July 20, 2010

Visiting the Dominicans

I'm visiting with my parents today, so for Mass I went to my "home" parish, St. Mary's in New Haven, which is served by the Order of Preachers.

A young deacon assisted at Mass and gave the homily. He must be a transitional deacon on summer assignment, and looking forward to priestly ordination either in the fall or spring. I was so impressed with the homily that I had to write him a note. Here's what I wrote:

Dear Brother,

May the Lord give you peace!

I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your homily at the noon Mass today.

It's not everywhere that you can go to church on a Monday in Ordinary Time and hear about the capacity of natural reason according to the teaching of
[the dogmatic constitution] Dei Filius, and the doctrine of God's mercy according to St. Thérèse.

Through the intercession of our holy fathers Dominic and Francis, may God flourish your religious life and your priesthood in every way.

7 comments:

Brother Charles said...

Of course it's not Monday, but Tuesday. Isn't that great? I'm on vacation and I don't even know what day it is.

Rachel said...

That does sound like it was an awesome homily! Makes me happy to think the Church has men like that.

Anonymous said...

It is the sure sign that you are in vacation mode when you forget what day it is!! Enjoy your time off Fr. Charles.

for narnia said...

glad you were so spiritually inspired, Fr.C! hope you're enjoying your vacation -see you Sunday.PAX! ~tara t~

Paul A. Zalonski said...

Brother Ambrose is a good preacher. Always good content. There's hope for the OPs. Sorry to have missed you, I was on my way back to New Haven when you were here.

PAX

Mark D. said...

Great homily. You know, I always thought that one of the most effective spiritual approaches is to take the life and work of St. Francis and combine it with the intellectual grounding found in St. Thomas Aquinas. Francis shows the way to live as a Christian, while Thomas shows us the way to think as a Christian. That's what I try to (alas, mostly unsuccessfully) do...

Glad to hear you heard a great sermon and were able to pass on such encouragement to a young deacon on his way towards the priesthood. The deaconate is an amazing thing, and it is wonderful to hear that the young deacon took his responsibilities as a preacher of the Word so seriously.

Pax Dei tibi...

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

That was a nice note. It sounds like it was a powerful homily.