Word to the Wise
Thursday, November 7, 2013 - Thursday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 14:7-12 and Luke 15:1-10]None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
NOVEMBER 7 ALL SAINTS OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS [Dominicans]
[Scriptures will vary at Dominican locales.]
As I write this, our community here at Holy Rosary Priory is preparing for the Mass of Christian Burial for one of our brother friars who died on Sunday, November 3, the feast of a great Dominican, St. Martin De Porres, OP. Fr. Joe Konkel's new life will now be celebrated today on the feast of All Dominican Saints! He was a former pastor and prior here at Holy Rosary and had lived here for nearly 20 years before his death. At 82, one can say he lived the full measure. St. Paul's words in Romans today seem to me to describe the purpose of all of our lives - to live for the Lord.
When I entered the Dominican order [two years before Fr. Joe, who joined later in life] in 1964, I could recite the names of most of the canonized saints of the order. They were represented in the stained glass windows of our formation houses! Then Pope John Paul II came along and added a great many! It is an amazing thought to be included in the company of such persons as Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Rose of Lima, Martin DePorres, Albert the Great and many others! They "lived for the Lord" and challenge me to do the same. More modern figures include St. Lawrence Ruiz [a Dominican layperson] and Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati [another Dominican layperson]. From among the cloistered Dominican nuns, St. Catherine De Ricci and St. Agnes of Montepulciano wave! What we all have in common is our baptism and desire to preach the Word! Please pray for and with us! AMEN