Breathing Christ - Novena to St Dominic Day 9
Towards the end of his life, when the disciples of St Anthony, the father of monasticism, asked for a word of advice he replied with three words – always breathe Christ. Breathing
and respiration is a double movement – in and out. St Dominic was certainly always breathing Christ. His life, in its nights and its days, was an incessant rhythm of praying and preaching. And even Dominic’s
prayer had this rhythmic quality. At times he would be completely silent in an attitude of rapt attention to Christ, breathing in Christ. Then often with tears he would plead for those who were without Christ, in that way
breathing out Christ, sharing him with others by an intercession weighted with compassion and penance. Through his constant meditation and prayer, Dominic so imbibed Christ – the Light of the world – that he in turn became light for others. He let the Word of God be a ‘lamp
for his feet’ and a ‘light for his path’. Each evening after Compline we address Dominic as ‘Light of the Church.’ In the Libellus Bl Jordan tells us “that Dominic communed with God and the angels even while living in this mortal flesh surrounded by sinners and that the innocence and purity of
his way of life shone like a beacon in the grim darkness of the world around him.” Dominic’s way of life spoke louder than his words – it was his preaching.
As followers of Dominic and members of the Order which he founded in order to remedy the perils of his times (cf Libellus), we in our turn are called to so live that we may be beacons of hope for the people of our times. In his Apostolic Constitution VDq, Pope Francis gave us an apt description
of our vocation. I quote: “The world needs you every bit as much as a sailor on the high seas needs a beacon to guide him to a safe haven. Be beacons to those near to you and above all to those far away. Be torches
to guide men and women along their journey through the dark night of time. Be sentinels of the morning heralding the dawn. By your transfigured life and with simple words pondered in silence, show us the One who is the Way,
the Truth and the Life – the Lord who alone brings us fulfilment and bestows life in abundance.” (VDq 6)
How better can we fulfil our contemplative vocation than to be always breathing Christ in our prayer and in our daily life? Can we imagine what a power of spiritual renewal in the world
and what an offset to the pollution of the world, a community must be if it truly and fully breathes Christ. As our fundamental Constitution states: “in the midst of the Church the nuns’ growth in charity is mysteriously
fruitful for the growth of the People of God. By their hidden life they proclaim prophetically that in Christ alone is true happiness to be found here by grace and afterwards in glory. (LCM1:V)
As we celebrate his feast may our holy Father Dominic obtain this grace for us all.
0
reviews