THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals The Feast of St. Dominic 4 August 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

The Franciscans and the Dominicans share a long and rich history. St. Dominic and St. Francis knew each other and it is related that St. Dominic persuaded St. Francis to give him his cord. St. Dominic wore this cord from that day on. The ministers general of each of the orders meet and celebrate the feast of each other’s founders on their respective feast days. In the Franciscan Order, we therefore refer to St. Dominic as our father.

Both orders are mendicant; which means that we survive by begging. We have taken strict vows of poverty and do not involve ourselves in the cultivation or production of material things for our support, as the more ancient orders do. We are called upon by God to spend our lives in His service and to depend completely upon Him. “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” The ministers of God live from the altar.

In today’s Gospel, we see that God’s workers are the “salt of the earth.” Tragically, we see that many of our religious have lost their saltiness and do not really serve to make the tribulations of this life any more palatable for mankind. This salt has lost its saltiness. They are no longer the light put upon the candle stick and lighting the room. It is sad to say, that in more cases than not, they do not even have their light hidden under a basket. The light of the true Faith has been extinguished in them.

These would be religious have lost their saltiness and their light has been put out. They have nothing to give to their fellow man. What they offer in the place of salt and light is nothing but materialism and darkness. It is true that we must love our fellow men and be concerned about their physical well-being. However, this is just the surface of the religious’ vocation.

True salt transforms the physical life and world that is naturally unpalatable into something very pleasing. The crosses and burdens of this life lead one to repulsion and despair. When the salt of the true Faith is added to these tribulations, all that was unpalatable then becomes delicious.

Christ has invited us all to take up our crosses daily and follow Him. This is very distasteful to our fallen natures and is hard. The Faith teaches us that if we willingly do this, the cross will be made light and sweet. That which at first repulsed then becomes a joy. It has always been the vocation of the Dominicans and Franciscans to espouse their crosses of the rule willingly and cheerfully, so as to give an example to the rest of the world. They are to lead by example even more so than by their words. The Modernists have abandoned the Faith and now seek only to comfort and try and make a heaven here on earth so as to forget the crosses here and now, as well as the promise of future joy in heaven.

Sadly this method of trying to put off the earthly crosses and tribulations must always end in futility. While we can paint on a smile and deaden our pain by artificial means of alcohol, drugs, and medications; and we can build shelters for our bodies; and fill our stomachs; this is never enough. We were not made for this world. We can never be satisfied with just the things of this earth. So no matter how good the things of this earth may be that we obtain, they are always bitter because the light and salt of true Faith has not seasoned them; so that they may whet our appetites for the things of heaven.

As we celebrate today’s feast of St. Dominic, and recall his love of God and of our founder and order, may we be ever encouraged to embrace more fervently our own vocation. The Dominican Order was given the mission to preach, but sadly today we see that this order has lost its light and saltiness. The words of God have fallen to the side as they practice materialistic humanism in the place of solid and true Faith. If we will only begin to try and attune ourselves to the Gospels and pray for the aid of St. Dominic and all the other saints, our eyes will gradually be opened to the true light and our appetites will be pleased (not so much with the things of this earth, as with the anticipation of the things of eternity).

May God through the merits of St. Dominic shine the light of faith upon our hearts and minds and season our daily portions of tribulations with true Faith. Let us not seek a heaven here on earth, but rather embrace our crosses and all the bitterness of this world seasoned with God’s grace, and in this manner find joy in them as they become means to remind us of God and entice us to greater desires for Heaven.