The Dominican Pillars
OUR PURPOSE IS TO PRAISE TO BLESS TO PREACH
Prayer
Daily, the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours along with personal meditation and prayer including the rosary provide the strength for our way of life. Practices of personal penance, simplicity of life, and dictates of charity form the basis for our self-discipline. Through these means we endeavor to center ourselves on the Lord Jesus and His Church’s mission to santify our world.
In the celebration of the Eucharist, we most explicitly encounter our crucified and risen Lord. Lay Dominicans attempt whenever possible to attend mass daily.
- Daily Mass Readings: New American Bible(US Conference of
Catholic Bishops) — Jerusalem Bible — Verbum Domini Podcast —
New American Bible Podcast (US Conference of Catholic Bishops) - Basic Texts for the Roman Catholic Eucharist (THE ORDER OF MASS)
- Ann’s Media(Multimedia, Readings, Calendar, Homilies)
- TechnoChurch (Sunday Mass with Fr. Bill)
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church. Lay Dominicans say Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer either in community with others or privately.
Lay people in earlier times didn’t have copies of the Breviary and would pray Pater Nosters (Our Fathers) and Aves (Hail Mary’s) in place of the 150 Psalms they could not read. This was the origin of the Rosary, Mary’s Psalter, which was specially entrusted to St Dominic’s family as a means of meditating on the mysteries of our faith in Jesus. This is what we call the Rosary.
- The Rosary as said in the Dominican tradition
- Online Guide to praying the Rosary
- The rosary ends with theSalve Regina, a prayer very dear to Dominicans.
Dominican spirituality gives special attention to penance. The Dominican Laity was initially named “the Third Order of Penance of St. Dominic” to emphasize our constant need for conversion and paring away earthly things, a basic part of a christian’s spiritual journey. Frequent celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is central to a Lay Dominican’s life.
Study
The study of Scripture, documents of the Church, and spiritual and theological writers is the foundation of our continual effort to know the Truth. Prayerful study prepares us for the mission of the Order: preaching in whatever fashion our state in life gives us opportunity.
We are dedicated to study and reflection on the truths of our catholic faith. Members have shared topics varying from the Scriptures, the writings of the Church Fathers and papal encyclicals. The fruits of our shared contemplation benefit the ministries we perform.
Recent topics we have studied together include:
- The writings of St. Paul
- Pope Benedict’s book, God is Near Us : the Eucharist, the Heart of Life
- The Church Fathers
Community
To grow spiritually, it’s useful to have the support of a group of Christians whom you know to be well-founded in the truth and well-formed in spirituality. Community is what gets you through the rough spots in the life of faith. To learn more see the links about the Friars, Sisters and Laity in the order.
Apostolate & Works
We are active witnesses, striving to give service, compassion, and enrichment to others. We are particularly involved in issues of peace, justice, and the care of creation, of interfaith dialog, and of the needs of the poor. We work and preach in those areas where the Word is least likely to be welcome. We engage in apostolate individually and/or as a group.
Our members help in works such as visiting the imprisoned, lectoring at Mass, serving as Eucharistic ministers at Mass and to the sick, and helping the poor. Many of our members are teachers who are able to bring Christ’s presence to the secular classroom through their love and understanding.