Join the Chapter members on Saturday, May 21, 2022 @ 10:00 o'clock a.m., at St. Mark's Catholic Church, 7960 W Northview St, Boise, ID 83704, in the Donoghue Hall.   You may attend via Zoom, see Zoom address below. 
The Chapter meeting will commence with Rosary and Liturgy of the Hours, plus fellowship, presentation by members, and discussion among Chapter members.  Readings for the meeting:

A.  The Dominican Life, by by Ferdinand Joret, O.P.: read pages 1 - 27. LINK
B.  Read or Review: The Pillars of Dominican Life: Veritas. LINK

ZOOM ADDRESS:
 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85311449906?pwd=L0V4SnlPdVVHZ2dJNTBZM25OZjRSQT09
Meeting ID:  853 1144 9906   PW: 1170

Letter of St. Thomas to a student about the Method of Study:

     Because you have asked me, John, my dearest friend in Christ, how you should study to amass the treasure of knowledge, such is the advice I give to you.
      You should choose to enter not immediately into the ocean depths, but rather through small streams, for one should reach more difficult matters by going through the easier ones first. This is, therefore, my admonition and your instruction.
          -- I bid you be slow to speak and slow to approach the [“chatroom"] parlor.
          -- Embrace purity of conscience.  Do not fail to have time for prayer.
         -- You should frequently choose your own room if you wish to be led into the wine cellar.
         -- Present yourself as amiable to all. Do not look for deep, hidden meanings in the deeds of others. To no one should you show yourself to be too familiar, because too much familiarity gives birth to contempt and provides from its eagerness the raw material for backsliding. You should in no way involve yourself concerning the words and deeds of worldly people.
         -- Above all else you should flee from common conversation. You should not fail to imitate the steps of the saints and all good people.
        -- You should not consider the source from which you hear something, but whatever good is spoken, commit it to memory.
         -- Those things that you read and hear, make sure that you understand them. Make yourself certain about doubtful matters and make it your business to shelve in the bookcase of your mind whatever you can, as if desiring to fill a vase.
         -- Do not seek the matters that are above you.
 
     Following those well-known paths, you will bring forth and produce, as long as you have life, branches and fruits useful in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts. If you eagerly follow these points, you will be able to attain that which you are striving after.
 

     The Dominican Life, by Ferdinand Joret, O.P. (1937).  A book about the Lay Dominicans, also identified as the Lay Fraternities or Third Order of St. Dominic. The objective of the Third Order is Holiness, as it states in the book of Matthew: "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Also in Vatican II: In Lumen Gentium, para. 40, it calls the Laity to Holiness:

"...all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; ...They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor." 

    The book is an introduction to postulants and novices, as well as the professed, on the life of a Third Order Dominican.  It comes highly recommended.  Click on the title above for a link to the book on this website.  The book can also be purchased online. Below is from the introduction to the book, calling Dominicans to holiness and perfection: 

SECTION I:  THE AIM OF THE THIRD ORDER

1. TO LEAD TO PERFECTION

Canon Law commends those of the faithful who join the associations which the Church has either founded or approved (Canon 684).
            These associations are of different kinds, according to the object which they have in view.  If they have instituted to further particular pious practices or works of charity they are generally described as “pious associations” or “sodalities” and some of them entitled to call themselves “confraternities” (Canon 707).  So we get such organizations as the Association for the Propagation of the Faith, the Confraternities of the Rosary and of the Blessed Sacrament.
            Above these associations, in a completely separate category, the Church places the secular Third Orders.  “Secular Tertiaries,” she states, are those faithful who, living in the world under the direction of a religious order and according to its spirit, striver to attain to Christian perfection in the secular life through following rules approved for them by the Holy See” (Canon 702).
            The difference is obvious at once. In this case it is no longer simply a question of devoting oneself to some charitable or pious work—of furthering by alms and prayers the propagation of the Faith, of reciting the rosary once a week, of adoring the Blessed Sacrament at certain times.  These are all laudable works in which a Tertiary [Lay Dominican] also may take part, but the motive for his entrance into a third Order is desire for perfection.  He hopes by that means to strive more effectually to attain to Christian perfection.
            A person remains in the world.  One day, maybe, he will be able to leave it to enter a religious order where the attainment of Christian perfection will be made easier for him: that is his aspiration.   Possibly, however, hindrances of some sort, such as chronic ill-health or “insuperable obligations,” will definitely and finally preclude him from every realizing his ambition.
            Sometimes that aspirations is wholly lacking, and all that is desired is to be attached to some special Order, to follow its direction and to imbibe its spirit whilst continuing to lead a secular life in the world.  Candidates for a third order may, and indeed do, differ widely in these and many other  respects, but they must be at one in regarding it as their chief object in life to become perfect.
            The Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of the secular third Order of St. Dominic, sets forth that aime in the very first paragraph.  It returns to it with more detail in the second. “The object of the third Order is the sanctification of its members or the practice of a more perfect form of Christian life.”  Before anyone can be admitted into a Fraternity or Chapter, it must be proved and established “in the prudent judgment of the Director [Religious Assistant]” that the postulant is sincerely desirous of striving after perfection (II.8).
            If, however, it should come to pass that someone is admitted into the third Order for some less worthy reason, in a waive of enthusiasm or under the  influence of a feeling of sympathy, all hope is not lost for him and those who have charge of his soul.  Such souls may derive encouragement from what St. Catherine of Siena writes in her Decalogue [(Ch. CLVIII)] about those who have thus entered religion.
            “The important point,” she remarks, “is for them to practice virtue and to persevere until death in so doing. (Yes, what is important is not so much to begin well as to end well.) … Not a few there are who have presented themselves after having kept the commandments perfectly, but who have subsequently looked back or have remained in the Order without advancing in the way of perfection.  The circumstances or the dispositions with which they took passage in the ship are prepared and will by Me who have called them in divers ways.” (God is speaking.) “But it is not from these preliminary conditions, be it said once more, that one can judge of their perfection: that depends entirely upon the interior spirit with which they persevere in real obedience, once they are within the Order.”
            We are, all of us, very imperfect beings, lacking in many things, and we are confronted with the life-long task of completing and perfecting ourselves.
            Exterior works, such as discovery and development of the world about us by means of the sciences, the arts and crafts, are all very well.  It is also good for us to understand, maintain and improve that physical matter which is so closely joined to us as to form one body with us: our health is important.  Sports may be encouraged and the laws of hygiene should always be respected.  But before any of these things, I am entrusted by God with the paramount duty of developing myself morally, and of bringing to its appointed end the being that I intrinsically am, my own true self.  By constant and progressive effort I ought to be fashioning myself “in such wise that at length eternity may change me into myself.” 
            This, then is to be my aim, my only aim, to become perfect and eventually to blossom forth into that which I am at present only a germ.  Left in the hands of my own counsel with his object in view, I have it in my own power to deviate from any right course.  If I do so, I shall be nothing but a failure: I shall have failed to fulfil my destiny.
            God conceived my being and set it in the world willing that it should fulfil itself, that is should even surpass itself in supernatural beauty.  Reason and grace, whereby I personally participate in the idea and will of my Creator, urge me to realize this perfection in spite of all opposing tendencies which tempt me to evil.  The deep voice of my conscience enjoins what is right.  Be what you are!
            We shall see presently what it is that constitutes this perfection; but for the moment let us grasp the only great principle which underlies and dominates everything in our Tertiary life, as indeed in every truly moral life.
            It is not a matter of adding other practices to those we already have, and of making out for ourselves a list of meticulous observances.  No, dear Brothers and Sisters, of the Third Order, what is all-important is to gain a clearer and stronger conception of our final goal, to have a greater anxiety for perfection.
 

