Community

“They do their best to live in true community in the spirit of the beatitudes, and they give expression to this in regard to other members of the fraternity, particularly the poor and the sick, and as circumstances require, by doing works of mercy and sharing with them what resources they may have, and by offering prayers for the dead; so that all may be united in heart and soul in God.”

~ Rule, §8

 

… Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not now how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”

CCC 2559

“The fundamental law of democracy is majority rule, but it is different with us, in spite of our frequent voting. Our law is unanimous rule. In the conventual chapter, and it is the same for provincial and general chapters, the  prior should not look for a quick vote, but should try to have the question thrashed out, so that everyone has his say: and a common debate will lead to an agreement that is as near unanimous as possible. This striving for unanimity,  even if we do not always succeed in doing it, is the sure guarantee of the presence of the Lord and his Spirit and by that very fact, it is a more certain way of discovering the will of God.”

~ fr. Vincent de Couesnongle, O.P.

 

“We allow others, not the privilege, but the right to do things in a different way; allow them space to fly their own kite […] We allow them room to develop their initiative, creativity and organising ability – in a word, a  climate which enables them to grow and be themselves.”

 

~ fr. Damian Byrne, O.P.

 

 

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