Homily #080808 ( 07min) Play – The Franciscans celebrate St. Dominic as a Feast, not just a Memorial. St. Dominic is honored among the Franciscans as a Chord Bearer and so we honor him by the celebration of his day as a Feast.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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Marycast #62 ( 9min) Play – The Holy Rosary is the most powerful prayer after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Why have the popes, saints, mystics, and even Our Blessed Mother Herself asked and begged us so many times to pray the rosary?  Let’s listen to what Dr. Miravalle has to say.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)
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Marycast #63 ( 9min) Play – When Mary gave St. Dominic the Holy Rosary, She said it would be a great weapon against future erros and future difficulties in the Church.  Doesn’t that apply to our own times?  Listen again as Dr. Miravalle discusses Our Lady’s Psalter, how its connected with the Holy Rosary, and other fascinating facets of this most powerful prayer.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)
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Marycast #64 ( 09min) Play – Do you find praying the Holy Rosary boring?  Listen to Dr. Miravalle’s explanation on how to get to the heart of this scriptural prayer through meditation.

Ave Maria!

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St. Dominic: Feast Day is August 8th

Tradition associates the origin of the Rosary with St. Dominic as you can see depicted in this painting but it was not exactly the Rosary as we know it today.

Dominic Guzman (1170-1221 AD) was a Spanish priest who in southern France encountered the Albegensian heresy. He was having great difficulty and not very successful in touching hard hearts. But when he began to preach the rosary, he had great success.  It was Our Lady’s special devotion and her intercession was strong with its praying.

Tradition tells us that in a vision Mary told him that he should pray the Marian Psalter along with his preaching. The Marian Psalter in the 12th century consisted only of 150 Hail Maries follows:

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is

with thee, blessed art thou among

women and blessed is the fruit of

thy womb.”

It does not appear that the Our Father was part of the Marian Psalter but the Paternoster or the practice of praying 150 Our Fathers was the earliest way to pray the Psalter for the average person. So, Dominic along with preaching the mysteries of faith lead the people in praying a decade of the Marian Psalter. In this way the grace of God opened their hearts and he brought about many conversions.

The Rosary we have today was not directly given to St. Dominic by Mary. St. Dominic used the Marian Psalter along with his preaching. It was left to the Confraternity of the Rosary promoted by Blessed Alan de la Roche in about 1475 to think over the selection and order of Mysteries in association with the Aves and Paternosters. Since St. Dominic began this process, it is fitting to consider him as the originator of the Rosary.

Directions on how to pray the rosary can be found at http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/rosary/how_to.htm

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Homily #110808 ( 07min) Play – Why do Franciscans call St Dominic their “Holy Father”? Find out why!
Ave Maria!
Mass:  Holy Father Dominic – Ordinary Form
Readings:
1st Reading: 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Psalm: Psalm 37:3-6, 30-31
Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16

Audio (MP3)

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Homily #120808 ( 07min) Play – Franciscans honor St. Dominic as “Holy Father St. Dominic” because of the relationship between St. Dominic and St. Francis and between the two great mendicant orders, the Dominicans and Franciscans, which they started at about the same time and have done so much to promote holiness in the Church throughout the last eight centuries.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Holy Father Dominic – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: 1co 2:1-10
Resp: psa 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10
Gsp: luk 9:57-62

Audio (MP3)

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Homily #130808b ( 08min) Play – Fr. Joachim preaches on the life of St Dominic whom our Franciscan order honors as “Holy Father Dominic”. Father points out that he always had a love for the poor and for Our Lady.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Holy Father Dominic – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: 1co 2:1-10
Resp: psa 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10
Gsp: luk 9:57-62

Audio (MP3)

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Homily #140808b ( 10min) Play – On the feast of St Dominic Fr. Elias explains the common roots of the Franciscan and Dominican orders and how they started at the same times and addressed some of the same problems of their day by living the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. St. Dominic is also noted for spreading the devotion to the Rosary that is both Marian and Scriptural and enables everyone to include the events of Christ’s life in their prayers,
Ave Maria!
Mass: Holy Father Dominic – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: 1co 2:1-10
Resp: psa 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10
Gsp: luk 9:57-62

Audio (MP3)

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It was only in the year 1214 that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.  

Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.

At this point our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said,

“Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?”

“Oh, my Lady,” answered Saint Dominic, “you know far better than I do, because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.”

Then our Lady replied, “I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter, which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”  

So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for the conversion of the people in that district, he made straight for the cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people together, and Saint Dominic began to preach.

At the very beginning of his sermon, an appalling storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning that all were very much afraid. Even greater was their fear when, looking at a picture of our Lady exposed in a prominent place, they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God’s vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the holy Mother of God. God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the holy Rosary and to make it more widely known.

At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic, the storm came to an end, and he went on preaching. So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. In a very short time a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, instructed by the Blessed Virgin as well as by his own experience, Saint Dominic preached the Rosary for the rest of his life. He preached it by his example as well as by his sermons, in cities and in country places, to people of high station and low, before scholars and the uneducated, to Catholics and to heretics. The Rosary, which he said every day, was his preparation for every sermon and his little union with our Lady immediately after preaching.

http://www.praytherosaryapostolate.com/stdominicandrosary.htm

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