Monday, August 8, 2011

St. Dominic: To Teach & To Preach

Today the Church honors and remembers St. Dominic Guzman, who is also the Saint of the Month in our newsletter, The City of God. Dominic was born in Spain in 1170 and he died in 1221. He founded the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. During a time of great strife and religious upheaval, the Inquisition, Dominic tried to bring compassion into the mix.

The Gospel reading appointed for his day for the Daily Office is taken from the Gospel according to John:

Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.” (Jn. 7: 16-18).

The reading is very appropriate for St. Dominic. The motto of his religious order is “to teach and to preach.” Dominic’s teaching and preaching was centered on Christ and His Good News of Salvation. Dominic did not center on himself. His order of teachers and preachers were a mendicant order, meaning that they lived as beggars. Dominic believed that the great wealth of some of the Church’s clergy was an obstacle to faith and was a scandal.

Those who followed Dominic, like Thomas Aquinas, used their God given gift of the intellect to delve into the mystery that is God. The Dominicans taught in universities. Dominic believed that the single mission of the Order of Preachers embraced many ministries, developed as needed to bring the Word of God to persons in varying societies and circumstances. Dominic had this in mind when he urged the first members to identify with each culture through the use of the vernacular languages. For the same purpose he asked the preachers to meet all people as mendicants, ready to exchange gifts and necessities with others in the spirit of Jesus and the apostles.

We could learn a great deal from Dominic. In our daily lives as Christians, there should be a bit of a Dominican in each of us, ready to teach and to preach the Good News of Jesus to those whom we meet, not only by what we say, but how we live our lives.

Let us pray: Almighty God, whose servant Dominic grew in knowledge of your truth and formed an order of preachers to proclaim the good news of Christ: Give to all your people a hunger for your Word and an urgent longing to share the Gospel, that the whole world may come to know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

NEWS

The Galveston Island Tree Conservancy’s 2011/12 NeighborWoods Project has been chosen as one of 20 finalists for Tom’s of Maine 50 States for Good Community Sponsorship. We have the opportunity to win a share of $150,000 to fund next year’s NeighborWoods in Galveston, Texas, but we need your on-line vote to help us win one of five $20,000 sponsorships or one $50,000 sponsorship. To find out more about NeighborWoods please visit www.galvestonislandtreeconservancy.org.

To vote, please go to www.50statesforgood.com, click on Vote Now and vote for The Galveston Island Tree Conservancy. Help us plant 700 trees in Galveston Island Neighborhoods in 2011/12!

Top twenty (20) applications will be posted on www.50statesforgood.com, and the public will be encouraged to vote from Tuesday, 2 August 2011 to Tuesday, 13 September 2011. Visitors can vote once (1) per day. Project voting standings will be displayed on www.50statesforgood.com and will be public until the last week of voting, on or about 6 September 2011. At the completion of the final voting phase, the 6 projects with the highest vote totals will be declared as the selected projects to receive funding, as determined by the consumer vote.


CALENDAR REMINDERS

The UBE Youth had to cancel its trip to Galveston because of a scheduling conflict with 2 of the sponsors.

St. Augustine’s Feast Day: Potluck Dinner and Dancing on Saturday, 27 August at 7 p.m. and Eucharist Rite II on Sunday at 9 a.m. followed by a reception in Sutton Hall.

PRAYER MINISTRY

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, and we especially pray for those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, the shut-ins, and anyone suffering from depression of anxiety of any kind. “Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance, but taking hold of God’s willingness.” The Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

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