Fr. Thomas Petri, OP

Earlier this year, Fr. Thomas Petri, who teaches in the field of Moral Theology, was invited to participate in a forum at Brown University on the topic of same-sex “marriage” in Rhode Island.  The event was sponsored by the Brown Daily Herald and the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University.  The University has now made the video of the forum available:

CLICK HERE for their first Masses of Thanksgiving.

CLICK HERE for the original Invitation for the Ordination.

Each week, a Dominican member of the Province of St. Joseph’s Preaching Advisory Board prepares this Preacher’s Sketchbook in anticipation of the upcoming Sunday Mass. The idea of the Preacher’s Sketchbook is to take quotations from the authority of the Church–the Pope, the Fathers of the Church, documents of the Councils, the saints–that can help spark ideas for the Sunday homily. Just as an artist’s sketchbook preserves ideas for later elaboration, so we hope the Preacher’s Sketchbook will provide some ideas for homiletical elaboration.

Saint Ambrose

So, then, the Holy Spirit is the River, and the abundant River, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. This is the great River which flows always and never fails. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said: “The stream of the river makes glad the city of God.”

…Good, then, is this water, even the grace of the Spirit. Who will give this Fount to my breast? Let it spring up in me, let that which gives eternal life flow upon me. Let that Fount overflow upon us, and not flow away. For Wisdom says: “Drink water out of thine own vessels, and from the founts of thine own wells, and let thy waters flow abroad in thy streets.” How shall I keep this water that it flow not forth, that it glide not away? How shall I preserve my vessel, lest any crack of sin penetrating it, should let the water of eternal life exude? Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as Thou didst teach Thine apostles, saying: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where rust and moth destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.

Saint Augustine

There is no gift of God more excellent than this. It alone distinguishes the sons of the eternal kingdom and the sons of eternal perdition. Other gifts, too, are given by the Holy Spirit; but without love they profit nothing. Unless, therefore, the Holy Spirit is so far imparted to each, as to make him one who loves God and his neighbor, he is not removed from the left hand to the right. Nor is the Spirit specially called the Gift, unless on account of love. And he who has not this love, “though he speak with the tongues of men and angels, is sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; and though he have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and though he have all faith, so that he can remove mountains, he is nothing; and though he bestow all his goods to feed the poor, and though he give his body to be burned, it profits him nothing.”

… Wherefore, if Holy Scripture proclaims that God is love, and that love is of God, and works this in us that we abide in God and He in us, and that hereby we know this, because He has given us of His Spirit, then the Spirit Himself is God, who is love. Next, if there be among the gifts of God none greater than love, and there is no greater gift of God than the Holy Spirit, what follows more naturally than that He is Himself love, who is called both God and of God? And if the love by which the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, ineffably demonstrates the communion of both, what is more suitable than that He should be specially called love, who is the Spirit common to both? For this is the sounder thing both to believe and to understand, that the Holy Spirit is not alone love in that Trinity, yet is not specially called love to no purpose.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

(726) At the end of this mission of the Spirit, Mary became the Woman, the new Eve (“mother of the living”), the mother of the “whole Christ.” As such, she was present with the Twelve, who “with one accord devoted themselves to prayer,” at the dawn of the “end time” which the Spirit was to inaugurate on the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of the Church.

(1287) This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah’s, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim “the mighty works of God,” and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age. Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn.

Blessed Pope John Paul II (Dominum et vivificantem)

In his intimate life, God “is love,” the essential love shared by the three divine Persons: personal love is the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Therefore he, “searches even the depths of God,” as uncreated Love-Gift. It can be said that in the Holy Spirit the intimate life of the Triune God becomes totally gift, an exchange of mutual love between the divine Persons, and that through the Holy Spirit God exists in the mode of gift. It is the Holy Spirit who is the personal expression of this self-giving, of this being-love. He is Person-Love. He is Person-Gift. Here we have an inexhaustible treasure of the reality and an inexpressible deepening of the concept of person in God, which only divine Revelation makes known to us.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit, being consubstantial with the Father and the Son in divinity, is love and uncreated gift from which derives as from its source (Fons vivus) all giving of gifts vis-a-vis creatures (created gift): the gift of existence to all things through creation; the gift of grace to human beings through the whole economy of salvation. As the Apostle Paul writes: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” The salvific self-giving of God in the Holy Spirit.

