Lay Dominicans of Dallas & Fort Worth | Southern Province ~ St. Martin de Porres
Reflections on Mary’s Response to the Father’s Mercy, a Model for Lay Dominicans. This article is the fruit of my personal reflection on the mystery of the Annunciation to Mary in the light of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. I have taken into a...
Continue readingJohannes Tauler OP describes the Nativity as a kind of three births. A trinity that, for Tauler, symbolically reflects the Divine Trinity and finds expression in each individual person who makes herself available to the interior movements of the Holy Spirit....
Continue readingA Prayer to Mary, Mother of Advent from Saint Pope John Paul II May the Virgin Mary help us to open the doors of our hearts to Christ, Redeemer of man and of history; may she teach us to be humble, because God looks upon the lowly; may she enable us to grow ...
Continue readingYesterday, while waiting for the Good Friday service to begin, I was really struck by the impact the bare altar had on me. All of the candles were gone. The altar cloth had been removed. Crucifixes were wrapped in purple cloth. The tabernacle was there with...
Continue readingLent Reflection – Part 5 of 6 BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP It is tempting here to focus on The Stations of the Cross – it seems natural to do so given that Jesus carrying the cross takes up stations 2 through 9. But, as I keep asking, what is the mystery h...
Continue readingLent Reflection – Part 4 of 6 BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP I suppose the easiest reflection to pull out of this mystery is the fact that the Roman soldiers were actually crowning Christ the King. We could spend a lot of pious time examining the irony. But, w...
Continue readingLent Reflection – Part 3 of 6 BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP Some short observations to start off this reflection. The Joyful Mysteries span approximately 12 years of Jesus’ life. The Luminous Mysteries approximately 3 years. The Glorious about 90 days. The...
Continue readingLent 2022 Reflection – Part 2 of 6 BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP Deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.Psalm 42:7 As a child, the Agony in the Garden held a special mystery. If Jesus is God, and...
Continue readingDear brothers and sisters: As we begin the great season of Lent, the Master of the Order, fr. Gerard Timoner, OP, has issued a Lenten message asking us to continue to offer our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for peace where there is war, unrest, and persecu...
Continue readingA 6 part series BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP I am writing this on Fat Tuesday. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and so I decided to do a personal Lenten reflection by doing a deep dive into the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Since Lent is focused on Christ’s Pas...
Continue readingDominican Life is Liturgical (First and Foremost!) By Mr. Pedro A. Moreno, O.P. This is Part 4 of a Series on what it means to be a Lay Dominican. Part 3 is here. Dominican Spirituality: Principles and Practice by Fr. William A. Hinnebusch, O.P., cha...
Continue readingThis is Part 3 of a series. Part 2 is HERE Dominican Spirituality can be summarized into prayer, study, community, and the apostolate (aka preaching) which we call the four pillars. Debra explored with you in the previous article how the Dominican Life is...
Continue reading4th Sunday of Advent BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP The reading for this coming Sunday is from Luke and is commonly referred to as “The Visitation.” It is in the Visitation that we find the second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary and also part of the prayer kn...
Continue readingThird Week of Advent https://opsouth.org/news/advent-reflection-wednesday-of-the-third-week-of-advent-1 From the article: Are You the One?Here’s a trick question — Did Jesus answer John’s question?
Continue readingThe Season of Waiting Fr. Jude commented in his homily yesterday that emergency hospital waiting rooms are holy places for many prayers are said there. It made me quiet inside.
Continue readingYou never know what you’re going to get! By Mr. Pedro A. Moreno, O.P. Since I was asked to contribute an article on Dominican Spirituality, I’ve been praying, studying and reflecting on what to say. I kept coming back to this point: we are all awesomely...
Continue readingThis is Part 2 of a series. Part 1 is HERE Undertaking the task of explaining how “Dominican Life is Contemplative” has been a real challenge (just ask Mark who has read a variety of drafts). While explaining what it means to me is hard enough, trying to fi...
