Reflection for the Feast of St. Dominic

It was 126 years ago on Saturday, August 4, 1883 that the first celebration of the feast of St. Dominic occurred on this property. I am not sure how it was celebrated, but the day would have included the chanting of all parts of the office, even the night hours, since the sisters were still second order. I am also sure that a bit of beer was served because the German influence in the congregation was still firm, despite the influx of many Irish. Today we celebrate the last feast of our holy father Dominic as caretakers of this place. And celebrate we must, if albeit, with a sense of the bitter sweetness.

Mary O’Driscoll would say, “wisdom sits in places.” I think we could all agree a lot of wisdom has sat and sits in this place. Dominic would have said the same about Fanjeaux. In that small town in southern France, he honed his spirituality and ours; a spirituality that grew from pain and joy. We do tend to idealize the past. Perhaps we also idealize Dominic. But we should remember that his mission in Fanjeaux was without much success. He was isolated among the Cathars. It was lonely. He was in a foreign place. But obviously he used his time and efforts to bring “glad tidings” on that mountain top. He used his isolation to deepen his relationship with God. “Speak only to God and of God.” Yet I am sure that he often battled sadness, longing for converts. But he continued seeking the will of God. He kept walking. His spirituality was born of itinerancy – “being out of place to be in another’s place”, as the present Master of the Order reminds us.

And so we are also called to be out of place to be in another’s place. Like Dominic and our foremothers who came here, we are experiencing change. And it is not easy; it is difficult. Like all who filled these halls we are very human. I am reminded of a book I just finished, Olive Kitteridge, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. It is a story of the fictional place, Crosby Maine. The stories in the book are linked by Olive Kitteridge, a less than perfect character who is described by a reviewer as “an astringent seventh grade math teacher.” At times astringent would be a mild adjective. The lives Olive encounters in Crosby are described as “a perfect balanced portrait of the human condition encompassing plenty of anger, cruelty and loss without losing sight of the equally powerful presence of tenderness, shared pursuits and life- long loyalty.” Another reviewer would highlight the power of the book saying it portrays, “the redemptive power of the little things in life” These words could certainly describe any place and especially this place.

Characters walked here, persons of greatness and persons who exhibited the flaws of human weakness. Heroic deeds were accomplished here and petty actions sometimes sanctioned. It is the plight of the human journey. Yet, each gifted us with a heritage, with a wisdom. Whom do you recall? Here is a quick list of those who came to my mind …. Hildegarde, Hyacinth, Blanche, Emmanuel, Marie deLourdes, Kathleen Short, Mary Francis McDonald, Thomas Aquinas McManus, Pat Kennedy, Thomas Aquinas Sloyan. Mary Patrick, Mary Vincent Ralph, Genny Love, Mary Consilia O’Brien, the Smith sisters, the Muirheads, Rose Augusta, Bertille, Mary Xavier, Marie Gerard, Miriam Francis, Mary Eleanor, Jane Cornelia, Rose Patricia, Mary Dennis, Dolores Jackson, Catherine Imelda, Yvonne Milroy, Marie Therese, Rose Carmella, Mary David, Joan Roberta, Jeanne D’Arc, Josita, Margaret Michael, Catherine Marie, Rose Angela, Mary Daniel, Mary Stephen, John Joseph, Imelda Marie, Frances Berski, Mary Lawrence, Catherine Elizabeth, Marita, Anita, Margaret Vincent, Margaret Kilpatrick, Stella Grace, Marina, Grace Imelda, Thomas Mary, Vincent Marie, Regina Caeli, Ruth DePaul and on and on. Whom do you add? There were those of great virtue and those marked with their humanity. Like us they were capable of anger etc. and also great tenderness and lifelong loyalty. They all join us and will continue to follow us and continue to bless this place with wisdom. These and we have contributed to the fabric of this place.

As Dominic has taught us, our lives are about the redemptive power of the little things. A few women were willing to join him and so now we are celebrating 800 years of the Order. Our lives are also about the redemptive power of the little things – what we take and what we leave here; how we pass on our spirit of itinerant preaching.

Dominic’s inner walking, his inner solitude, allowed him to notice Le Seignadou, the sign of God. The sign was not clear, but he followed it. The path was not complete, yet he walked it. The creation was not without critics, yet he pursued it. Why? Le Seignadou.

The sign for us is as unclear, yet we walk. The sign is not easy or comfortable but we walk, because Dominicans walk. Dominicans are on the road. We go sometimes two by two; sometimes in greater numbers. In our old age we go. We walk when convenient and inconvenient as Timothy reminds us.

Why do we walk? Albert Nolan in his work “Hope in an Age of Despair” suggests that the finger of God emerges in the least likely situations, in the dark times. He says, “If we keep searching with complete trust in God, who knows what might appear.” Dominic would say Le Seignadou. Nolan would challenge us not only to “be hopeful but to act hopeful.” In the article he suggests that why we are hopeful is because we do the will of God which he explains in two words, the common good. It was the common good that stretched Dominic in Fanjeaux. It is the common good that pushed those women up the river. It is the common good that built this place. It is the common good that allows us to pass it on as a heritage.

The finger of God that pointed all of salvation history forward does not always point in an easy direction. Remember the journey from Regensburg. Recall the tumult of the separation from Williamsburg. Can you still feel the tensions on the road to founding Hope? And aren’t there those of us who might have said at one point or another…never Newburgh. “I never want to get assigned to Newburgh.” I did. Yet God prodded.

God’s finger prodded Dominic. God prods us. And yes God prods us in our old age. We are challenged by our call to itinerancy. We are challenged by the very human pain this journey brings. We are called by our commitment to each other, to be on the road. I think Dominic calls us to be about our inner journey so we can see the sign of God in all we are about. We are still called to be salt, to be light.

And perhaps he calls us with the words of the poet Mary Oliver when she says:

Imagine! Imagine the long and wondrous journey still to be ours.

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