​And Trust In

Is trust the same thing as belief? In my experience, there can be a gap between belief and trust, and for things I really believe in - and believe in rightly - there’s a place where staying in belief isn’t enough.

A possibly silly, hopefully helpful example: in high school, there was a girl I liked romantically. I believed she liked me the same way, had good reasons for believing it, and I wanted to date her. Before that could happen, I had to share my feelings with her and ask her out, which I had never done successfully before.

I believed she liked me, but I couldn’t be totally sure unless she told me how she felt. I knew that if I was wrong in my belief about her feelings toward me, that not only would I not date her, but it would also mean us dealing with the awkward disconnect of feelings that would follow. 

I asked my best friend for encouragement before asking her; making sure I wasn't crazy in the way I was reading her, fretting over what exactly I should say and just commiserating how nervous I was.

Telling her how I felt and asking her out wasn’t quite a leap of blind faith, but it was definitely an act of trust. Believing she liked me was easy, turning that belief into an act of trust was scary. And when she said that she felt the same way, making that act of trust was rewarded. 

It’s one thing to believe Jesus is in my life; it’s another thing to apply that to my life and let that belief change the way I live. The analogy limps, but for Catholics, there's an analogy to be made between the Eucharist is and what my best friend was to me; a concrete source of support and encouragement.

When Jesus left us Himself at the Last Supper, and encouraged His followers to, “do this in memory of me,” He didn’t want us to stop at believing in Him; He wanted us to trust that he was really present for us, and to accept the support He offered us, and which He still offers today.

When I look at my mind, heart and actions, in what do they most reflect trust? What’s the difference between believing in God and trusting in God? Going further, what’s the difference between believing God wants a relationship with me and trusting that? 

​
Finally

The larger prayer which this section is drawn from is a prayer for right ordering: it’s designed to help the person praying it to make sure one’s priorities are straight, and that their life makes sense in, ‘the big picture'.

Through the lens of the previous section, it’s a prayer designed to help the person praying to trust in the right things. When I trust appropriately in the right things, I start to love the things I ought to love in a better way; my life makes more sense.

The single biggest catalyst for this in my life has been my relationship with the real, living Jesus. He wants so badly for me to be the best version of myself, and that’s true for everyone. The Eucharist is central to this.

The best I can do to see my life in a big-picture context is to think about the end of life. There’s a Catholic tradition of distributing the Eucharist to a person on their deathbed as ‘viaticum’ or ‘food for the road, as a reminder that as they continue on their journey, Jesus will be still calling to them and longing for them. 

If I found out my life would end this week, how would I look back on it? Would I feel good about how I’ve ordered it? What things would I have done differently and why? If I have more time, what aspects of my life should I change? 


Embracing You

Through this lens, my personal example from above on the difference between belief and trust isn’t so silly. However serious or casual, an embrace - a hug - is a real sign of human intimacy; it’s two people coming together and expressing some level of care for and presence to each other.

This prayer looks to form the person praying in two ways: it looks to prepare a person to embrace God, and it helps a person trust in an embrace with God.

This, by the way, is one way of explaining the celibacy lived by Catholic clergy and religious. Our lives are a witness: all human beings are invited to an intimacy with God that, while it can include human romantic intimacy, ultimately goes beyond it. 

Christians believe that God doesn’t give out casual embraces; God longs to embrace me as my deepest and most intimate friend, and God longs to embrace everyone in that way. This fits this entire prayer section - and actually the entire series - together.

One who reflects on the subject matter of this prayer bends their life more and more to God. This person becomes more mindful of God’s love, and how to prepare to accept God’s love in their lives. The Eucharist, in many ways, is the answer to this prayer.

​Written by Br. James Pierce, Cavanaugh, OP


Simplified Prayer:
Grant me O Lord,
A mind to know You
A heart to seek You
Wisdom to find You
Conduct pleasing to You
Perseverence in searching for You,
And a hope of finally embracing You.

Poetic Prayer:
Gen’rously Grant oh lord Jesu’:

Intelligence in knowing you, 
And Diligence in seeking you, 
And Wisdom, too, in finding you. 

