Our dear "Dominican-Passionist" Friar

    This week we are enjoying the beloved presence of our brother in the Lord, Fr. Tom McGonigle, OP. He is here to give us some conferences based on the theme of The Will of God in St. Paul of the Cross. For his resources he is mostly using the letters of our Holy Founder, also he begins each conference with a long Scripture passage (which today was from St. John chapter 14) and also uses excerpts from our Primitive Rule. We are having 2 formal conferences per day and an evening conference that is more chatty and for "Chapter members only".

Some thoughts from this morning's introductory conference...

St. Paul of the Cross had some favorite phrases we find throughout his letters and the Primitive Rule. One such phrase is "the will of good pleasure".  For St. Paul of the Cross this meant

  • total conformity to whatever God wants
  • a whole way of being, living
  • yielding to the unfolding of the Passion of Christ within me, conforming me to God for the good of the Church and the world
  • I'm called to live the Paschal Mystery (doubly! - through my Baptism and through my "Passion Vow")
  • God is going to give me opportunities to live the Passion of Christ (why am I surprised then when things don't go my way???) to become the means of transformation of the world.
  • Basically, God wants to give life to someone, somewhere and so asks me to participate in the Passion.

Perhaps you think these statements are a bit radical? Basically, its the Gospel, plain and simple.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I still live my human life but it is a life of faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

~ Galatians 2:20

    I hope to share some more thoughts tomorrow. Until then...

May the Passion of Christ and the Sorrows of Mary be ever in our hearts!

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