Promoter of Preaching for March

The 800^th Anniversary is on! Celebrations abound, bringing back memories of what has been, and challenging us to dream a future for the Dominican Order of our own times. Dominic had to contend with a heresy, a twisting of truth to suit its own purpose. That purpose was to make sure we believe the lie that only “spiritual” realities matter. The physical, the material, are to be despised. It was a purist dualism, and looked so deceitfully holy. But Genesis and the Incarnation beg to differ. The universe is strewn with matter still evolving, and nothing beats a physical hug when your heart is breaking and you are crying your eyes out. The Christ could not be more explicit when he says, “This is my body.”

But this is 2016, and I suggest we have the direct opposite heresy to contend with today. We don’t despise matter. We worship it. Materialism and consumerism rule, and if we listen to the media, nothing, not even God, should question my overcrowded closet or my bulging bank account.

Where would we find Dominic today? I suspect he’d be living in a redeveloped abandoned convent in the central city, where he and his followers are very present in centers of learning and organizations where young and old are learning why they should be protesting unjust penal systems, trafficked human beings, and rampant exploitation of land and water. Why? Because we are to be holy as God is holy. He would be unapologetically proclaiming that this Mystery, contrary to being relegated to the periphery, is the center of every atom, galaxy, and greening effort we attempt. He would be about the business of righting the balance: not spiritualism nor materialism, but a created world held in the arms of a merciful Shepherd. And he’d be ready to die to get that good news out. Maybe we can live for it, into our future.