Readings
I - Num. 12: 1-13
II - Mt. 15: 1-2, 10-14
ST. DOMINIC
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Dominic, the founder of the order of the Dominicans. Saint Dominic was born in Caleruega, Spain in 1170to the parents of Spanish nobility related to the ruling family. His mother was a holy woman and according to a legend his mother dreamt of a dog leaping from her womb with a torch in its mouth. The dog seemed to set the earth on fire. Hence, when Dominic was born his parents named him Dominic meaning the Lord's dog in Latin. Dominic was excelling in his theological studies and arts. In 1191, a famine struck Spain and left many people desolate and homeless. Dominic sold everything he had, including his furniture and clothes and fed for the poor. He even sold his manuscripts, required for study, saying, "Would you have me study from these dead skins when people are dying of hunger?" Dominic even attempted to sell himself into slavery to the Moors for the freedom of others. He fought the good fight for the Lord refuting the then prevailing Albigensian heresy that considered all material creation as evil. Dominic lived a discipline life of extreme charity, prayer and penance. St. Dominic was known for his austerity and poverty. He was a leader par-excellence of his time especially in defending the Church and attending to the poor.
In today’s Gospel passage Jesus calls the Scribes and the Pharisees ‘blind guides’ because they twisted and turned the simple Law of the Lord in binding and burdening the ordinary people. They diluted the essence of the Law but were focused on all that was least important. Even today we find such people who speak a lot about religion but failing to live religion that exhorts nothing but the love of God and love of neighbour.
