On this fifth Tuesday in the series of 15 Tuesdays in honor of our Holy Father St. Dominic, our reflection relates the words of Our Lord about His Father’s House to the primacy of worship in the life of St. Dominic and in our own.
If you are joining us after the beginning of the 15 Tuesdays, don’t worry! Fifteen weeks is a long time, and you can begin at any point to grow in love of God and devotion to St. Dominic through joining in.
The Primacy of Divine Worship: “My Father’s House”
In this Fifth Joyful Mystery, we see Our Lord places primacy on His relationship with His Father. After Joseph and Mary find Jesus in the Temple teaching, He says to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (RSVCE) Or as the Douay-Rheims translates it: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Being occupied with His Father’s business and being in His Father’s house come first.
In Christ in His Mysteries, Bl. Columba Marmion writes of Jesus: “All His Divine personal life is to be ad Patrem; in giving Himself to us, He gives Himself as He is, seeking in all things His Father and the glory of His Father; and so, our entire turning toward the Father is wrought when we receive the Word with faith, confidence and love. What we ought to ask and constantly seek after is that all our thoughts, all our aspirations, all our desires, all our activity, should tend, by the grace of our filiation and by love, to our Heavenly Father in His Son Jesus: Viventes Deo in Christo Jesu [alive unto God, in Christ Jesus].”
From his earliest years, our Holy Father, St. Dominic, understood the primacy of the things of God. As a Canon Regular at the cathedral in Osma, he was devoted to the divine worship; he was constantly seeking that all his desires and activity should tend in Christ to God. When he established the Dominican Order, St. Dominic kept the choral office as a foundational element of the life of apostolic preaching. Returning to Choir throughout the day to sing the solemn praises of God in the Liturgy might seem to be an obstacle to apostolic work, but as St. Dominic saw, praise and contemplation would bear fruit in preaching the Word. He was known to go up and down the Choir urging the brethren to sing more strongly: “Fortiter, fratres!” – “Stronger, Brothers!” St Dominic celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each day with great devotion; the brethren would see him shedding tears.
For each of us, seeking the honor and glory of God must have primacy in our lives. He made us and has shown us the depth of His love in giving us His only begotten Son. When we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we are Ad Patrem, with Jesus, giving God our love and adoration. With Jesus, we recognize that in order to do the Father’s business, we must first come be nourished by His Word and the Sacraments. As we reflect on the Mystery of the Finding in the Temple and the example of our Holy Father St. Dominic, let us ask for the graces we need to be faithful Sons and Daughters of our Heavenly Father.
Additional Prayers
If you would like to observe this day with additional devotions, we have posted the following prayers in the past: