Feast of Saint Dominic

Happy feast of Saint Dominic to all readers of our vocations blog. Through his intercession, may many men and women be inspired by his zeal for preaching and the salvation of souls.

Less well known than his contemporary Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Dominic was not a big ostentatious leader. But the fact that the family of Dominic still exists almost 800 years since the Order was founded, it is clear that he had the gift of leadership.

On his feast day, I am reminded of his dedication to prayer and particularly his celebrated 'Nine Ways of Prayer'. Each of his nine ways of prayer are like an incarnation of humility. Whether he was on the ground prostrate, or on his knees, or standing with his arms outstretched - each way of prayer was a way in which he offered himself to God. Each way of prayer was a different way of asking for the grace to fulfill his call. These 'nine ways of prayer' help us to remember that whatever situation we find ourselves in, there is always an opportunity to ask for God's help.

In Ireland, we thank God for the growth of the Dominican family and we humbly pray today for an increase in vocations to the Dominican way of life.

Feast of Saint Dominic

Participants at the General Chapter in Trogir, Croatia July/August 2013

 

Irish Dominican Vocations would like to wish all readers of this blog a very happy feast day. Dominicans throughout the world will be celebrating the feast of our founder Saint Dominic. He continues to be our inspiration and our guide and it is heartening and encouraging to see the continuing interest in his legacy to the church - that men and women would be enthusiastic in the preaching mission and by extension bring others closer to God.

For those who contemplate the Dominican vocation, I am reminded today of the words of the former Master of the Order, Timothy Radcliffe OP, who wrote about the desire of the young friars to bring enthusiasm to the Order:

"Just as the birth of a child engages the life of all the family, so each generation of young people coming to us modifies our fraternal community. You come with your questions, for which we do not always have an answer; with your ideals which reveal sometimes our insufficiencies; with your dreams that we do not necessarily share. You arrive with your friends and your families, your culture and your tribe. You come and disturb us, and that is why we need you. You generally come with requirements that are in fact essential to our Dominican life, but we have sometimes forgotten or depreciated: a deeper community prayer life, a more beautiful, more intimate fraternity ion which we care more about one another; courage to leave our old commitments and to set off on new roads. Often, the Order is renewed because young people come and insist on trying to build the Dominican life such as they read it described in the books! Go on insisting!

We pray today through the intercession of Saint Dominic that he will inspire many more men and women to follow in his way.

Pope Benedict on the feast of Saint Dominic

Pope Benedict greeting pilgrims today on the feast of Saint Dominic.

Feast of Saint Dominic

Today, Dominicans throughout the world will celebrate on the feast of our founder, Saint Dominic de Guzman. Eight hundred years ago the first foundation of nuns in the south of France was established - the friars were founded ten years later. As a preparation for the 800th anniversary of the founding of the friars, the Order has been putting a strong emphasis on the various facets of the life of Dominic before us as a means to celebrating this milestone in the history of the Order.

Many who consider the Dominican vocation often enquire about Saint Dominic's life and what he is best known for. There are many answers to these questions but it appears to me that the best answer that we as Dominicans can give about our founder is that he was a man of the Gospel. His immediate successor, Blessed Jordan of Saxony said of him that "....everywhere he was seen as a man of the Gospel (vir evangelicus)." So it is a very important and dominant characteristic of Saint Dominic's life. When he set about writing the constitutions of the Order, Dominic described that same attitude of his brothers who were also expected to be "men of the Gospel following in the footsteps of their Saviour." It was this insistence on the preaching of the word of God that gave the Dominican Order the mandate to us the Gospel as a means for preaching and the salvation of souls.

Anyone considering taking up the challenge to live the Dominican form of life must look to Dominic's love of the Gospel as the starting point for their discernment. On this day, our earnest prayer is that this challenge will continue to be a fruitful one. Saint Dominic, pray for us.

August 8th - feast of Saint Dominic

Happy feast of our holy father Saint Dominic to all readers of this blog.

Much is written and said of our founder - he is particularly well known for his attachment to truth, his quick grasp of situations, his maturity of reflection after long periods of prayer and for a firmness in his decisions. Above all it was Dominic's capacity for love of neighbour, which he never seperated from his love of the Church, that characterised his life.

One of the more authentic sources of the life of Saint Dominic is the Libellus by Jordan of Saxony who was the successor of Dominic as head of the Order. One of my favourite quotations from that source is about Saint Dominic and compassion:

He welcomed all people into the vast embrace of his charity and, since he loved the entire world, everyone loved him. He made it his own personal rule to be happy with those people who were happy and cry with those who were sad, overflowing with religious affection and devoting himself completely to taking care of his neighbour and sympathising with people in their misery (Libellus n. 107).

My prayer on this feast day is all Dominicans and those considering following in the footsteps of Saint Dominic will participate in that same compassion that Dominic had for the world - because he wanted his followers to go out and preach prompted by the sole urge to give to people in their moral, material and spiritual poverty the response that flows from God's heart.

Saint Dominic, pray for us!

Feast of Saint Dominic

Greetings to all readers of this blog on the feast of our holy father Saint Dominic. Today is a day of great joy and celebration for all the family of Dominic as we honour the founder of the Order of Preachers.

My favourite account of the life of Saint Dominic is Saint Dominic and His Times by Marie Humbert Vicaire OP (Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1964). Towards the end of this scholarly work, Vicare tries to sum up Dominic's life and mentions the many great qualities of the man - administrator, joyful friar, spiritual father, confessor and so on. But it is the following quotation on Dominic the preacher that means much to me:

Undeniably, he was born to be a Preacher. He had the temprament for it. Simple, without inhibitions, generous, heroic, he naturally gave the best of himself. Moreover, he had that liveliness of imagination that enabled him to see without difficulty the magnitude of what he was describing, whether deserving of praise or blame, and to give his words a spontaneous lyricism, a dramatic influence which made him a great orator. If he made his hearers weep, it was because he was also deeply moved, because he was convinced, and because he was speaking of that to which he had given his life. Then again it was because he loved the [men] to whom he was preaching.