8 August, Thursday — Things beyond the mind of man

Aug 8 – Memorial for St. Dominic, priest, religious founder

Dominic (1170-1221) was born of wealthy Spanish nobility, and was the son of Blessed Joan of Aza. Joan had difficulty conceiving and prayed at the shrine of St. Dominic of Silos, who had a tradition of patronage of that problem. When she became pregnant, she named the child in honour of the saint. While pregnant, Joan had a vision that her unborn child was a dog who would set the world on fire with a torch it carried in its mouth. A dog with a torch in its mouth became a symbol for the Order he founded, the Dominicans. At Dominic’s baptism, Joan saw a star shining from his chest, which became another of his symbols in art, and led to his patronage of astronomy.

Dominic was a priest who worked for clerical reform. He had a life-long apostolate among heretics, especially Albigensians, and especially in France. He founded the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans) in 1215, a group who lived a simple, austere life. He also founded an order of nuns dedicated to the care of young girls.

At one point, Dominic became discouraged at the progress of his mission; no matter how much he worked, heresies remained. But he received a vision from Our Lady, who showed him a wreath of roses, representing the rosary. She told him to say the rosary daily, teach it to all who would listen, and eventually the true faith would win out. Dominic is often credited with the invention of the rosary; it actually pre-dates him, but he certainly spread devotion to it, and used it to strengthen his own spiritual life.
Legend says that Dominic received a vision of a beggar who, like Dominic, would do great things for the faith. Dominic met the beggar the next day. He embraced him and said, “You are my companion and must walk with me. If we hold together, no earthly power can withstand us.” The beggar was St. Francis of Assisi.

• Patron Saint Index

1 Cor 2:1-10
Lk 9:57-62

…still we have a wisdom to offer those who have reached maturity.

One of the things that we are currently covering in our Catechism classes is how do we know which gift of the Holy Spirit should be prayed for. One of the primary aims is to develop an appreciation of the generosity of God, who gave us these gifts. The second is to be able to better converse with God. Instead of just praying, ‘God help me,’ we could probably deepen the conversation by being able to acknowledge the gift we need from God. Imagine being able to pray, ‘Lord, I pray for the gift of knowledge (spiritual ‘know-how’) so I may know if this is spiritually helpful for me’? As you may have heard, knowing what help you need is the first step to get better.

For this reflection, I’d like to invite you to reflect on what is the gift of wisdom. How is it different from the gift of knowledge, understanding and counsel? In our world today, these words are almost synonymous. So, I’d like to share with you what wisdom is, as explained by Leo Trese in his book, ‘The Faith Explained’.

Wisdom gives us a right sense of proportion so that we esteem the things of God; we value goodness and virtue at their true worth and see the goods of the world as stepping-stones to sanctity, not as ends in themselves. The man, for example, who misses his weekly bowling night in order to attend the parish mission is being guided by the gift of wisdom, whether he realizes it or not.

Through the gift of wisdom, we will be able to recognize how an event, a person, an object or a choice can lead us closer to God. I really like the part stating how wisdom allows us to ‘see the goods of the world as stepping-stones to sanctity.’ With the busyness of this world, I often forget that. I shop for things for shopping’s sake. I eat because I love eating. More than 90% of the time I relax, I play, I meet up with friends, I work without giving a thought to how these activities can bring me closer to God. Or whether these activities will bring me closer to God.

It’s so easy to just think of getting closer to God during prayers, Mass, or even before meal times when we pray before meals. So maybe for the next few days, we can pause in the morning, afternoon and evening and pray, and ask God, ‘How is this activity helping me get closer to you?’

And you know what? I think we can ask our Guardian Angels to remind us to pause and pray for the gift of wisdom.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Stephanie Villa)

Prayer: Dearest Lord God, please help me recognize those that help me become more saintly.  

Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for surrounding me with gifts that will surely help me reach heaven.