Four Dominican friars took vows of obedience for life in St Saviour’s Church, Dublin, last Sunday. Brs Benedict McGlinchey OP, Ruaidhri Grieve OP, Błażej Białek OP, and Chris Gault OP, surrounded by family and friends, made solemn profession in the hands of John Harris OP, Prior Provincial of the Irish Province.

The vows themselves included, as is traditional, a promise of obedience to God, to the Blessed Virgin, to St Dominic, and to the Master of the Order and his successors. In a particularly powerful moment, after the Gospel, the brothers making profession prostrated themselves on the floor and were asked by the Provincial: “What do you seek?” Together they answered: “God’s mercy and yours”.

Drawing on the Gospel of the Day, the parable of the Prodigal Son, Fr Harris called on these four friars to live their Dominican lives imitating the mercy of the father in that parable, the mercy that they themselves had sought in joining the Order of Preachers.

All four brothers are also preparing for priestly ordination. Please keep their continued formation in your prayers, and pray for more Dominican vocations!