11th tuesday
On the Faith and Confidence of our Blessed FatheR
Photo courtesy of Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.
Transcript
“On the evening of the first day of the week…Jesus came and stood among [the apostles] and said to them, ‘Peace be with you…As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’” John 20:19-21
On the day of the resurrection, Our Lord came to His disciples to strengthen their weak faith. Through the example of the apostles’ lives, witnesses of Christ’s resurrection even unto death, St. Dominic was strengthened in his faith.
At his baptism, Dominic had received the gift of faith, and as a child his faith and confidence in God grew through the witness of his mother. Blessed Jane herself showed great confidence in God throughout her life. Most famously she demonstrated this trust when asking God to fill the wine cask she had emptied to serve the poor.
Following his mother’s great confidence, Dominic trusted fully that the Lord would provide whatever he needed. When the friars had no food, St. Dominic had such trust that his prayer would be heard that he had the friars sit down in the refectory while there was still nothing to serve. Dominic fully trusted that the Lord would take care of his servants, and God responded to his confident prayers by sending angels to feed the brethren.
Dominic’s faith was built upon the solid rock of the Scriptures and Tradition of the Church. He relished the study of Sacred Truth, which continually strengthened his faith. St. Dominic’s faith was heroic in its intensity. Even when bishops and counts advised him against it, Dominic trusted in God and dispersed his brethren. His faith allowed him to obey always the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the founding of his Order.
St. Dominic’s lively faith and confidence in God must continue in his Order today. As did St. Dominic and the early brethren, we must go out to all souls with confidence in the workings of the Holy Spirit and trust that God will use us as He wills. We should strive to live with the great faith of our Father, refusing God nothing, always following the promptings of His Spirit, regardless of the opinions of others.
Let us honor today the first glorious mystery of the Rosary, the Resurrection, and let us beg, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and St. Dominic, a strong faith and confidence in God.