Rite of Passionist Profession | August 2016

First Profession of Nicholas Divine of the Sword Pierced Heart of Mary

On 15 August 2016, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Passionists of Holy Cross Province (USA) gathered to witness the First Profession of Passionist Vows of Nicholas Divine.

The celebration was held at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. Nicholas spent the last year as a Novice under the guidance of Novice Master, Fr. Jim Strommer, CP, and the other members of the local Passionist Community. Nicholas has now joined the St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago to continue his seminary studies for Priestly Ordination at Catholic Theological Union.

Lighting a Candle as a Prayer

To light a candle by myself is one of my favorite prayers. I am not talking about reading prayers by candlelight. The very act of lighting a candle is prayer. There is the sound of striking the match, the whiff of smoke after blowing it our, the way the flame flares up and then sinks, almost goes out until a drop of melted wax gives it strength to grow to its proper size and to steady itself. All this and the darkness beyond my small circle of light is prayer. (David Steindl-Rast)

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Mass of Blessed Dominic Barberi, Passionist

INTRODUCTORY RITE

Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. He made me a sharp-edged sword. (Is 49:1-2)

COLLECT

Lord, you sent Blessed Dominic to seek out the lost sheep of your flock by preaching your truth and witnessing to your love. May we follow his example and build up the unity of your Church as a sign of faith and love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, for ever and ever.

A READING FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS – 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17-18

I beg you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree in what you say. Let there be no factions; rather, but united in mind and judgement.

I have been informed, my brothers, by certain members of Chloe’s household that you are quarreling among yourselves. This is what I mean: One of you will say, “I belong to Paul,” another, “I belong to Apollos.” still another “Clephas has my allegiance,” and the fourth, “I belong to Christ”.

Has Christ then been divided into parts? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Was it in Paul’s name that you were baptized?

For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel – not with wordy “wisdom”, however, lest the cross of Christ be rendered void of its meaning!

The message of the Cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

R. Lord, gather together your scattered people.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd guards his flock. R

The Lord shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror. Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall stream to the blessings of the Lord. R

I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows. I will lavish choice portions upon the priests, and my people shall be filled with my blessings. R

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION – Jn 17:21

Alleluia, alleluia. That all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that the world may believe that you sent me. Alleluia.

GOSPEL – Jn 17:18-26

After he had spoken these words, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world; I consecrate myself for their sakes now, that they may be consecrated in truth.

“I do not pray for my disciples alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their word, that all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; I pray that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me that they may be one, as we are one – I living in them, you living in me – that their unity may be complete. So shall the world know that you sent me, and that you loved them as you loved me.

“Father, all those you gave me I would have in my company where I am, to see this glory of mine which is your gift to me, because of the love you bore me before the world began.

“Just Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you; and these men have known that you sent me. To them I have revealed your name, and I will continue to reveal it so that your love for me may live in them, and I may live in them.”

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS

Lord our God, may all your children, made one in faith, offer this sacrifice of peace with the same spirit of love as Blessed Dominic, your apostle of unity. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

COMMUNION RITE – 1 Cor 9:22

I have made myself all things to all men in order to save at least some of them.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Lord, we have received from your table your gifts of unity and peace. Through the intercession of Blessed Dominic, heal the wounds of division among Christians and bring all who stray into the unity of the Church so that there may be one flock and one shepherd. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Blessed Dominic Barberi and Birmingham (UK)

Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham (United Kingdom) has renewed attempts to highlight the holiness of Blessed Dominic Barberi in the hope that the Catholic Church might soon declare him a saint.

The Archbishop has a strong personal devotion to the Italian Passionist who received Blessed John Henry Newman into the Church in 1845 and has made him patron of the Year of Faith in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

On Blessed Dominic’s feast day, Archbishop Longley travelled to the Church of St Anne and Blessed Dominic in Sutton, St Helens, Lancashire, to preach at his tomb, where the priest is buried alongside fellow 19th century Passionists Fr Ignatius Spencer and Mother Mary Elizabeth Prout, whose causes for canonisation are also under way.

There, he asked hundreds of pilgrims, some of whom had travelled from the Italian town of Viterbo, near the birthplace of Blessed Dominic, to pray that the missionary would soon be recognised as a saint.

“We all have that cause in mind today, praying that one day Blessed Dominic will be recognised for his holiness of life and his effective ministry and we will call upon him as a saint,” he said.

“We come to honour the memory of a great pastor, somebody who loved England and to pray that he will receive universal recognition in the Church as a saint.”

Archbishop Longley’s comments come just two months before the 50th anniversary of the Beatification of Blessed Dominic by Pope Paul VI on October 27, 1963, during the Second Vatican Council.

Catholic leaders in England and Wales are hoping that such events will trigger a resurgence of interest in the life of Blessed Dominic that may lead to the discovery of the single miracle needed for his canonisation. Already, there are indications of a such a revival with St Anne’s so crowded for his feast day Mass that there was standing room only.

Father Peter Hannah, the parish priest, told the congregation that since Archbishop Longley had made Blessed Dominic diocesan patron of the Church’s Year of Faith there had been a stream of “hundreds” of pilgrims visiting from Birmingham.

In his homily, Archbishop Longley explained why he believed Blessed Dominic was an ideal patron for the Year of Faith, which runs until November 24, and also the perfect example for the Church’s project of New Evangelisation.

“The Year of Faith was inaugurated by Emeritus Pope Benedict as a response to the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council,” he said.

“It is no coincidence that Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God was beatified 50 years ago during that Council. One of the central themes of the Council was that the Church should come to understand afresh the world in which she is called to witness to Christ – so that we can find new and effective ways to preach the good news, so that we can understand what it is that people hear when we preach the Gospel, so that we can find ways of touching their hearts by our Christian witness.”

| Catholic Herald, 27 August 2013 |