Novena to St Dominic 2024 - Day 1
Published by Dominican Nuns Ireland in Reflections (Dominican) · 31 July 2024
Tags: st, dominic, novena, to, st, dominic, feast, day, patron
Tags: st, dominic, novena, to, st, dominic, feast, day, patron
Novena to St Dominic - Day One
Novena Prayer
O wonderful hope,
which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death,
promising that after your decease you would be helpful to your brethren;
fulfill, Father, what you have said and help us by your prayers.
which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death,
promising that after your decease you would be helpful to your brethren;
fulfill, Father, what you have said and help us by your prayers.
V/: You shone on the bodies of the sick by so many miracles;
bring us the help of Christ to heal our sick souls.
bring us the help of Christ to heal our sick souls.
R/: Fulfill, Father, what you have said and help us by your prayers.
V/: Blessed Father Dominic, pray for us.
R/: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Reflection
The Light of the Gospel
31st of July
My reflection was originally going to be on something else entirely, but then I was struck by the text of today’s Mass Readings - the way they seem to be speaking of the current state of the Church and the world and also the links to how St Dominic responded to the crisis of his own time.
The words of Jeremiah, “both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge” (Jer 14:18), are very relevant today, when so many who should be leading others to God are in fact leading them astray. St Dominic faced a similar problem of ignorance and false teaching both among the lay faithful and those who should be ‘prophet and priest.’ He founded his Order to combat this by proclaiming the light and truth of the Gospel.
His solution/healing remedy did not just involve the preaching of truth (as vital as that is), but also the earnest and heart-felt beseeching of God for the repentance and healing of those going astray. Jeremiah says, “Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound” (Jer 14:17). And, as we know, St Dominic was renowned for the strength and depth of his love for, and sorrow over the fate of, sinners. He constantly spent his nights in prayer for them, often being so loud in his emotions that he wakened others.
And so, I see this passage from Jeremiah as a call to us to be more committed and fervent in our prayer for those who are being led astray. Both that God will raise up many Dominicans to preach the truth and be “fountains of living water” (Jn 4:14; Jer 2:13) to bring life to those lost ones and that they will accept, and respond to, the grace being offered them.
(Artwork: St Dominic, Detail from 'The Mocking of Christ' by Fra Angelico, Convent of San Marco, Florence, Italy)
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