Grant I may do what pleases you,
Persever’ in those doings too,
Mind, heart and wisdom born anew.

Grant steadfast waiting, trusting you.
Grant trust itself of truest true:
A trust that trusts completely you,

And ‘waits your full embrace, Jesu’.

​Every day, we Dominican Friars of St. Dominic Priory, and guests who join us, celebrate the Mass together and encounter the one we worship, Jesus Christ, who multiplied fishes and loaves to feed the hungry, who healed countless people and who was crucified and rose from the dead.

We who gather believe that this same Jesus is radically present in the Eucharist - His Body and Blood, which he leaves for us to eat and drink so we can be more easily and quickly healed for eternal life with Him. We strive daily during Mass to invite Jesus more and more into our hearts to heal us and to become more like Him.

This article is part of a larger series centered on fostering our contemplation and reverence for Jesus as present in the Eucharist.

​For Part Two in this series please go here.

​For Part Three in this series please go here.

​For Part Four in this series please go here.
​
That is where the prayer of our Dominican brother St. Thomas Aquinas comes in.

I find this prayer a great tool for inviting Jesus to transform and heal my whole self. I invite Him first into my interior life: my mind, my heart and my capacity for wisdom. I also ask him to help me change my exterior life: my daily actions, as well as long-term behavioral patterns. Finally I ask for perseverance and right trust in Him. 


Any Christian can use this prayer fruitfully, and I hope many do. This prayer was composed by St. Thomas Aquinas, who had a great love for Jesus Christ, and who found, trusting the mind of Christian tradition, Jesus present in the Eucharist in a unique way. For me, the profundity of this prayer is amplified by the experience of bringing Jesus in the Eucharist into myself, and asking Him to transform me in my most intimate depths to be more like Him. 


Here, translated into English, in an effort to reflect St. Thomas Aquinas’ precise Latin words, is a segment of his Prayer of Right Ordering. Each section of the prayer has a different reflection to accompany it. Each week we will begin to break open another part of Aquinas' prayer and what it means for us and our reception of the Eucharist.

At the bottom of each post is a simplified translation, and a loosely poetic rendering of the prayer.

Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas For Right Ordering: For After Receiving Communion

"Generously Grant to me, O Lord my God, Intelligence in knowing you, Diligence in seeking you, Wisdom in finding you, Conduct pleasing to you, Perseverance in trustingly awaiting you, And Trust in finally embracing you."

For Part Two which deals with "Intelligence in knowing You, Diligence in seeking You, Wisdom in finding You" click here.

For Part Three which deals with "Conduct pleasing to You, Perseverance in trustingly awaiting You" click here.

For Part Four which deals with "And Trust in finally embracing You" click here.

Generously Grant to me, O Lord my God,


Generously
Everything God gives is given totally for the sake of the person receiving the gift, and not out of any selfish interest on God’s part.

How do I give? How often do I give out of complete regard for someone else? Wouldn’t it be better if I did that more often? Can I discern Jesus' presence in my life, and when He calls me to eagerly give myself, like Him, for others?


Grant
God’s generosity is radical; without Him giving gifts, I wouldn’t have anything.

How used am I to the idea of being self-sufficient? How self-sufficient am I really? Isn’t it the case that so many of the things I value - my independence, my health, my very life - can be radically altered or even taken away without any warning? What might God long to give me that cannot be taken away?

He longs to give Himself, and for me to accept him. How will I let that change my life today? Can I seek more earnestly things that cannot be taken away?


To Me
All these questions apply to me in a different way than they do to any other person. I am a totally unique human being, and God knows my uniqueness better than I know it myself.

​That goes for strengths and weaknesses.

If God knows me better than I know myself, wouldn’t I benefit from knowing myself as God knows me? Wouldn’t that help me know myself better? More often, especially when I receive the Eucharist, can I ask Jesus to help me see myself better, and to help me become more myself by becoming more like Him?


O Lord
The ‘O’ means there’s something I can’t express about Him, and the ‘Lord’ means I at least want to make Jesus my Lord. In the Eucharist, this indescribable Lord, Jesus, remains a great Lord to be contemplated and obeyed AND a piece of bread ceases to be bread and becomes Him so that I can take Him into myself.

