Unique DSPT Program
TWO DEGREES IN THREE YEARS
MA Philosophy & MA Theology

This program is the reason I am here. Here, I can study ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy as well as the Church Fathers, Saint Thomas, and modern theological questions. Along with this, I have the opportunity to take classes at UC Berkeley from some of their best-known philosophy professors, from the very people who are advancing movements in contemporary analytic philosophy, as well as have full access to their extensive library. I am afforded a unique opportunity here at DSPT to learn the Tradition of the Church and begin to probe how such a Tradition can relate to modern and contemporary philosophical and theological questions.

- Christopher Ragusa, Concurrent MA Philosophy/MA Theology

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Homily from the Feast of Saint Dominic

Yesterday, for the feast of Saint Dominic, the prior and superior of Saint Albert's, Fr. Reginald Martin, OP, said and preached the Mass. The following is the homily he gave. While this is not from a student brother, it might be considered one of the examples of preaching to which we aspire:

In the last couple of weeks, Fr. Augustine Thompson and I had the chance to visit a number of fabled cities built on hills. I confess, to my embarrassment, that I had hitherto, appreciated them for their scenic beauty, but this go-round Fr. Augustine’s scholarship helped me realize the immense responsibility citizens must be willing to embrace when they undertake to build their city on a hill.

The strategic advantages are obvious, of course, but once your life cannot be hidden, you must make all sorts of provisions and take all sorts of precautions that your more secluded neighbors don’t have to worry about. Noblesse oblige, after all, or – as we learned when we were growing up, beauty is, as beauty does.

Which is why no one lights a lamp to hide it. We may take light for granted, but it was extremely valuable – and costly – for Jesus and his contemporaries. It’s no wonder the ancients should have considered light an ordering principle, or that God should have created it first.

Physicists can tell us what light is, but we don’t need to be scientists to know what light does; it makes things safe and it makes them warm. But it does so by making them bright. When the Albigensians let their ears be tickled by a dualist fable that denied the Incarnation, St. Dominic countered with the light of his study. He got the Albigensians’ attention by studying their doctrine to understand it well enough to point out its errors.

The dictionary defines “study” as “the application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge…by reading, investigation, or reflection….” St. Dominic didn’t invent study, but he invested it with a purpose that was wholly his own. Benedictines study a great deal. They may become smart along the way, but Benedictines study to become holy.

The Franciscans have produced great scholars, but legends say that St. Francis himself was suspicious of school. Fr. Augustine’s book will probably deny this, so let’s repeat it one last time. St. Francis is reported to have said,

The Lord told me that He would have me poor and foolish in this world and that He willed not to lead us by any way other than that.

A Dominican’s study is an act of piety ordered to an end outside of us. It may not make us holy, but it ought to make us smart – at least smart enough to cause the people we preach to, to think – and to call them to God. Study is our obligation, and everyone we preach to has the right to expect it of us.

How beautiful, Isaiah tells us, are the feet of the one who brings Good News. Notice, it’s the preacher’s feet that are beautiful, not the shoes. The light of Christ equips us to look beneath the surface of things, to penetrate to the truth. As St. Dominic did when the Albignesians said that matter and spirit are so opposed that God could never be united with something so fallen as this flesh, or reveal Himself in anything so corrupt as food and drink.

We are the light of the world, Our Savior tells us – a light that makes things bright, keeps them safe and makes them warm. Warmth may not be a quality we immediately associate with St. Dominic, but one of his peers wrote,

... the tranquil composure of the inner man was revealed outwardly by the kindliness and cheerfulness of his expression [which] easily won the love of everybody. Without difficulty he found his way into people’s hearts as soon as they saw him.

“As soon as they saw him.” Like that city on a hill. The life of our founder, no less than the example from the gospel, warns us, if we’re going to enjoy the prominence, we must be prepared to embrace the responsibility.

--- Posted by Ambrose Sigman, OP

Gospel Text: Mark (9:38–43, 45, 47–48)

Reflection preached at Vespers
September 26, 2009 at St. Albert’s Priory

John does not like the fact that other people are preaching, healing, and witnessing in Jesus’ name. It’s as if he was thinking something like, “Hey, you over there! Were you one of the chosen Twelve? Hello! Jesus, stop him.” This is yet another example where Jesus chose ordinary, flawed, people to continue His work after His departure. John is suffering from the sin of pride, exclusiveness. Now instead of complying with John’s desires, Jesus flips it and says not just to John, but also to us: “…and if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” What it is, really, is advice, or a warning about the nature of sin and how destructive it can be. Even the smallest of sins, unchecked, can snowball into an uncontrollable force. So taking care of the problem while it is small is not only prudent, but also much less painful than having to take care of it later.

One of the things that I did in my life prior to becoming a Dominican was computer network forensics—basically I would look for clues as to how computing resources in an organization have been used or misused. These cases were challenging and rewarding in the sense that they were complicated puzzles to be solved. And… working with the FBI and the Secret Service was kind of cool. Anyway, a client would call me in because they suspected that one or more of their employees were doing something unusual with the computer network. And it was my job to uncover facts—and let those facts speak for the actions of the suspected employee. I have to say that it was a rather sobering job because it exposed to me an unsavory side of humanity—those that have become criminals. In my day I’ve seen evidence that has implicated employees who have (1) stolen intellectual property; (2) run their own business; (3) embezzled millions of dollars; (4) and even laundered money from other activities.

I would have to say that in most of these cases, not all, the employees started out as common, ordinary, workers. They had families; perhaps they even went to church. They did their job; took ownership in their work; and had genuine concern for their company and its mission. But how in the world did they get from model employee to criminal? Well, it didn’t happen overnight. In virtually every case, the employees at one point did something minor—perhaps even by accident—and found out that nobody noticed. It probably wasn’t illegal and it might have been completely within company policy. But this knowledge haunted them; and it taunted them; and it tempted them. It was secret. So they did it again with more risk but higher rewards; and again and again. Alarm bells in their mind were probably going off; but with a secret, only you yourself can help you, and they rationalized their conscience away. Allured by the fruits of their behaviors, they lost perspective; truth escaped them and they became addicted, or slaves, to their behavior and their conversion to the dark side was complete. Ironically, it was the very technology that enabled them to commit crime that became their undoing. Their eventual exposure ripped through not only their lives, but also the lives of their friends and families.

Okay, so you and I are not criminals. And hopefully we will never find ourselves on the other side of the law. But do these cases teach us anything? They most certainly do. Do we sometimes secretly lust after something or someone? Do we belittle people in the secret of our hearts in order to elevate ourselves (like the sin of John)? Do we secretly fail to forgive others who have wronged us, choosing hatred or revenge? Are we secretly envious of others and their successes? The list goes on. And so we can see that sin needs to be cut off at first sight before it consumes us and causes us to change, just like it did with those employees.

And how do we perform this surgery, this metaphorical amputation? In an age where so much sin can be done in secret, it is that much more important to counter it with its opposite—disclosure. We need to recognize our sins; confess them aloud; and avoid them in the future. We don’t do it alone; we are given help. With all of the sacraments (not just confession), we are given grace and strength—tools that build our up our consciences. And while we will likely find ourselves sinning again we will be much more equipped to defend ourselves. How terrible things can get by sinfully responding to temptation. This is why “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.”

---Corwin Low, OP