Sing a New Song

fr. Timothy Radcliffe, Master of the Order of Preachers, writes in this collection of essays on the Dominican, religious and Christian vocation. "It is true that our vows may seem crazy to our contemporaries--especially in the West. In a society which rightly sees freedom as fundamental to human dignity, how can we take a vow of obedience? When sexual realization is seen as central to human fulfilment, then how can we vow to be chaste? In the world of consumerism, then it seems senseless to promise poverty. Yet it is precisely because our lives go against the grain of the times that religious life has more to say than ever before, and not just to Christians . . . . Each of us only has a few coins to rattle around in his box, as someone said, like a beggar, which is what a Dominican is supposed to be."