Homily: August 8 - Saint Dominic - Sharing the fruit of contemplation

I was studying in Rome, at the Dominican run Angelicum University.  There you will find many paintings of today's saint. In many of them you have the Dominic, most often in his white Dominican habit, with a black cape and walking stick, and next to him is often a little dog carrying a torch.

If you take the latin word ‘Dominicane’ you get the word – Domine, which means Lord, and Cane, which means Dog.  So the Dominicans are the ‘Hounds of the Lord’.

There is a story that while his mother was pregnant with Dominic, she dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb and began to set the world on fire. 

At any rate, Dominic, surely did set the world of his day on fire, founding the religious order known as the Order of Preachers, men who weren’t tied to a monastery, but were free to move about to preach the truth of God’s word wherever it was most needed.

At the time of his death in 1221, the Dominicans had already spread to many countries in Europe, and they continue this good, holy work, of preaching and teaching today the truth of the Holy Gospel. 

The Opening Prayer called Dominic “an outstanding preacher of your truth”— Veritas, truth, is an important aspect of Dominican Life.

One of the mottoes of the Dominicans is, “To contemplate the truth and to share with others the fruit of contemplation.”  Dominic wanted his friars to acquire sound theological training through devotion to prayerful study of the Gospel.

Pope Benedict took up this important topic of Veritas in his second encyclical titled Caritas in Veritate, Charity in Truth.  His first encliclal was titled, God is Love, and in this second encyclical he tells us how essential truth is to love. 

He writes: “Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived… Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality.  Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way…The word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite.  Truth frees charity from the constraints of emotionalism… Truth opens and unites our minds in the lógos of love”

To instruct the ignorant and counsel the doubtful are two of the acts of mercy.  We need Christians who can stand up and defend the truth of the Gospel which is so often attacked in the public forum.  But, non dat quod non habet—we cannot give what we do not have, so we must too study our faith more deeply and to contemplate the truth of Jesus Christ daily.  And may we always share the fruit of our contemplation in love, like Dominic, set the world on fire with the truth of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.