We continue our Novena in honour of St Dominic

Every saint resembles Christ in some way. This was particularly clear with Dominic who followed Jesus in everything – in his prayer, works and miracles.

Like his Master, Dominic used to spend the nights in prayer to God; he would fall asleep with his head on the altar step when he was too exhausted to continue. St Dominic spent his life preaching the Gospel and being constantly concerned for the salvation of the human race.

As we continue our Novena to St Dominic, I would like to reflect on St. Dominic’s compassion for others. On his Feast Day, this Thursday, we will sing the Antiphon:

“Dominic had compassion on his neighbours and ardently desired their salvation.”

Dominic’s compassion was not passive, not accepting and encouraging the other in whatever it is they want to do, which seems to be the modern understanding of compassion. His compassion required that he act for the good of the other, even, or perhaps especially, when that meant telling them they were doing wrong.

O Wonderful Hope!

The lands of sunrise and sunset

You fill with your joy. (Ps64)

I hope you may hear sometimes how beautifully the birds are singing at early morning. Their singing does not create the dawn, but they are singing because the sun has risen.

At sunset when our world is wrapped in darkness, St Dominic’s daughters and sons are also singing: “O Spem miram” (O Wonderful Hope).

What they do hope for?

We sing because CHRIST IS RISEN!

Like Mary Magdalena we hope to meet our Risen Lord face to face, and ‘to know the power of his resurrection’.

St Dominic and the Imperative of Joy

A Benedictine nun wrote:

“I continue to believe in the efficacy of the contemplative life
which acts as a lever to raise the human heart to
truth, goodness and beauty.”

From “The Joy of God: Collected Writings of Sr Mary David.” p.125

It seems odd in a reflection during our novena to St Dominic, to take inspiration from a ‘foreigner,’ so to speak. Nevertheless, she did seem to capture very well, in that short expression, something of the validity of contemplative life … if it needs validity: an answer to many who cannot comprehend such a vocation.

Today we start our Novena to St. Dominic. As we know, St. Dominic always spoke either to God or about God. Since we are about to talk to God, I would like to let Meister Eckhart O.P. talk about God for me:

God is a light shining in itself in silent stillness. God is not in any place … God is not here, or there, not in time or place.

God is better than anything we can conceive: I say, God is somewhat, I know not what, verily I know not. He is all that is being rather than not being, existent more than non-existent; our highest aspirations are but groveling things falling hopelessly short of God. He transcends heart’s desire.

On this 7th day of our Novena in honour of St. Dominic, I would like to share just a few thoughts on St. Dominic as a man of Encouragement.

“When your words came, I devoured them, your Word was my delight and the joy of my heart” (Jr.15:16).

How aptly this Scripture text from the prophet Jeremiah can be applied to Our Holy Father Dominic – we can just see him in our mind’s eye, contemplating from the depth of his heart with great joy and exultation, this Scripture jewel, overwhelmed as he always was, with an immense love of Holy Scripture.

Every one of us is a living icon of God. He created us in his likeness and in his own image.

As you can see, this Icon of St. Dominic is not yet finished. At first I was disappointed not to have completed it in time for his Feast. Then it occurred to me that there was a message for me in this. Like this icon each one of us is not quite finished. We are still on a journey from darkness into the light. It is my hope that the image of St Dominic portrayed or perhaps more accurately, revealed to us through this icon may help us to enter the hidden, inner sanctuary of his heart

My reflection is on the significance and importance of bodily posture in St Dominic’s prayer. As we know from the ‘Nine Ways of Prayer,’ St Dominic used his whole body when he prayed: bowing, prostration, reaching up to heaven.

It struck me as odd that in our time, when there is so great an awareness of the importance of body language in interpersonal communication and of how much of what is communicated is through bodily posture etc., that there should be such a widespread dismissal of any significance of our bodily posture when we pray. It is said that bodily posture doesn’t matter because God looks at the heart.