Novena for Saints Peter and Paul

Prepare for the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul with these conversations among the Dominican friars, exploring the ways in which our whole lives might bear witness to the radiance of God.

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History

In their 800 year history, Dominicans have shown a notable fascination for the curious and the bizarre. St Catherine de Ricci liked to bake marzipan, St Margaret of Hungary bred hedgehogs, and St Albert the Great was enchanted by worms in the garden. The mind of a preacher requires a willingness to seek Truth in all things, to see the hand of God at work in the whole of His creation. And so Dominican life has always encouraged a healthy eclecticism, a zeal for the peculiar, a living out of St Paul's maxim to “take every thought captive” for Christ.

In preparation for the upcoming feast of Saints Peter and Paul, we encourage you listen to these interviews with the Dominican friars, and reflect about the ways in which your own faith informs your interests and peculiar pursuits, so that our whole lives might bear witness to the radiance of God.

Throughout this retreat, you will receive:

  • 📹 Video interviews about the friars' pursuits and passions
  • 📖 Daily scriptural passages for further reflection

[This series first appeared on the Godzdogz YouTube page, the channel of the Dominican Student Brothers]

Prayer from the novena

A Prayer of St John Henry Newman

Dear Jesus, Help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, That my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me, and be so in me That every soul I come in contact with May feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus! Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, So to shine as to be a light to others; The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine; It will be you, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me. Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You. Amen.