Vocation Office E-Newsletter, Winter Issue

Winter Issue

Sharing our Life Together

and with others

SEEK 2017: over one hundred people joined the Dominican Friars and Sisters in praying the Divine Office

In This Issue: St. Thomas Aquinas the Teacher, Christmas at the Motherhouse, Ongoing Formation, January Vocation Retreat, SEEK 2017, Upcoming Travels

As the Dominican 800th Anniversary celebration comes to a close and the feast of our great brother St. Thomas Aquinas approaches, I would like to share a little of what I learned about the Angelic Doctor while living in Italy for a few years. General opinion often perceives him as an unapproachable scholar, but this description is far from accurate. Thomas Aquinas was in fact, from passionate Neopolitan stock; and above all else, he was a contemplative whose passion for the Lord inflamed his study and his vocation as a teacher. By his great dedication to teaching, he certainly exemplifies the theme of this past year's Dominican Jubilee: "Sent to Preach the Gospel."

Reflecting on St. Thomas as a Dominican, therefore, is a fitting way to close this Jubilee celebration.

Thomas was born near Naples and joined the Dominican Order there. Blood runs anything but cold in Naples: Neapolitans are very passionate, expressive people. Thomas too was passionate in his love for the Lord. Every day at the Elevation of the Sacred Host, while celebrating mass, he silently prayed a prayer he had composed:

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore, masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more. See Lord at Thy service low lies here a heart, lost all lost in wonder at the God Thou art... (Adoro Te Devote, trans. Gerard Manley Hopkins)

A Dominican friar testifies that once, while Thomas was in prayer, Our Lord spoke to him from the crucifix: "You have written well of me, Thomas. What do you desire?"

"Nothing by Thyself, Lord" was his reply. On his deathbed, Thomas requested that the Song of Songs be read to him--the most passionate book of Sacred Scripture which expresses love between God and a soul. St. Thomas was not a cold intellectual but a mystic and an ardent lover of Christ.

Nothing but Thyself, Lord."

"

Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Teacher

~ St. Thomas Aquinas

Feast: January 28

The saint was not only passionate in his love for the Lord, he was also zealous in the mission of preaching. Two artifacts of St. Thomas which I saw in Italy impressed this upon me: his lecture chair in Orvieto and his lecture hall in Naples. It was while standing in his lecture hall that I realized that Thomas was a teacher first and foremost before being a scholar. At the University of Paris, where he occupied the Chair of Theology for many years, those in such a position usually did not frequent the Disputationes, where one's presentation on a topic was opened up to debate. Thomas, however, often did present at these debates: for him, teaching and seeking the truth was worth the risk that such a format posed to one's prestige. Furthermore, some of his greatest works, such as the Summa Theologiae and the De Ente et Essentia, were written for the sake of his students--because they lacked adequate textbooks (almost none had yet been written). Preaching the Word was the motivating force behind his work.

In St. Thomas, the ardent lover and the servant of truth are fused into one. He was a theologian on his knees. He said that he learned more through prayer than through study, though he studied and knew Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, and the ancient philosophers better than any of his contemporaries. Through his writings, his teaching mission has extended to all generations after him. The Church has fittingly named him Doctor Universalis, a teacher for the entire Church in every age.

by Sister Mary Esther, OP

The lecture hall used by St. Thomas in Naples, refurbished over the years and still in use today

Recommended Reading In this book, a young contemporary theologian examines the life and work of Catholicism's greatest theologian. Bishop Robert Barron shares with the reader not only the deep spirituality within Aquinas' theological writings, such as the arguments for God’s existence, but also Aquinas' little known spiritual writings on prayer and other topics.

Throughout the book, he makes Aquinas’ teachings accessible and applicable to our daily lives.

(Available through Word on Fire)

"Another of the great insights of Saint Thomas was his perception of the role of the Holy Spirit in the process by which knowledge matures into wisdom. From the first pages of his Summa Theologiae, Aquinas was keen to show the primacy of the wisdom which is the gift of the Holy Spirit and which opens the way to a knowledge of divine realities."

Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio 44

Christmas at Saint Cecilia Motherhouse

During the last days of Advent, preparations were made for all the sisters to come home from our mission houses around the country and from around the world.

Ongoing Formation

After everyone arrived, we took the opportunity to discuss together the materials our Community has compiled for the ongoing formation of our sisters at every stage of life. We thereby hope to grow in a deeper living of our vocation.

The climax of all of our spiritual and domestic preparations was the celebration of

Christmas Mass All of the sisters used their gifts to worship the Word Incarnate.

Vocation Retreat January 4-8, 2017

After Christmas, we were blessed to have a wonderful group of young women at the motherhouse for a discernment retreat. They came to experience something of Dominican life at St. Cecilia's and to give time to the Lord to speak to their hearts.

Their days with us included retreat conferences on Dominican Spirituality, given by Father Raphael Mary Salzillo, OP, a Dominican of the Western Province; time for prayer; a visit to some of our schools in Nashville; many opportunities to interact with our sisters; and meals eaten in monastic silence. It was a blessed week of grace.

Apostolate Panel: Several sisters shared their experiences and the graces of the teaching apostolate.

Six of our sisters were able to join over 12,000 young adults and high school students for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students annual SEEK conference.

The sisters welcomed many visitors to the booth sponsored by our congregation, talking with them about our community and the call to religious life.

The sisters were blessed with many new friends during their week in San Antonio.

Upcoming Travels January 21 - Day of Recollection in Woodbridge, VA January 23 - George Mason University January 25-28 - Washington, DC for the March for Life January 29-30 - Virginia Tech January 31 - Christopher Newport University, VA February 1 - The College of William and Mary

Jubilee celebration in Memphis, TN with Fr. Bruno Cadore, Master General of the Order

In Thanksgiving for all the many blessings of this Dominican Jubilee Year Left: O.P. Jamboree in Providence, RI Below: Pilgrimage to the lands of St. Dominic

The Signadeux, Fanjeaux, France