St. Dominic Catholic Church

Homilies

2019-8-4 Fr. Roberto-Feast of St. Dominic-English

 

 

Homily for Solemnity of St. Dominic

Readings for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

St. Dominic’s, Eagle Rock

August 4, 2019

 

Title: What Do You Treasure?

Theme: St. Dominic shows us that God has to be our ultimate treasure above everyone and everything else.

Readings: Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23; Col 3: 1-5; 9-11; Luke 12:13-21

 

In 1979, when I was 25 years old, I fell in love with St. Dominic and his vision of preaching the truth about God and about the Catholic faith. I was already in love with Jesus, but learning about St. Dominic gave me a specific direction and focus for my life and a way to use my desires and talents to serve Jesus. St. Dominic inspired me to follow Jesus more than ever, and that is what the saints can do for us: they can inspire us to follow Jesus. So, today, on this feast of St. Dominic, I want to share with you three brief stories from his life so that you too might come to know him better and, most importantly, be inspired by him to follow Jesus more than ever.

 

The first story I want to share with you is about Dominic as a young university student, when he was maybe 19 or 20 years old. Dominic loved to learn, he loved to study, and he loved his books. During his lifetime, in the 12th and 13th centuries, books were rare and very expensive, so Dominic had sacrificed a lot to obtain his books on the Scriptures, on theology and the sciences – they were his most valuable possessions, his treasures. Well, it came to pass at that time that a severe famine spread throughout the northern part of Spain where Dominic lived. It got to be so bad that people were starving to death. Dominic was moved with compassion and knew he had to do something to help, but what? Then the Lord spoke to Dominic in his heart and asked him: “What is your treasure, Dominic? Is it your studies, your things, your books; or am I your treasure? Can you find your treasure in doing my will and helping others?” So, Dominic sold everything he had – his furniture, his clothes, his possessions and even his precious books – and he used all that money to help the poor.

 

My second story comes from about 20 years later when Dominic was already a priest and had been laboring for ten long, difficult years combatting the Albigensian heresy in southern France. The Albigensians took the message of Christianity and twisted it in terrible and dangerous ways. For example, they believed that everything material in the world was evil, especially the human body. So, for them, it was a virtue to punish and even torture themselves physically. They also believed that there were two gods, not one: a god of goodness and a god of evil, and these two gods were always fighting each other. Dominic preached against the heresy with all his heart and energy, but it was so deeply imbedded in the people and in the culture, that Dominic did not have much to show for all his efforts. In those ten years he had only succeeded in converting a small group of Albigensian women and helped them to become the first Dominican cloistered nuns; and he had a handful of men – perhaps 10 or 15 – who wanted to join him in his preaching mission. However, Dominic realized that most of southern France remained under the influence of the Albigensians and their heresy. At this point Dominic was tired and frustrated and ready to give up and go back home to Spain. Once again, the Lord spoke to Dominic’s heart asking him: “What is your treasure, Dominic? Is your treasure in your ideas of success and accomplishing your goals, or am I your treasure? Can you find your treasure in doing my will and trusting me to help you accomplish what I want you to do?” So, Dominic decided to remain in southern France and kept preaching, praying, fighting the heresy and gathering followers. And, by God’s grace, the very next year, Pope Honorius finally recognized and officially established Dominic and his followers as the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans. Dominic trusted God, and the Lord was faithful to his word.

 

Now here is my last story about Dominic. The year was 1221; the Order was only five years old. However, in those five years the Dominicans had spread throughout France and Spain and into Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Greece, England and even into Scandinavia in northern Europe! There were now hundreds and hundreds of Dominicans. I am sure that Dominic was very excited by this growth, but there was still so much left for him to do to organize and energize this fledgling Order and to make sure it would survive into the  future; so much depended on him. But one last time, the Lord spoke to Dominic’s heart and asked him: “What is your treasure, Dominic? Is it only in your abilities, your energy and your leadership of the Order, or am I your treasure? Can you find your treasure in doing my will and letting go of everything else?” This must have been the hardest thing God had asked of Dominic because he was so hardworking and dedicated to the Order and his dream of preaching the truth. But once again, Dominic yielded to God’s will, and he let go of the Order, let go of all his plans and concerns, hopes and dreams; and then Dominic let go of his very life and returned to God on August 6th 1221 at the age of 50.

 

These three stories from Dominic’s life show that, again and again at crucial times, Dominic was asked by the Lord: “What is your treasure, Dominic? What is most important to you?” And I believe that these are the same questions Jesus asks each of us at important moments throughout our lives. Jesus tells us with great insight in today’s Gospel that we must not be foolish like the man in the Gospel and make our ultimate treasure in life our possessions, our successes, our comfort, our security, our agenda or even our very lives. And today, Jesus offers us the example of St. Dominic who had the grace to find his true and ultimate treasure in God and in doing God’s will rather than his own. However, in order to do that, Dominic had to pay a price. He had to let go of his possessions, his books, his own ideas of success and accomplishment; he had to let go of the Dominican Order, of his own will, and eventually his very life.

 

So I would like to ask you to allow me to be the voice of Jesus for you today and ask each of you those same questions: What is your treasure? What is most important to you in your life? In other words, what are your priorities? What drives you in your life? I hope you treasure your life, your health, your loved ones, your hopes and dreams, your religion and your country, and even your pets! You might also treasure your job, your money, your house, your car, and lots of other things besides – and all that is just fine. It is good to appreciate and enjoy all these things and to work hard to achieve them for yourself and for your loved ones. But today, Jesus asks you and me if we can be like St. Dominic and say to Jesus: “Lord, above all these people you have given me, above all the wonderful things you have given me to enjoy in my life, you are my true and lasting treasure; I live for you.”