Dominican Friars

I’ll be honest up front: there can be debate within Dominican ranks regarding the status of the Luminous Mysteries. Should Pope St. John Paul II have “changed” the Rosary by adding mysteries? 

Objections: (1) For centuries, the Rosary has consisted of 150 Hail Marys (ten for each of the fifteen mysteries). This number corresponds to the number of Psalms. Thus, many have called the Rosary the “Marian Psalter.” The addition of five mysteries makes the number of Hail Marys exceed the number of Psalms, which is unfitting. (2) To pray the Rosary is to contemplate Jesus through the eyes of Mary. But Mary rarely appears in the Luminous Mysteries. (3) Dominican friars, sisters, and nuns wear a Rosary on their belts. The additional beads make the Rosary too long and unmanageable.

On the other hand, in June of 1917, Our Lady appeared to three children at Fatima and asked them to add a prayer after every decade of the Rosary. “Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins . . . . ” It seems then that the Rosary can be changed for the good of the Church.

I answer that, it was eminently fitting that the saintly pope should add five mysteries to the Rosary, and for three reasons. 

First, Our Lady presented the Rosary to the Church by way of her servant, Saint Dominic. For this reason, the Rosary has been associated with and promoted by the Order of Friars Preachers. Among the sons of Dominic, Saint Thomas Aquinas stands out as the Order’s greatest theologian. In his Summa Theologiae, he devotes 33 questions to the mysteries of Our Savior’s life, and he divides these mysteries into four groups: those relating to his coming into the world, to the course of his life in the world, to his departure from this world, and to his exaltation after this life. With the addition of five mysteries that correspond to the course of Christ’s life on earth, the Rosary now better reflects the theology of Saint Thomas and, therefore, the Dominican Order as a whole.

Second, the Luminous Mysteries not only draw the mind to important moments in the earthly life of Christ, but also to the most important moments in a Christian’s earthly life: namely, his or her reception of the Sacraments. Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan reminds us of our own rebirth in Christ. The Miracle at Cana recalls the sacrament of matrimony. Christ’s Preaching of the Kingdom and call to conversion bring to mind three sacraments: confirmation, which strengthens one to witness to the Gospel; reconciliation, which follows on conversion; and anointing of the sick, which was conferred by the Apostles in their first preaching mission (Mark 6:13). The Institution of the Eucharist reminds us not only of the Eucharist, but also the sacrament of holy orders, which Christ instituted that same evening. The mystery of the Transfiguration summarizes all seven sacraments, as they are meant to transform us by grace unto eternal glory.

Third, in recent centuries, certain false teachers have obscured the truth of Christ’s earthly life. So-called rationalists began to question the miracles performed by Christ, and even his entire life as recounted in the Gospels. The Luminous Mysteries combat such erroneous thinking by drawing Christian minds and hearts to the central mysteries of Our Lord’s earthly ministry—the revelations of his divine sonship at his baptism, his divine power in the first of his signs, his reign in his preaching of the Kingdom, his future glory in the Transfiguration, and his Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist.

To the above objections, it could be said that: (1) While no one may add to the number of Psalms since the Psalms are a part of Scripture, Hail Marys may be added to the Rosary, even as most Catholics add three to the beginning of the Rosary for an increase in faith, hope, and love. (2) Our Lady delights in nothing more than drawing our attention to her Son. Hence, her counsel in the second mystery—“Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5)—forms the Marian foundation of all the “mysteries of light’” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 21). (3) Sartorial concerns should not determine the devotional life of the Church; just the opposite. Furthermore, nothing prohibits the use of a traditional fifteen-decade Rosary for religious attire.

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This article was originally published on dominicanajournal.org and was written by Fr. Bernard Knapke, O.P..

Those who pray the Rosary with all their heart know from experience that the Rosary is an “outpouring of love” (St. Pope John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae). What evokes love in us like nothing else is the face of the beloved gazing at us. The Rosary intends to be just that.

“The Rosary is one of the traditional paths of Christian prayer directed to the contemplation of Christ’s face.” In fact, if we did not have the gift of the Rosary in our life, we would search for a way to fix on Christ’s face. In God’s divine providence we do not need to invent this way, for “with the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love… To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.”

The love poured out to us in the Rosary orients us to both heaven and earth. For in contemplating Christ’s face in the rosary, “we become open to receiving the mystery of Trinitarian life,” while at the same time “the Rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in his mysteries and so cannot fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in the most afflicted.” And since “no one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary,” Our Lady’s role in our contemplating of Christ’s face remains vital.

