Sunday, August 17
Novice Class Module 8 (pdf) (August 2014)
Themes: St. Dominic, St. Catherine, and the Holy Mother
Assignment
Read complete documents unless otherwise specified.
- Lives of the Brethren of the Order of Preachers; Translated by John Placid Conway, O.P. Read Part I, Prologue, Chapters I, II, XXII-XXVII
- Fausto Appentente Die – Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV on St. Dominic, June 29, 1921
- Catherine of Siena: The Gift of Wisdom; Homily of Pope Paul the VI at Ceremony Proclaiming St. Catherine a Doctor of the Church (October 4, 1970)
- Catechismus of St. Thomas Aquinas; “Commentary on the Angelic Salutation”; pages 119-121
- Marialis Cultus – Pope Paul VI Apostolic Exhortation for the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary of His Holiness, February 2, 1974, par.40-55
- On Devotion of the Rosary, Supremi Apostolatus Officio, Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, September 1, 1883
- Rosarium Virginus Mariae, (On the Most Holy Rosary); John Paul II; October 16, 2002
Supplemental Readings
Highly recommended reading but not required as part of class preparation.
1. History of The Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic (PNM I.1 History)
2. Dominican Devotion to Our Lady’s Rosary (PNM II.A.2 Rosary)
3. The Dialogue; St. Catherine of Siena; Translated by Suzanne Noffke, OP; Read the Introduction. Can be read on Google Books at http://books.google.com/books?id=bsGXhNZyUSgC&source=gbs_similarbooks but the print version is highly recommended.
Module 8 includes The Dialogue as translated by Algar Thorold in 1896 but his work is incomplete and scholars frequently criticize the translation as sometimes being less than accurate. Noffke’s translation is far superior but her copy right is in effect and no electronic format is legally available. You can purchase the eBook for $10 from Google Books.
*Inquirers Meeting: 9:50 am
*Meeting Agenda*11:15 am Holy Mass
12:20 pm Pot-luck Lunch, St. Joseph’s Hall (Please bring a dish to share)
1:15 pm Business Meeting
1:45 pm Discussion:
Readings for chapter meeting on August 17 from the book, EARLY DOMINICANS, edited by Simon Tugwell, O.P. Discussion leader: Fran Griffin. Be prepared to give a reflection on these readings or on your own reading and research on the life of our Holy Father Dominic. If you are limited in time, Fran suggests reading the chapters on the short life of St. Dominic and the testimonies from Dominic’s canonization.
- Early Dominicans.Canonization Process.part one 1
- Early Dominicans.Canonization.pt.2 plus Misc. Testimonies 1
- Early Dominicans.Life of St. Dominic 1
- Early Dominicans.9 Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic 1
- Early Dominicans.A Sermon on St. Dominic.Thomas Agni 1
- Early Dominicans.End Notes
2:45 pm Evening Prayer
3:15 pm Clean-up (Members, please help before leaving)
3:15 pm Confessions
4:00 pm Refreshments and beverages at local restaurant (TBA)
* Are you interested in the Third Order of Preachers? Then be our our guest at a chapter meeting. Please contact the President (
president@dominicanwitness.com) or the Director of Inquirers (
inquirers@dominicanwitness.com)
About the October Meeting:
Note: If you wish to attend, and are not a chapter member, please email president@dominicanwitness.com.
Next month’s reading will be on personality temperament as it relates to spirituality, prayer and community.
Temperament study is an aid to knowing yourself. Without fearless self-examination, we will be crippled in our growth in the Lord. “Lord, let me know myself, and let me know You.” – St. Augustine’s Confessions.
The session will be presented by Art and Laraine Bennett, authors of “The Temperament God Gave You.” You can purchase the book at the Shrine bookstore or find it at online bookstores.
Sophia Press also offers a .PDF version online at http://shop.sophiainstitute.com/Assets/ProductImages/prodpdf/027.pdf.
Art Bennett heads Catholic Charities of Arlington and is Director of the Alpha Omega Clinics, Catholic mental health clinics with branches in Maryland and Virginia. He also founded UnityRestored.com, a website designed to help those afflicted by pornography.
Laraine Bennett has a master’s degree in philosophy, is a freelance writer who currently writes a monthly column for Catholic Match and is mother of the Bennett children.
Find out more about the Bennetts here: http://temperaments.sophiainstitute.com/main.cfm?r1=25.00&ID=60&level=1
Let me hasten to assure you that the study of temperament, while not hard science, isn’t pop psychology or, as Art and Laraine puts it, “Catholic astrology”. The way temperament affects spirituality is in the Catholic tradition and biblically based. The concept has been addressed by saints from Aquinas to St. Francis de Sales to the Very Reverend Adolphe Tanquerey to our very own Jordan Aumann, O.P.
This talk complements the the Called and Gifted workshop presented at our annual retreat several years ago. Peter Baysdell and myself were trained as Called and Gifted interviewers and many of you completed the follow-up workshop the chapter presented.
The Called and Gifted series is about the SUPERNATURAL gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us to serve God’s mission. Our temperaments are the innate, NATURAL, unlearned predispositions that influence the way we think, behave and interact with the world.
The spiritual gifts and temperament are related. As Aquinas noted, grace builds on and perfects nature. The supernatural gifts God gives us most always complement our natural talents and temperaments.
This a practical study. Our temperaments make certain virtues easier to attain for some, than for others. Our temperaments can also make some of us more susceptible to certain vices. Temperament, however, is never an excuse for bad behavior.
I know some of us are temperamentally adverse to what we might describe as “touchy feely” subjects but I would suggest that if Aquinas took temperament seriously, we should as well.
Caritas in Veritate,
Steve Graves