Feast of Saint Raymond Nonnatus (31 August 2023)

Yesterday, August 30, I spoke and wrote of our receiving of our religious habit on August 30, 1956 and thus beginning the year of retreat called the novitiate. Exactly a year and a day after that “vestition” or receiving of the distinctive garb of the Dominican Order, those of us who wished to continue our progress toward the permanent commitment which we call “solemn vows” took temporary or simple vows binding us for three years to this life of ours. That was on August 31, 1957. Then, when those three years had passed, those who continued to aspire to the fullness of the religious life and, for some of us, to the priesthood, made our solemn vows on August 31, 1960. It is one thing to bind yourself for three years to a certain way of life. It is quite another to make that commitment for the remainder of one’s life.

I still have the small sheets of paper on which I had typed, in Latin, the formulas of my vows. The one that I read while kneeling before my religious superior in 1957 ends with the words “usque ad triennium”— for three years. The one I read in 1960 ends with the words “usque ad mortem”—until death.  I remember very clearly the tension, the emotional power that we felt as we made our way to kneel at the feet of our superior and to read that formula. You could have heard a pin drop in the chapel. What had begun four years before with a one-year promise and then a three-year promise was now a life-long promise of the most grave and serious nature. Frequently during my ministry I have officiated at weddings in which the bride and/or the groom has shown that same understanding of the great importance of what they were doing.  It is beautiful to see and to share, and it always brought back to me the way I felt as I pronounced those words which changed my life: usque ad mortem. Until death.

As we think of these things, let us pray for many vocations to religious life and priesthood; let us pray that those in vows will be totally true to them and thus glorify God and give powerful witness to the entire world. And let us pray in thanksgiving for the grace of religious vocation.  People often talk about the generosity of those of us who make those vows. But I think they have it backwards.  It is not we who are generous with God; it is God who is generous with us and gives us the grace to live this life and thus serve both God and man. Thank you for seeking God’s truth.  God bless you.  Father Victor Brown, O.P.

Note:  Father Brown composed this message some years ago. Please pray for the souls of the faithful departed, including Father Brown