Continue readingAnyone taking a look at the Dominican Order will eventually come across the fact that St. Dominic adopted as his first Rule the Rule of St. Augustine. Upon Dominic’s petition to Pope Innocent III in 1213 to form an order, he was given the condition that he mus...
Continue readingPart 1 of a 7 part series on Dominican Spirituality.The Introduction is here: “What Does It Mean To Say, “I am a Lay Dominican?” BY: Mr. Mark Connolly, OP, MTS We dedicate this series to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii First Thoughts: Do we need an...
Continue readingBY: Ms. Debra Weldon, OP, MTS Introduction to a 7 part series on “Dominican Spirituality, Principles and Practices” by Fr. Hennebusch Mark, one of my Dominican brothers, and I have found ourselves discussing what it means to be a Lay Dominican these last...
Continue readingAs St. Dominic has called us Brothers and sisters, So have you… And we call you “mother”. You were called early To chastity and peace, …came out of your silence To serve and to preach. You taught us that To let go of ourselves… To become nothing…...
Continue reading“How many ways to preach?”“How many people on Earth?” A lay Dominican student told the following story: “The student had recently moved from California to Houston. On the second day of his arrival, it rained heavily, and the area in which he lived was flo...
Continue readingWhat separates a Lay Dominican from our religious brothers and sisters? One aspect is how we share our charism in the world. There are as many ways to do this as there are Lay Dominicans–this is mine. Our religious brothers and sisters live their Dominican...
Continue readingMr. Mark Connolly, OP, MTS Hello! I am a permanently professed lay Dominican. I went through a little over a year of inquiry, a little over a year of candidacy, a little over three years of temporary promises, and became permanently professed earlier this y...
Continue readingWhat is a Lay Dominican? Many of us are asked this question when people see us wearing a white scapular or pin of the Dominican shield or cross. To quote one of the members of our Chapter, “It isn’t a social club or bible study. People come here to discern jo...
Continue readingThe Dominican Friars have traditionally prayed the Rosary in a way that is slightly different and also slightly shorter from the (now) more common way. The Dominican way begins with a series of verses and responses that recall the opening of the Liturgy of the...
Continue reading“Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” by Mrs. Annette M. B., OP Catholic Social Teaching, or Catholic social justice doctrine, has been called our Church’s “best kept secret.” It is a body of …doctrine that the Church has deve...
Continue readingDon’t Rely Solely on the Past to Define Your Self-Worth Before considering whether or not it is useful to reflect on past life events, we must understand the difference between introspection or self-absorption and the examination of conscience. I...
Continue readingA Fullness of Description How can we know Love.” “Let me count the ways.” (ST. ALBERT THE GREAT PRIORY – Irving) If you want to give someone a complete description of something, what kind of information do you need to provide? You would want to make sure...
Continue readingEach Dominican is called to preach. That action can manifest itself in a multitude of ways. Our Dominican friars write homilies. The Dominican Sisters may preach by teaching. A Dominican Nun who is cloistered may preach to those she lives with. Lay Dominic...
Continue readingEach Dominican is called to preach. Part of our journey as lay members of the Dominican Family is to search out the ways in which the Lord calls us to preach. Jenny N., one of our perpetually professed members, has answered that call in a very dedicated way....
Continue readingOn September 14th the Lay Dominicans of DFW held their 2019 Retreat. The theme was Lord, open my lips. The inspiration for the retreat came from the readings for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary time, specifically from the responsorial psalm, Psalm 51. The contr...
Continue readingGaining Knowledge How does a good Catholic gain knowledge? What, in that case, is knowledge. There is a lot of data. Is having lots of data the same as having lots of knowledge? Am I going to answer any of these questions? Let’s play with koans. Koans a...
Continue readingWhat is a Lay Dominican? Many of us are asked this question when people see us wearing a white scapular or pin of the Dominican shield or cross. To quote one of the members of our Chapter, “It isn’t a social club or bible study. People come here to discern jo...
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