Pope Benedict XVI (Pentecost Homily, 2009)

The Holy Spirit overcomes fear. We know that the disciples fled to the cenacle after the Master’s arrest and remained there out of fear of suffering the same fate. After Jesus’ resurrection this fear did not suddenly disappear. But when the Holy Spirit descended upon them at Pentecost, those men went out without fear and began to proclaim the good news of Christ crucified and risen. They had no fear, because they felt that they were in stronger hands. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, where the Spirit of God enters, he chases out fear; he makes us know and feel that we are in the hands of an Omnipotence of love: whatever happens, his infinite love will not abandon us. The witness of the martyrs, the courage of the confessors, the intrepid élan of missionaries, the frankness of preachers, the example of all the saints — some who were even adolescents and children — demonstrate this. It is also demonstrated by the very existence of the Church, which, despite the limits and faults of men, continues to sail across the ocean of history, driven by the breath of God and animated by his purifying fire. With this faith and this joyous hope we repeat today, through Mary’s intercession: “Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth!”

Pope Francis (Wednesday audience, 15 May 2013)

We need to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the light of the Holy Spirit, so that he may bring us into the Truth of God, who is the only Lord of our lives. In this Year of Faith let us ask ourselves if we have taken any concrete steps to know more about Christ and the truth of the faith, by reading and meditating on the Scripture, studying the Catechism, approaching the Sacraments with constancy. But let us ask ourselves at the same time, what steps are we taking so that faith may guide all our existence. One isn’t a Christian “part time”, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in some choices. One cannot be a Christian like this. One is a Christian at all times!  Totally! The truth of Christ, which the Holy Spirit teaches us and gives us, forever and totally affects our daily lives. Let us invoke him more often so that he may guide us on the road of the disciples of Christ. Let us invoke him every day. I make this proposal to you: let us invoke the Holy Spirit every day, thus Holy Spirit will draw us close to Jesus Christ.

Resources

Readings

Pentecost Sunday

Sunday Preacher’s Resource

Pentecost Sunday

Additional Preaching Resources

• The Year of Faith: Annus Fidei website (Holy See) and the USCCB Website.
• The Holy See: Easter
• Fr. Thomas Rosica (Salt and Light Media)
• The Torch
• The King of Ages
• Fr. Francis Martin Website
• Biblius Clerus, a resource of the Congregation for the Clergy
• The Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

The Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the chapel of the Priory of the Immaculate Conception

Every May 8, the Order of Preachers recalls the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the whole of the Order.  As is our custom, today the friars may recite together this prayer of consecration.

Prayer Dedicating the Order of Preachers to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Virgin Mother Mary, with trust we approach you. We, your preachers, fly to you who believed in the words sent from heaven and pondered them in your heart. We stand close around you, who are always present to the gathering of apostles.

In you the Word was made flesh, that same Word which we receive, contemplate, praise together and preach. Therefore, under your guidance we today devote ourselves anew to the ministry of the Word. Furthermore, we declare to you that, hearing with you the Word within ourselves and anointed by the Spirit, whose sacred vessel you pre-eminently are, we are consecrated in the name of Jesus Christ to the evangelization of the world.

With the eyes of your heart enlightened, you understood the mystery of the Word. Through you we, too, are able to perceive the presence of that same Word in the history of our time, so that we may finally contemplate him face to face.

Through you the Father sent his Son into the world that he might save it. Through you we will be powerful in the sight of your people, becoming witnesses of that truth which frees and of that love which unites.

To this place we have brought our needs and here we ponder them. Do you, Mother, give us strength and preserve the harmony of our family, so that what was begun by our profession may be brought to completion by our love for one another, for the salvation of the world and to the praise and glory of God.

This conference is intended primarily for diocesan priests are interested in learning practical strategies to become better teachers of the faith. Prompted by the proclamation of a Year of Faith and guided by the wisdom of the Thomistic tradition, the conference will consist of practical talks and round-table discussions on issues of immediate relevance to the life of contemporary priests. Led by an impressive cadre of experienced and knowledgeable speakers, and set in a comfortable fraternal atmosphere, with meals together, it will offer ample time for prayer, rest, and recreation.

The list of speakers includes:

• Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P.
• Fr. Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B.
• Fr. Paul Scalia
• Fr. Michael Sherwin, O.P.
• Fr. Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M. Cap.

For more information about the conference, please visit the Thomistic Institute website.   You may also register online.

Relics of the Martyrs of Otranto

Alessandro Longo and the Martyrs of Otranto.  The Holy See has announced that Pope Francis will canonize the 800 Martyrs of the Itialian city of Otranto on May 12.  These Catholics were slaughtered by Turkish Muslims intent on continuing their invasions into Western Europe.  The were given the choice of forced conversion to Islam or death.  They chose to die rather than to deny the faith.  (For a full account of the story of the death of these Christians, see the account from Zenit news.)  Of those that died, one was a Dominican friar.  Below is a short description of the life and martyrdom of (soon to be St.) Alessandro Longo From the Postulator for the Causes of the Saints for the Order of Preachers:

On the 28th of July 1480, the Turks landed in Puglia and besieged Otranto in an attempt to occupy the Kingdom of Naples. After 14 days of siege and constant bombardment of the city walls, the Turks entered the city on August 12 and instantly killed all those defending the city.

