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Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage

A National Pilgrimage Devoted to Christ and Our Lady

Dominican Friars

Are You a Eucharistic Soul?

Diversity is baked into reality. Rocks, plants, and animals adorn the world in a vast array of species. The existence of many things and many kinds of things displays the manifold and infinite perfections of the Creator. Just as this diversity exists in nature, so it exists in the order of the supernatural, that is, in the order of grace. Saint Paul teaches this point in his letter to the Ephesians: 

But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift…and his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

(Eph 4:7,11-13)

One particular grace that God gives to souls is a special love for the Eucharist. This special love goes beyond the ordinary love for the Blessed Sacrament to which God calls every Christian. This love is an extraordinary kind of love—a desire to be with Jesus, that is, to abide in his Presence and to share the thoughts and secrets of the heart, as one friend to another. Before he instituted the sacrament of his Presence under the veil of bread and wine, the Son of God first called men and women to intimate friendship with Himself as the Word made flesh.

One such recipient of this special love is Saint John, the beloved disciple. Jesus called John to a special vocation, the vocation to console his Sacred Heart with his friendship. The youngest of the apostles, John understood Jesus and consoled him with his loyal presence, faith, and confidence. It was John who rested his head close to the breast of Christ at the Last Supper, closely listening to his beloved teacher and friend. It was John who, when all the rest of the apostles had abandoned Jesus, remained with his friend at the Cross, offering his silent looks of faith, love, and trust. And it was this beloved friend of the Lord who, when unable to haul the miraculous catch of fish into the boat with Peter, recognized the resurrected Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias saying, “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7). This grace of intimate friendship between John and Jesus knew no bounds, such that when Jesus ascended to the Father and no longer could be seen in the flesh, John undoubtedly continued to keep company with His Lord and God, hidden now under the appearances of bread and wine. 

Jesus continues to give this same grace of intimate friendship today. He calls all souls to Himself, but there are some to whom Jesus offers the grace to be his close friends, much like Saint John. These close friends are those who feel drawn to keep company with Jesus, to abide in his presence, to console him with their friendship. These friends go to the Eucharist, the sacrament of Christ’s presence. They go to the Eucharist to find their master, their teacher, their Lord, their friend. There, these friends keep Jesus company, silently loving him. Perhaps we can call these close friends of Jesus “Eucharistic souls.” They are men and women in the Church of every time, kind, and place. Their value to the Church comes not from the diversity of their circumstances, but rather from the measure of Christ’s gift to them for the building up of the body of Christ.

This article was originally published in the dominicanajournal.org and was written by Br. Raphael Arteaga, O.P..

Seven Life-Hacks for Confession

  1.       Pray for the virtue of penance.

It might be helpful to think of penance as a counterpart to gratitude: just as we owe gratitude to God for the benefits He has given us, so too we owe God sorrow for the offenses we’ve committed against Him.  This reasonable sorrow about our sins is called the virtue of penance, and it is at the heart of the Sacrament of Penance.  The more deeply we are rooted in the virtue of penance, the more powerful our confessions will be.

  1.       Memorize an Act of Contrition.

Being contrite is essential to making a good confession.  Yes, simple versions of the Act of Contrition (like “Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner”) work perfectly well.  But the long versions can also educate us about what we are doing.  About 500 years ago the Church defined contrition as “a sorrow of mind, and a detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future.”  A typical, full version of the Act of Contrition includes these three elements.  For instance, this version has the penitent say: “I detest my sins… I firmly resolve… to do penance, and to amend my life.”  If we know what we are asking for, we can more easily start to instantiate the characteristics of contrition in our lives.

  1.       Examine your conscience with the virtues.

When I first learned to go to Confession, I was taught to examine my conscience by using the Ten Commandments.  This is very good.  But there are other ways to do this.  For instance, one could examine one’s conscience with reference to the virtues.  The cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) and the theological virtues (faith, hope, and love) are the basic blueprint for living a happy life—and by seeing how we fail in these, we can also offer ourselves back to God.  Someone who was ambitious could even read over the Catechism passages linked above to launch a self-reflection.

