A Week with Dominicans

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015

I went Dominican last week, attending a Dominican Rite Mass on Sunday at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center in Salt Lake City, then a lecture there about the order’s charisms on Monday. Then, on Saturday, I went on a hike led by St. Catherine’s pastor, Fr. Lukasz Misko, O.P.

Through these experiences, I realized how thankful I am for Mass in the vernacular, took another step along the path of faith, and gained some insight as to how far I have yet to go. 

Regarding the Dominican Rite Mass – I admit it’s beautiful, but I have to confess that the Latin in which it’s celebrated prevents me from fully appreciating the liturgy. I was much more comfortable at the presentation by Fr. Serge Propst, O.P., who teaches preaching at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.

Dominicans, Fr. Serge said, are to serve others and seek their salvation by preaching the truth of God’s love and inviting them into his embrace.

“Any way you express God’s love to them is preaching and inviting them into his saving grace,” he said. “It is universal, as universal as God’s call to each one and every one of us to be holy and perfect.”

 His intellectual arguments almost made me want to become a Dominican, but even more persuasive was his personal story of conversion. The anecdote that struck me most deeply was when he told of delivering food to starving people in Africa; while in the village he noticed a little boy who hadn’t gotten any food, so Fr. Serge took the child aside and gave him his own lunch, protecting him so other, stronger kids wouldn’t take it away. Then Fr. Serge left, and he never learned what happened to that little boy. 

“I’m pretty sure he starved,” he said, noting that the experience changed him. “I’ll never be the same again. You can’t watch a starving child and then listen to our politicians without getting upset and angry. That’s the Dominican charism. We aren’t called by our study to know simply about things; we’re called to know, to experience, to be there and to allow it, by the grace of God, to change us so that in the future we can make a difference.”

Of my recent experiences with the Dominicans, I think what changed me was the hike. Starting out, we celebrated Morning Prayer near the Church Fork Trail head leading to Grandeur Peak. As the rays of the rising sun touched our little group, we recited Psalm 92. These words struck me: “How great are your works, Lord! How profound your purpose! A senseless person cannot know this; a fool cannot comprehend.”

That verse kept returning as I traversed the trail. Ultimately, however, the steep, snowy terrain defeated me; I had to turn back before I joined the others at the summit, where they were going to celebrate Mass. The failure wounded my pride – I thought I was in better shape – but to my surprise I was even more disappointed in missing Mass. I’ve never felt that daily Mass is crucial, but that day I felt the full force of the words “a fool cannot comprehend” – that is me, not understanding the profundity of the Eucharist, but surely even a senseless person can see the beauty, even if she can’t grasp the meaning?

However, rather than despairing as I set my feet back down the mountain, I was comforted by what Fr. Serge said: I have been invited, by God’s grace, to that summit. I’m not there yet, but maybe I’ll reach it some day.