Pope John Paul II revered the Rosary as “an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb.” What could be better than to be caught up in our Lady’s “perennial Magnificat”?  For here is the fact: “Never as in the Rosary do the life of Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined.”

– Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P.
An excerpt from the book Mysteries oft he Virgin Mary: Living Our Lady’s Graces

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Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P., grew up in Vernon, Connecticut. He was ordained a Dominican priest in 1986. He holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Dominican House of Studies, and a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting from the Catholic University of America. He is an award-winning playwright, and the founder and artistic director of Blackfriars Repertory Theatre in New York City. Since 1994, Fr. Peter John has taught homiletics at various seminaries, and he now teaches at the Josephinum.

He is the author of ten books, including The Classics of Catholic Spirituality, Blessing Prayers, Mysteries of the Virgin Mary, Made for Love—Loved by God, Novenas for the Church Year, Jesus Present Before Me, and Why Preach: Encountering Christ in God’s Word. He served two terms as the director of preaching for his Dominican province. Fr. Peter John is the founding editor-in-chief of Magnificat, where he worked from 1998-2018. He is the Prior (the local superior) of St. Patrick Priory.

Lent is a great time for Catholics to return to Confession, but it would be wrong to think that Easter is not. In fact, with a little reflection, we can find many reasons why Easter is a particularly graced time to go to Confession, even after a lackluster Lent. As a start, I propose seven reasons.

1. Confession is Christ’s Easter gift to the Church.

On the first Easter Sunday, the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples and gave them the power to forgive sins. Christ breathed on his disciples and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22ff.). By this gesture, Christ instituted the Sacrament of Confession. Confession is His Easter gift.

2. The Risen Christ reconciled with two great saints: Peter and Paul.

The Risen Christ reconciled Peter to Himself, healing his threefold denial by a threefold confession of love (John 21:15-17). Later, the Risen Christ converted Paul (then called Saul) who was still plotting the murder of Christians (Acts 9). These examples of Peter and Paul show not only how freely Christ offers mercy after the Resurrection, but how this Easter mercy has the power to turn great sinners into great saints.

3. The preaching of both Peter and Paul united Christ’s Resurrection and man’s repentance.

After Pentecost, Peter’s first two sermons announce Christ’s Resurrection, but also our need for conversion: “Repent and be baptized!” (Acts 2:38) and “Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). Paul, in recounting his preaching, highlights the same focus: he preached that all men “should repent and turn to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance” (Acts 26:20). Resurrection and repentance are connected in the wondrous phrase: “repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18). The Risen Christ offers us eternal life, and we enter into this through repentance. For the baptized, Confession is the privileged sacrament of repentance unto life.

4. Divine Mercy Sunday and Good Shepherd Sunday: mercy is increasing.

On the second and fourth Sundays of Easter, the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday and Good Shepherd Sunday, respectively. Both are reminders that the mercy of Good Friday flows with increasing might throughout Eastertide and beyond. The Divine Mercy beckons the sinner home. The Good Shepherd draws back the lost sheep. In the confessional, the Father embraces us like prodigal sons, clothing us in His grace and adorning us with unearned gifts.

5. The work of Lent continues into Easter.

The grace of Lent is often an increase of our self-knowledge. Maybe we realized that we commit a sin that we were unaware of before. Or maybe we see with greater clarity the depths of ours sins and the damage they cause. In such ways, Lent can show us where we need to grow, but such growth often demands much more than forty days. Whatever God began in us during Lent (even if we don’t sense it yet), the Divine Physician wants to continue in us throughout Eastertide. His graces of healing and strengthening await us in the confessional.

6. Penance is a virtue. Flex it.

How can you get more out of your Lenten confession? Follow it up with confession in Easter. St. Thomas Aquinas aligns the Sacrament of Penance with the virtue of penance. As a virtue, penance is like a muscle: the more we repent of our sins and frequent the Sacrament of Penance, the quicker and better we will be transformed by God’s mercy. If we wait too long for the next Confession, our virtue atrophies and we return to Confession with great difficulty. Easter is a good time to flex the muscle.

7. Easter is the turning point, but the war is not over.

The traditional icon of the Resurrection (i.e. the Anastasis icon) depicts Christ’s light breaking into a dark world. The icon shows the power of Christ’s light, but also the darkness lingering in the world. This ongoing battle between light and darkness will continue until Christ returns. For most of us, our call is mainly to conquer our vices and grow in virtue, all by the grace of God. In this battle between virtue and vice, Confession is indispensable: forgiving our sins and strengthening our union with Jesus Christ, our mighty God.

