Dominic the Prophet
We as Dominicans are very privileged to belong to the spiritual family of St. Dominic. We are proud of him. The month of August is unique month for us the Dominicans because in this month we celebrate two important feasts. The feast of St. Dominic and also the feast of Assumption of Mother Mary the great supporter of him. As we celebrate the feast of St. Dominic let us have a look at his life as a prophet. We read in the Bible about many great prophets. They were the mouth piece of God. They spoke fearlessly and courageously to the people of their own time; the prophets were able to challenge the people.
When we reflect upon the life of St. Dominic we realize that the Holy Spirit was powerfully active in him and through him in the church he was prophet of his time and prophet for his time. A missionary of extraordinary wisdom and discernment a person who responded generously to the call of the Lord, to the needs of the church of his time and to the needs of the people around him. Dominic was a prophet in the truest and fullest sense of the term. He was man with prophetic vision and prophetic mission. In the church however we are called to be prophets always and everywhere like our father St. Dominic.
What does it mean to be a prophet? Who is a prophet? Does it mean to be a prophet one has to utter oracles warnings all the time? It is true that prophets speak strongly and at times what they say may appear to us strange. This is not the first and final thing that they do but we read in the Bible that they were always attentive to the voice of God deeply they took enough time to understand God’s message we have number of example in the Bible like Elijah who raised to life the son of a widow. He spent a number of days and nights in solitude in order to learn to listen and to discern the “still small voice” of God [1kings 19]. In the old testament we read how the prophets have worked before God and his people.
On this great feast of our father St. Dominic we are invited to rediscover our vocation as prophets so that we will be like our father St. Dominic. Let us ask him to intercede for all of us to Jesus, so that we will become the prophets of our own times, prophets that the church and society need take the inspiration from him so that we may be prophets living fully the life of faith. Let’s pray to the Lord that may He give us the grace and the courage to fulfill our vocation to be prophets.
Sr. Rupali Anil Chitte,
Satyaniwas Community, Pune, Maharashtra, India.