Student Blog Archive
Proud to Be a Dominican
by Br. Bradley Thomas Elliott, OP
Presently, I have completed the first semester of my first year as a student Brother at St. Albert’s priory, last year being my novitiate year. It is hard for me to believe that a year and a half has past since I entered the order. This has only recently come to the forefront of my consciousness due to the home visit that I and the other student friars just enjoyed. Every year, after the Christmas day liturgies are through and the academic term is fully at rest, the brothers are afforded two weeks to leave the nest of the studentate and visit family and maintain established relationships with friends. …
What's in a Name?
By Br. Michael James Rivera, OP
“After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” --Luke 2:21
Earlier this month our province celebrated its titular feast, that of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Since the universal church observes this day as an optional memorial on January 3, many of the student brothers (who are typically visiting their families for the Christmas break) have never celebrated this day with a Dominican community. This year, however, I had the honor of observing the feast with our community in Salt Lake City. …
"Ordinary" Time and Common Life
Br. Chris Brannan, OP
On Tuesday we began returning to St. Albert's after our two-week Christmas vacation. Like most of the students, I spent much of this vacation by being with family and catching up with friends. Coincidentally, we were away from the priory for most of Christmas season proper, and have now returned at the beginning of "Ordinary" time in the liturgical calendar — a change any Catholic who has attended mass since Tuesday could not fail to notice. But what is "Ordinary time" anyway, and why is it "Ordinary"?
As it turns out, what we call "Ordinary" time is the English name given to the Latin term tempus per annum—"Time through the year"—which applies to those weeks outside of the Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter seasons, and which are numbered sequentially (1st week, 2nd week, etc). …
Obedience, Social Justice, and the Mother of God
Br. Peter Junipero Hannah, O.P.
What’s wrong with the world? When this question was sent out by a British newspaper in the early 20th century to noted authors of the time, intending to elicit essay responses, G.K. Chesterton famously gave the most concise response: “Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely Yours, GKC.” The remark hits upon a profound truth. Take your pick from among the laundry-list of social ills that plague our world: abortion, crime, war, poverty, sexual scandal, political corruption, domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse. Every social ill ultimately has its root in the individual human heart, and without seeking a remedy to this first of all, we are like sailors on a sinking ship continually heaving water off the boat while ignoring the leak.
…Reflecting on the Virgin Mary During Advent
Br. Bradley Thomas Elliott, OP
This season we celebrated the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, when we as Christians remember and extoll the great mercy of our Lord who, in creating His own mother in the womb of St. Anne, bestowed upon her the singular gift of being preserved from the stain of original sin from the moment of her conception. As we approach the Solemnity of the Nativity, the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary becomes a prominent highlight of our devotional lives. Although many Catholics have been familiar with these devotions from childhood, I, having come to the Church in adulthood, have not always found it inspiring or even agreeable. …
Advent, Finals, and The Day of Judgment
Br. Chris Brannan, OP
Advent has now begun, and for us students that means that the Day of Judgment is quickly approaching. Of course, by “Day of Judgment” I mean Finals Weeks in mid-December, when all of our studies for the semester are summed up in term papers and final exams, and our professors “judge” our learning for the semester by assigning grades. It is a time of busyness and of stress, of late nights, and those disconcerting moments when we think, “can I get it all done in time?
I suppose that, in general, the several weeks before Christmas are that way for many others as well: gift-purchasing, holiday party-planning, travelling arrangements, and general preparations for the Christmas season tend to fill our time and generate a bit of stress. …
Cooperators in the Mission
Br. Michael James Rivera, OP
This past Wednesday, November 30, our community buried our beloved brother Raymond Charles Bertheaux, OP. Br. Raymond was born in 1936 and grew up in San Francisco. He professed first vows in 1954 and served the Order and the Church throughout the world ever since. Almost 20 years of his life were spent as a missionary in Chiapas, where he traveled from village to village by horseback. Prior to his recent years of service at St. Albert’s as our archivist, Br. Raymond lived in Guatemala, ministering to the poor and the sick. This was after he spent 12 years at Santa Sabina, our headquarters in Rome, where he worked in the bookstore, archives, and on…
Things That Remain
Rev. Br. Gian Matteo Serra, OP, son of the Province of Rome
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." Luke 21:33.
Br. Gian Matteo Serra, OP
Close to the village where I was born, in northern Sardinia, in the open countryside, there is a small and ancient Romanesque church dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria. Each year about a thousand people gather to celebrate the holy woman, and, of course after Mass, lunch is offered to all present. It’s a big feast. I remember that every year I used to blow off school for St. Catherine’s feast. My parents belong to the group of people who have organized that feast for many years.
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Painting the Things of Christ
Br. Peter Junipero Hannah, O.P.
“To paint the things of Christ, one must live with Christ”
-Fra Angelico
Several years ago, a young man who had come on a “Come and See” weekend to look at our province asked me, “Where does holiness arise from in your Order?” It is a natural question to ask when one thinks of the distinct charisms and spiritualities which animate the beatiful array of religious orders and congregations within the Church. The Jesuits have the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; Carmelites ascend Mt. Carmel through different stages of the interior life; Benedictine spirituality centers around the rhythm of prayer and work, …