Novena to St Dominic - Day 7

Guy Bedouelle o.p. provided me with a starting point for my reflection on St Dominic. In his book ‘The grace of the Word’ he has this to say:

When Dante called St Dominic “the passionate lover of the Christian Faith” he referred to the entire life of the Father of Preachers, to his unflagging eagerness to bear witness to this faith, to defend it and to transmit it. If St Dominic yearned to penetrate Catholic teaching through study, to be able to expound it in persuasive terms, if he aspired to affirm it in every way in order to “strengthen his brethren”, it was because his own faith was flawless and intense.”

He goes on to say that

Christ is the centre of faith and its source. It is through Him that we embrace all that the Church believes. The theology of St. Dominic, if we may speak of the theology of one who left no written works, seems based entirely on Redemption through Christ, from which everything else in Christian teaching radiates.

The Christ who had saved Dominic, this Jesus whom he contemplated, followed and preached was the Son of God, the Redeemer. When Dominic exhorted his brethren to prayer he said only this “Let us think of our Saviour” (Bolognia, 41)

“Let us think of our Saviour.” Through this little phrase we see into the heart of Dominic and get an insight into the source from which all his apostolic zeal and activity flowed.

Dominic’s eyes are ever on Jesus. “He spoke only to God or of God” we are told. Dominic always turns us towards Jesus; to make Jesus known and loved is his sole preoccupation. He spent his nights with Jesus in prayer and his days in graced filled preaching; a preaching supported by the witness of his life.

Through their encounters with Dominic people were able to meet Jesus and come to know him as their Saviour only because Dominic had met Jesus and knew him intimately as his Saviour.

Fast knit to Christ Crucified Dominic’s heart was at one with Christ’s own longing for everyone to know the Father’s love for them in a personal and intimate way through the experience of faith. It was this ardent desire that motivated him to spend himself in being all things to all people in the hope that he might lead some of them to Christ. His constant prayer was for that true charity capable of labouring for and procuring the salvation of souls. That charity which was so in evidence in his life, he learned at the foot of the Cross where with Mary he lingered long and lovingly contemplating the love of God made visible in Jesus. The crucified Christ was for him the model of total self giving. As Jesus was so Dominic became, totally divested of self. His prayer was always to God and for others. “O God, what will become of sinners” became for him the cry of a heart completely configured the heart of Jesus. It was here at the foot of the Cross that Dominic experienced for himself the mercy and compassion that nourished his spirit and served as the focal point for his preaching. His own encounter with Christ directed all his interactions. As he was himself loved by Jesus so he loved others and in so doing won numerous people to God.

Dominic we pray to you in the words of Bl. Jordan:

“You having once begun the way of perfection left all in order to follow naked the naked Christ, preferring to pile up treasure in Heaven. But with even greater strength did you renounce yourself and manfully bearing the Cross, you chose to follow the footsteps of the sole true guide- the redeemer.

You who sought the salvation of the human race with so much zeal come to our aid. ‘Be for us “Dominicanus” that is a careful watchdog of the lord’s flock.