Personal Note: My Temporary Promise as a Lay Dominican

Last week on Friday, March 25^th, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, at a special Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Church in uptown Manhattan, on the same day Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart ofMary, I committed my temporary promise—sometimes referred to as the first promise—as a member of the Lay Dominicans. 

Of course many people have a number of questions.  What are the Lay Dominicans?  What does a first promise commit to?  How many more promises are there?  My wife who is Jewish has absolutely no idea what this is about.  So when I came home, she asked, “So what do I call you now, Father?”  LOL.  No I will not be a priest.  My religious name is Br. John Catherine of Siena.  And it’s not just non Catholics that don’t understand.  Even experienced Catholics, while they usually understand religious orders, have no understanding of Lay Orders.  About six or seven months ago I posted a very detailed understanding of religious and lay orders, especially of the Dominican branch.  I think it’s worthwhile to read it if you only have some or no knowledge of religious and lay orders.    

So just like religious order of the Dominicans, the Lay Order has the same gradations of profession: postulant, novice, first promise, and final promise.  From postulant to novice is a minimum of six months; from novice to first promise is a minimum of a year; from first promise to final promise is a minimum of three years.  Because of Covid, which interrupted my progression by two years, it was three years when I was received as a novice.

Let me post the part of the Mass which performed the ceremony of the first promise.  I’ll also make indistinguishable the names so as to protect privacy over the internet.  The Mass was a normal Mass for the Solemnity feast day with the ceremony inserted after the Gospel reading.  Some terms here up front.  The Candidate is me; the Lay Leader is the leader of our Lay Dominican chapter, who in this case was the Vice President of the chapter (the president could not make it), and the Celebrant is the presiding priest who performed the Mass, Fr. Joseph Allen, O.P. 

 

GOSPEL:                                                  Lk: 1:26-38  

 

ALL SIT (except for the Candidate and Lay Leader)

 

EXAMINATION:

            Lay Leader approaches the altar with Novice.

            Lay Leader: What do you seek?

            Candidate: God’s mercy and yours.
            All: Thanks be to God.

Return to seats

HOMILY

After the Homily, only the Candidate approaches with a candle in hand.  The celebrant will light the candle from the altar candle.

PRIEST:  Dearly Beloved brother, you have been
            consecrated to God by water and the spirit; are

            you resolved to be more closely bound to Christ

            and the service of the Church by a new title of

            profession of evangelical life?

Candidate: I am, with God’s help and yours.

PRIEST:  Are you resolved, to walk in the newness of life according to the apostolic concept proposed by St. Dominic, as announcers of the Gospel following in the footsteps of your Savior?

Candidate: I am, with God’s help and yours.

PRIEST:  Are you resolved, as you serve God and

neighbor, to be of one mind with the Church, and, as members of the Order, to share in its apostolic mission by prayer, study, and preaching, according to your lay state in life?

 

Candidate: I am, with God’s help and yours.

PRIEST:  May the Lord who has begun this good work, bring it to completion.

 

ALL:  Amen.

INVOCATION OF DIVINE GRACE

 

PRIEST:   Beloved brother, let us pray to God the
Father, that he may kindly pour out upon this son of his, who He has called to a fuller following of Christ, the grace of His blessing. In His loving kindness, may He confirm him in his holy intent.

LET US PRAY:  Look down, we beseech You, O

Lord, on this son, who today professes with a repentant heart the life of the gospel. Grant that the grace of Baptism, which he wishes to strengthen by new bonds, may take full effect in him, so that, strengthened by the aid of the Holy Spirit, he may render due worship to your majesty and spread the reign of Christ with apostolic zeal.

PRIEST:  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

ALL:  Amen.
 

              You may extinguish the candle. 

Lay Leader rises and sits in the chair especially prepared for the temporary promise.

 

The Candidate kneels before the Lay Leader:

 

Candidate:  To the honor of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and of Blessed Mary the Virgin, and Saint Dominic, I, M----, in your presence, A----, Vice President of the Fraternity of St. Catherine of Siena, and Father Joseph Allen, the Religious Assistant, in place of the Master of the Order of Friar Preachers, promise that I will live according to the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic for three years.

 

Lay Leader rises and gives the candidate a fraternal kiss of peace, side to side of each cheek.

 

Lay Leader:  By your acceptance into the Order, you have been admitted to participation in the spiritual goods of the whole Dominican Family.

The candidate approaches the Lay Leader to receive the book of the Gospel.

 

Lay Leader:  Receive the Gospel of Peace; may it be in your heart and in your mouth, so that as you witness to it with your manner of living and proclaim it faithfully, you may become the salt of the earth and the light of the world, for the honor of God and the salvation of souls.

Newly Professed - Candidate:  Amen.

Here are some pictures from the ceremony.  First the Examination in fron to the Lay Leader and Celebrant.

 

And then interrogated by the Celebrant.

 

You can see me wearing the little white Dominican scapular.  If you look back to the first picture above, the Lay Leader is wearing the full scapular which I will be receiving on Final Promise.  Now the lighting of the blessed candle.

And professing my promise before the Lay Leader.

 

 

Being handed a New Testament after my profession.

 

And some final pictures after Mass.

 

From there, the Mass concluded in its normal fashion.  At the end of the Mass we read the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Pope Francis asked every Catholic Church in the world to read at Mass that day.  The church was so lovely.  I took some pictures and will have to create a blog post as a photo essay.

It was a beautiful ceremony.  To have it on the Feast of the Annunciation, to have the ceremony at a Church named after my beloved patroness, St. Catherine of Siena, and on the day of the Consecration of Russia and Ukraine was a grace upon grace.  I felt so very blessed.