  1.       Pray before Confession.

One introduction which the priest may pray over you, before you begin your confession, says: “May the grace of the Holy Spirit fill your heart with light, that you may confess your sins with loving trust, and come to know that God is merciful.”  I like this prayer, especially its focus on asking for light for our minds to know our sins, and trust in God’s mercy—two good things to ask for before Confession.

  1.       Renew your sorrow for sins of your past life.

One possible way to finish one’s confession is with these words: “I am sorry for these sins, and all the sins of my past life.”  The purpose isn’t to ask for the forgiveness of these sins of one’s “past life”—they’ve already been forgiven definitively by penance—but to root ourselves more deeply in the virtue of penance. One can even add: “for the sins of my past life, especially [of this sort].”  This acknowledges both our continuing need for being healed more deeply from our sins and tendency to sin, and the objective power of the sacrament to convey this to us.

  1.       Fulfill your penance attentively.

When we get a penance, its effectiveness isn’t just like a private prayer of ours.  Rather, it shares in the objective power that Christ gives to the sacraments.  This means that the penance—even a small one— can be much more powerful than even a favorite devotion of our own choosing.  In this sense, a penance isn’t only a punishment, but also a gift.

  1.       Go.

All of the good effects of the Sacrament of Penance can only take effect, if you actually go.

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

What Are You Wearing This Lent?

Today is the first of many Fridays during Lent. Our penances are perhaps being refined and hopefully refining us as well. I would like to propose another aspect of penance, focusing more exteriorly. Have you thought much about the clothes you wear during Lent? Likely not, but it may be more worthwhile than you think. By way of example, Saint Dominic demonstrates the value of religious garb in penitential exercises and, by extension, any apparel worn for religious purposes.

There are numerous testimonies to Dominic’s sanctity, which manifested itself in various forms: never sleeping on a bed (if he even slept), drastically diluting his wine at table, praying through the night, fasting, etc. These details are reported by many witnesses, but there is another detail that is repeatedly mentioned: his religious habit. It was an uncomfortable outfit, which he always slept in. Part of Dominic’s penitential life, which was so salutary for himself and many souls, was his attention to his clothing. By no means did he admit of any disordered concern for his appearance—his habit was reported to be rather tattered. But his clothing was an important part of his austerity because it was both a sign for others and for himself.

Today, the purpose of a religious habit is often defended with only one of these elements in mind: it is a sign to others of our separation from the world and our consecration to God. But we, even religious, often forget the secondary element of the habit: it is a sign for the religious himself. Wearing the habit can be a penitential source of discomfort—both physically and socially. The habit doesn’t breathe well. It is mocked by a world that rejects consecration and its signs. But when these kinds of discomfort quite literally weigh upon his shoulders, the religious is challenged by his habit to remember: “I still belong to the Lord. I have stretched out my hands and been dressed by someone else, and now I must continually be converted to him in my consecration.”

Wearing the religious habit more continuously and intentionally can thus be a significant aspect of a consecrated person’s Lenten practices. But what about everyone else? I suggest that even non-religious men and women can follow the example of St. Dominic. Perhaps you can consider modifying the way you dress during this Lenten season. This is not to say that you should wear sackcloth and ashes to draw undue attention to yourself. But just as the religious wears the habit to remind him of his consecration, so you can use your clothing to remind yourself that you have put on Christ in baptism. 

This Lent, let your clothing be a small penance that turns you away from the things of this world toward Christ crucified. At least for a season, reject what is vain and showy, and instead clothe yourself with a sign of Christ’s humble simplicity. If this sounds daunting, begin by carrying a sign perhaps no one else will see—whether a crucifix, a medal, or a rosary in your pocket—that reminds you alone of your conversion to Christ. By God’s grace, your external appearance will give way to the more noble clothing of the heart, and you will say with the prophet Isaiah: 

I will rejoice heartily in the Lord,
   my being exults in my God;
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation,
    and wrapped me in a robe of justice,
Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
    as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

This article was originally published on dominicanajournal.org and was written by Br. Bertrand Hebert, O.P..

