Novena to St Dominic - Day 5

A Reflection on St Dominic and Prayer, given by one of our sisters, for the fifth day of our Novena to St Dominic

Taken from the book, "St Dominic" by Alain Quilici, O.P.

It is said that saints are most in tune with their sinfulness and the sinfulness of the world. They are, like Dominic, so close to the Lord that they feel his great pain at this sinful world, and are pained to the deepest parts of their being as well. Dominic suffered with the Lord because he united himself with the one who united God and mankind. Jesus Christ, in his passion, gave himself totally to the Father for love of us; Dominic follows this path, seeking the suffering of the passion as a path to deeper union to and an expression of love for Jesus Christ.

Dominic contemplated the crucifix with an incomparable penetration – his prayer tends to be united with Christ’s prayer. It becomes identified with the passion of the Lord Jesus: his passion for his Father, his passion for the salvation of mankind, his loving passion and his painful passion. The summit of Jesus’ prayer is his prayer on the cross, this prayer about which we know only a few fragments, a few cries, but about which we presume is filled with immeasurable love. Dominic had the grace to perceive something from Jesus’ prayer of agony. His sons and daughters are invited to participate in the grace of communion with Jesus’ sacrifice. For this sacrifice does not come freely. It is the price that is paid for the salvation of souls. Not the price that God requires, but the price that each of us should pay in order to show what part one is willing to play in God’s concern to save all mankind.

Jesus took the best part. It will not be taken away from him. The martyrs who received the grace to shed their blood like their Lord come next. That is why Brother Dominic wanted to be a martyr. He did not want it for himself. He was not concerned with that. But he wanted to go all the way to the gift of his own life. He wanted the love within him to bring fruit worthy of the love that God himself, manifested for the poor creatures that we are. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.2:5)