St. Martin de Porres Shrine & Institute

04/07/2023

Confessions will be available today (Good Friday) in the shrine chapel from 6:00 AM to 11:40 AM and after the 12:05 Good Friday Service.

04/07/2023

Come let us adore!

03/14/2023

With a sad, yet hopeful heart, we announce that Fr. Alberto Rodríguez, OP passed away on Friday, March 10, 2023.

02/23/2023

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Today’s Mass Readings seem to be in contradiction. In Deuteronomy, we are urged to choose life, not death. Obeying the laws of God will result in long life and prosperity. The Responsorial Psalm assures us that the just man will prosper while the wicked are "like chaff driven away in the wind." Yet, Jesus says in the Gospel that whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus' sake will save it. Here it certainly sounds like he is saying to choose death, not life. However, in choosing death for his sake, we will have life. This is the great paradox of love. In loving, we sacrifice our selfishness, our time, and our talent. Love requires true death, yet only in loving are we considered truly alive. Love grows through a million acts of self-forgetfulness as we focus on the good of the other and love slowly dies through a million acts of selfishness as we turn in on ourselves.

Our Lenten penances are meant to strike at our self-absorption, sacrificing creature comforts to open our hearts to God and our neighbor. They are not meant to be a source of spiritual pride. The goal is not to set a track record of perfectly kept penances so we can congratulate ourselves on our strong willpower. Christ tells us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. We know he himself fell under the weight of his cross, and we will surely fall time and time again under the weight of our selfishness, but Jesus carried his cross perfectly because he carried it out of love. And this is how we can carry our crosses as well. In the end, Deuteronomy and Psalm number one will be right, not that we will necessarily achieve success, prosperity, and long life in this world, but we will possess and be possessed by Eternal Life itself.

Sr. Mary Rose Carlin, OP
Monastery of the Infant Jesus
Lufkin, TX

Credit to opsouth.org

02/21/2023

So, what is the Church asking me to do during Lent?

02/20/2023

In these days leading up to Lent, ask not what do I want to give up for Lent. Rather, what is God asking me to do for Lent. Music used with permission - OneLicense No. A-727055

02/13/2023

02/11/2023

https://www.actionnews5.com/video/2023/02/11/area-catholic-schools-host-day-peace-event/

02/10/2023

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. John 14:27 What a day of peace and joy celebrating with the next generations of peacemakers for our time!

02/10/2023

Today the St Martin de Porres Shrine & Institute will host its largest event in many years. Over 600 high school students and faculty from across West Tennessee will gather for a DAY OF PEACE! In a world surrounded by violence, Christ’s Peace still reigns. St Martin de Porres, pray for us!

01/27/2023

Dear Parishioners of St. Peter Catholic Church, Pilgrims of St. Martin de Porres National Shrine & Institute, and Friends of the Dominican Friars of Memphis,

The Dominican Friars of Memphis join our community in praying for the soul of Tyre Nichols and for the comfort of his family during this horrible time. For over 182 years, the friars and parishioners of St. Peter have seen some of the worst scenes in our city’s history. From the bloodshed of the Civil War, the tragic outbreak of yellow fever, the assassination of one of our nation's brightest lights, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and now this senseless act of violence resulting in the death of Tyre Nichols. Despite these dark times, the friars have remained at St. Peter preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We now join Tyre Nichols' family in praying for peace this weekend and for justice in these months and years ahead.

As participants in this Dominican heritage in our city, the Dominican Friars of Memphis will remain on the campus of St. Peter this weekend and will continue our Dominican tradition of praying and preaching peace in Downtown Memphis. Therefore, St. Peter Catholic Church will remain open for all regular mass times this weekend (5:00 PM Vigil on Saturday & 8:30 AM and 11:00 AM on Sunday). The St. Martin de Porres National Shrine will also remain open for weekday mass next week (Monday through Friday at 12:05 PM).

May God bless you and your families as we become the peacemakers needed for our time.

Fr. John Dominic Sims, OP
Fr. James Martin Nobles, OP
Fr. John Lydon, OP
Dominican Friars of Memphis

12/31/2022

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.