He is the greatest Lord, but in the Eucharist, Jesus shows me real Lordship. How can I follow His Lordly example and radically humble and sacrifice myself for the sake of other people?


My God
Everyone gives their life to a god, even atheists who say they don’t believe in one. The kind of ‘god’ to which everyone gives their life is what one famous theologian referred to as the, ‘ultimate concern.’

What is the most important person or thing in my life? What do I know is the one person or thing I would want to keep above all else? Everyone has one.

For me, the more I make Jesus Christ my ultimate concern, the happier I am. I find that as I let Him more and more into my life, I become more and more able to love all the persons and things in my life with a greater depth.

In receiving the Eucharist, I pray to continue making Jesus Christ more and more the Lord of my life; to make him truly My God.

What parts of my life do I not yet let Him rule? 

Written by Br. James Pierce Cavanaugh, O.P.


Simplified:
Grant me O Lord,
A mind to know You
A heart to seek You
Wisdom to find You
Conduct pleasing to You
Perseverence in searching for You,
And a hope of finally embracing You.

Poetic:
Gen’rously Grant oh lord Jesu’:

Intelligence in knowing you, 
And Diligence in seeking you, 
And Wisdom, too, in finding you. 

Grant I may do what pleases you,
Persever’ in those doings too,
Mind, heart and wisdom born anew.

Grant steadfast waiting, trusting you.
Grant trust itself of truest true:
A trust that trusts completely you,

And ‘waits your full embrace, Jesu’.

This past weekend, I attended and participated in the wedding of one of my best friends. 

It was a beautiful wedding Mass. The music was gorgeous, friends from all over the country had arrived in town for it, and you could see the depth and breadth of the love my friend had for her soon-to-be husband.

​Also, in a moment of delicious irony, I was also wearing white on her wedding day since I was in my religious habit for the ceremony. ​

This past weekend, I attended and participated in the wedding of one of my best friends. 

It was a beautiful wedding Mass. The music was gorgeous, friends from all over the country had arrived in town for it, and you could see the depth and breadth of the love my friend had for her soon-to-be husband.

​Also, in a moment of delicious irony, I was also wearing white on her wedding day since I was in my religious habit for the ceremony. 

Standing there in my white Dominican habit, I was struck by three thoughts, back-to-back.

1. How wonderful it is to see this visible expression of God's own love for us as represented in the Sacrament of Marriage. God looks at us with the same intensity of love and through the sacrificial death of His Son, has proven forever and is proving even now, his magnificent love for us. 

2. But then came the next thought: This is not an expression I will ever have myself. This is what I, and several other religious, like to call 'an experience of celibacy.' 

As a religious, I am vowed to a life of celibate chastity. I will always in a sense, be looking 'from the outside in' on moments such as this one. Even if I preserve and become a Dominican priest, I am still on the outside. This type of intimacy, this type of love, is not one meant for me. And there is hot knife that pierces your heart at that realization.

3. And the most surprising truth of all: I am okay with this state of life I find myself in. More than okay, I find it good. This life is not a privation, it is not something harsh and dreadful I am placing upon myself like chains or heavy weights. Rather it is an unexpected gift of a different type of love and a different type of freedom.

___

Now, it can seem a little taboo, even in these days, to talk about celibacy and chastity, but I think it's important to put this conversation and these thoughts in context.

Several of the senior friars in our community remember, and have related with me, how in their own initial formation they recall celibate chastity always being referred to as "the other vow." It was seen as this dark and dreadful loneliness hiding in a corner, a lurking creature waiting just around the bend for anyone who might be considering religious life as their vocation.

Except...it's not. It's not terrible or dreadful or any of those things. And if it was dreadful, it would not be the type of chastity and celibacy that the Church has called us to. That chastity, that life that we as religious are called to proclaim, is and must always be built on love and never on fear or dread. 

For all religious, and especially for Dominicans, the promise of celibate chastity acts as another facet to the Mystery of God that is Love. A love that comes into our hearts and into our communities.

