By Praedicare Staff
Comparing the life of St. Dominic to the patriarch Abraham, Fr. Allen Moran, O.P., Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph preached that “the life St. Dominic set out on was a life of faith,” as he received solemn vows from two Dominican friars.
Abraham left everything behind to follow a voice speaking to him and St. Dominic, too, left the land he knew to serve who he was called to serve and to establish this way of life, Fr. Allen preached. In doing so, St. Dominic, like Abraham, “also abandoned all of the support mechanisms he was familiar with and set up this, our way of life, laboring for years with little success, but always trusting in the goodness of God who called him and inspired him to establish our Order.”
“In Solemn Profession I became all the more aware of God’s love and mercy for me and for the Church which he seeks to manifest in my life and through the Order of Preachers.”
Br. Pius Henry, O.P.
Fr. Allen told Br. Pius Mary Henry, O.P., and Br. Raphael Mary Arteaga, O.P., that by their actions of making solemn vows this day, they, too, will enter this radical form of life—a life of faith.
“Though it is true that on the day of solemn profession I consecrated myself to God, the deeper and far more wondrous reality is that on the day of solemn profession God consecrated me to himself forever.”
Br. Raphael Arteaga, O.P.
Pointing to the reredos above the altar at the Dominican House of Studies to a scene that depicts the saints of the Order under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin and the presence of her Son, Fr. Allen told the brothers that this image reminds us of our end—the goal of our life. He preached to Brothers Pius and Raphael that we don’t raise ourselves up there by our own efforts and our own designs. “Instead, as we look at it [the scene above the altar], it is Our Lady’s Rosary which drops down into the carved wood and finds itself on the altar of sacrifice, the celebration of the Eucharist. And in both of these—the mysteries of the Rosary and the Eucharist—we find Christ’s self-offering there. The way to the blessed is through the one who gives all for us, the seed that dies that we might have life. And our vows seek to follow his life—a life of poverty, holding all things in common; chastity, a purified love for God; and obedience, reflecting the obedience of Christ who is obedient unto death.”
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Photos: Dominican House of Studies
