JOYFUL PREACHER OF THE GOOD NEWS


SOLEMNITY OF ST. DOMINIC, PRIEST

Isa 52:7-10; Ps 96:1-3,7-8,10; 2 Tim 4:1-8; Mt 5:13-19

How Beautiful are the feet of one who brings Good News

It is the solemn feast of our Blessed Father, St. Dominic. The readings for the solemnity connect to those of yesterday and our reflection on them. As we noted yesterday, the preachers of the Good News are the Watchmen, who walk around the world to summon Israel to Zion for the rest God planned for her. Isaiah describes the feet of these preachers of Good News as beautiful. “How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaim salvation and tells Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” The preacher of the Good News walks on the mountains because he lives in the mysteries of Jesus Christ; he proclaims the revelations of God, which are in Jesus Christ. These mysteries or revelations of the Godhead are the mountains on which the preacher of the Gospel walks. He calls Zion to rest because our souls are restless lest in the knowledge of these mysteries of Jesus Christ. He is a harbinger of happiness, peace, and heavenly joy because these mysteries constitute the bread of angels and our eternal pasture. These describe the life and person of our Blessed Father Dominic, fondly called the Joyful Friar. He walked all over Europe joyfully proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dominic was an apostolic man. His apostolic way of life was shown to his mother, Blessed Jane of Aza, while she was carrying him in the womb. She dreamt of giving birth to a dog that would set the world ablaze with a lighted torch carried with its mouth. Dominic laboriously imbibed the Spirit of the Gospel through much prayer: daily reading of scriptures, meditation, and contemplation of the divine truth. He was so imbued with the Spirit of prayer that it is said of him that he was either talking to God or about God. He took the injunction of St. Paul to Timothy, found in the second reading, seriously. “Before God and before Christ who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience—but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching.” St. Dominic spent many years transversing Europe, proclaiming the Gospel and refuting the Albigensian error. For many years, he was labouring alone preaching the Gospel until the Lord inspired him to form a religious Order whose task would be preaching for the salvation of souls. During these years of lonely and fruitless labour, Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the holy Rosary to aid his apostolic ministry of conversion of sinners. St. Mariae De Montfort recorded many miracles Dominic worked with the Rosary in his The Secret of the Rosary.

Dominic so drank from the Gospel of our Lord Jesus that his life became one with the Gospel. For this reason, he is also called ‘the Gospel man of prayer.’ These two made up his entire life: to pray and to preach. His life was the Gospel many people encountered and fell in love with. He exemplified the teaching of our Lord in the Gospel. “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again?” “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lampstand where it shines for everyone in the house.” Dominic was a lamp or torch lit and placed on the lampstand that is the Church for everyone to see. Dominic dedicated his whole life to preaching that he died of exhaustion. Thus, these words of St. Paul apply to him. “As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith.” Dominic died at Bologna on 6th August 1221. We pray for a fair share in his deep love of God and neighbour so that we may dedicate our life to prayer and preaching the Gospel.

Let us pray: May St. Dominic come to the help of your Church by his merits and teaching, O Lord, and may he, who was an outstanding preacher of your truth, be a devoted intercessor on our behalf. 

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