Godzdogz

The blog of the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars, Oxford.

Built on the four pillars of our Dominican life – preaching, prayer, study, and community – Godzdogz offers many resources for exploring the Catholic Faith today.
Read more.

All Saints

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

As our holy father Dominic lay dying, he addressed his brothers saying ‘Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.’ In this, he echoed the desires of saints across the ages, to spend eternity doing good on earth. The saints, being more closely united with Christ continue to intercede for us with the Father, and through a loving concern for us, help us through this world. Read more

Year of Mercy: Psalm 102(103)

Monday, March 14, 2016

“In the Psalms, we drink divine praise at its pure and stainless source, in all its primitive sincerity and perfection,” teaches Thomas Merton. I must confess that, whilst I’m sure Thomas Merton is right, I have had to learn to to love the Psalms. It certainly did not come automatically to me, although singing them together with the brothers helped me find a ‘technique’ for making their prayer my own. Over the years the Psalms collected in the Divine Office have become like old friends, ever fresh and ever new as they recur in their comforting cyclical regularity. In their familiarity—and despite their cyclical recurrence—they continue to surprise, comfort, console, and confront. It has been a gift and a delight to receive the obligation of praying them.

Year of Mercy: Pope Francis's Episcopal Motto

Friday, March 11, 2016

‘What are Pope Francis’s links with the north east of England?’, is not, I imagine, a question that has crossed your mind recently. Perhaps you would be surprised to be learn that there was one link, let alone two? Read more

Year of Mercy: Bl. Jean-Joseph Lataste, OP

Monday, February 29, 2016

Jean-Joseph Lataste was born in Cadillac, near Bordeaux, in France in 1832. After his study, he became a civil servant. While working in various cities around Bordeaux, he was an active member of the Society of Saint Vincent of Paul. However, since he was a child, Jean-Jospeh was thinking about a possible vocation to the priesthood. During his study in Bordeaux, he got to know Lacordaire and turned to him when he started to deepen his vocation to religious life. Eventually, Jean-Joseph Lataste joined the Dominican Order in 1857, some 18 years after Lacordaire, who had re-established it in post-revolutionary France. Read more

Third Sunday of Lent: Don't be an Orc; let God's love make you great

Sunday, February 28, 2016

There’s an all-too-common line of thought that says, ‘I’m not a bad person; I try not do others any harm’ as if that’s the extent of the moral life. I overheard it in a conversation only the other day. There are two things that bother me when I hear this and they’re really two sides of the same coin. The first is that the person has too high self-regard and the second is that they have too little self-concern. This attitude relies on the common misconception that sin is primarily about doing other people harm. Read more

Year of Mercy: Magnificat

Friday, February 26, 2016

In response to the news from Gabriel that she was to bear the Son of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Gospel of Luke tells us, declared ‘My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour…’ Her words, found in Luke 1:46-55, have been sung by Christians ever since. The Magnificat (the song takes its name from the first word in the Latin translation)is undoubtedly a song of praise, thanksgiving and adoration. Read more

Year of Mercy: Dominican profession: what do you seek? God’s mercy and yours

Friday, February 19, 2016

On the Feast of St Michael the Archangel in 2013, my three co-novices and I lay prostrate on the cold stone floor of the Cambridge Chapel, making our simple profession, and we were asked by our Provincial: ‘What do you seek?’ Our response, as for many thousands before us: ‘God’s mercy and yours.’ Read more

St Dominic and the Preaching of Mercy

Thursday, February 04, 2016

I consider it truly providential that the Dominican Jubilee to celebrate 800 years of the Order of Preachers should overlap with Jubilee Year of Mercy. St Dominic’s life was characterised by the practise of mercy and, ever since, his example has inspired men and women to follow him in the Order as Preachers of God’s mercy. Read more