Vigils Reading - St Dominic
2024-08-08
THE PRAYER OF ST DOMINIC1
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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 become11
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 favours he has
bestowed. Then, quite refreshed and at peace in himself, he would continue
reading his book.
