Preacher of Grace

August 8, 2013

The feast day of St. Dominic de Guzman

St. Dominic de Guzman

Today, we are celebrating the feast day of St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers. One of the titles given to St. Dominic de Guzman is “preacher of grace”. He is not preacher of the doomsday, not a preacher of criticism, not even a preacher of complaint, but he is a preacher of grace. Why grace then? Quoting Mary Catherine Hilkert, preaching is an art of naming grace. Again, it is not naming sin, failure nor flaw. Preachers of grace are to bring into light how grace of God works in every person, often in ordinary routine of their lives.

One of the crucial episode in the life of St. Dominic is that he encountered the group of heretics, the Albigensians, in the southern France. One of the notable features of their teachings is that the created material world is evil since they come from the evil god, while the spiritual entities like our soul are the only good in cosmos. Thus, as a moral consequence, they would inflict any kind harsh measure toward the body to ‘set free’ their souls. Then, suicide is justified and even becomes the highest expression of faith. Their stand was contrary to the teaching of Jesus and the Church: the world, both its spiritual and material aspect, was graciously created and taken care of by God. Moreover, God saw them as very good and not evil (Gen 1:31)!

We do not have any historical evident of St. Dominic’s preaching in Southern France, but we could assert that he preached defending the integrity and goodness of creations. To achieve this, he needed to name the grace. He unearthed how God has cared and touched His people, a very truth that was easily taken for granted. Then, he established a group of friends who would help him preaching this grace in more effective and efficient ways. In 1216, Pope Honorius III approved the foundation of the Order of Preachers, and therefore, marked the beginning of community that would significantly contribute to the bittersweet Church history in the next 800 years and more. We were sweet when we name grace in the Church and world, but we were bitter when we fail to announce grace among us.

We, whether members of Dominican Order or not, are called to follow the happy trait of St. Dominic as a preacher of grace. In today’s world that is beset by staggering number of suffering and evil, being pessimistic and even nihilistic are tantalizing. Two millions children languished last year out of hunger. Numberless women fall victim to human-trafficking and prostitution. And, enormous people live in slum even in countries that claim they possess the durable and emerging economic. Surrounded by these depressing conditions, we are tempted to become neo-Albigensians, people who lose hope in the goodness of creations.

This is our task to name grace in this disfigured reality of suffering. God is even there in darkest moments of humanity as he was there nailed on the cross in the words of great Dominican theologian, Edward Schillebeeckx, “In speaking the word of faith of the community, even or perhaps especially in the midst of suffering, persecution, or the experienced absence of God, the preacher names the creative presence of God”.  Choose our stand then: be bitter complainer or grace-filled preacher!

St. Dominic, preacher of grace, pray for us.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP