Novena to St Dominic - Day 9
Humbert of Romans recounts for us some of the last words of our holy Father: “Here, dearest brethren, is what I bequeath to you as sons, as to your rightful inheritance. Have charity, keep hold of humility, possess voluntary poverty.” I have often reflected on these parting words of our holy Father, but what caught my attention during this past week was the fact that this is Dominic’s bequest to his sons and daughters as our rightful inheritance. In other words, Dominic makes us heirs of what was for him the foundation of his spirituality and the source of his apostolic fruitfulness – charity, humility and voluntary poverty.Charity, humility and voluntary poverty – the witnesses at his canonisation process spoke eloquently of these virtues and characteristics of Dominic. They do not focus on great visions or extraordinary experiences, but we hear of a humble man who wished to be called brother Dominic, one who was always kind, gentle, compassionate, merciful, detached from his own self-will, disciplined and self-restrained, a lover of poverty, one who walked continually in the presence of God and spoke only to God and about God; he preferred to preach in Carcassonne, where he was insulted and treated badly rather than in Toulouse where he was admired.
Dominic had an intense prayer life spending whole nights in prayer. During the long hours spent praying and meditating at the foot of the Cross – the Book of Love - he had learned to imbibe these virtues from the example of his Master to Whom he wished to be conformed – to become another Christ and say with St Paul: “I live now not I, but Christ lives in me.” There, at the foot of the Cross, we come to understand how much our Saviour loves us and the price of our salvation. In the presence of such love, we are faced with the question “will I surrender to this love or will I resist? As we can read from the accounts of his life, Dominic responded wholeheartedly, with all his God-given qualities of body, mind and spirit and he desired that his sons and daughters would generously respond as he did for he knew that this was the source of his freedom and joy in the face of difficulty and trial.
In a recent homily, Pope Leo XVI, quoting Cardinal Ratzinger, spoke about “submitting ourselves to the logic of the seed – which is not that of success and greatness, but of making ourselves small and serving others; like small seeds of the Gospel that sprout, and leavens of love that transform the dough of the world.” Dominic who loved the Gospel of St Matthew, was familiar with these parables of the seed – he trusted that God’s Will was being fulfilled and his Kingdom coming through his faithfulness to the Holy Spirit’s inspirations moment by moment.
As we celebrate his feast may he intercede for us and may God who manifested the tenderness and humanity of Christ in Dominic, transform us all in the image of that same Christ. Amen.
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