A threefold cord is not easily broken, says Qoheleth, the sage (Eccl 4:12). The Lord thus wisely gives us a threefold program for our Lenten journey: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The Old Testament knew all three practices, but only individually. It never held them together in this evangelical recipe. Jesus alone shows us how to bind the strong man fast (Mk 3:27).
Read MoreToday, May 10th, is the feast of St. Antoninus, a Dominican friar & Archbishop. Consecrated as Archbishop of Florence in 1446, St Antoninus immediately embarked on a steady program of reform marked by the austere simplicity of his own lifestyle as Archbishop, and by his constant concern for the poor. To mitigate the wide-spread Read more…
Read MoreThe following reflection is part of an ongoing series about the life of St. Dominic & the Order of Friars Preachers. Known as the “Apostle of Charity,” Martin de Porres (1579 – 1639) was born in Lima, Peru, the son of a slave. While a young man, he was accepted as a cooperator brother at Read more…
Read MoreThe following reflection is part of an ongoing series about the life of St. Dominic & the Order of Friars Preachers. At sixteen, Antoninus (1389 – 1459) joined the Dominican Order and for the next forty years served as local or provincial superior in various Italian priories. He founded the convent of San Marco under Read more…
Read MoreThe following reflection is part of an ongoing series about the life of St. Dominic & the Order of Friars Preachers. A Dominican nun, Agnes (1268 – 1317) was renowned for her diligence in prayer and her extraordinary charity. Although born of a wealthy family in Gracchiano, Italy, she believed that charity is the only Read more…
Read MoreThe following reflection is part of an ongoing series about the life of St. Dominic & the Order of Friars Preachers. On August 6, 1221, less than five years after the Holy See formally confirmed the founding of the Order of Preachers, Dominic died in Bologna, the site of one of the Dominicans’ principal university Read more…
Read MoreThe following reflection is part of an ongoing series about the life of St. Dominic & the Order of Friars Preachers. A second example of Dominic’s heroic charity occurred while he was still a student in Palencia. To secure the freedom of a man held in slavery by the Moors, Dominic, whose funds had been Read more…
Read MoreThe following reflection is part of an ongoing series about the life of St. Dominic & the Order of Friars Preachers. Throughout his life Dominic preached charity and acted accordingly. In 1190, while he was studying in Palencia, a famine devastated all of Spain. Palencia suffered with the rest of the country, and people died Read more…
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