HOPE SHINES THROUGH DARKNESS

ST DOMINIC, FOUNDER OF THE DOMINICAN ORDER

AND THE DOMINICAN DOG

When I became a Dominican, I didn't think it was possible that this could happen but it did happen because a Dominican priest named Father Michael Stock op believed in me.

I didn't have it within my heart to believe in myself because I was so wounded because of abuse, poverty and all kinds of injustices that happened to me.. but Fr Stock believed in me. He didn't wait until I had it all together because I would have never gotten there. He helped me right then because he saw I was sincere to become a Dominican, even though I felt it was hopeless for someone like me to become one.

I spoke of Fr Stock to everyone. He was the person who believed in me. He gave me hope. He gave me what I didn't have yet but he knew I could obtain.

Sometimes when people are searching for their vocation in life... when they feel called to something bigger than what they believe they could be but dare to try anyhow, it helps that there are people behind them, giving them encouragement to succeed. They might not have the ability to achieve what they are seeking themselves, but with a hand being extended to them, it can often times give them the courage that they need to find it themselves.

People who have it all together, sometimes believe that others can't achieve, can't have a vocation unless they are solid in who they are without anyone supporting them on their road to follow their vocation. This is far from truth.

If Fr Stock hadn't reached out his hand to help me, I would never have become a Dominican. If Fr Timothy Radcliffe op and Bishop Raul Vera Lopez op and Fr Jerry Stookey op had not offered their hand to help me along the road, I would not have been able to carry such a load to help so many people around the world while trying to find my place among the Dominicans.

Unwanted Dogs and Unwanted People

Rosie the Golden Retriever mix was abused, hit with sticks and abandoned. A Golden Retriever rescue in South Carolina rescued her. Sr Pauline took her out of the Shelter and had a friend bring her to Washington DC. Sr Pauline drove to Washington and picked her up, then drove her to Maine.

She stayed in Maine a few months, then left for New Hampshire where she went into a foster home, then went to the New Hampshire State Prison for men where an inmate trained Rosie to do many things. Still she had a hard time because of all the difficulties in her life but the inmates saw she had potential.

When Rosie was finished her training, there wasn't the possibility to place Rosie in a home for the disabled because no program was in place, so three women flew from Wisconsin to New Hampshire to pick up Rosie and a dog named Joey and flew Rosie and Joey to Wisconsin where they stayed several weeks until a place was ready for them to go to the State Prison for Women in Southern California where they were entered a women's prison for more training.Rosie didn't stay there long and she then came out of the prison and was placed with a disabled girl who really needed Rosie in her life. Rosie now has a home forever.

This is a picture of Rosie and her partner Whitney at their graduation.If we could only do the same for people who are unwanted ... that we can reach out to them no matter how long it takes and try and help them recover from their own difficult lives... then perhaps we can really make a difference and they will not suffer for all their life that they were unwanted.

Francis Brings Peace at Gubbio
Lessons from the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi

As Francis’ reputation for holiness and peace spread throughout his native Italy, people called upon him to resolve their disputes and to deliver them from danger and violence. On one such occasion, the people of the small town of Gubbio alerted Francis to the presence of a ferocious wolf in their countryside. All efforts to trap the wolf or drive him away had failed, so they called upon the Saint to intervene.

St Francis went out with only the message of the Gospel: no weapon, no sanctions, no threatening bravado. Francis met the wolf and called him to repentance for the chaos and harm that he had caused.

The wolf and the townspeople agreed to live in peace; the wolf would refrain from attacks and the townspeople would feed the wolf for the rest of his life.

As is frequently the case, such pious legends often have a basis in history and scholars have long thought that this popular narrative of Francis exercising miraculous power over the world of animals has at its core a factual account of no lesser spiritual importance.

It may well be that the term “Wolf of Gubbio” signifies an epithet attached to a notorious outlaw of the period, who both raided livestock and robbed people as well. Confronted by armed villagers, the “Wolf” nonetheless prevailed, being either more skillful with weapons or more ruthless in nature. Francis, however, neither confronted him with arms nor threatened him by sanctions. Rather, he challenged the robber in the name of the Lord to reconcile with his victims and so to experience the peace that only Christ can bring.

Thus, the legend of the “Wolf of Gubbio” points to a more enduring dimension of Francis’ historical ministry, namely, the reconciliation of sinners and their reintegration into the fabric of social life through the grace of forgiveness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father,help us to make peace in our dayand to experience reconciliation in our lives.May our anger and hurt give wayto affection and understanding for others.We ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

HELPING PRISONERS

New Hampshire State Prison for Men

Dwight Illinois Correctional Center for Women

Cumberland Federal Prison for men ~ Maryland

California Institution for Women

Our society seems to want to throw the key away to those who have committed crimes. They want them either dead or to spend the rest of their life in prison for the pain and suffering they have caused.

When can we forgive those who harm us? Even if they never get out of prison, they still can do things inside to make this a better world?
Who knows what they went through in their life to become as they are.

It doesn’t take away the evilness of their crime to forgive. They have to become responsible for what they have done. Is this possible?

In these pictures, the inmates don’t have “pets” in prison. They have working dogs that they are training to give to a disabled person or given to a police agency as a potential police dog. They are learning how to groom so once they are out of prison, it is a job skill they can use. They are also learning life skills.. how to take care of something that depends on them.

If we can teach others the importance of giving back something to our society, then it helps to make this a better world, one person at a time. To forgive isn’t easy to do but it is not impossible.

If St Paul could go out and persecute the Christians and God forgave him.. then we can do the same. Our life is a gift from God and no one has the right to take it away, either through crime or punishment.