“This is the day the Lord

has made; let us rejoice

and be glad, allelu-

ia.” (Easter Antiphon)

“[Mary Magdalene and

the other Mary] hurried

away from the tomb half

-overjoyed, half-fearful,

and ran to carry the

good news to His disci-

ples.

“Suddenly without warn-

ing, Jesus stood before

them and said, ‘Peace!’

The women came up and

embraced His feet and

did Him homage.” (4th

Reading, Office of

Readings, Mt. 28: 8-9)

THE EASTER BUNNY—

Eostre was a German/Anglo-

Saxon goddess of the dawn-

rebirth of the year. Her symbol

was a rabbit which laid eggs.

THE EASTER EGG—

In Africa

decorated

ostrich eggs

60,000 years

old have

been found. The egg is a symbol

of fertility and rebirth. It symbol-

izes, as the bird hatches from the

shell, Jesus rising out of the

tomb. They were forbidden

during Lent, to be enjoyed on

Easter, especially colored and

decorated.

THE EASTER BASKET—

The Polish have a custom of

bringing brightly decorated East-

er Baskets, filled with special

foods and candy to be blessed on

Holy Saturday.

THE EASTER HAM—

Although Jesus ate lamb for Pass-

over, in Northern Europe pigs

were much more popular. They

were slaughtered in Winter,

salted and smoked, and ready to

eat in Spring., before fresh meat

was available.

The Lord is risen, alleluia !

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Risen !

Whence...

1

April Saint

May Saints

Detached

2

Happenings

Rule

Formation

3

A Lexus?

Who am I?

Contemplari

4

Whence Came…

L A Y D O M I N I C A N S

S T . A L B E R T

T H E G R E A T

C E N T R A L P R O V I N C E contemplata A P R I L , 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 1

N O R T H

A M E R I C A N

D O M I N I C A N

P R O V I N C E S

1 ) C E N T R A L

S T . A L B E R T

T H E G R E A T

2 ) E A S T E R N

S T . J O S E P H

3 ) W E S T E R N

M O S T H O L Y

N A M E

O F J E S U S

4 ) S O U T H E R N

S A I N T M A R -

T I N D E

P O R E S

5 ) C A N A D A

S T . D O M I N I C

HOW IMPORTANT

IS EASTER?

“If Christ has not been

raised, then our procla-

mation has been in vain

and your faith has been in

vain...your faith is futile

and you are still in your

sins...But in fact Christ

has been raised from the

dead.” (I Cor. 15: 14,

17,20)

WITH MARY MAGDALENE

(FRA ANGELICO—SAN MARCO)

P A G E 2

“For love is

as strong as

death.”

(Song of

Solomon, 8: 6)

May Saints

Totally Detached

Saint of the Month for April Blessed Hosanna of Cat-

taro (Feast—April 27)

was baptized into the

Greek Orthodox Religion,

the Religion of her par-

ents.

She was a shepherdess in

her youth, spending many

hours in solitary prayer,

and began to have visions

of the Christ child.

As a teen she felt a calling

to become an anchoress

(Hermitess) and was

walled up in a cell near a

church. Julian of Norwich

(+1416) was an anchoress;

it is a recognized vocation

(Canon Law #603).

She later moved to anoth-

er cell and became a Lay

Dominican, following the

Dominican Rule for 52

years.

Tradition says that her

prayers saved the town

from the Turks and the

Plague.

In her tiny cell she re-

ceived many visions. A

convent of Dominican Sis-

ters considered her their

founder.

She was beatified by Pope

Pius XI on Dec. 21, 1927.

“Love God equally in all things.

This means: Love God as

much in poverty as in wealth;

care for Him as much in sick-

ness as in health...The more a

person renounces, the easier

he finds it to renounce...Direct

all your works to God. There

are many people who do not

understand this, and this seems to me hardly surprising. For

the person who is to under-

stand this must be totally de-

tached and elevated above all

things. That we may arrive

at such perfection, may God

help us. Amen.” (Meister

Eckhart, Sermon 30)

May 19—St. Francisco Coll y

Guitart +1875

May 21—Bl. Columba of Rieti

+1501

Bl. Hyacinth-Marie Cormier

+1916 Founded Angelicum.

May 24—Translation of St.

Dominic’s body—1233

May 27—Bl. Andrew Franchi

+1401

May 28—Bl. Mary Bartholomea

LD +1577

May 29—Bls. William Arnaud,

May 4– Bl. Amelia Bicchieri+1314

May 5—St. Vincent Ferrer +1419

May 7—Bl. Albert of Bergamo

LD +1279

May 10—St. Antoninus of Flor-

ence +1459

May 12—Bl. Jane of Portu-

gal+1490

May 13—Bl. Imelda Lambertini

+1333

May 15—Bl. Giles +1265

Bl. Andrew Abellon +1450

C O N T E M P L A T A

“Be

totally

detached.”

Bernard of Roquefort,

Garcia de Aure +1242

May 30—Bl. James Salo-

monio +1314

Provincial Happenings

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 1

With regret we must an-

nounce the resignation of our

Promoter, Fr. Rich Litzau

OP.effective April 1, 2013.

Good luck on your future

endeavors, Fr. Rich!

With sadness we announce that Sr. Mary

Nona McGreal OP passed on March 20,

2013. She was an outstanding historian of the Dominican

Order in the U.S. Sr. Nona

recently celebrated the 80th

anniversary of her 1st Profes-

sion.

Please pray for Fr. Jim Motl

OP, a former Promoter, who is

suffering bravely with cancer.

Fr. Jim spent many hours and travelled

many miles in promoting the Lay Do-

minicans.