The Dominican Monastery dedicated to Our Lady of Candelora was the first to be occupied by the Turkish troop because of its proximity to the city walls. The brothers took refuge in the city. At the Cathedral, they killed the archbishop, the clergy and many lay faithful who refused to recant their faith. The killings continued the next day at the Hill of Minerva.

At the end, no one knows exactly the number of people who were killed because of their faith. However, tradition has always had it that they were 800 martyrs. It is even more difficult to ascertain their names individually, more so because their martyrdom has always been seen as a communal act in defence of their faith. They are known individually only to God. The only list available to us in history has on top of it, the name, “Alessandro Longo – a Dominican”. Perhaps more Dominicans were killed but we do not know their names. Also, there is no particular description of how Alessandro was killed.

It is believed that fr Alessandro Longo was born in Otranto around 1425. He joined the Dominican friars of the Convent of Lecce or Nardo and was ordained to the priesthood on the 30th of May 1450 in Bologna. In 1451, he was appointed the Master of Studies at the general house of studies of St Dominic in Naples. In 1458, he founded the Convent of Otranto and in 1474 he obtained the authority from the Master of the Order to give the Dominican habit and receive the profession of the brothers and sisters. In 1475, he was assigned permanently to Otranto to organize and consolidate the new convent. With an open mind, he was able to develop a refined culture, summarising the Greek tradition of his homeland with the Latin he learnt in Bologna and Naples. He was most likely a commentator on the plays of Aristophanes.

The Order has always had great devotion to the 800 Martyrs of Otranto. In 1574, some of the bodies of those martyrs were transferred to Naples and placed under the altar of St Mary of the Rosary at the Dominican Church of St Catherine of Formiello. In 1629, the General Chapter of Rome conferred the title of Prior of Otranto on the Socius of the Prior Provincial of Puglia. In 1694 he obtained from the Congregation of Rites the faculty for the celebration of the Office and the Mass of the Blessed Martyrs in all the convents of the Order.

The Tomb of St. Catherine of Siena under the High Altar of the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome

Each week, a Dominican member of the Province of St. Joseph’s Preaching Advisory Board prepares this Preacher’s Sketchbook in anticipation of the upcoming Sunday Mass. The idea of the Preacher’s Sketchbook is to take quotations from the authority of the Church–the Pope, the Fathers of the Church, documents of the Councils, the saints–that can help spark ideas for the Sunday homily. Just as an artist’s sketchbook preserves ideas for later elaboration, so we hope the Preacher’s Sketchbook will provide some ideas for homiletical elaboration.

Pope Francis, On Heaven and Earth

There are sectors within every religion that by highlighting the normative leave aside the human, they reduce religion to what has to be prayed in the morning, during the afternoon and at night and what is going to happen if one does not do it. There is a spiritual harassment of adherents and of many people weak in spirit, that can lead them to a lack of freedom. Another feature of these sectors is that they always are motivated by the search for power… The authentic wants to be sought, but when that means only the normative, fulfilling regulations, it falls into the other extreme, into a purism that also is not religious.

Pope Francis, On Heaven and Earth

I maintain that the leadership from a congregation cannot be equated to the leadership of an NGO (Non– Governmental Organization)… [Holiness] is the command from God to Abraham. The word holiness is like a springboard to the transcendent. In an NGO, the word holiness does not fit. Yes, there has to be a socially acceptable conduct, honesty, an idea of how the NGO is going to carry out its mission, and an internal policy. It can run phenomenally inside of a secular setting, but with regards to religion, holiness is unavoidable for a leader.

Pope Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity

In our Creed the Church is understood in terms of the Holy Spirit, as the center of the Spirit’s activity in the world. Concretely, she is seen from the two angles of baptism (penance) and the Eucharist. This sacramental approach produces a completely theocentric understanding of the Church: the foreground is occupied, not by the group of men composing her, but by the gift of God that turns man around toward a new being that he cannot give to himself, to a communion that he can only receive as a gift. Yet precisely this theocentric image of the Church is entirely human, entirely real.

The Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum

To see Jesus is to see His Father. For this reason Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover He confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed, that God is with us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal.

The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum

This tradition which comes from the Apostles develop in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down. This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts through a penetrating understanding of the spiritual realities which they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through Episcopal succession the sure gift of truth. For as the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her.

