Worded Women and Men

Common Life, Common Prayer, Study, and finally, Mission (Ministry), the pillars on which the lampstand of Dominican life stands as it shines in the midst of the Church; or if you prefer, the varied prism of the charism as shines with the Spirit’s light.

For the vowed Dominican, and for those who journey with us in the light of this charism, a startling fact emerges. True, we are immersed in the Word, in person, and in the scriptures. But there is an effect that flows from this immersion. We become worded ourselves. We take on the very Word that entrances us. We gradually become worded women and men personally. We become what is called the holy preaching.

The mission of Jesus, who is robed in our humble humanness, is two-fold. His mission often is voiced in the Alleluia verse of the liturgy: Jesus proclaims the kingdom and heals. This twofold mission is the Church’s mission as it travels through time, expressing itself in the rich ministries of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Proclamation is the emphasis of the Dominican’s mission-gift to the Church, but the startling fact is that this mission is first manifest in the very person of the preacher, before he or she says a word. In fact, for many who live a Dominican spirituality, this is the major form of preaching they offer: they themselves are the holy preaching having become so by their contemplation of the Word.

Fed by the ongoing self-giving of the Eucharistic Jesus, they are a living word, a sign of the kingdom flowing out of a life, another form of real presence. As common as bread on the table, they proclaim the kingdom in the compassionate visit, the phone call, the greeting, the driving, the laughter, the tears, the patience in pain, loss of vision, hearing, or mobility. They are a wordless holy preaching of the reign of God in their lives.

The proclamation can take many forms. Ministries flow from this mission: teaching, pulpit preaching, nursing, working with finances, administration, music and art. But the time will come when these will lessen or stop altogether. But the holy preaching does not stop. It is not mainly a ministry, it is a way of being a worded woman or man among others. “No voice or sound is heard, yet their word goes out through all the earth.” In Dominican spirituality, we not only have a mission, we are our mission in the active and less active phases of our life.