Living the Triduum at Home

On the evening of Holy Thursday, the whole Church moves from Lent to the Sacred Paschal Triduum–the days from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday. These are the most important days of the year for through them we enter into the saving mysteries of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, we should try to enter into them with a particular attentiveness and devotion so that the graces the Lord merited for us through the mysteries that make up this time may bear abundant fruit in our lives. These days are not only concerned with the major liturgies in our churches though. They should also lead to a conversion of our lives, and as such they can impact every aspect of this time. From the way that we approach work to the practices we take up at home, these days can bear great fruit if we do our best to enter into them in everything that we do. To help draw this out, here are some practical recommendations on how the mysteries that make up the Triduum can guide us both in our churches and in our homes. Feel free to choose whichever ones you would like or other cultural customs that you or your family have found helpful. The whole goal is to enter more deeply into this sacred time. From our devotional practices to our culinary customs and to everything in between, these days can be rich with grace and lead to a flowering of holiness in our hearts and in our homes. May the Lord bring that about for you and your loved ones.

Download the guide

Download Living the Triduum at Home: A Practical Guide to Christian Living During the Sacred Paschal Triduum by Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P.

Holy Week and the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In the upcoming liturgies of Holy Week, the Church recalls the final events of Jesus’s earthly life day by day, and, once the Triduum begins, even hour by hour. The Church makes this yearly commemoration of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus in order to give us the time to reflect more deeply on the meaning of these mysteries. One way of doing so is to meditate on these events with Mary, to look at them with her and from her perspective. The Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary give us one good way of following  the events of Holy Week with Mary. In the Middle Ages, however, another Marian devotion sprang up that became much more closely associated with Holy Week. This was the devotion to our Lady of Sorrows, and in particular to the Seven Sorrows, or Seven Dolors, of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

We can see why this devotion became associated with Holy Week by looking at the Seven Sorrows themselves:

  1. The prophecy of Simeon foretelling the Passion and Death of Jesus
  2. The flight from Herod into Egypt
  3. The loss of Jesus for three days
  4. Meeting Jesus as he carried his cross to Calvary
  5. Standing at the foot of the cross and witnessing the death of Jesus
  6. Watching as the soldier pierced Jesus’s side with a lance and receiving his body from the cross
  7. Seeing the body of Jesus buried in the tomb

Beginning with the very first sorrow, each of these is connected in some way, either directly or indirectly, to the Passion of Jesus. They also provide us with a unique Marian perspective on some part of this great mystery. 

For example, consider the third sorrow. We typically think of this event from the perspective of the fifth Joyful Mystery, the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple. The third sorrow, however, focuses on the loss Mary experienced during the three days Jesus was separated from her and Joseph. These three days prefigure the three days Mary would be separated from Jesus while his body lay in the tomb. 

Because of this intimate connection with the Passion, devotion to the Seven Sorrows became a common way for people to reflect on the mysteries of Holy Week. In fact, the devotion became so popular that, in 1727, Pope Benedict XIII instituted a universal feast commemorating the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday before Palm Sunday. With this, the Church officially recommended devotion to the Seven Sorrows as a privileged means of preparing for and entering into the commemoration of Jesus’s Passion and Resurrection during Holy Week.

Today, the Church no longer celebrates the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Following the revision of the liturgical calendar, it was combined with Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15th in order to keep the focus of the final weeks of Lent directly on the events of the Passion. But the revision kept the connection between the Seven Sorrows and the Passion because the new feast directly follows that of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14th. Thus, reflecting on the events of Holy Week by meditating on the Seven Sorrows remains a great way to delve deeper into the meaning of Jesus’s Passion. 

Lastly, the most common way of meditating on Mary’s sorrows is by reciting the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is similar in form to the standard Rosary.

Here’s how to pray the chaplet:

  1. Begin by making the Sign of the Cross
  2. Recite the Act of Contrition and say the optional Opening Prayer
  3. Announce the First Sorrow
  4. Say one Our Father and seven Hail Marys
  5. Repeat (3) and (4) for each of the Sorrows
  6. Say three Hail Marys in honor of the tears which Mary shed in her sorrows
  7. Say the optional Closing Prayer and finish by making the Sign of the Cross

(The optional prayers, as well as short passages that can be used to announce the sorrows, are found on page 107 of the 1910 Raccolta.)

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Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. (used with permission)

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This article was originally published in the dominicanajournal.org and was written by Brother Gregory Santy. Brother Gregory entered the Order of Preachers in 2018. He received a Licentiate in Philosophy from The Catholic University of America.