Emmaus
Our Holy Father Dominic
And Why He is Still Relevant Today
For someone who has long passed on to the next life, 799 years ago to be exact, it’s such a wonder that his relevance continues to reverberate throughout the world even in the present time, most especially within the Catholic Church.
That’s Saint Dominic de Guzman.
Being born at a rather tumultuous time in the Church, Dominic rose to establish one of the most enduring religious orders in the entire Christendom, the Order of Preachers, more popularly known as the Dominicans. Adopting the Rule of Augustine as a way of life of a religious, this band of friars-preachers live out the motto, “contemplari et contemplata aliis tradere”, to contemplate and to share the fruits of the contemplation. A life of prayer, study, community, and preaching. The Dominicans continue to live out these four pillars of Dominican spirituality, following the example of Father Dominic, who never ceased “to talk to God and talk about God.”
But even today?
Definitely. For an Order to survive more than 800 years, it must most definitely be anchored on something supernatural, or rather, on Someone. It must most definitely have flourished not just by human means, limited as it is, but definitely by supernatural means, that is, the work of God.
Yet today, the Dominicans are continually called to contemplate and to share the fruits of their contemplation, to speak the truth both in season and out, for that is what a Dominican strives to live for, veritas, TRUTH. In a time of relativism, worldliness, and watering down of the truths of the Divine, the Dominicans are, more than ever, needed and called to speak of God’s truth, beauty, and goodness.
Maybe that is the very contribution of St. Dominic to this world, to not be afraid of the truth, to speak and live the truth at all times, in all aspects of our lives. He never wavered in this kind of living, and this is probably what we need to do, it is probably the way for us to bring Christ to people, the same way Dominic did. There may be certain nuances that will be different from how he did things, but the end goal remains the same, and the need will be ever-present.
We need not be afraid of sharing that truth, after all, St. Dominic, in his deathbed, said so very clearly,
Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.
A blessed feast of Saint Dominic to one and all.
Ave Maria!
