USA
What might St. Dominic say to us?
Nancy wrote the below article just before the LCWR Assembly where Sr. Mareen Geary, OP also used the metaphor: Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Zeus. The Spirit is definitely whispering in a special way to us Dominican, at the same time!
In the early church, monastic orders isolated themselves from laycommunities and established their own Christ-centric communities. But in Dominic’s time, heresies were spreading rapidly in lay communities. To combat heresy, Dominic founded a new order of itinerant preachers who would travel into lay communities. When I think of what Dominic would say in sending out his newly trained preachers, I think of a book by Dr. Seuss.
Just before his death, Dr. Seuss wrote a commencement address to college students,called Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose.
You’ll look up and down streets. Look ’em over
with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go
there!” With your head full of brains and your shoes full
of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good
street.
You’ll look up and down streets. Look ’em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there!”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
Oh the places you will go!
© Dr. Seuss Enterprises, 1990
Dr. Seuss wanted the young graduates, equipped with intelligence, learning, and skills, to know that great things awaited them as they went forth to experience life! “Oh, the places you will go!” he told them. In our faith stories, Jesus reminds his disciples, as he reminds us disciples today, that those who follow him to new places will also accomplish great things in this life.
Wherever we go, we go with God. In God, we have been equipped with intelligence, learning, and skills, and from our baptism, we too, have been sent forth to experience life! Our God is a God of possibilities and potentials. Our God is a God of vision, imagination, and hope. And our faith is a faith that proclaims a wondrous story of how God takes us to places we never dreamed possible. It is as though God smiles upon each of us and says, “Oh faithful one, oh child of God, the places you’ll go!”
Our brother Dominic realized this call in his life. And indeed, he found God in the walking. We hear stories of him traveling down the dusty roads of Spain, France, and Italy barefoot, carrying only a few personal items: St. Matthew’stext and the letters of St. Paul – like him, another traveling preacher. He seemed to have done some of his best thinking while walking, resolving some of his biggest dilemmas. He exercised both the soles of his feet and the soul of his person. To those of us who have known disappointment, it’s good to remember that even Dominic wasn’t an instant public success. His first 10 years in Fanjeaux didn’t lead to a lot of converts. But these years were a time when he grew interiorly, just as Jesus spent 30 years growing interiorly, in private life, before beginning his own preaching. Sometimes it just takes time for us to learn about the world around us, as well as our inner talents, before we can discern what God is really calling us to.
After 10 years, Dominic understood his call to found an order of preachers that would, like him, be itinerant, holding itself to high moral standards, making decisions democratically – beginning with a small community of women as an integral part of the order. For his time, and even for our own time, Dominic’s vision was very innovative.
Today, because of his vision, the Dominican family is a global reality. Dominicans are in virtually every country of the world. And we, the heirs of Dominic’s vision, must likewise be on the road, not staying bound to particular places or traditions or ideas, but constantly on the journey, looking to the future.
For Dominic, being on a journey meant finding God in every moment of the walk, walking in the contemplative stance, and attending to the voice of God within. But it also meant constantly living in the Now, recognizing the new experiences and opportunities the journey brings to us. Being on the journey can be physically demanding – leading to sore feet, fallen arches, and blisters – but it can be even more demanding emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. How many of us have been grumpy and tired halfway through a long taxing trip, tired of dealing with obstinate people who just can’t understand what we’re saying, tired of the constant stress of new challenges? Yet Dominic was known as a joyful friar, an approachable person. He saw the truth of the other person even if he disagreed. He listened, questioned, and dialogued, but he didn’t belittle. He engaged and he accepted. That’s what made his preaching different.
While we may be at very different points in the journey, we, as Dominicans, are united in our commitment to walking and talking with and about God. Today, we ask, can it make our preaching different again too? What road are you on? Who are your companions? Can you discover God in the moment, and in the joy of living deeply our Dominican Charism? People will notice the preaching of our lives and our contemplative stance. Will they find joyful preachers? Will they find gospel people of prayer?
Good old Dr. Seuss concluded his book this way: On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.
And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed!
98 and ¾ percent guaranteed!Dominic knew that with God, he would be taken to places he would have never dreamed possible. And the preaching continues. Today, we ask God to strengthen our passion for the holy preaching in our time. With God’s Spirit as our guide, oh, the places we’ll go!