Teresa Cecil OP, our JPCC Delegate,

attended a convocation of Promoters

of JPCC, March 1-2, in Grand Rapids,

MI., “A Call to Justice”. Teresa was the

lone Lay person there. Read her thor-

ough report on the ‘JPCC’ website page. Great job, Teresa!

St. Dominic’s Chapter, Denver,

CO., held a Day of Prayer, March 2,

2013, celebrated by Fr. Ed Ruane OP.

26 people attended. John Buerge

OP, Terry Buerge OP, Jonathan

Fletcher OP and Larry Johnson OP

were received into the Order. New

members were Constance Aguillard

and Martha Sinkard.

Congratulations to all as Denver must be

doing something right!

On March 9, 2013 the St. Catherine of

Siena Pro-Chapter, Grand Blanc, MI.,

witnessed the Temporary Promises of

Virginia O’Brien OP, Judy Albin OP

and Eric Grekowicz OP. Congratula-tions! You are growing!

Have you been keeping up with the Pro-

vincial website ? :

(laydominicancentral.org)

Much has been added to the ‘News’,

‘Promoters’, ‘JPCC’, ‘Videos’ etc. pages.

Check it out!

The Candidacy I Formation Pro-

gram begins with a 2 month exami-

nation of Apostolicam Actuositatem,

the Vatican II Document on the Laity.

This is a very important document

to begin the Candidacy I program

because we must first understand

and appreciate our vocations as Lay

Men and Women in the Church. It

could be called our Magna Carta!

We, the

People of

God, are all called to lives of

holiness, not just priests and

nuns. In fact, it is an obligation.

Many of us still do not value

our Lay vocation and attempt to

imitate friars and nuns

(especially in dress). To para-

phrase Abraham Lincoln, God

must have loved the Laity: He

have a vocation. They then fill out

an Application Form.

Rule 16 states: “The admission of

candidates is entrusted to a respon-

sible layperson (Formation Director

and Moderator and Council) and “is

received into the Initiate Phase of

Lay Dominican Formation”.

(Guidelines, 16., a.)

An admission ceremony may be

conducted.

After a period of study of the Initi-

ate Phase (usually 6 months) and

with the approval again of the For-

mation Director, Moderator and

Council, the Initiate is received as

a full-fledged member of the Order

of Preachers.

Study of the Provincial Lay Domini-

can Formation Program (available

on the Provincial website) is man-

datory without exception. Not to

do so is a violation of our Rule!

When an individual first attends a

Chapter meeting, he/she is consid-

ered an Inquirer. They may or may

not be familiar with the world of

Lay Dominicans. This is a very

important phase because future

members were all Inquirers. This

phase must be cultivated by the

Chapter.

Eventually (after one meeting or

many) Inquirers decide to become

part of the Order, or at least to

investigate whether or not they

Lay Dominican Rule

Provincial Formation

.

made so many of us!

Because of our union with

Christ, our Head, we are

assigned to the apostolate

by the Lord Himself (not by

a Bishop or a Priest).

Next month we will look at

our obligations in the apos-

tolate.

Last month’s Saintly person

was Bartolome de Las Casas.

During my lifetime the Domini-

cans had unfortunately split

into 2 camps. Some had grown

lax and others led by the Spirit

attempted reform.

I joined the latter under John

Dominici and was eventually

appointed vicar-general of the

reformed Dominicans of Tusca-

ny and Prior of San Marco. I

was responsible for the reli-

gious formation of Fra Angeli-

co. I wrote Summa Moralis,

treating all aspects of Christian

morality. I was made Archbish-

op of Florence and canonized in

1523.

Who am I?

Who am I? Contemplari...

LAY DOMINICANS

ST. ALBERT

THE GREAT

CENTRAL PROVINCE

Send us your news on the hap-

penings in your Chapter/Group

and we will be pleased to post

them in contemplata and on our

Provincial website:

laydominicancentral.org

Editor—Mr. Terry McSweeney OP

jterrymcs@gmail.com

Silence is golden…

...but it is not a ‘sign of our times’, is

it? Rather noise and distraction are

our signs. By noise I mean things

that might be very good at times:

music, news, movies, TV, etc.

How many times do we turn on the

TV as soon as we enter our house?

How often do we employ earbuds

when on a walk or exercising? Why

.

do we spend so much time

flipping through cable looking

for something to enjoy? Why

must we seek constantly for

distractions?

We are consumers of the

‘information age’ but not of

wisdom. Now information is

good, but every waking mo-

ment?

Yet, we are an active contem-

plative Order! Although we are

not Carthusians, some of our

day must be devoted to silent

contemplation.

Let us be sure that we can an-

swer affirmatively to the ques-

tion: “Could you not stay

awake with me one hour?”

HE HAS RISEN!

PLEASE GOD, A LEXUS?

Franciscan/Jesuit jokes

have been around for a

long time, often told by

members of the Orders

themselves.

Fr. Joseph Fessio SJ, presi-

dent of Ignatius Press, told

one about a man who

wanted a Lexus:

He went to a Franciscan

and asked, “Father, would

it be OK to make a novena

for a new Lexus?” The

Franciscan replied, “What’s

a Lexus?”

Then he went to a Jesuit

and asked, “Father, would

it be OK to make a novena

for a new Lexus?” The Jes-

uit replied, “What’s a nove-

na?”

Another Jesuit Pastor in

Detroit observed: “There

are 3 things even God

doesn’t know—what Jesu-

its are doing, what Domini-

cans are thinking and just

how many Orders of Fran-

ciscan nuns there are!”