One of the sayings of St Catherine of Siena, which is quite well known, is

“Be what you are called to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

It is unceasingly amazing that this Order of Preachers, enriched through many centuries by the wisdom and teaching of saints like Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Vincent Ferrer; the beauty of Blessed Angelico; the humility of St Martine de Porres – and countless others, known and known to God, was established by St Dominic, who left little behind by way of writing – little enough that he could so easily have passed into obscurity and been forgotten within a few generations of his death.

And yet he didn’t. By his life, his love and his understanding of the grace he received from God, he was truly a fire-starter.
Here we are, over 800 years later, thanking God for His gift to us of this simple man, who simply loved God and was utterly absorbed in Him.

Today is the 1st day of our novena to our Holy Father St Dominic and we know Dominic's answer to his brothers who were weeping and sad at his departing from them. he gave them the marvellous assurance that he would be more help to them from |Heaven than when here on earth. So during the next 9 days we can approach our Father Dominic with great confidence and trust that he will hear and answer our prayer.

Dominic's biographers tell us he imitated our Lord and our Lady in so many ways in his life, especially in his spirit of poverty. I will say a few words about that subject.

The Rosary has always been one of our cherished Dominican traditions – our community prays five decades daily in common. Recently, at the suggestion of some local friends and with their support, we prepared a recording of the Rosary with suitable reflections for all twenty mysteries – which we are now happy to share with a wider audience.

Our hope is that through praying the Rosary, Mary may lead you to know and love Jesus, her Son ever more deeply.

Vocation Discernment Weekend For single women, (18 - 35), who are wondering if the Lord is inviting them to Dominican Monastic Contemplative Life

We held our Christmas Raffle on Tuesday --- and the winners are:

In this antiphon the coming Messiah is given the title of Key of David. A key is used to open and close, to lock and unlock. How are we to use this key? The answer is found in this morning’s Gospel of the Annunciation.
As I have been sitting with this Gospel what stands out for me are all the emotions: the joy, fear and uncertainty, but above all, the excitement of the Angel Gabriel.

In a few minutes we will sing the second great ‘O’ antiphon in Latin, just before the Magnificat. The translation in our breviaries reads:

O Adonai, and leader of Israel, you appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and gave him the law on Sinai. O come and save us with your mighty power.

The first Advent ‘O Antiphon’, ‘O Wisdom’, is woven from the book of Wisdom of Sirach (24:3) and the book of Wisdom (8:1). The wisdom that has come from the mouth of the Most High is His Son, the eternal Word of God. As St. John of the Cross say, in this one Word that the Father spoke, there is hidden everything he had to say - all Divine Wisdom. According to it, he created the world, according to it, he rules it and saved it.