On this fourteenth Tuesday in the series of 15 Tuesdays in honor of our Holy Father St. Dominic, our reflection considers the apostles, the Assumption of Our Lady, and parallels in the life of St. Dominic.
If you are joining us now towards the end of 15 Tuesdays, don’t worry! These fifteen weeks have been a delightful opportunity for us to share our reflections, which you can read at any point to grow in love of God and devotion to St. Dominic.
Going forth from Our Lady
There is nothing quite like Our Lady’s smile. It was the feast of the Assumption in 1217, Fanjeaux, France, when St. Dominic and his fledgling group of Friars Preachers gathered together for the sacred liturgy. Afterwards, still robed in his priestly vestments, St. Dominic made the historic announcement. He was sending them out, their band was to be dispersed to the intellectual centers of the modern world to study, preach and spread the Order. Hoarded grain rots, so St. Dominic threw his grain to the four winds and within a very short time, a rich harvest was his—hundreds of friars preachers carrying the holy preaching all over the known world. Within six months, the Dominicans had houses at Toulouse, the capital of heresy; at Paris and Bologna, the two great university centers of Europe; and at Rome, the center of Christendom—not to mention their success in Spain as well. This was just the beginning of the rapid growth of those early years of the Order. Our Lady truly smiled upon her Friars Preachers from the glorious heavenly places.
Our Lady’s Assumption is actually a particularly apostolic mystery of the Rosary. A number of early patristic homilies on Mary’s Dormition speak of the tradition that all twelve apostles were miraculously gathered together to be present for the sacred passing of the Mother of the Lord, before her body was also assumed to join her soul in heaven. In life and in death, the apostles gathered around her and were blessed by her presence, her wisdom and her prayers. The early Dominicans also gathered around the Blessed Virgin, and received great help and support in their apostolic mission. The Lives of the Brethren, a charming collection of stories from the early days of the Order, records the dynamism of her solicitude and constancy in assisting St. Dominic and the early friars in all their needs as they had recourse to her.
As the first Order in the Church to focus intentionally on apostolic preaching, one of the unique aspects of the Order of Preachers was the interesting blend of contemplative and active aspects of the way of life. Part of the genius of this arrangement is the resulting natural tension that keeps both in balance. On the one hand, Dominicans have a rich liturgical life and focus of prayerful listening to the Word, especially the interior preaching of the Holy Spirit, and on the other, the drive and zeal for souls that moves the preacher to generosity in the apostolic works of preaching and teaching the Truth for the glory of God and salvation of souls. Prayer and preaching were at the heart of the early Church, and also especially close to the heart of St. Dominic when he set up the Order to respond to the needs of the Church in his day.
Our Lady was entrusted in a special way to the Beloved Disciple, St. John at the foot of the cross, and anyone who has read his gospel can see the richness that was his as a contemplative preacher. No doubt the close contact with Our Lady during the time from the Crucifixion up to her Assumption into heaven, would have been a source of untold graces. The Friars Preachers were called to be like the Beloved Disciple and take Our Lady and her contemplation of the mysteries of her Son (the Rosary!) into their hearts and into their way of life, to learn from her as the contemplative par excellence, the way St. John did when he contemplated and preached the gospel in word and deed.
As contemplative nuns of the Order, we are dedicated to this work of prayer and intercession for the apostolic ventures of our friars and that of the whole Church. We seek the Queen of Heaven’s intercession that the Word sown throughout the world may be bear abundant fruit. As we ponder the mystery of Our Lady’s glorious Assumption, we join with St. Dominic remembering with great gratitude how he began his first great sending out of the brethren on Our Lady’s feast under her motherly smile.
Additional Prayers
If you would like to observe this day with additional devotions, we have posted the following prayers in the past: