Dominican Friars Australia and New Zealand in Camberwell, Victoria | Church

Dominican Friars Australia and New Zealand

Locality: Camberwell, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 9912 6882

Address: 816 Riversdale Road 3124 Camberwell, VIC, Australia

Website: http://vocations.op.org.au/

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25.01.2022 O come, O come Emmanuel - 23 days until Christmas! "The Church wants us to understand that as Christ came once into the world in the flesh, so now, if we remove all barriers, he is ready to come to us again at any minute or hour, to make His home spiritually within us in all His grace." - St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

25.01.2022 St Thomas Aquinas on St Paul, as read at Mass today (Romans 13:8-10): "The Apostle says, the reason why we cannot expect to free ourselves from the debt of love, as we do from other debts, is that for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law, i.e., the whole fulfillment of the law depends on love of neighbor. But this does not seem to be true. For it says in 1 Timothy: the end of the precept is love (1 Tim 1:5). For a thing is made perfect when it attains its end; ...therefore, the whole perfection of the law consists in love. But love has two acts, namely, the love of God and the love of neighbor; hence the Lord says in Matthew that the whole law and the prophets depend on the two precepts of love: one of which is concerned with the love of God and the other with the love of neighbor (Matt 22:40). Therefore, it does not seem that one who loves his neighbor fulfills the whole law. The answer is that love of neighbor pertains to love and fulfills the law, when it is a love by which the neighbor is loved for God. So the love of God is included in the love of neighbor, just as the cause is included in its effect. For it says in 1 John: this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also (1 John 4:21). Conversely, love of neighbor is included in love of God, as the effect in its cause; hence it says in the same place: if anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. That is why in Sacred Scripture sometimes mention is made only of the love of God, as though it is enough for salvation, as in Deuteronomy: and now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him (Deut 10:12); and sometimes mention is made of love of neighbor: this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12)." See more

25.01.2022 St Thomas on the causality of God in Romans 11:33-36: "To designate Gods causality he uses three prepositions, namely, from, through, and in. But the preposition from denotes a principle of change; and this is in three ways. In one way the acting or moving principle; in another way the matter; in a third way the opposite contrary, which is the point of departure of the change. For we say that the knife came to be from the knife maker, from the steel, and from the uns...haped matter. But the universe of creatures was not made from preexisting matter, because even their matter is an effect of God. Accordingly, created things are not said to be from something but from its opposite, which is nothing; because they were nothing, before they were created to exist: we are born of nothing (Wis 2:2). But all things are from God as from their first maker: all things are from God (1 Cor 11:12). See more

24.01.2022 "Thomas concludes that we ought always to pray for what we think we want; for Jesus prayed as He did in Gethsemane so as to teach us just that lesson, namely that it is permitted for human beings naturally to desire even what [they know] is not Gods will. (ST III q.21 a.2 corp.); and as if in reinforcement of what for many is a startling thought, he cites the authority of St Augustine to the same effect, commenting on the same prayer of Jesus: It is as if Jesus were saying, See yourself in me; for you too can wish something for yourself even though God wishes something else. (Ennarationes in Psalmis, Psalm 32:1). Only thus, in the prayer of honest desire, is there any chance of our discovering what are our true desires, our real will." - Denys Turner, "Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait"

23.01.2022 "There are some people who fall over themselves with enthusiasm as soon as they feel a pious desire to turn over a new leaf and live more virtuously. They become infatuated with their new devotion and eager to put it into practice. They never stop to wonder if they are taking on more than they can manage, or if they have been given the grace to keep it up. It is a mistake to embark on any new venture without first considering how we can carry it through. The first thing to do is always to have recourse to God. We must confide in Him and put our fervor and devotion in His hands. But no; these folk want to rush off by themselves and start all kinds of new practices; and it is this rashness which brings them to grief, because they are building on their own strength." - Johannes Tauler (1300-1361)

23.01.2022 "He who came in Jesus of Nazareth will come again in Him: that is the promise we have elected to live by. Joy results from the expectation of an end which will give meaning to all that precedes it, as the final movement of a symphony gives meaning to the opening chord and all that follows. Ultimately, the coming again of Jesus is what our faith, hope and joy stand or fall by. Meditating on Jesus' first coming offers a language for speaking of his second coming to bring in His Kingdom of peace and justice." - Geoffrey Preston OP

22.01.2022 O come, O come Emmanuel - 25 days until Christmas! Thus begins our virtual advent calendar ... no CGI pieces of chocolate, but a sweet piece of the wisdom each day from the saints, who have meditated on the mystery of the Incarnation over millennia. "We preach not one coming only of Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the first. In the first He was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger;... in His second coming He is clothed with light as with a garment. In the first coming He bore the cross, despising its shame; He will come a second time in glory accompanied by the hosts of angels. It is not enough for us then, to be content with His first coming; we must wait in hope for His second coming." -St Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) See more

22.01.2022 "No Christian worthy of the name falls asleep without first thanking God. We owe Him everything: the energy that keeps us alive, the light that enlightens our steps, the food that restores our strength, the legitimate joys and satisfactions we have tasted. Who can calculate the supernatural help we receive from Him every day? He helps us to resist the devil and overcome our passions; He gives us the strength to consent to the sacrifices demanded of us. Perhaps the day now end...ing has been marked by stern trials. Instead of offering thanks, we are prone to complain. That is natural; suffering is so contrary to our nature! But if we look at our crucifix, we will not dare to complain any more; we will understand the value of suffering, since it allows us to atone for our faults and obtain graces of salvation for others. We will say to God: 'Father, not my will, but Thine; but come, help my weakness.'" - A. S. Perret OP See more

22.01.2022 From "The Lives of the Brethren" (ca. 1255) - "Master Jordan (1190-1237) was asked once why arts men came thronging to join the Order, while theologians and canon lawyers held back. He answered, Country people, who are used to drinking water, get drunk on good wine much more easily than noblemen and townspeople, who do not find wine very strong because they are used to it. Arts men drink the plain water of Aristotle and other philosophers all week, so when they are offered ...the words of Christ or his disciples in a Sunday sermon or on a feast day, they fall victim at once to the intoxication of the Holy Spirits wine, and hand over to God not only their goods but also themselves. But these theologians are always listening to the words of God, and they go the same way as a country sacristan who passes the altar so often that he loses his reverence for it and frequently turns his back on it, while outsiders bow reverently towards it." (III 42 ix) See more

21.01.2022 Today the Church venerates the Martyrs of Vietnam, and we in the Order of Preachers particularly remember those members of the Order who gave their lives as witnesses martyrs to Christ in that land: St Ignatius Delgado, a Spaniard who was a friar and bishop; St Vincent Liem, a Vietnamese friar and priest, St Dominic An-Kham, a lay Dominican and father, and their many companions. Their martyrdom took place during the horrific persecution in Tonkin during the eighteenth century. It is always profoundly moving to recall that St Vincent a native of Vietnam and thus exempt from the death penalty, despite his Christianity insisted on being subjected to the same torture and end as his St Hyacinth Castañeda, his Spanish brother in religion and in Christ: ‘We both profess the same religion in life, and the same we will profess in death.’

21.01.2022 On Our Ladys birthday, a story from the thirteenth century: "There was in Lombardy a woman leading a solitary life, who was very devoted to Our Lady. When she heard that a new Order of Preachers had arisen, she longed with all her heart to see some of them. Now it happened that brother Paul and his companions were passing through that part of the world, preaching. They visited her and, in the usual manner of the brethren, they addressed her with the words of God. She then as...ked them who they were and what Order they belonged to. They said they belonged to the Order of Preachers. But when she noticed how young and good looking they were, and how fine their habit was, she despised them, reckoning that people like that touring round the world could not last long in chastity. So the next night the Blessed Virgin appeared to come and stand over her, looking annoyed. Yesterday, she said, you offended me seriously. Do you not think that I am able to look after my young men who are my servants, even while they run around the world for the salvation of souls? But to make you quite certain that I have undertaken a special responsibility for them, look, and I will show you the men you despised yesterday. Lifting up her cloak, she showed her a great crowd of friars, including those whom the anchoress had previously despised. So the anchoress was duly contrite and ever after loved the friars with all her heart, and published the story throughout the Order." See more

21.01.2022 Preached by St Thomas Aquinas on 26 July, 1271, in Paris: "We find that some who study philosophy and advance some things which are not true according to the faith, when told that this is repugnant to the faith, respond by saying that they themselves do not assert this, but rather they are only repeating the words of the Philosopher. Such a person is a false prophet or a false teacher, for it is the same thing to instill doubt and not to resolve it, as it is to affirm the dou...bt. This point is illustrated in Exodus where it says that if anyone digs a well and opens the pit and does not cover it, and if their neighbors ox comes along and falls into the pit, the person who opened the pit is held accountable for its restitution. That person who instills doubt about those things which belong to faith opens a pit; he does not cover the pit who does not resolve the doubt, even though he himself possesses sound and clear understanding and is not deceived. Nonetheless the other person who does not possess such clear understanding is truly deceived, and so that man who instilled the doubt is held accountable for restitution, since it was through him that the other man fell into the pit." See more

20.01.2022 Father Thomas Azzi OP explains the history and teaching of the Church regarding tithing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTDqRq3vgRg

20.01.2022 "Every deep disappointment of some hope whose object was to be found in the worldly sphere potentially harbors an opportunity for hope per se to turn, without resignation and for the first time, towards its true object and, in a process of liberation, for existence to expand, for the first time ever, into an atmosphere of wider dimensions. Precisely in disappointment, and perhaps in it alone, we are offered the challenge of entering into this broader existential realm of hope per se." - Josef Pieper

20.01.2022 Blessed John of Vercelli (1205-1283) was sixth Master of the Order of Preachers and is commemorated in the liturgy today. A brilliant man of great intelligence, he was already a Master of the University of Paris when he entered the Order. He is remembered for the vigor with which he promoted reverence for the Most Holy Name of Jesus, in response to the Bull of Pope Gregory X in 1274. As a result of this papal exhortation, the General Chapter of 1278 introduced the ordination exhorting the brethren to bow their heads during the liturgy whenever the name of Jesus was pronounced. It is from this initial move that the Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of Jesus ‘The Holy Name Society’ derives its origin; a great lay-confraternity that remains under the care of the Dominicans to this day.

19.01.2022 Why bother praying, if God already knows our needs?

18.01.2022 We are "sons of the light and sons of the day" according to the excerpt from St Paul read at Mass today (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6). For St Thomas this signifies ... "Paul says we are 'of the day', for just as out of early light comes the fullness of the day, so out of the faith of Christ comes the day which is the brilliance of good actions."

18.01.2022 Had yesterday not been the thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, it would have been the feast of St Albert the Great (1200-1280), one of the thirty-six Doctors of the Church and teacher of St Thomas Aquinas. He is named the ‘Universal Doctor’ in view of the breadth and depth of his writing which covers everything from logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy and astrology to mineralogy, alchemy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, justice, law, friendship, and love. In the Divine Comedy Dante places St Albert in the Heaven of the Sun, he earns a mention in Mary Shelly’s 'Frankenstein' and even has a font named after him (Albertus).

16.01.2022 In this time of pandemic and lockdown, Brother Sebastian Condon OP reflects on the theological virtue of "hope" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RnA0XaYnZg

16.01.2022 Congratulations to Fr. Florentino Bolo Jr. OP on being chosen as the new socius to the Master for apostolic life. Fr. Florentino has visited our province, most recently to Bomana, Papua New Guinea, on the occasion of the signing of the first agreement between Catholic Theological Institute Bomana and University of Santo Tomas - Manila in January 2020.

15.01.2022 If you ever wondered why we spend so much time chanting psalms "like some pelican in the wilderness" (Psalm 102:6) - "How can we keep a Christian imagination fresh when we are assailed all day long by banality? The 'globalization of superficiality' is alike an asbestos blanket, snuffing out the fire of a vivid imagination. The traditional way in which Christians have resisted the gravitational pull of the banal has been to set aside moments each day to recite or sing poetry. For two millennia the Church has kept alive its counter-cultural imagination by songs and poems, above all those wild, sometimes belligerent and often beautiful poems, the psalms." - Timothy Radcliffe OP (1945 - )

14.01.2022 For those of you who think aging is all bad, Johannes Tauler OP (1300-1361) has some good news: "Until a man has attained to this fortieth year he will never find true peace, never become a really divinized person, no matter what means he may adopt and in spite of his best-laid plans. Man is harassed by so many cares, tossed this way and that by his own tempestuous nature. Often enough his actions are governed by some merely natural impulse when he thinks that he is prompted by God. No man, then, can attain to true and perfect peace, nor become divinized before the proper time."

13.01.2022 Annuntio Vobis Gaudium Magnum ... the ordination to the Priesthood of Br Reginald Mary Chua OP, on December 18th 2020! Dubbed 'The COVID Kid' due to his diaconal ordination having been restricted in numbers and streamed via Zoom, our ordinand now simply has to cross a closed border to attend his priestly ordination in Perth! Please keep Br Reginald in your prayers as he prepares to receive the grace of this sacrament.

13.01.2022 'What is the meaning of life?' A question on many lips these days ... "I long for you to be in the very heart of Christ Jesus, in order that you may love Him intimately, and that you may be loved by Him; for human life consists in this." - St Thomas Aquinas

12.01.2022 From St Thomas Aquinas commentary on the second reading today at Mass for to me, to live is Christ; and to die is gain (Philippians 1:20-24, 27): "Now life produces activity. For something is said to live if it moves of itself. And from this it seems that activity is at the root of mans life, which is the principle of his activity. Now this principle is that to which his affection is united as to an end, because it is by his affections that man is moved towards anything. Hence some call that by which they are roused to activity, their life; as hunters call hunting their life, and friends their friend. So, Christ is our life, because the whole principle of our life and activity is Christ; hence the Apostle says, for to me, to live is Christ, because Christ alone moved him."

11.01.2022 The friars are coming ... if you would like some of these remarkably handsome face-masks, please contact Br Sebastian on [email protected]

11.01.2022 Prayer of Blessed Jordan of Saxony - "O blessed father, St Dominic, most holy priest and glorious confessor of God; noble preacher of His word: to you do I cry. O virginal soul, chosen by the Lord, pleasing unto Him, and beloved above all others in your day; glorious alike for your life, teaching and miracles: to you do I pray. I rejoice to know that I have you for my gracious advocate with the Lord God.... To you, whom I venerate with special devotion among the saints and elect of God, to you do I cry from this vale of tears. O loving father, help, I beseech you, my sinful soul, not only lacking grace and virtue, but stained by many vices and sins." Pray for us, Blessed Father Dominic. That we may be made worth of the promises of Christ.

10.01.2022 St Thomas Aquinas on the many meaning of the second reading at Mass today (Romans 12:1-2): "A person can present his body to God as a sacrifice in three ways. First, when he exposes his body to suffering and death for Gods sake, as it is said of Christ: he gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:2); and as the Apostle says of himself: even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice (Phil 2:17). Second, when he weakens his body by fasts and watchings in the service of God: I pummel my body and subdue it (1 Cor 9:27). Third, when he uses his body to perform acts of justice and of divine worship: yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification (Rom 6:19).

10.01.2022 In this month of the Holy Souls, we gathered in Melbourne to pray for our departed Dominican brothers and sisters as is our yearly custom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. #eternallife

09.01.2022 Just for fun, this week we thought we would post St Thomas words on the second reading at Mass (Romans 14:7-9) as he wrote them: "Sig igitur per omnia praedicta Apostolus probavit, quod unusquisque domino suo stat aut cadit, per hoc scilicet quod fideles gratias agunt Deo, et quod Domino vivunt et moriuntur, et quod Domini sunt et in morte et in vita."

09.01.2022 St Thomas' explanation of a tricky Pauline Passage from today's readings at Mass (1 Corinthians 15:20-28): "If Christ, who is the 'first fruits of those that sleep', arose, then also all others sleep. But something seems contrary to this, namely, that Christ did not arise the first fruits of those who sleep, because Lazarus had been raised by Christ not yet suffering, and some raised others from the dead, as it says in the Old Testament. The answer is that the resurrection is... twofold: one is to mortal life, to which Lazarus and the others had been raised. The other is to immortal life, and it is about this that the Apostle speaks. But on the other hand it is said, 'many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised' (Matt 27:52). Therefore, since this happened before the resurrection of Christ and it is obvious that they did not rise to an immortal life, it seems that the first question still remains. I answer that, what Matthew says about the resurrection of those souls, he says by anticipation, because although it is written in the tract on the passion, they did not rise then, but after Christ arose." See more

09.01.2022 "I do not possess revealed truth within me in the sense that I have innate knowledge of the principles of knowledge or morality. The truth which will constitute my eternal happiness is transmitted to me by God through the established dogma of His Church: it is not a case of an arbitrary formulation or of a dry and desiccating code; this dogma is the incarnation of the truth in human words. Without this dogma I would never know that the Christ whom I encounter has truly saved me. And it becomes my duty to integrate these words into my life; I must transform the truth contained in the dogma so that it be a light for me." -M. D. Chenu OP (1895-1990)

08.01.2022 St Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas (1843-1927) was a Dominican sister who founded the first Palestinian Congregation the Rosary Sisters which runs schools, catechetical programs, clinics and orphanages throughout the Middle East. Canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis, we honour her in the liturgy today as one of the most recent in a long-line of Dominican saints inspired to preach that Jesus Christ is Lord!

08.01.2022 Attempts at translation are invited and appreciated: "Der gefallene Mensch, als solcher, vermag in keiner anderen Weise zur wahren und reinen Kenntnis seiner ursprnglichen Beschaffenheit zu gelangen, als durch die Belehrungen gttlicher Offenbarung; denn auch das ist ein Teil des Schicksals des von Gott entfernten Menschen, dass er zugleich sich selbst entfremdet wird, und weder wahrhaft wei, was er anfangs gewesen, noch was er geworden ist." - Johannes Adam Mhler (1796-1838)

08.01.2022 A gentle reminder from St Thomas for those students who are approaching exams - God works through secondary causes, like your own study, and it is not appropriate to pray for a gratuitous miracle to pass your course: "We must not expect Him to help us if we refuse to help ourselves." (Contra Gentes, Book III, chap. 35)

07.01.2022 "Therapy based on this new religion of health, even as it heals certain wounds in the heart and in the psyche, will sooner or later be tempted to tame or repress the wondrous, necessary pain of the souls longing for God, a pain that is, of course, life and health itself. This fact may go some way to explain the astonishing statement made by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, when, after only a few sessions of therapy, he decided not to continue. It was clear, he observed, that they would exorcise my demons from me, but I was afraid my angels would depart with them." - Paul Murray OP, "Scars: Essays and Poems of Affliction"

05.01.2022 Today we remember Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste, a remarkable preacher and founder of Bethany House. In 1864 he was sent to preach a retreat at the womens prison in Cadillac-sur-Garrone, France, near Bordeaux. Over the course of the retreat he noted that there were no avenues for spiritual support for the women to whom he was preaching once they were released from prison. Recognising the need to which God was calling him to respond, he undertook the mammoth task of founding an entirely new religious congregation for women, recently released from prison, who were ready to leave the world and devote themselves to God. May we all be as ready to respond when we hear the call!

04.01.2022 Had yesterday not been the twenty-first Sunday of the Churchs year, it would be the feast of St Rose of Lima (1586-1617) the first canonised saint of the New World. A Dominican Tertiary of immense fervour she exemplified a profound sense of the presence of God in our lives, wherever we are and whatever we do. So strong is the memory of her heroic sanctity that her face still appears on the highest denomination of Peruvian currency The law of your mouth is more to me than silver and gold (Psalm 118:72)

04.01.2022 Saint Juan Macias (1585-1645) is honoured in the liturgy today; a lay-brother in Lima and a contemporary of St Martin de Porres. There were four Dominican convents in Lima when St Juan arrived in Peru, and he chose to join the smallest and the poorest that of St Mary Magdalene. He is well remembered for his devotion to the Rosary, spending hours in prayer for the Holy Souls in purgatory, and his efforts to help care for the poor. To assist him in collecting the food and money he gave to the needy, he trained a donkey to walk a route through the city of Lima while bearing a sign on its back asking for donations. The donkey would always return to priory laden with food and supplies; a perfect division of labour the donkey collected the material needs for which St Juan had prayed!

02.01.2022 Meister Eckhart OP! Medieval mystic, philosopher, and theologian - a friar who has left a strong mark on history. While his teachings were partly condemned by the Church after his death, his thought has subsequently gone on to influence not only faithful Catholics, but many other thinkers from East to West - from Hegel and Heidegger to Suzuki and the Dalai Lama. Curious to find out more? You may be interested to join a Zoom reading group some Australian Dominicans are star...ting this December. We shall be reading Michael Demkovich’s "Introducing Meister Eckhart" (Liguori 2006). If you are interested, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/UsqG2Ey149knauGN7 See more

01.01.2022 The Order of Preachers follows the monastic Rule written by St Augustine, making his feast day today another liturgical feast for us! A beautifully rich reflection on religious life, the regula like much of what St Augustine wrote is readily able to be used as a text for prayer: The Lord grant you the grace to observe these precepts in charity as lovers of spiritual beauty, exuding the fragrance of Christ by the goodness of your lives; you are no longer slaves under the law, but a people living in freedom under grace. (Regula, VIII, 1)

01.01.2022 "In the end we all die alone, its just you and God." Dominican Friar Fr. John Maria and his brother priests reflect on their work as hospital chaplains during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in New York.