Feast of St. Dominic de Guzman – Founder of Order of Preachers

August 8, 2019

Today, we are celebrating the feast of St. Dominic de Guzman. St. Dominic was born around 1170 in Caleruega, Old Castile, Spain. As a saint, he was not that famous as his counterpart, St. Francis of Assisi, perhaps because he did not write any book or writings that would echo his spirituality. Maybe this is the reason why we do not have a solid and systematic understanding of Dominican Spirituality.

By tradition, St. Dominic is called as the light of the Church. And why? St. Dominic was living in the time where the Church was facing enemies from without and conflicts from within. The Heretics, especially the Albigentians, were attacking the Church restlessly, and the Church was weakened by her dogmatically unprepared and timid priests. Many Catholics were confused, and nobody was defending the true faith to them. It was a dark period for the Church.

Dominic, who loved his Church deeply responded to the call of his time and offered his life to enlighten souls living in the dark and to bring back to the lost sheep to the Church’s fold. Yet, to achieve that end, he had to be in deep relationship with Jesus, the true Light of the World. Thus, his life of prayers and mortification were extraordinary. Rather than to take rest, he spent a night in vigil, refused to take good food, and slept on the floor. Dominic also understood that to explain faith, he must both study and live by the Gospel. He became poor, just like Jesus was poor for the sake of the Kingdom. Dominic became preacher, just like Jesus was preacher par excellence. Dominic offered himself as a “lantern,” a weak instrument yet brings light that both shines brightly and illumines clearly in the dark. He is the light of the Church because he bore the Light of the World.

The Dominicans always have an intimate bond with Mary, the Mother of God. One of the reasons why we are close to her is that we participate in her mission also to bear the Truth and to reflect the same Light. The song of Mary that Luke recorded is traditionally called the Magnificat [Luk 1:46ff]. The title is from the first Latin word that appears in the canticle, “Magnificat anima mea Dominum.” The original Greek is “μεγαλύνω” [megaluno], to make great. The idea is like the magnifying glass that intensifies the light and the heat of the sun, and thus, emits powerful energy. Mary is not the source of the light, and she is the receiver. Yet, Mary does not passively reflect the light, but she actively magnifies it. Through Mary, the light of Christ becomes more intense, powerful, and penetrating.

Following the footsteps of Dominic and our Lady, we are also called to bear the Light of Christ and to magnify it. In the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, “Better to illuminate than merely to shine… [S.T. II.II. 188].”

                Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP