Novena to St Dominic - Day 4
Published by Dominican Nuns Ireland in Reflections (Dominican) · 2 August 2020
Tags: St, Dominic, Lectio, Divina
Tags: St, Dominic, Lectio, Divina
In recent weeks I have been asking myself what does it
mean when we say “I give my life to the Lord”?
Yes I’m sure that we all want to give Him our ALL – after all this was
the guiding light which led us to the monastery. But how do I give my ALL? If I focus my attention on my giving I can
become very discouraged and perhaps there is a danger that I can become
oblivious to what the Lord wants to give me?
Ultimately the Lord is seeking our hearts to possess them in such a way
that He can pray his prayer and radiate His love in and through us. Once He has our hearts we can trust Him to do
that rest
The Mass Readings this morning (18th
Sunday, Cycle A) speak of God’s abundance vis
a vis human poverty and destitution.
In the first Reading from the Prophet Isaiah the invitation “come” is
extended to all who are thirsty and without money and we are assured that we
will find an abundance of food and drink.
If we “listen” and “pay attention” we will have our fill of good things
and our soul will live.
In the Gospel Jesus has pity on the multitude that
comes to him. When the disciples
complain that they cannot feed such a crowd with five loaves and two fish,
Jesus simply says: “bring them to me.” And we see the result – “all ate as much
as they wanted” and still there was plenty over. I ask myself ‘do I come to Him
with my poor broken life or am I waiting until I have armfuls of ‘works’ to
show Him?’
When reading the Libellus
of Blessed Jordan, on the Beginnings of the Order, my attention was drawn to
how Dominic drew all his strength from imbibing God’s Word in Scripture and
this is what enabled him to shine “like a beacon in the grim darkness of the
world” of his day. Blessed Jordan tells us that Dominic had a “passionate
appetite for God’s words” and that “the truth which his ears received was
stored away in the deepest recesses of his mind and guarded in his retentive
memory.” Dominic heeded the invitation from the prophet Isaiah which we heard
this morning “come, listen, pay attention.” Blessed Jordan says his “memory was
a kind of barn which God filled to overflowing with crops of every kind and his
external behaviour and actions broadcast publicly the treasure that lay hidden
in his holy breast.” Dominic “warmly
accepted the Lord’s commandments and welcomed the voice of his Lover with
loyalty and pleasure; he haunted the church by day and by night, devoting himself
ceaselessly to prayer.” And we know that his special prayer was for the gift of
true charity that he might become more and more like to his Saviour who gave
himself completely for the salvation of souls.
It is his contemplation of his Crucified Saviour that enabled Dominic to
shine among his contemporaries in a world of grim darkness.
It is through our silent listening and contemplation
of God’s Word that we in our turn will allow the light of the Gospel to shine
in our ever more darkened world. Through
Dominic’s intercession may we
become beacons, sentinels of the morning heralding the
dawn, and by a transfigured life show the people of our day the One who is the
Way, the Truth and the Life, the LORD who alone brings us fulfilment and
bestows life in abundance.” (cf VDq 6).
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