I'm officially Brother Jeff in the Eastern Province of the Order of Preachers!

you can read about my class and see a picture of us all here

I'll be praying for everyone!

Brother Jeff

Br. Jeffrey Reese, OP! Congratulations! (Why didn't you take a religious name though?)

But, congratulations!

Congratulations!!!

Congrats

CONGRATULATIONS !! Brother Jeffrey

Oh yes. Bring on the dancing bananas.

Prayers for you for sure.

praise God!

thanks for your "yes."

Sweet!

Yaaay! Congrats!

Congratulations! Be assured of our prayers! And thank you for yours!!!!

+

ALRIGHT! Dominicans!

Our Lady of the Rosar, Pray for us!
Saint Dominic, Pray for us!

Actually, my not taking a religious name came as a pretty big surprise to me. I was set on taking the name Anselm, but as Vestition drew closer and closer, it felt less and less right. Ultimately, I figured out (through a lot of tough prayer) that the religious names I would take are all the names of great philosophers and theologians, and for me that is exactly the wrong reason to take a name. If I had taken a name like Anselm of Thomas, and taken it solely on account of their philosophy and theology, then I would have felt personally tied to a particular philosophical or theological outlook. I didn't (and don't) want to spend my life as a religious justifying the opinions of my namesake to others, or justifying why I disagree with my namesake.

That having been said, I firmly believe that taking a religious name is a good thing, and I am certain that I will be taking a devotional name at First Profession, which is traditionally an option for Dominicans. Right now I'm thinking it will be "Dominic," so after Profession I will be Brother Jeffrey Dominic Reese

Thanks for all the prayers! Please pray for our Dominican Sisters as well!

Brother Jeffrey

Congratulations! [YAY ANOTHER Dominican!!!! I'm a Dominican Freak!]

Brother, congrats! I hear you are just PACKED into the priory! Bro. Justin said some great things about you guys!

We're looking forward to your visit in the winter! We'll need to double the choc. chip recipe!

You know you are in our prayers. I hope that the above "Pray for our Dominican Sisters" included the nuns! :-)

Your sister,
Sr. Mary Catharine

Wow,
You are now Brother Jeffrey. That is just so awesome. Wow I certainly wouldn't have thought when I first met you at Dickinson College about four years ago that in four years I would be a seminarian, in a major seminary, and that you would be Br. Jeffrey. I guess that just goes to show how important a good Newman Club is to supporting vocations.
God Bless

and that i would be having a baby, waiting for my two little chickadees to become priests and perform our family's sacraments


jeff (can i still call you that? ), all i say is how proud i am of you and how it gives me such joy to see you so filled with christ's spirit.

i can't wait to introduce my little ones to bro. dominic. or fr. dominic!

and ditto for you chris, but we all know how habits put me over the top of course, i still love cassocks!


many,many prayers to you both and much, much love

Sr. Mary Catherine, I absolutely intended to include Dominican Nuns in what I said above. I mean "sister" in a simple and familial way. You should know that our entire Novice class holds all Dominican Nuns very dear to our hearts. In a very really way, you are called to be the preaching of the Brothers in the flesh. Our preaching, like Holy Scripture, is meant to edify, inspire, and inflame the heart. But just as Christ is the incarnation of the written word in the flesh of man, so you are called to be the incarnation of Dominican preaching in your charity, community life, and regular observance. We are truly dependent upon your prayers, and we can't wait to visit you all!

Oh, and Br. Justin is fantastic - you should have heard his preaching on St. Thomas Aquinas - and God willing he and I will be teaching philosophy together someday!

Chris I can't tell you how much your prayers and advice have helped me, and you should know that I am keeping you and all the seminarians at St. Charles in my prayers! (PS, cassocks rule)

Lina, I definitely wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for you. All I can say is thank you...and you better still be having kids in 7 years, because I want to baptize one of them Oh, and yes, you can still call me Jeff

Feel free to email me, and I'll try to respond whenever the technology fast isn't in effect!

Yours in Christ, Mary, and St. Dominic,

Brother Jeffrey