As Dominicans, we will never have that physical intimacy that is proper to a married couple. I will never have that. But the intimacy of brothers, of a community, is our way of participating in the universal nature of God's love. 

The married couple shows the exclusiveness of God's love. He desires all of us, not a piece or a part of ourselves, but our very being. He is the Lover and he wishes to make us his Beloved.

But we as religious show the breadth of his love, the universal nature of it, that brings all men and women, poor and rich, praised and persecuted, together into the embrace of love that is the Church.

Now, different religious would give different accounts of this in their lives, but during this wedding, I tried to imagine myself in a similar situation and failed spectacularly. I could see myself as the priest or the deacon, I could see myself lectoring, or serving or simply dancing at the reception, but I could not see myself being a part of a married couple. 

And through reflection on this experience of celibacy, I came to realize that failure was no failure at all. Their path to love and to holiness, is not mine. And mine is not theirs.
 
This realization is a part of the curious grace of God that shapes and moves our lives and has brought me here to a place without fear. This event, this experience of celibacy, was not a vocation distraction, but rather a vocation clarification.

I do not fear poverty. I do not fear obedience. And, surprisingly, I do not fear celibate chastity, this 'other vow.' 

After all, Jesus promised his burden was easy and his yoke was light. Once you let him fit that yoke to you, take your measurements and consider your own manner of life and calling, you realize how true that statement is. God's love is not limited to marriage, just as holiness is not limited to religious life.

God is so much grander than that and his love calls us into participation, the only question is this: How will you respond? 

Written by Br. Dominick Jean, O.P.

For more on celibacy from our Constitutions see LCO 26, 28, 29

I see my own life of study as taking place both in initial formation and in how I use my leisure time. Although, I am currently working towards Masters’ degrees in Theology and Divinity, this is but a small part of my life of study.

I also read books on my own; books on history, theology, science, art, and the lives of noteworthy people, as well as books that encourage my imagination and reflection skills. Study takes place when I engage in reflecting upon my life experiences and my interactions with people in ministry and on the street. Lastly, prayer can be study, for through prayer, I come to understand God and myself better.

However, in all three modes of learning, it is only study when I pass on this knowledge of the world, humanity and God to others through my preaching, writing, conversations, and living out of my life as a religious. “Our studies should tend principally, ardently, and above everything, to make us useful for souls.”  

I know that in a few months (God-willing) I will have completed my studies, written my thesis, passed my comprehensive exams, graduated, and been ordained, but does not signify that end of my life of study, but rather just the beginning of a life of study.  

After initial formation, I am responsible for my studies, for continuing to grow in my knowledge of God and His people. I am accountable to myself and the people of God to continue to grow in my skills in pastoral ministry, preaching, theology, sacramental work, and in comprehensive of the greater world. 

My study must continue so that I can be useful to souls.

​-​Rev. Br. Christopher Johnson, O.P.

As Dominicans we have a number of aphorisms that come up again and again. If you’ve hung out with us you’ve heard, “contemplate and share the fruits of your contemplation,” “if you’ve met one Dominican you’ve met one Dominican,” and “never deny, seldom affirm, and always distinguish.”

One that I haven’t heard as often but is of principal importance in my life as a student is, “the wood of the desk is the wood of the Cross.”

In our lives as Dominicans we hear again and again of the value of study, the need to learn and think through the problems of our day, and that we, as Dominicans, are working with the mind of the Church. Clearly, study is one of the most important aspects of our lives.

We are called to study but our study is not self-serving; we don’t chase titles, adding lists of letters to the end of our names.

Instead our study is intimately linked to our mission, the salvation of souls. Study enriches our prayer, our community life, and our preaching.

Through our study we cultivate a desire for truth, and we bring that desire for truth to others.

Our Constitutions state this clearly, “Study enables the brothers to ponder in their hearts the manifold wisdom of God, and equips them for the doctrinal service of the Church and of all people.

​They ought to be all the more committed to study because in the Order’s tradition they are called to stimulate people’s desire to know the truth.”

​Our study ends up being one of our great gifts to the Lord in service to His people and His Church.

-Rev. Br. Joseph Paul Albin, O.P.

