Reflections on St Dominic (3) - A Man in love with Truth

As we continue our novena to St Dominic, I have taken a few short snippets from a reflection by Fr Peter Lobo OP (India) on Dominican Spirituality. As we celebrate the 800^th Anniversary of the founding of the Order we can all renew our devotion to and love for Dominc by reflecting on a few of his traits and gifts of grace.

 Dominican Spirituality spells out the Dominican Pathway to God, even though it is not carried forward in writings, but rather in on-going lived traditions that embody the vision, spirit, charism and life-project of St Dominic and the early brethren. It is a spirituality of peculiar wholeness and balance, of great depth and liberality, which can be lived out through a pluriformity of life-styles and is capable of being a valid spiritual path for many different kinds of people.

    (i)            Dominic was a Restless Man: he never felt that he had done enough. He never fell into a rut and settled down. He always moved forward learning as he went along, critically examining and evaluating his world and its needs, on the one hand, and the apostolic services he offered it, on the other, … Dominic always wanted to be at the frontiers of the Church’s mission; he faced these frontier-situations with courage, confidence, creativity and compassion for people.

  (ii)            Dominic was an Evangelical Man: he felt the inner call from Christ to leave everything for the sake of the Gospel and engage all his energies in preaching the Good News to the waiting multitude as the apostles and disciples did: in poverty and relying on God’s unfailing providence. …

 (iv)            Dominic was a Man Passionately in Love with Truth: he listened, discerned and accepted truth whether taught in the Gospels, Church teaching, the good practices of heretics and outer counter movements, and the situations he encountered, because truth is one and all partial truths that are discovered complement each other and come eventually from the author of all truth, Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Spirit of Truth, who leads us into all the truth, God who is truth itself. For Dominic, truth was a person, God himself and accepting the truth was committing oneself to God….

(Dominican Ashram Magazine, June 1995)

We all know the centrality of the Word of God (St Matthew’s Gospel and the Letters of St Paul) in Dominic’s life. Above all Dominic was a Man of Prayer. As we heard last night, “Dominic prayed, prayed without ceasing, both night and day;” and we are all familiar with his “Nine Ways of Prayer” – his entire mission and life’s work was founded on prayer.

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

"Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... before the world was made he chose us, chose us in Christ to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence." (Eph 1:3-14)

This doctrine of our faith inspired and sustained me during my first years of Religious Life - and still does. It fired me to learn more about Christ, to enter fully into the mystery of the person of Christ. Jesus says, "Father, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent", and again, "no one can come to the Father except through me".

"God chose us" but first Jesus himself within the loving communion of the Blessed Trinity is chosen and sent by the Father, He who is so madly in love with His creatures, as St Catherine expresses it, to tell the world of this love, to redeem us even thoug we were/are sinners. The Incarnation cost Him dearly. He poured out every drop of blood for love of us and of His Father - in return rose gloriously from the dead.

The wonder of it all is that you and I are in this same Christ - we make one with Him in the Divine thought. Jesus reveals to St Catherine in her 'Dialogue', "I created souls in my image and likeness, even more, in taking human nature I made myself like one of you. Consequently, I do not cease working to make your souls like to me, as far as they are capable of it and I endeavor to renew in them, when they are tending towards heaven, all that took place in my Body". It is mind boggling but a reality - a divine reality. Faith alone can receive it as love alone has given it, Dom Marmion says.

Our life revolves around the Eucharist, the Liturgy and here we have the supreme reality of being in Christ. Fr. Barden OP, in his inspiring book "What happens at the Mass", says "in our movement to God, that we go to God in Christ is found only in the Mass and to a lesser extent in all the Sacraments. The Mass is a profession of faith, hope and charity, of that faith, hope and charity by which we move towards the Father through Christ and with Christ. But the special glory of the Mass is that by it we also move towards the Father in Christ, glorifying Him and propiating Him in Christ. O wonder of wonders, because of our baptism we can claim as our own the merit of that priestly act of oblation in Christ's mind and will by which he surrendered His living body and blood through death into the possession of His Father."

Let us answer the call of our whole being to bow down in loving surrender, adoration and awe.

