A friend once asked me about the thought process that went into my decision to join the Dominican Order. “To be honest, I actually didn’t think much about it,” was my reply. Before I could proceed to explain, my friend interrupted, “Well, that’s hard to believe! Isn’t it your job as a Dominican to think? It doesn’t seem fitting for someone joining the Dominican Order to not think about his vocation.”

Life is full of questions. From the time we wake up to the time we spend on the clock to the time we have for relaxation—we ask questions all the time: What’s next? Where do I go from here? When is the next thing going to happen? Am I doing this correctly? Questions pervade our daily life; they occupy our minds. Our questions can be as mundane as “What is today’s date?” or as life-determining as “How am I going to pay for these bills?” When we ask a question, we wish to receive an answer: What’s next? This is next. Where do we go? Let’s go there.

I am pumped! We are organizing a table tennis tournament at the priory next week (in cloister) to determine who will be the undisputed Dominican table tennis champion of the priory. One of the things I am doing to prepare the brothers is instructing them on the basic rules of table tennis. These rules can be a bit intimidating and can seem a bit too restrictive of what one can or can’t do. If someone has been used to playing table tennis a certain way and all of a sudden gets told she has been doing it all wrong, then her chances of winning the gold medal can be seriously hurt. What used to be a wicked awesome serve in one’s basement can be reduced to mediocrity in order to conform to a bunch of highly technical rules.

Do you ever get silly tunes stuck in your head? I know my Dominican brothers are going to tease me about this, but I recently re-watched the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and I have the “Oompa Loompa song” stuck in my head.

I have to admit that the Oompa Loompas are my favorite characters in the movie. They are happy little people with a simple creed: If you behave and have a good moral character, you will live in happiness, too, like the Oompa Loompa (do-ba-dee-doo).

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

The last published book of Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990), is a popular gift for graduating high school and college seniors and for anyone who is about to begin life’s next exciting journey. Great optimism abounds when the doors of the past have been closed and the gateway to future opportunity is in sight. Having achieved a great personal accomplishment, one can emerge with a sense of confidence and even entitlement, feeling empowered to take on the challenges of the world. 

When I was growing up, my mother always insisted that my room should be kept clean. Initially, cleaning my room served as a punishment, but eventually I learned to appreciate the benefits of a clean room. I came to realize that if I was sharing my room with a foul odor, moldy food, and ants, then there was a problem—my room had to be cleaned.

Peter Parker learned an important lesson from his Uncle Ben: If you have power, use it for doing good. The lesson is simple enough, but is there not a contradiction here? Can power and goodness coexist? Today, “power” often brings to mind the vicious realities of oppressive dictatorships, corrupt politics, heartless bullying, and abusive relationships—an association which is understandable for those who have themselves experienced the tyrannical abuse of power. Using one’s power for selfish ends is precisely the kind of action that Uncle Ben warns against. Unfortunately, God, who is all-powerful, is sometimes seen as using his power in this self-centered way.

There is much cause for rejoicing in the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. Not only will we soon celebrate (with great liturgical solemnity) the feast days of Our Holy Father Dominic on August 8 and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15, but we also look forward (with great anticipation) to new beginnings for many of our Dominicans friars.

A recent massive storm left millions of people in the nation, such as in the Washington, D.C. area, without electricity, including this student writer of the Dominicana blog. The lack of AC to mitigate the unbearable summer heat combined with the inability to turn on a computer at the Dominican House of Studies has made the task of writing for Dominicana uncomfortable and difficult to manage.

Despite these obstacles, I have taken some delight in sitting at my desk with a pen in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

The other day at the dentist, as he was scraping away the plaque off my teeth, I found myself thinking about the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now God doesn’t wear a surgical mask or have a waiting room full of Highlights magazines, but in some ways he is like a dentist; for just as our teeth need constant care and attention, so too does our soul.