luke often makes us aware of. It shows the importance of the balance between the outward discourse with the world, when for example Jesus is going around preaching the Good News and healing the sick, and the inward discourse with God himself; the time when we spent time with God in the inmost parts of our hearts.

Secondly regarding the question of who people say Jesus is it seems that the fact that Jesus is asking this question must have a reason. Other passages in the Gospel show clearly that Jesus has divine knowledge of people's thought, so surely He already knows.

But putting the two together it is possible to see a model of how we dialogue with God and how this encounter affects our lives and through us the lives of others. It is from his inward conversation with God that Jesus' question of who people say He is flows. An opportunity is given as the disciples approach Him to engage with Him. The moment of prayer and contemplation flows into a moment of an opportunity and of action of a deeper encounter. We can see that it leads to a deeper understanding, as Jesus now gently guides His disciples to the teaching which follows, the teaching that "the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (Luke 9:22 RSV) Following Him will mean the same for His listeners then as for us now: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23 RSV)

Another aspect is that Jesus is also asking us every day who do we say He is. Do we answer with St. Peter "The Christ of God." (Luke 9:20 RSV)? Or is the answer maybe not as complete and do we see Jesus as a good teacher, a prophet or maybe even just a good example? But it is a question that is asked daily of us, a question on where Jesus is standing in our lives and which role He has to play. It seems that it is important to at least try to give the right answer and realise that Jesus is our Lord and our God and allow Him to take that role. As this Gospel illustrates, it is through prayer, through the sacraments, and also through others that we come to encounter Jesus. In these ways we hear His voice asking us the question what He means to us. Jesus is not asking because He is looking for the answer, but because He wants us to draw closer to Him.

Credo Series - Episode 7

2013-05-31T19:26:00.000+01:00

In this seventh episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures." Fr. Terence Crotty OP will talk with Fr. Ciaran about the resurrection.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Credo Series - Episode 6

2013-05-28T16:33:00.000+01:00

In this sixth episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "for our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried." Rosemary Swords will talk with bro. Ronan about Christ's Crucifixion.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new episode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Credo Series - Episode 5

2013-05-26T16:32:00.002+01:00

In this fifth episode in our series on the Nicene Creed we look at the phrase: "and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate by the Virgin Mary and became man." Bro. Damian Polly OP will shed some light on the topic of the incarnation.

Please share this series if you like it with your friends. We will release a new expisode every week until we have gone through all the articles contained in the Creed.

Some thoughts about Pentecost

2013-05-14T17:27:00.002+01:00

We are now in the time between the Ascension and Pentecost. Last Sundays Gospel narrated the story of Jesus taking leave of the disciples and being carried up into heaven. The nine days between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday is the first novena which was ever prayed, in which the disciples gathered together with Our Lady to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In this Sundays Gospel Jesus says that He will sent down what the Father has promised, the Holy Spirit, but what does this mean? If the ordinary comprehension of the disciples of what Jesus is about is an indication I would suggest they didn’t have a clue either. And while they were full of joy when they saw Jesus being taken up into the clouds, we can read in the Gospel of Luke that when Pentecost came they were afraid as usual and locked themselves up in the upper room. However we now know what happened to them, and how it transferred the disciples from being hidden and locked up by themselves into the preachers which stand up boldly and address the crowds telling them that Jesus has risen!

Does this event have any relation to my own praying of the novena for this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, do I regard it as something that is actually going to happen, or an event in the past only held in a memorial? That is a difficult question. And a related question is really if I want it to happen. Do I really want to be a preacher like Saint Peter and Paul, being persecuted, flogged, scorched, stoned and eventually killed for my witness to the Good News? It is something to think about I think...

In the difference between reflecting on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a past event, and the desire to receive the grace to go out and make disciples of all the nations lies a fundamental difference. The one can maybe be said to focus on me, and my direct surroundings, and can maybe be seen to be more inward. The second however is concerned with the outgoing to the outside, to spread out. It strikes me that the commandment to “go and make disciples of all the nations” is something that needs to be taken serious, and has to be taken literary. We need to go out and make disciples. We need to go out and tell people about Jesus. We need to go out and share the joy we ourselves discover when we try and live an authentic Christian life in communion with God!

It is very easy to become inward looking, to focus on what our own direct surroundings or our own community in the Church. I dare to say that the fact that a lot of ‘ministry’ is only seen as being related to the liturgical celebrations is one of the effects of this. But instead of looking inwardly, we are called to look outward, to go out and to share. It is not about gathering up what we have and create our own comfortable place in the world, but in stead a calling to go out and gather those who are not part yet of the fold.

The joy which it is to know Jesus is something which should set out heart on fire. It puts our heart on fire to share with others who might not have experience this as yet, be in near to us, or farther afield. This time between ascension and Pentecost is maybe a time to pray especially for the grace to be able to stand up for our faith, and to have the courage as the apostles did after their Pentecost!