In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf makes a sort of Resurrection appearance to his comrades, returning after defeating an ancient evil in the earth’s depths. He tells them: “Be merry! We meet again. At the turn of the tide. The great storm is coming, but the tide has turned” (LOTR III.5). These words capture an important truth. Easter is a time to be merry, for Christ meets with us again and He has truly turned the tide of history. Yet, the great storm is coming. Christ assures His elect of victory, but also assures them of a real fight: “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). No Christian is exempt from Christ’s call to arms—not even the hobbit-souled. Let us fight like Gospel men. Christ our hope has arisen.

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This article was originally published on dominicanajournal.org and was written by Fr. Joseph Martin Hagan, O.P..

May 13th is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, marking the day when the Blessed Mother first appeared to the three Portuguese children. What makes this particular apparition really stand out from the other times and places at which the Mother of God appeared? There are the three secrets, one being the mandate to pray the Rosary daily for the staying of divine judgment.

And, yet, I must confess that this feast day doesn’t hold a lot that is special for me. Am I missing something by preferring devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes because of her noticeable motherly healings in my own life, or even by preferring Our Lady of Prompt Succor, who protected my beautiful hometown of New Orleans from both fire and the British scourge?

The answer, I think, is no. Our Lady has appeared many times and in many places throughout Christendom. Each apparition has its own beautiful devotions. They may have slightly different messages, but we do not neglect some key aspect of the faith by not having a particular devotion to this or that apparition.

Although a particular apparition may have a message for a specific time or place, what makes them all beautiful is that Our Blessed Lady brings, fundamentally, the same basic message every time she comes to visit her children: the Gospel message.  She does not intend her apparitions to add anything to divine revelation, but merely to echo her own recommendation in the Gospel: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).   

This is to say that Our Lady’s messages in her apparitions are messages of conversion and obedience to the commandments of Christ.  Any encouragement she brings us—to cling to the folds of her dress by praying the Most Holy Rosary for our salvation and that of others, or whatever it is—all of them are for the purpose of bringing the whole world to Christ.

The Blessed Mother knows that we fail time and time again to follow Christ’s commandments.  We’re like little children who fall a lot learning to walk. We need to be coached and corrected over and over again. How does she do this? Whichever of her apparitions we are devoted to or whatever language we speak—she will always tell us the same basic thing: do whatever He tells you.  

When my Mother tells me to pray the Rosary, I know that essentially it is because she wants me to entrust myself and all my cares, like a little child, to her motherly care.  Who better could help me to understand and to carry out Christ’s commands? Who better can teach me to love my neighbor than she who gave birth to Love Himself?

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This article was originally published on dominicanajournal.org and was written by Fr. Reginald Hoefer, O.P..

When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Lucia and her cousins Saints Francisco and Jacinta in Fatima on May 13, 1917, she asked them to “say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world.” What makes for peace? Peace comes by living according to the “divinely established order”:

Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order.

 Pacem in Terris 1

Peace is impossible apart from God and the order wrought by him in the world and in our own hearts. Our human efforts, although necessary, will only ever be limited and incomplete unless we ourselves participate in the order established by Christ, the Prince of Peace. But this is far from easy, for he made “peace by the blood of his cross” (1 Col 1:20). To establish peace, we must enter into the mystery of the crucifixion, the mystery of love in the midst of unjust suffering. This is the paradoxical order that makes for peace. We must make Jesus’ prayer our own: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). The divine order of peace is established by forgiveness—even through blood.

Such an order is not impossible to live by. May 13 also marks the anniversary of the assassination attempt on Saint John Paul II. An attempt on such a high-profile person is certainly shocking, but what was even more astounding to the world was John Paul II’s message of forgiveness given four days later from the hospital: “I pray for that brother of ours who shot me, and whom I have sincerely pardoned.” Having entered into the mystery of blood, the holy pope made Christ’s plea for forgiveness his own, which forged a peace between him and his would-be killer, who would later place roses on the pope’s tomb.

With Mary in the Rosary, we contemplate what it means to be at the foot of the cross, where she allowed her son’s plea for forgiveness to penetrate her heart. Forgiveness led her to restore peace with her son’s most intimate friends, who had fled his side in his suffering: “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). In praying with Mary, we too can come to embrace forgiveness, to be formed by the forgiveness offered by Christ, and thus, in turn, to participate in establishing the divine order of peace by forgiving others.

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This article was originally published on dominicanajournal.org and was written by Br. Luke VanBerkum. Br. Luke entered the Order of Preachers in 2016. Before entering, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Notre Dame.