TALK BY FR. FELICÍSIMO MARTÍNEZ, O.P.
IV International Meeting of the Dominican Youth Movement
La Virgen del Camino, August 4th 1996

DOMINIC'S APOSTOLIC PROFILE

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

• When I wrote my book about Saint Dominic I ended up thinking that Dominic's human and evangelical profiles had given rise to his apostolic profile. Today I am not so sure. Perhaps it was the apostolic experience which shaped Dominic's human and evangelical profiles.
• Lo importante es que esos tres rasgos de la personalidad de Domingo están tan unidos que no se pueden entender bien por separado. Esto nos ayuda a resolver el falso conflicto entre espiritualidad y misión, vida contemplativa y vida apostólica.
• What is important is that these three characteristics of his personality are so linked that they can not be understood separately. This helps us to resolve the false conflict between spirituality and mission, between contemplative and apostolic life.
• The evangelical life is not simply a preparation for the apostolate, nor is the latter simply an appendix to spirituality. In Dominic's case his evangelical experience and his apostolic activity come into existence together, they follow a common path and together reach maturity. (It is important to take this into account in these times for the Church: there are too many spiritualist and too many secularist temptations...!)

DOMINIC, THE GREAT APOSTOLIC

• This is how the Church defines him. This is what Franciscans and Dominicans sing in their corresponding feasts of Francis and Dominic. “Seraficus Pater Franciscus et Apostolicus Pater Dominicus...”. The custom of joining together, embracing one another and jointly celebrating should not be lost.
• Dominic did not dedicate a part of his free time to apostolic activities. He was a full-time apostle, whether praying or preaching, whether walking the roads or sharing with his brothers and sisters. No matter where he found himself, he was an apostle, a witness to the Gospel in which he believed and by which he lived.
• There is one thing in which this is very obvious: the source of all apostolic activity has to be the experience of God, the unshakeable faith in the saving, liberating and gratifying strength of the Gospel. This is why he prayed, meditated, contemplated, was silent, sang... in the silence of his cell or the cloister, in the choir at Osma or walking the roads. He was familiar with Saint Benedict. He was a complete spiritual master. But he could keep it to himself; he had to tell all that he had seen and heard. He was also acquainted with Saint Augustine and his apostolic rule. And, above all, he was acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus.
• Walking the highways and byways he had seen much ignorance of the Gospel and consequently much disorder and suffering. In order to be happy, could it be true that men and women must ignore the Gospel of Jesus? Or could it be the other way round? He was going to put it to the test to see if, by preaching the Gospel, things which needed sorting out in the Church and in society could be put right.
• After all that was, and continues to be, the principal mission of the Church: to announce the Gospel of Jesus by word and by deed - verbo et exemplo as they said in medieval times. That is its vocation and mission said Pope Paul VI when he spoke of evangelisation. And John Paul II continues to say the same thing when he speaks of the new evangelisation. The proclamation of the Gospel is our best and most effective service to humanity. The Gospel is not only for us; it is for all men and women.After all that was, and continues to be, the principal mission of the Church: to announce the Gospel of Jesus by word and by deed - verbo et exemplo as they said in medieval times. That is its vocation and mission said Pope Paul VI when he spoke of evangelisation. And John Paul II continues to say the same thing when he speaks of the new evangelisation. The proclamation of the Gospel is our best and most effective service to humanity. The Gospel is not only for us; it is for all men and women.
• For Dominic, to be an apostle was an extraordinary way of being a Christian or of being a disciple and follower of Jesus.

COMPASSION OR CONTACT WITH SUFFERING HUMANITY

This was the source of his apostolic vocation. He neither invented it nor did it come to him by divine inspiration. It is God who calls and we have to allow him to call. What happens is that God calls in the most unsuspected ways, normally through the appeals of men and women.
• MOSES AND DOMINIC
  . Remember the callings of Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Amos; or even Peter and Paul; or let each one meditate on their own vocation. It is well worthwhile reading Ex 3. 7-9: “I have seen the miserable state of my people... and I have heard their appeal...I am well aware of their sufferings... so come, I send you to Pharaoh to deliver my people...” The people who clamour are the voice of God calling to Moses. Conclusion: those who wish to discover their vocation ought to be very attentive to the cries of the people. Listen to those cries, there can be no excuses.
  . Dominic's calling resounded amidst the medieval cries. Society was crying out for freedom, justice and participation; the Church was crying out for reform and a return to the Gospel. Religious life was crying out for evangelical poverty and for community life. And, above all, the poor were crying out to God. Dominic listened to these cries and thereby, like Moses, discovered his apostolic vocation.

• DOMINIC'S APOSTOLIC ZEAL
  . His biographers agree in saying that “ nobody had so much zeal as Dominic for the salvation of souls”, whether Christians or Saracens. “He longed to go to the lands of the Cumans and to other places of the infidel”.
  . During the day there was no one closer to men and women. He went out to meet them and in this meeting renewed his apostolic vocation. “Everywhere his words and his works revealed the great apostolic”. “He consecrated his day to his fellow men and women and his night to God...”
  . He went out to meet the men and women of his times. He lived people's situations with great intensity and interpreted them by the light of the Gospel, thus discovering his apostolic vocation.
  . From his infancy he had seen poverty, ignorance and the servitude of the great masses of feudal society. He had also come into contact with the climate of re-conquest which reigned in his native land but he showed no enthusiasm either for the re-conquest or the crusades. He would not react as a soldier but, rather, as a preacher.

• A JOURNEY BEYOND THE FRONTIERS
  . This journey was providential and opened new horizons for Dominic's apostolic vocation. Travelling is necessary to feed the apostolic vocation; one has to leave one's own land, always going beyond...
  . This was to put him in contact firstly with the heresy in the south of France (Languedoc). “His merciful breast was filled with compassion as he looked upon the innumerable souls who had been miserably misled”. His apostolic vocation grew.
  . He also saw the success of the heretical preachers, and the lack of success of the Catholic preachers. Surely one had to preach more and with a more gospel-based lifestyle? His apostolic vocation began to take shape. He was to be a preacher.
  . At the other end of Europe he discovered the pagan world which had never heard, never mind rejected, the message of the Gospel. His apostolic calling increased alongside his regard for preaching. All his life he was to maintain this missionary ideal: to go to the land of the Cumans, even though other priorities were to prevent him. This task would be left for the members of the Dominican Family.

• OTHER MISSIONARY CONTACTS
  . In Europe he saw a Church in crisis, needing to be reformed, a hierarchy fond of political power and the good life...
  . His personal contacts during his travels and in his apostolic work stirred the apostolic vocation within him. The contacts with fellow travellers, with the people who offered him lodgings, with the poor, the sick, with students, princes and potentates, with the masses... This is where Dominic could hear people crying out for the Gospel.
  . Dominic's apostolic vocation was born in him as a result of his contacts with suffering humanity. The call of Christ reached him through the personal stories of men and women. These were to be the reminders of his apostolic calling which were renewed and grew stronger with each passing day. He didn't receive this calling in one concrete moment nor in perpetuity.
  . Ultimately he would be an apostle, preacher, evangelist. And his target audience would be those who were outside the church of the clergy, the cloister of monks and canons and even outside the community of those who had received baptism. This is what today is called preaching on the frontiers.

FAITHFULNESS TO THE COMMAND OF JESUS WITHIN THE CHURCH

. Dominic knew that it is God who calls and that a vocation is a grace or gift. His contact with suffering humanity forced him to remember the command of Jesus: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved...” (Mk 16. 15-16).
. Dominic's apostolic vocation was not an individual and wilful decision fuelled by sentiment and emotion. It was not a matter of simple human generosity although this is important. It had to be answered before God who calls.
. In silence and in contemplative prayer Dominic assimilated and internalised Jesus' call. He contemplated suffering humanity and also the crucified Christ to whom he surrendered himself for the salvation of many. Thereby, the apostolic vocation within him acquired a special strength, a sort of unstoppable impulse. “I should be punished if I did not preach” “The love of God drives us” He used to say it in his prayer of intercession: “What will become of the poor sinners?”.
• THE TWO LOYALTIES
  . Dominic's apostolic vocation was a response to two loyalties: loyalty to Christ and loyalty to man. Dominic faced up to the pain and drama of humanity and the drama of Christ on the Cross. By contemplating the suffering of humanity he was able to understand the meaning of Christ crucified. By contemplating Christ crucified he was able to understand the significance of human suffering.
  . Pedro Ferrando alludes to these two loyalties when he explains Dominic's gesture of selling his books in Palencia: “He decided, with one action, to follow the advice of the Gospel and remedy the desperate situation of his dying fellow-men...”. This is being true to God and to one's neighbour, to the Gospel and to one's brothers and sisters.

• THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW AND THE EPISTLES OF PAUL:
  .“He always carried the Gospel of Matthew and Paul's epistles with him. He studied them frequently to the extent that he almost knew them off by heart” (Fr. Juan de Navarra). Did he deliberately choose those two New Testament books? The explanation is probably that they were simply the two New Testament books that were available to him. Books were scarce in those times. They had to be hand-written.
  . But it certainly was a happy coincidence because those New Testament texts are precisely those which most emphasise the apostolic mission. Chapter 10 of Matthew is concerned with apostolic mission. It must have been one of Dominic's favourite pieces of reading. His style of apostolic life could have been copied from Matthew's text. On the other hand Paul is the definitive model of an apostle and evangelist. Enlightened on the road to Damascus, he would dedicate all his life to announcing the Good News of Jesus, for this is why he had been sent. “Go and preach”. Dominic's life was so like that of Paul! Except of course for the Damascus part - we don't know that Dominic was thrown from his horse!

• FIRST APOSTLE, THEN FOUNDER:
  . First and foremost Dominic was an apostle. Later, and consequently, he was a founder but the vocation of founder came to him later. At first Dominic did not intend to found an order, nor had he any idea how to do so.
  . But, when he was alone in France preaching and saw that the harvest was indeed great, he maybe started a campaign of vocational promotion, seeking colleagues who might share the ministry of preaching with him. By the time he realised what was happening he had already founded the first community.
  . Then came the question of writing constitutions. That's how things happen: first you have to have the community, then the constitutions, rules or statutes are written. Foundations on paper are dangerous.

• AND AN APOSTLE WITHIN THE CHURCH:
  . There was no lack of preachers in Dominic's day but most of them were freelance: heretics, monks, lay-people and impassioned penitents all devoted themselves to preaching. There was a lot of anarchy and little sense of Church. Dominic was not impressed by all this. He wanted instead a preaching with a sense of Church (in medio Ecclesiae) and a preaching that sprang from community.
  . Dominic was deeply fond of the Church despite all that he saw in it. He had learned this affection as an acolyte with his uncle in Gumiel, as a canon in Osma, on his journeys to Rome and in his contacts with the faithful, with priests, bishops, cardinals and popes. He was aware that the missionary order and the apostolic vocation come to us through the Church. He did not want to preach without there being a Church mission involved and he wanted much less to preach against the Church. He was a friend of Diego, of Fulco, of Innocent III, of Honorius III. His used to say to his friars , “When you go to preach, first of all visit the bishop..., and kick up a fuss (don't tackle the hierarchy)”.
  . He wanted to preach as part of a community or team and that is how the Dominican Family was born, so that neither Dominic's death nor that of successive generations should put an end to such an essential ministry in the Church.

AN APOSTLE TO ANNOUNCE THE GOSPEL

. Dreams and prophetic visions are frequent in the lives of medieval saints. They have a great symbolic value. In Dominic's life, all his dreams and visions point towards his apostolic vocation.
• HIS MOTHER'S VISIONS
  . She saw him as a pup who set fire to the world with the firebrand which he carried in his mouth. In the middle ages the dog was the symbol of the preacher. The image is taken from Isaiah. When preachers didn't preach they were called “dumb dogs”.
  . Jordan explains the vision thus: “Whereupon it was predicted that the boy whom she would conceive would be a famous preacher who, by the barking of his words, would stir the souls who were sleeping in a state of sin and who would bring to the whole world that fire which Jesus Christ came to earth to bring us”.
  . She also saw him with a star on his forehead. The star is the symbol of light. Jordan explains it as follows: “He was seen by his mother with a star on his forehead to predict that, as was afterwards proven, he would be a light for the people, shining upon those in darkness and in the shadow of death...” Pedro Ferrando attributes this vision to his godmother. It doesn't matter. What is important is that both visions announce Dominic's apostolic profile and his evangelistic vocation.
  . Dominic himself had another vision: “In St. Peter's Basilica... he beheld in a vision the apostles Peter and Paul approaching him. It seemed to him that Peter handed him a staff and Paul a book. They said to him, “Go and preach, because God has chosen you for this ministry.” With that he saw his sons and daughters spread throughout the whole world, going two by two to teach the divine Word to all people.”
  . Innocent III also had visions: “The Pope saw in a dream that the Lateran church was threatened with imminent and total ruin. As he beheld this sight, trembling and tearful, God's chosen son, Dominic, came to him and putting his back to the building he held it up, for it was about to crash to the ground.” It was he who confirmed Saint Dominic's foundation plan.

• THE PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD:
  . All these visions point in the one direction: Dominic's vocation was one of preaching and proclaiming the Word. It was a very necessary ministry at that time, just as it is today. Dominic had learnt by seeing the religious ignorance of the faithful, the disastrous effects of heresy and the sorry situation of the pagans. These three situations were due, according to Dominic, to the abandonment of preaching or the deficiency in preaching on the part of the Church.
  . Conclusion: he and his people would dedicate their lives to the ministry of preaching. It is the most essential and most effective element for the renovation of the Christian community. Saint Dominic dropped the title of canon to become Friar Dominic, Brother Dominic, with the title which appears on his seal: “humble preaching minister” or “prior and master of the Friars Preachers”.

• FAITH COMES THROUGH PREACHING:
  . Perhaps he remembered the words of Saint Paul: “How will they believe in him if they have not heard of him? How will they hear if no one preaches to them? How will they preach if they are not sent?... How welcome are the footsteps of those who announce Good News!... For faith comes from preaching” (Rm 10. 14-17)
  . Faith is the beginning of salvation. It enlightens the meaning and the destiny of human existence. It offers salvation as a grace and a reconciliation. It opens men and women to hope and trust. It justifies us. It strengthens us in God, the rock which saves.
  . Dominic recalled the birth and growth of the first Christian communities. They were born of faith and they grew in faith thanks to the apostles' ministry of preaching. (He didn't carry the Acts of the Apostles with him, but he certainly would have been very familiar with it).
  . Therefore Dominic took on the ministry of preaching full time, either preaching himself or founding an Order of Preachers. This is his service to humanity. (We cannot do everything nor are we called to do everything in the Church and in society. Each to his own.)
  . He didn't want to complicate his life with hierarchical ministries, thus avoiding becoming a director and so being able to preach on the sole authority of the Word of God and his own life based on the Gospel. When he had to direct friars and nuns it was through obligation or because it was asked of him ( as happens to so many even today). His ideal was always to go to preach in the land of the Cumans.
  . Nor did he want to bother with administrative duties, thus taking time away from preaching. He recalled the scene in Acts: It would not be right for us to neglect the Word of God so as to give out food; ..we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the Word” (Ac 6. 2-4).
  . He was not even overly interested in the administration of the sacraments (except perhaps that of reconciliation, which seems to have been a ministry which Dominic very much appreciated, maybe because of his personal contact with people at certain decisive moments in their lives). “For Christ did not send me to baptise but to preach the Good News” (1 Co 1. 17) The first step towards the construction of a Christian community was preaching or evangelisation. Next comes the administration of the sacraments, which is a product of faith.
  . Therefore his preaching was full-time: “And wherever he found himself, whether out on the roads with his colleagues or in the inn with the innkeeper and his family, whether with magnates, princes or prelates, he always had on his lips edifying words and abundant examples...”. He preaches non-stop: on the road, in the inn, in the churches, in the town squares...; to the students in Bologna, to the peasants in Segovia, to prelates and magnates, to humble folk, to friars and nuns, to his fellow-travellers...

• A POSITIVE AND SALVIFIC PREACHING:
  . He announced salvation in Christ Jesus. Human beings already have enough problems without the preachers giving them extra ones.
  . It was a preaching full of theological optimism. This is an essential feature in Dominican spirituality and tradition. Dominic's favourite themes were the person of Jesus Christ, the cross which redeems, salvation, grace, love and the mercy of God...
  . It was not a negative preaching full of anathema, threats, moral precepts. That sort of preaching inhibits and paralyses but it doesn't convert nor can it engender faith. What interested Dominic was the promotion of an experience of faith and confidence in God's goodness.
  . It was a preaching full of hope, of good news. The preaching of the Gospel is liberating. “Christ has liberated you so that you can be free”. It awakens hope in the poor, the sinners, the captives, the heretics...
  . It was a prophetic preaching which aided the discernment of God's will and his ways at any given time or in any given situation. He had natural talents and a special sensitivity when getting to know people and putting himself in their situation. But he also denounced all that which is incompatible with the Gospel.

• PREACHING ON THE FRONTIERS:
  . This is a fundamental feature of the Dominican mission. The Dominican Family today has become especially aware that their mission must be a frontier one.
  . Dominic preached above all to those who were on the limits of society (the poor and the slaves) and of the Church (sinners, heretics, pagans). “I have not come for the righteous but for the sinners”.
  . He always maintained his ideal of “going to preach to the Cumans”. As an external sign Dominic grew a beard. It is the classical missionary figure.

PREACHING SUPPORTED BY A LIFE BASED ON GOSPEL VALUES.-

. The Word of God is effective on its own for it has its own authority despite the weaknesses of the preacher. It is not tied to anything or anybody. It depends on the strength of the Spirit, not on the oratorical or rhetorical skills of the preacher nor on his or her virtuous lifestyle. That is true...
. But those who hear receive the Word more easily when it is accompanied by the gospel-based life of the preacher. That is also true. We have to overcome literalism, positivism and fundamentalism in certain religious movements within the Christian community. We have to be more humble: “Seek God with humility, and see if we reach him at least gropingly.” Sometimes the strength of God's Word is cancelled by the anti-testimony of preachers or of the Christian community. Dominic was completely convinced. We in the Dominican Family have a very special responsibility here.

• LIFE MUST ACCOMPANY THE WORD:
  . In the stories of the prophets, word and life are always related. The prophetic word enlightens history which in turn reveals all the significance of the word. Jeremiah smashes the wine jugs and then explains, “Thus will God smash you if you do not convert.”
  . The same thing happens in the life of Jesus: he began to act and to teach. This is seen clearly in John's Gospel. Each of Jesus' discourses is related to a sign which he has performed. He multiplies the loaves and then preaches about the bread of life.
  . The strength of the word doesn't depend on the preacher but may be invalidated by his anti-witness or, on the other hand, may be backed up and authenticated by his life.
  . We do not proclaim mere doctrines or theories that must be learned off; we proclaim new life..., and that is why we must begin by showing what real life is all about. Those who announce the Good News must live, then, according to the Gospel (Read Matthew 10).
  . Dominic learned this by experience; by the experience of the heretical and the Catholic preachers. Why did some have success whilst others failed?

• THE EXAMPLE OF THE HERETICAL PREACHERS:
  . They went out two by two, they went from one city to another in constant itinerancy, they lived in absolute poverty, without provisions, with a single tunic, without money, barefoot... The result: they had a great crowd-pulling capacity. Mustn't Dominic have been inspired to some extent by this lifestyle when he went out to preach and when he drew up the lifestyle of the new Preachers?
  . According to Dominic all that is necessary to be true preachers is the mission of the Church. For this point he cannot praise them. He was convinced that for a Christian preacher to be successful he must be sent by the Church and be in communion with the Church despite all its defects.
  . Moreover he wanted to imitate the apostolic life, that is to say, the lifestyle of the Apostles: walking everywhere, without gold or silver, accompanied by others who share their mission, roving from city to city, following the poor Christ. Thus Dominic announced what he was actually living. It was the only way that they would believe him.

• THE PITIFUL SPECTACLE OF THE CATHOLIC PREACHERS OR THE ABANDONMENT OF POVERTY
  . Here we will limit ourselves to reading one of the texts which best reflect Dominic's idea of what preaching should be like. He recounts a meeting which took place in Montpellier to assess the results of Catholic preaching. It was a meeting of papal legates, archbishops, bishops and other prelates. They also invited Diego and Dominic.
  . When it came time for Diego and Dominic to speak, “Seeing the great and costly equestrian trappings and clothing of the envoys (Catholic preachers) they spoke thus: “ Brothers this is not, in my opinion, the way. I think it is impossible that these men, who rely on good example, will return to the faith because of mere words. Look at the heretics who, under the pretext of piety and simulating examples of poverty and evangelical austerity, are seducing simple souls. With an opposite spectacle you will build little , destroy much and achieve nothing. Take out the nail with another nail, set the true religion against bogus sanctity...” (Jordan 13)

• EXAMPLE WINS OVER:
  . Next comes the best bit. The Catholic preachers asked, “What is your advice for us?.” Diego and Dominic answered, “Practise what you see us practising.” And what did Diego and Dominic do?
  . Diego sent his retinue to Osma, only keeping a few clerics and Dominic “whom he esteemed greatly and of whom he was very fond.” All they kept was their books for prayer, study and controversy. And “going on foot, without money, in voluntary poverty, they began to preach the faith.”
  . This is a decisive moment for understanding Dominic's apostolic life and, especially, the foundation of the Order of Preachers.
  . Jordan says, “This is Brother Dominic, founder and friar of the Order of Preachers who from this time forth began to call himself , not sub-prior but Brother Dominic, truly a man of God...”
  . During the following years Dominic was to practise a lifestyle and a preaching style that would be the basis for his future foundation: itinerant preaching, in voluntary poverty, uninterrupted, positive and doctrinal, sharing the mission of the Church, sustained by the life of the Gospels... and...

PREACHING FROM WITHIN THE APOSTOLIC COMMUNITY:

. In Dominic's time the people were tired of so much feudalism and so much social hierarchy. They wanted a bit more democracy, participation and community spirit. As a good man of his times, Dominic shared these ideals and gave them visible form in his foundational project.
. However, the source of inspiration for the community that Dominic wanted was to be found elsewhere: in the apostolic community in Acts. His ideal was the imitation of the lives of the apostles in the beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem. “They remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers... The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common... they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved.” (Ac 2. 42-47). This style of community is the best support for preaching.
• PREACHING AND COMMUNITY:
  . To live in community is to live as brothers and sisters. And to live like that is the main way of announcing the Christian message, the most effective preaching. “Practise what you see us practising.” “I have given you an example so that you might do likewise.” “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
  . Dominic had already had community experience in the cloister at Osma: community living, community prayer, community liturgy... He had also met many communities of monks and nuns because he liked to stay wherever bells rang and chants and psalms could be heard. There he had taken part in community living, community prayer, community liturgy, community spiritual reading and meditation. But still he didn't see them as apostolic communities. Something was lacking.
  . Dominic wanted a community where responsibility and preaching were also shared: a community of street preachers, like the apostolic community, or else one of contemplative preachers. This is where the vocation of founder appeared in Dominic. It was the logical consequence of his apostolic vocation. The foundation of the Order of Preachers was the best and most fertile fruit of Dominic's apostolic vocation.

• THE COMMUNITY , THE PRINCIPAL PREACHER
  . All the Dominican communities whether of preaching friars or contemplative nuns were called Domus Praedicationis (houses of prayer) because community living - fraternal or sisterly - is the main and most effective way of proclaiming the Gospel.
  . Numerous New Testament texts inspired Dominic: “You will be my witnesses” (Luc 24. 48). “... and all of us are witnesses to that” (Ac 2. 32). “... and they were looked up to by everyone (Ac 2. 47)
  . A true Christian community is a place of salvation, of liberation, of communion, of participation, of reconciliation, of compassion and mercy and of mutual service. In other words, the Kingdom of God. So all the members of the Dominican family can preach, even those who lack the gift of speech...
  . This is how Dominic completed the circle of apostolic vocation: the great evangelist became the great apostle and he, in turn, became the founder of the Order of Preachers and the great Dominican Family to which we all belong.

Felicísimo Martínez, O.P.
Caracas, 9-5-96

---

This page served: .