The (Spiritual) March For Life

Every year it happens on or about January 22nd, the anniversary of that terrible day when our country legalized abortion. What happens is something that, each year, always amazes me. What is a day of penance and prayer is also a day of great joy and a day which many people say is the highlight of their year: the annual March for Life in Washington, DC and other major cities, not just in the USA but now even in places like Paris, France and Prague, Czech Republic.

For many years our community has observed this day with a solemn fast and prayer. We don't watch television except for an occasional event with the Holy Father but for the past few years we have been watching at least part of the Annual Vigil Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception which is celebrated the night before the March. The last few years the Mass has been been scheduled earlier and earlier and now it's at 6:30 PM which works just great for us.

For the members of the community who have never attended the March it is inspiring to see the huge, and I mean HUGE, throng of young people and the HUGE, and again I mean HUGE, number of seminarians that process in at the beginning of Mass. Then there is a not-so-huge but a close-to-it huge number of priests and bishops. Of course we enjoy trying to find the people we know and the story is always told of how were were SURE we saw Sr. Maria Teresa at the Mass just a few days before she entered. We were positive. Guess what? We were wrong!

Seeing this rather small gathering compared to the numbers at the March itself has encouraged us in our own way of attending the March--in spirit and in prayer.

Our young sisters regale us with stories of their experiences and again, it is the joy that radiates as they speak. Sr. Mary Magdalene told us last night that there are always huge numbers from Kansas and would you believe it? Steven D. Greydanus of The National Catholic Register blogging from the March this year wrote, "Apparently there is a huge contingent here from Kansas - a pair of Kansas representatives gets a huge cheer of welcome"As Sr. Mary Magdalene would say, "I'm jist sayin'!"

January 22nd is indeed a sad day for our country but what could be a day of despair and gloom has become a day of hope, joy and the conviction that Christ, the first Truth, has conquered; that this evil will end, that our young people will choose life.

For all who work so hard, day after day in many small ways, to reverse the culture of death to the culture of life, for those who help mothers choose the life of their child or help the mother who has had abortion find healing and forgiveness, we pray for you each and every day and hold you in our maternal hearts hidden in the heart of Christ.

Just in case you wondered how many people attend the March for Life! This is the 2011 March.

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Go And Tell My Brothers...Letter of the Master of the Order

As preparation for the 800th anniversary of the Approval of the Order of Preachers in 2016, we are preparing for this Year of Grace by a "Novena" highlighting certain aspects of the charism of the Order of Preachers. The theme for 2012 is "Go and tell my brothers, Dominican women and evagelization.Following is the letter of the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP, reflecting on the role of women in the work of the Holy Preaching.

 
 Go tell my brothers!  (Jn 20:15): Dominican women and evangelization

 

This appeal of the Christ to Mary at the dawn of the resurrection was chosen as the theme for this fourth year of the novena as we prepare to celebrate the Jubilee of the Order. This year titled “Dominican Women and Preaching” invites us to place the announcement of the resurrection at the source of our mission in the Order.

 

This very simple sentence initially reminded me of the emotion I felt a few years ago in the church of a town in Iraq. Morning had just broken and we were preparing to celebrate the entrance to the novitiate and the profession of some young brothers. A crowd of women were already in the church as they waited for the celebration; among them, there were Dominican mothers, sisters, friends, apostolic sisters and lay women. All together, they filled the church with the dense silence of their prayers while the entire country was suffering from chaos, violence and threats. In that silence and in the presence of the Father, these women prayed with such intensity that at the heart of the chaos, which wreaked havoc in the country and ripped it apart with all sorts of divisions, they conveyed the assurance that nothing can silence the message of life. One day, in this world, dawn broke out in the country of Judaea, through the birth of a child, the Prince of Peace. In spite of appearances, His coming pushed back darkness forever and the night was definitively torn open when, from the depths of a death inflicted on him, He gave his life. Often, in certain parts of the world, where violence repeatedly claims to destroy all social ties, women and mothers act as guardians of life to testify that, in spite of the appearances, no one can claim to become the master of a life that is received, primarily so that it can be given away. Go tell my brothers! Tell them of the strength of life, the unheard story of a humanity that, day after day, is born again in the Spirit of life and given away, through the Passion, all the way to the Resurrection. These women in Iraq showed the vast horizon of the mission of evangelisation: to inscribe into the heart of human history the joy and hope of Christ, who gave his life so that the world may live and learn to be his witnesses.

Read the rest of the Letter.

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New Cloister Shoppe

The walls are painted, the dust has been cleared and the NEW Cloister Shoppe is open for business!

We hope you will enjoy the many new features of our little monastery store. We are crossing our fingers that we got all the little quirks figured out!

Thank you again for your support. There will be some new things in the future!

God bless you and reward you!
The Dominican Nuns

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Salve Regina: Sung by the Order of Preachers Around the World!

Several years ago the Nuns suggested a project of the Salve sung by the different branches of the Order from around the world! The plan was that everyone would sing it in the same key (!). Groups were asked to send in a video clip to the brethren at the Curia and the angels would do the rest.

Here at Summit we kept putting it off and then last Christmas we realized that we had missed the deadline! So at Compline of Christmas we set up the camera and got our bit to send in. Then we forgot all about it!

Below is the complete Salve Regina sung by Dominicans from various priories, monasteries, convents and chapters from around the world. Sure, it's not ready for Decca Records but it is instead a humble tribute to our Blessed Mother from her sons and daughters. We have always loved her as our Mother of Mercy and our patroness and each night we go to rest tucked in under her motherly mantle!

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