Vigils Reading – St Dominic

A reading on the prayer of

ST DOMINIC

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The holy father Dominic also had another beautiful way of praying, full of

devotion and grace. After the canonical Hours and the grace which is said in

common after meals, the father would go off quickly on his own to a cell or

somewhere, sober and alert and anointed with a spirit of devotion which he had

drawn from the divine words which had been sung in choir or during the meal;

there he would sit down to read or pray, recollecting himself in himself and

fixing himself in the presence of God.

Sitting there quietly he would open some book before him, arming

himself first with the sign of the cross, and then he would read. And he would be

moved in his mind as delightfully as if he heard the Lord speaking to him. As the

Psalm says, “I will hear what the Lord God is saying in me.” It was as if he were

arguing with a friend; at one moment he would appear to be feeling impatient,

nodding his head energetically, then he would seem to be listening quietly, then

you would see him disputing and struggling, and laughing and weeping all at

once, fixing his gaze, submitting, then again speaking quietly and beating his

breast.

If anyone was inquisitive enough to want to spy on him secretly, he would

find that the holy father Dominic was like Moses, who went into the innermost

desert and saw the burning bush and the Lord speaking and calling to him to

humble himself. The man of God had a prophetic way of passing quickly from

reading to prayer and from meditation to contemplation.

When he was reading like this on his own, he used to venerate the book

and bow to it and sometimes kiss it, particularly if it was a book of the gospels or

if he was reading the words which Christ had spoken with his own lips. And

sometimes he used to hide his face and turn it aside, or he would bury his face in

his hands and hide it a little in his scapular. And then he would also become

anxious and full of yearning, and he would also rise a little, respectfully, and

bow as if he were thanking some very special person for favors he has bestowed.

Then, quite refreshed and at peace in himself, he would continue reading his

book.