SAINT DOMINGO DE GUZMÁN, FRIEND OF THE POOR
We would like to remember the life of our father, Saint Dominic, model, protector and friend of the poor.
It is important because it helps us to praise God and also to reflect from our sources what traits of Saint Dominic we will bring today in our realities! Since he was a child, his life was oriented in a Christian spirit and as he grew, he grew in Him, so did his commitment to God. He received a deep education from his uncle and since then it can be said that prayer, contemplation, a love for study, apostolic commitment, preaching, silence and compassion are pillars that were born from a deep encounter with God. Dominic found God in the poor, in the afflicted, at work, on the road and in everything he did.
Our father Domingos understood that true preaching is that which must start from an option for the dignity of people, listening to their cries or problems. Thus the phrase was born. “At night he spoke to God about people and during the day he spoke about God to people.” This leads us to understand that Domingos brought to God all the worries or situations he faced on a daily basis, and to people he brought comfort, words of courage, hope and light. This means that Domingos always evangelized with words and with his life. He was also a humble preacher who knew how to accept or recognize his pains and failures.
He dedicated all his time to the poor, and he gave his whole life to them. On his trips with his uncle he experienced spiritual and material poverty among the heretics. It was at this moment that he discovered that God was asking him to begin a new mission, and it was from this vision that the order of preachers was born.
On this important day I did not want to focus on the history of Saint Dominic that we already know, but we should ask ourselves: what meaning does the life of Saint Dominic give us today as Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary, who opted for the poor?
For the poor he preferred to sell his books; because Domingos did not preach only with words, but his preaching came from his life testimony. That is why he said: “Contemplate and give what you have contemplated.” That is to say: the preacher must first let himself be touched by the word and then bring the fruits of what he has lived to the ladies.
Our father Saint Dominic never preached outside the need of the poor, but He also considered their problems, cries, hunger, inequalities and much more to be His own. In his experience it did not feel good to have piles of books while people are dying of hunger… As proof of this reality his phrase was born: “I do not want to study in dead skins while men die of hunger,” that is to say that in the poor Domingo experienced the infinite love of God.
For the poor Our brother Dominic understood that there is no task but to love others; For the poor he walked barefoot; For the poor Dominic weeping entrusted the lives of sinners into the hands of God.
Fr. Felicísimo affirms that Saint Dominic is love, because he lived his whole life in this mystery. That is why I said: “have charity, keep humility and voluntary poverty.”
Furthermore, Saint Dominic teaches us that true love is nourished in the school of Jesus from compassion which means “feeling with others.” That when we feel compassion we are able to feel the pain or suffering of others on our skin, with patience and helping according to our possibilities. The compassion of Saint Dominic implies assuming the human condition with pain, suffering, joy and sadness.
We can learn that the choice for the vow of poverty does not mean having nothing; rather the vow of poverty refers us to sharing the little that we have, whether it be spiritual or material, with those who have nothing.
From these teachings we can affirm that the traits of our father Dominic are a legacy that is very much in line with our charism and this leads us to renew our commitment in the situations that need us most. As Dominican Missionaries we continue to say that Saint Dominic continues to live in our lives and wants to invite us not to feel indifferent in the face of war, violence, injustice, lies, falsehood, lack of dignity, in the face of a world that faces the fear of telling the truth, a world where those who have do not know how to look at the needs of others; it is from these problems that Saint Dominic invites us to be authentic and incarnated women, followers and preachers of the good news, women with the courage to lose our fear when it comes to denouncing lies. He also invites us to be attentive and fight so that we do not let ourselves be carried away by this great temptation of material goods and by technologies and all the difficulties that limit us. Our Father Domingos is with us in contemplation, in studies, in silence, in prayer and in work. And may he teach us to love the mission as his disciples and daughters, capable of announcing and also of denouncing.
May he teach us to be more friends of the poor and oppressed; women with eyes open to see beyond and that nothing seems alien or indifferent to us.
Like your father, teach us that our heart may be a space of welcome for those most in need, increase our faith so that we can understand the language of God in the events of each day.
Thank you, Father, for the protection. Aldaya August 2024