When I was reflecting on St Dominic’s life in the light of today’s Gospel the thoughts that came to me weren’t about the ‘miracles of multiplication’ that occurred for the feeding of his Brothers (and on occasion Sisters), but rather that in the living of his life and the establishment of his Order he let Christ take, bless, break and distribute both himself and his Order as Christ wished and indicated. As Dominic said, “seed that is hoarded does not bear fruit.”

The presence of Saint Dominic in our chapel—in the painting by Fra Angelico—encourages me throughout the day to listen deeply once again to the Word of God.

With his left hand,Dominic gently touches the pages of Scripture. In reality, we cannot touch an object without being touched by it ourselves. A person touches God because God touches us first.

St Dominic - Light of the Church

During the past week at Mass, we have been hearing parables of Jesus about the kingdom of heaven, as recounted by St Matthew. It is a treasure more valuable than all earthly possessions; a priceless pearl; a tiny mustard-seed that grows to become a great shrub where birds of the air can build a home.

Towards the end of his life, when the disciples of St Anthony, the father of monasticism, asked for a word of advice he replied with three words – always breathe Christ. Breathing and respiration is a double movement – in and out. St Dominic was certainly always breathing Christ. His life, in its nights and its days, was an incessant rhythm of praying and preaching. And even Dominic’s prayer had this rhythmic quality.

Mother of Mercy

One of the oldest prayers to the Virgin Mary is the ancient antiphon titled in Latin Sub Tuum Praesidium. By soom accounts this prayer dates to the third century. The beautiful words, first written in Greek, present the Blessed Mother as one who intercedes for us.

The theme of my reflection is: Reverence

I was very struck by the talks given by Fr. Paul Murray, O.P., to the Dominican Novices in Caleruega, Spain this year ( 2025), and I would like to quote a portion of one of his talks, in which he highlights St. Dominic’s reverence in praying, shown in the Nine Ways of Prayer, in teaching the brethren to be reverent to one another and in the reverence and veneration he shows to the Scriptures themselves.

THE MIRACLES OF ST. DOMINIC
Narrated by SISTER CECILIA

Of the Bread and Wine Miraculously Multiplied and Distributed to the Brethren Through His Prayers

On this fifth day of our novena to St Dominic, we began our Mass with the prayer:
Draw near to your servants, O Lord,
and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness,
that, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide,
you may restore what you have created
and keep safe what you have restored.

What is impressive about St Dominic? His simplicity, I think.

From ‘Libellus’ written by Bl. Jordan of Saxony we know that St. Dominic
‘In every reasonable purpose which his mind conceived, in accordance with God’s will,he maintained such constancy that he hardly ever consented to change any plan which he had formulated with due deliberation’