Blessing the Offering of a Life
Brief notes on the Blessing Prayer for newly-professed Dominican Friars
The following text is the Prayer of Blessing for the newly solemnly professed Dominicans found in the Ritual of the Order of Preachers. This prayer already has a beauty in it that would need no comment. My brief notes have only the modest ambition to make more explicit this beauty already contained in this liturgical text. With this, I entrust myself to your prayer on the occasion of my solemn profession on Friday, September 6th 2024. Thanks with all my heart!
Father in heaven, source of all holiness,
creator of the human race,
your love for us was so great
that you gave us a share in your own divine life.
Neither the sin of Adam
nor even the sins of the whole world
could alter your loving purpose.
The prayer opens by affirming God's absolute power in fulfilling His plan of love for humanity. Highlighting the wound of sin that each of us carries within serves to underscore the unwavering nature of God's love for us. God has a plan of goodness for every person, a plan strong enough to overcome any darkness. Religious consecration is a call to manifest this divine love in a clearer and more radical way.
In the dawn of history
you gave us Abel
as an example of holiness.
Later, from your beloved Hebrew people,
you raised up men and women
graced with every virtue.
Foremost among them was Mary,
the ever-virgin daughter of Zion.
Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, is seen as the precursor to a lineage of men and women who have dedicated their lives as offerings to God. Recognizing everything we are and have as gifts from God, and returning them to Him with hearts full of gratitude, can deeply unsettle those who are blinded by selfishness and driven by envy. The story of Cain and Abel—the drama of brotherhood tainted by envy—is a timeless reflection of humanity’s struggles. Religious vows challenge the consecrated to live in a way that contrasts with worldly values; in doing so, they often provoke the prevailing attitudes of society. Saying our wholehearted "yes" to God, as the Virgin Mary did, may invite hostility and suffering both within and outside the faith community. Yet, how else can we express our gratitude after experiencing the profound depth of His love for us?
From her pure womb
was born Jesus Christ,
your eternal Word,
the Saviour of the world.
You sent him, Father,
as a pattern of holiness.
He became poor to make us rich,
a slave to set us free.
With love no words can tell
he redeemed the world by his paschal mystery
and won from you the gifts of the Spirit
to sanctify his Church.
At the heart of the blessing prayer lies Christ, described through His mystery of self-abasement, which makes Him accessible to us in order to lift us to His heights. To imitate Jesus’s life is the sole purpose behind every aspect of religious life: we choose to be poor because Christ was poor; we choose to embrace celibacy because Christ lived in celibacy; we choose to be obedient because Christ was obedient. Certainly, we are not Christ, and our way of life can only strive towards the perfection of His example. Therefore, we invoke the gifts of the Spirit, the only One who can enable us to achieve what would otherwise be impossible.
The voice of the Spirit
has drawn countless numbers of your children
to follow in the footsteps of your Son.
They leave all things
to be one with you in the bonds of love
and to give themselves wholly to your service
and the service of all your people.
Look with favour, then,
on these who have heard your call.
Send them the Spirit of holiness;
help them to fulfil in faith
what you have enabled them to promise in joy.
Few expressions capture the essence of a religious vocation better than that of a mysterious voice with an irresistible allure. Without the need for dramatic divine manifestations, it is a deep intuition of God’s love that can establish a genuine vocation to religious life. From the memory of this encounter—whether intense and unique for some, or discovered over many years of journeying for others—comes the joy that accompanies our promise of love to God and to our brothers and sisters. May this joy endure until the end of our days!
Keep always before their eyes
Christ, the divine teacher.
Through obedience may they become
one in heart and mind;
through the discipline of chastity
may they be joined in a higher love;
through poverty may they learn
to depend more closely on one another.
May they first build up
in their own community
the Church of God
in order to spread its works in the world.
For every religious, and particularly for a Dominican, communal life is the arena where the game of one's consecration is played out. As in any true game, the noblest goal is pure and selfless enjoyment, though this cannot be achieved without effort and sometimes suffering. The evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience can be likened to the rules of the game; their purpose is not to mortify anyone's individuality, but to facilitate the goal of living as true brothers. The mission, then, is to extend this game to all humanity, offering God's friendship through the gift of our own.
May they be patient in tribulations,
steadfast in faith,
joyful in hope,
and on fire with apostolic charity.
May they give joy to the Church
by the holiness of their lives,
advance the salvation of the world,
and stand as a sign
of the blessings that are to come.
Religious life begins with a promise overflowing with joy and is called to expand this joy throughout the Church. It is, however, deeply rooted in reality, with its challenges that can only be overcome through the gift of hope. By remaining steadfast in fidelity, the witness of the consecrated person will contribute to the fulfillment of the beatitude offered to every human being. For the religious, this beatitude is something already tasted; not fully attained, but certainly not entirely unknown. It is through this foundational encounter that the religious life can become a shining sign of the future happiness promised to all.
Lord, protect and guide
these servants of yours.
At the judgement seat of your Son
be yourself their great reward.
Give them the joy of vows fulfilled.
Made perfect in your love,
may they rejoice in the communion of your saints
and praise you for ever in their company.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
At the end of the journey, what remains is what has been there from the beginning: God and His love. To remain faithful until the end means to believe that the Love we have encountered is and will be true in every stage of our life, regardless of what happens. Amen.
Picture: thanks to Br Rémi-Michel Marin-Lamellet OP