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The word 'homily' comes from the Greek homilia and means discourse, speaking together or in communion. Hence, in 1 Corinthians 15:33, homilia is translated as colloquia in St Jerome's Vulgate. The word connotes a familiar conversation between a pastor and his flock, using words and images that they will recognize. So, in Luke 24:14, on the road to Emmaus, the Lord is said to be "discussing as they went all that had happened", and the Greek word that 'discussing' translates is homiloun.
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In 1964 the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph produced And The World Looks at Us, a vocations film. The Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C. have posted excerpts from it on its YouTube channel. Despite being nearly fifty years old, I was struck by how fresh, relevant and inspiring the message of the film still is.  Read more

The high point of the Liturgy of the Word is the proclamation of the Gospel. The one who announces the gospel prepares to do so by prayer, and if he is a deacon, he seeks a blessing. The congregation stands, and the Book of the Gospels is carried in procession by the deacon, accompanied by lighted candles and the singing of the Alleluia verse. This verse is a greeting of the Gospel and a welcoming of the Lord who speaks to his people in the gospel reading. Other rites serve to distinguish this reading from all others: the greeting and response at the beginning, the sign of the cross made with the thumb on forehead, lips and breast, the incensing of the book, the final response, and the kissing of the book.
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At one time the prayers of the faithful (also known as the bidding prayers) marked the transition into a new phase of the liturgy. This was the point at which the catechumens departed leaving only baptized Catholics of good standing to continue the Mass. For a number of reasons, this custom has been abandoned. Yet if we reflect upon why early Christians thought it appropriate to separate full and potential members of the Church at this moment, the ecclesial dimension of our prayers of intercession comes more sharply into focus. The liturgy of the word culminates in the Church as one body interceding for the world. In the process the members of this body exercise their baptismal priesthood.
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The Eucharistic Prayer forms the centre of the Mass, opening with the dialogue between priest and people in which we are called to ‘lift up [our] hearts’ to the Lord as we begin this most solemn prayer and continuing up to the great ‘Amen’ which precedes the Our Father. First of all, the priest praises God, acknowledging in what is known as the ‘Preface’ of our Prayer of Thanks (for ‘Eucharist’ is the Greek for thanksgiving) that we do well always and everywhere to give God thanks and praise. This section, which can vary in accordance with the particular feast or celebration, concludes by recalling that, in this praise and worship of God in which we are engaging, we join already in the activity of the saints and angels in heaven, and so we are called to join in the Sanctus, the heavenly song (cf. Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). Read more

As part of the Order's preparations for the General Chapter in Rome from 1-21 September 2010, a series of videos about the Dominican life has been made and uploaded to the Order's YouTube channel. The areas covered are Dominican Government, Study (part 1 & part 2), the Order's Mission (part 1 & part 2), and the Consecrated Life, with interesting interviews given by the Master of the Order, and his assistants (called socii).
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We're blessed in Blackfriars to meet Dominican brothers and sisters from all over the world who come to Oxford for a variety of reasons, and occasionally, we thought that our Godzdogz readers might want to find out a little about them, and their work in the Order world-wide. Some of our readers may recall our feature series on the Dominican cooperator brother vocation, and we have also mentioned our apostolic sisters, the Dominican laity, and secular institutes. However, the Dominican family also includes contemplative nuns, the praying heart of the Order.
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