Resources

Readings

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sunday Preacher’s Resource

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Additional Preaching Resources

• The Year of Faith: Annus Fidei website (Holy See) and the USCCB Website.
• The Holy See: Easter
• Fr. Thomas Rosica (Salt and Light Media)
• The Torch
• The King of Ages
• Fr. Francis Martin Website
• Biblius Clerus, a resource of the Congregation for the Clergy
• The Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Speakers include:

Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., F.N.Y.A.M., Dean of the School of Nursing
Sister Mary Diana Dreger, O.P., M.D., member of the Aquinas College Board of Directors
Sister Mary Angelica Neenan, O.P., S.T.D., professor of Theology
Father Albert Trudel, O.P., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Faith & Culture and professor of English

For more information or to register, please visit the Conference website.

Each week, a Dominican member of the Province of St. Joseph’s Preaching Advisory Board prepares this Preacher’s Sketchbook in anticipation of the upcoming Sunday Mass. The idea of the Preacher’s Sketchbook is to take quotations from the authority of the Church–the Pope, the Fathers of the Church, documents of the Councils, the saints–that can help spark ideas for the Sunday homily. Just as an artist’s sketchbook preserves ideas for later elaboration, so we hope the Preacher’s Sketchbook will provide some ideas for homiletical elaboration.

Saint Basil the Great:

The just person’s entire life is tribulation…. Therefore the Apostle elsewhere says that he has been “afflicted in every way,” and here, that “we must enter the kingdom of God through many afflictions.” God does rescue the holy from affliction, but he does so not by rendering them untested but by blessing them with endurance. For if “affliction brings about endurance, then endurance brings about an approved character.” Whoever rejects affliction deprives himself of approval. Just as none is crowned who has no rival, so none can be pronounced worthy except through tribulations. Therefore, “he snatched me from all my tribulation,” not by allowing me not to be afflicted but by granting with the test a way out, in order to be able to endure.

Tertullian:

If sorrow, and mourning, and sighing, and death itself assail us from the afflictions both of soul and body, how shall they be removed, except by the cessation of their causes, that is to say, the afflictions of flesh and soul? Where will you find adversities in the presence of God? Where incursions of an enemy in the bosom of Christ? Where attacks of the devil in the face of the Holy Spirit? What plague awaits the redeemed from death after their eternal pardon? What wrath is there for the reconciled after grace? What weakness after their renewed strength? What risk and danger after their salvation?

St. Thomas Aquinas:

Christ loved us three ways. He loved us gratuitously because he began to love us and did not wait for us to begin to love him…. In the same way we should first love our neighbors and not wait to be loved by them or for them to do us a favor. Christ loved us effectively, which is obvious from what he did; for love is proven to exist from what one does. The greatest thing a person can do for a friend is to give himself for that friend. This is what Christ did…. We also should be led by this example and love one another effectively and fruitfully…. Christ also loved us rightly. Since all friendship is based on some kind of sharing…, that friendship is right which is based on a similarity or a sharing in some good. Now Christ loved us as similar to himself by the grace of adoption, loving us in the light of this similarity in order to draw us to God…. We also, in the one we love, should love what pertains to God and not so much the pleasure or benefits the loved one gives to us.

Pope Francis:

Jesus is encountered, just as 2,000 years ago, in a human presence, the Church, the company of those whom he assimilates to himself, his Body, the sign and sacrament of his Presence…. It is a question of starting to say “You” to Christ, and saying it often. It is impossible to desire it without asking for it. And if someone starts to ask for it, then he begins to change. Besides, if someone asks for it, it is because in the depths of his being he feels attracted, called, looked at, awaited…. There from the depths of my being, something attracts me toward Someone who looked for me first, is waiting for me first.

Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus:

God does not demand of us a feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has “loved us first,” love can also blossom as a response within us…. [L]ove is not merely a sentiment…. I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, and encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. Going beyond exterior appearances, I perceive in others an interior desire for a sign of love, of concern. This I can offer them…. I can give them the look of love which they crave…. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbor and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbor can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me.

Servant of God Luigi Giussani:

When there is something beautiful within us, we desire to communicate it to others. When we see others who are worse off than we are, we desire to help them with something of ours. This need is so…natural, that it is within us before we are conscious of it…. We do charitable work to satisfy this need. We become ourselves to the extent that we live this need…. This is so true that, if we are not able to give, we experience ourselves as incomplete beings…. We do charitable work so that we may learn to fulfill the task of becoming ourselves. But it is Christ who has enabled us to understand the ultimate reason for this…. I am able to understand the word “charity” when I remember that the Son of God, loving us, did not send us his riches (as he was able to do) and revolutionize our situation; instead, he became poor like one of us. He “shared” our nothingness. We do charitable work in order to live like Christ.

Resources

Readings

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Additional Preaching Resources

• The Year of Faith: Annus Fidei website (Holy See) and the USCCB Website.
• The Holy See: Easter
• Fr. Thomas Rosica (Salt and Light Media)
• The Torch
• The King of Ages
• Fr. Francis Martin Website
• Biblius Clerus, a resource of the Congregation for the Clergy
• The Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John