"I think I am a better scientist bcause my faith is grounded in the Catholic Church."  Karin Oberg, Ph.D., Harvard University.  Go to www.aquinas101.com

On Saturday, October 16, 2021, at the Chapter's 2021 Colloquium at St. Paul's Catholic Student Center in Boise, the Chapter joyfully received and professed the following members: From L to R:  Tom Lester; Andrew Bartel; Bonnie Keenan; Brendan Earle; Emily Gossard; Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P.; Alexandra Johnson; Katherine Lockyer; Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.; and (seated) David Charnock.  Not pictured:  Joanne Baker; Joseph Rekiere; and Brian Walker. 

Members of the Blessed Margaret of Castello Chapter in Idaho, welcome you to the Chapter's website, dominicanidaho.org.  The Chapter meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Boise, Idaho at 10:00 o'clock a.m., with prayer, discussion and fellowship.  The Members are committed to the practice and holiness of the Rule of St. Dominic for the Laity.

You are welcome to attend.  Check our calendar not only for the monthly meetings but periodic events, such as its annual Magdalene Retreat, held on or near the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, celebrated on the 22nd of July of each year.  In addition, we will notify other events such as Chapter encore, visits by the Friars, and other key Dominican events.

The Chapter is known as the Third Order of St. Dominic, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax exempt Idaho nonprofit corporation; in affiliation with, and under the authority of, the Most Holy Name of Jesus Province of the Dominican Friars in the western United States of America.
 

May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and be with you all the days of your life.   Would you like more information via email?  Click on the following link: REGISTER

1.  The Dominican Life, by Ferdinand Joret, O.P..  A book about the Lay Dominicans, also known as the Third Order of St. Dominic.  
2.  Private Property and the Common Good: Why the Road to Universal Destination Travels through Private Ownership, by Rev. Fr. Bradley T. Elliott, O.P.
3.  Open Letter to Fr. Wojciech Gołaski re: SSPX, by Andrew Bartel (Resources -> Chapter Member's Anthology) (Also see this LINK (Catholic World Report).
4. The First Four Principles (of Science) (from Metaphysics by Dr. Dennis McInerny).   LINK (Formation -> Study)
5.  Exorcism Prayer Against Satan (Public Use by Priest or Private Home Use).  Pope Leo XIII.  LINK (ABOUT/PRAYER -> Prayer)
6.  Biblical: The Divinity of the Trinity -- by Fr. Dennis Gordon, FSSP  LINK  (Formation -> Study)
7.  Catholic Bible Versions  LINK  (Formation -> Bible Study)
8.  PRAYER.  Divinum Officium Ribris 1960 (Divine Office)
9.  PRAYER:  Litany of St. Margaret of Castello
10.  PRAYER:  St. John Paul Society -- Rosary Meditation
11.  RESOURCES:: Chapter Members' Compendium:: "Global Activism as the Chapter Apostolate?" or "The Encounter of Bartimeus" or "St. Dominic Was Known for his Humility."

[Dated: May 29, 1537]

The Chapter's Religious Assistant, is Fr. Peter Do, O.P.,, Prior, Holy Rosary Parish, Portland Oregon.