October Dominican Reflection

“They will study…they will need no other penance.”

-     Statement attributed to St. Dominic

When the white light of our charism of preaching a just word shows its colors, we speak of common life, common prayer, study, and  mission/ministry. Study is the characteristic that marks our difference among other religious orders. Other orders study when it is helpful. Dominicans study because it is constitutive to their identity. Ask religious orders who they are, and they answer, “We are vowed persons who live community by common life, common prayer, and a common mission.” (The Benedictines might add “stability in monastic life,” and the Jesuits, “faithfulness to the Holy See”) But that’s not how a Dominican will answer. The Dominican man or woman answers, “We are vowed persons who live community by common life, common prayer, common study, and common mission.” So how do we study together? We understand this pillar of our identity to exempt no one – not the Dominican in the laundry, the administrative office, the classroom, or the jail. It is our common penance. We often study in groups. So what is study for us?

Study is intentional engagement in an issue of truth-seeking. As intentional, it is not haphazard. It is something I choose deliberately to explore. It is not just reading. It is engaging what I have read. It means questioning it, critiquing it, respectfully disagreeing, or offering another view. What issue? Well, it might be an issue of justice. It might be a theological issue. It might have to do with health or science or finance or food. Wherever I am drawn to focus my energy and engage in probing, in exploring, that is where I am to seek truth, understanding, insight, the facts. Above all, study for us is “intellectual compassion.” The head rests in the heart.

The Dominican faithfully does this “penance” for the sake of the Church. Dominicans do this together, no one exempted. So I challenge each of us, and our associates, to identify our “area of intentional engagement, our area of intellectual compassion.” Perhaps one that is scriptural/theological, and one that is a service or justice focus. The “OP” once meant “Order of Penance” because the Dominicans were known for their disciplined minds. Never are we more needed in the Church, in the nation, in our cities, and in our struggling world of “alternative truths.” So, where have you chosen to do your penance?