Point #1. Always sufficiently “investigate” the province in which you were born or raised, or in which you lived a significant and formative amount of time. 

​By “investigate” I mean, not just look online at their website, or process certain information you have received by word of mouth, but actually contact the vocation director/promoter of your “home” province, and request a meeting/interview.

Point #2. Never “choose” a province based on what you believe to be a province’s “reputation.” 

Because, look, buddy, that’s not how it works in the Dominican Order. Firstly, you never know a province until you get to know it well. (One good way to get to know it well, is by developing a relationship with its vocation director/promoter.) Secondly, a Dominican province is a co-worker in a worldwide Order of sibling, thus equally Dominican, provinces.

And thirdly, you may well be called to heroically re-shape, or strengthen, or re-focus, a given province’s so-called “reputation,” whatever it happens to be. Indeed, as we constantly embolden you to realize, God is calling you to heroic action, never to easy placement in the status quo.

Point #3. Remember that your “home” province consists of the kinds of persons God is calling you to serve. 

Provinces are “mission territories.” Therefore, you have to know the “language” (meant broadly) of the people you are called to serve, in order to serve them excellently,–and this means that your own “language” has to serve as an essential discernment tool for your deciding which province God is calling you to.

Point #4. The only way to accurately “discern” Dominican life is by entering the novitiate of the province that God is calling you to enter. 

THEREFORE: You, who have not yet entered novitiate, have to choose what is authentically your “home” province, and then use (and therefore, trust) this province’s capacity to form, inform, and prepare you for your future life in the Order, and therefore for your holy religious witness.

Point #5. 

Feel free to investigate all four provinces; or, feel free to investigate onlyyour “home province,” but this latter, only if there is only one provincial territory, or region, in which you have lived a substantially formative part of your life.

Point #6. 

If you have lived in more than one Dominican province’s territory for “a substantially formative” time, then ultimately you have to decide which province God is calling you to, among those geographies you know. Don’t worry, though, I’ve got some tips for you.

You properly discern when you:
(a) Communicate with each vocation director/promoter for the provinces in which you have lived, as above described;
(b) Foster a relationship with each relevant vocation director, sharing with him the details/issues surrounding your discernment, and seeking his input;
(c) Actively investigate every reason why God may be calling you to the provinces in question, and
(d) Make a decision based on certain self-knowledge, (which must be acquired through proper direction and prayer,) and only when this decision is primarily one made “toward,” rather than “against,” a given province. For discernment is always movement toward, not movement against. 

 #1. Opportunity in Prayer
When I think about common Lenten resolution for many Catholics, attending mass more frequently or building in more time for prayer, I realize how blessed we friars are to have so much prayer built into our schedule, and to have a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament in our house.

There’s no magic pill that Dominicans take to make us more inclined to prayer: it takes intention and effort for us, just like it would with anyone else. That said, the structure of our life does make more intense Lenten prayer more doable.

#2. Clear Spiritual Purpose
First things first: Lent is for everyone. Every Christian who observes Lent is called to prayer, fasting and alms-giving for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Let’s make sure we grasp that essential truth. 

Having said that, the life of a friar is geared in a special way to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the integral parts of Lent – especially prayer and penitential practice – are also integral parts of the Dominican life (See more here and here).

All parts of a Dominican friar’s life are supposed to facilitate one’s becoming a more effective preacher. So when there’s a season specially dedicated to integral parts of our life, it makes sense that a friar’s mission during this season is clear: find ways to grow in virtuous prayer and in penitential practice. We Dominicans know what we are about during Lent. 

#3. Intentional Growth Culture
One last neat thing about Lent in a Dominican community is that brothers’ penances tend to be more geared toward sustainable lifestyle changes than temporary sacrifices.

I’ve personally noticed that each year’s Lenten season tends to build on the previous year: that gives a sense of direction. I’ve heard Bishop Robert Barron compare Lent to baseball’s spring training; I like that analogy.

​I’d also compare it to any intense off-season conditioning program: Lent is the time to build up the spiritual life for the year ahead, and it’s easier to sustain that in a supportive community.