Lent Week 2 - Monday

A few words on to-day’s Gospel – Lk 6:36-38:
It opens with the words: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.’ Perhaps the most important words in this passage are: ‘as your Father’. God is our Father! As the Christmas Preface puts it: “the wonder of our making is only surpassed by the wonder of our coming to life in Christ” (old translation) – i.e. by our Baptism we are inserted right into the heart of the Blessed Trinity – into the family and inner life of God. We are sons and daughters of God the Father, sisters and brothers of Jesus, the Son of God and we have the Holy Spirit living in our spirit- thus making us cry out ‘Abba, father’ and to proclaim Jesus as Lord. So that is why Jesus can ask us to have the beautiful attitude He annunciates in this Gospel passage - being compassionate, not judging, not condemning, granting pardon and giving. These attitudes do not come naturally to us – they must be desired and prayed for, cultivated and practised – then the light of Christ will shine forth in our life and actions and so glorify our Father in heaven.

St Mary Magdalene - 22nd July

Today is the feast-day of St Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, and Patroness of the Order of Preachers. We're lucky to have her! As I think about her now, you know, she's quite an inspiration, a good teacher.

In the Gospel according to John, we read:

"Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb, ..."
(John 20:8-11)

Just these few verses got me thinking - about how the disciples left and she stayed. They went home, but she had no home to go to.
JESUS was her home - that's why.
The disciples had left everything to follow JESUS, but I suppose here you could say that as yet JESUS didn't wholly possess them - they had left everything, but as yet they hadn't given Him their very selves, they didn't realise that they couldn't do without Him. So they went home ... sad? yes; ...lost? yes, probably; ...confused? surely; ...disappointed? I think definitely so. They didn't have JESUS any longer, He was gone. Where were they to go? What to do now? They had homes, they could pick up their lives again, the lives - the everything - they had left and try to keep going ... that would fill the void that JESUS had left in them.

But when JESUS reached out to Mary that first time, and saved her - she had been about as far away from Him as it is possible to be - had given up even on herself. It was a miracle, a wondrous miracle that He would even look at her, not to mind want her. But she saw that He did, and when she saw Him, she saw that He was everything and that now, knowing Him, her life would be nothing ... she would be nothing ... without Him, apart from Him.

He was her home.

He is our home.

He is my home. The ground beneath my feet.

Thank God for St Mary Magdalene, may she pray for us that we may find our way home.

‘Ah! … My Little Finger!’

THE NARROW DOOR .............


Luke 13: 22 - 30

Today’s Gospel reading from St Luke is ‘worrying’, to put it mildly – at least the thought that there are many who try to enter by the narrow door but will not succeed, isn’t what would be inclined to inspire hope, is it? … As I say, a bit worrying!

In thinking about it, though, and in trying to see behind the words, it has occurred to me that the challenge should be seen rather as an invitation – and then the hope has free reign and we can be confident, but not presumptive, in God’s mercy and His love for us, and as St Paul writes – that God wants all men to be saved. (1Tim 2:5)

So briefly – hopefully! – I was reflecting on the words of the Lord, when he says ‘I do not know where you come from’ and wondering how it might be that He would be able to say instead, ‘I know you, I know where you come from’ What can I do to make Him recognise me? More, that is, than merely claiming to have eaten and drank with him and have been on the streets where he taught?

It seems to me that it’s basically about attachment and detachment. I can say ‘I know Jesus’, and ‘I’ve heard of Him’, ‘a great man, worked miracles, saved people, forgave their sins, was crucified’ … and more – but none of that means a whole lot if I don’t commit myself to Him, attach myself to Him. And that’s not easy, because as soon as I acknowledge that He is God, it means I have to begin to really listen to Him and try to live as He invites us to. I can sit at His table, and everything He says can wash over me: in one ear, out the other – and if that’s the way I live, then He will be justified in saying ‘I do not know where you come from’.

But if I sit there – if you sit there – and let His words sink in, let them transform you and become your whole way of living in the world – then what will happen? He will recognise you, you will have become like Him; He will look at you and see reflected in you … Himself! Isn’t that amazing? I think it’s astonishingly amazing! And then He will say to me and to you ‘I do know you, I do know where you come from’. We will be acknowledging that we are children of God, that this is what we want to be, and God Who is our Father will draw us to Himself and keep us close to Him, will Himself keep close to us, in all our need of Him and in all our joy. We will be truly members of His body, … even His little finger!