August 4, 2026
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon St. Dominic, whose feast we shall celebrate tomorrow. We shall admire in this great saint three different kinds of apostolate: the apostolate of prayer, the apostolate of example, and the apostolate of preaching. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to pray with more fervor for the conversion of sinners and the needs of the Church and of our own country; 2d, never to set anything but a good example towards others, so that they may be led to God. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St. James: "Pray one for another that you may be saved; for the prayer of a just man availeth much" (James v. 16.)
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ, who is always attentive to the needs of the Church, raising up St. Dominic in the thirteenth century to defend her against the ravages of the heresy which desolated the south of France, and to preach against the bad passions which covered the world with scandals. Let us admire the fidelity of St. Dominic in responding to his vocation. Not only did he re-establish faith and morals wherever he went, but he founded a society of apostles who were destined throughout all coming ages to bear the gospel to the extremities of the earth. Let us consider above all the triple apostolate by means of which he performed all these great works: the apostolate of prayer, the apostolate of example, and the apostolate of preaching. Let us bless Jesus Christ for so much good done to the Church by St. Dominic; let us congratulate St. Dominic upon it, who himself was the apostle and the founder of a society of apostles.
FIRST POINT
St. Dominic was one of the most Beautiful Examples of the Apostolate of Prayer
The apostolate of prayer consists in calling down the blessing of Heaven, by means of fervent prayers, upon sinners to be converted, upon the evils by which the Church is attacked, in order to repair them, upon all kinds of calamities, that they may be averted, upon all kinds of good works to be founded and pursued. This apostolate has four remarkable characteristics: 1st, it is possible to all, since all can pray; 2d, it is protected from all danger of self-love, since all passes in secret between God and the soul; 3d, it is the necessary condition of all success, since without the intervention of God human works cannot produce any fruit; 4th, it is a certain means of success, since prayer which is well performed is all-powerful over the heart of God, and often certain conversions, of which the world gives the honor to a preacher, are really only the work performed by an unknown pious soul who prays in secret. Filled with these holy thoughts, St. Dominic made of the whole of his life a life of prayer. From his earliest youth he prayed during the day, he prayed during the night. Raised to the priesthood and named canon of the cathedral of Osma, he devoted himself still more fervently to the apostolate of prayer, and he was seen in his stall at his chapter praying with the modesty and the fervor of an angel. Sent by his bishop to the south of France that he might defend religion, menaced by the heretics, and not being able to make himself heard by them, he had recourse to his usual weapons: he prays and makes the faithful pray by means of the recitation of the Rosary. Everything yields to this new kind of apostolate; heresy gives up its arms; order, peace, and happiness are renewed in the desolated provinces. Dominic, delighted with so good a result, dreams of erecting into a religious order the apostolic men who aided him. The Holy See at first refuses its approbation. Dominic prays; the Holy See thereupon erects the new Order; and numerous subjects are procured for it. From Rome, where he had obtained a victory destined to be so fruitful, the new founder goes into different towns and villages, there to preach the gospel, but always under the safeguard of prayer. In his journeys he walks alone, separated from his companions, that he may converse with God more at his ease. Arrived at the gates of the town, he falls on his knees, praying God not to send thunder upon the town wherein he is about to penetrate. Having entered the town, his first visit is to the churches, there to adore God who inhabits them, and to recommend to Him his ministry. This is how St. Dominic accomplished the apostolate of prayer. How do we fulfil it ourselves? Do we often pray for the conversion of sinners, for the Church, for our country, for the whole of society, for the success of holy works?
SECOND POINT
St. Dominic was an Apostle through the Apostolate of Example
We may all be apostles without preaching: a good example is a sermon; and it was one of the means whereby St. Dominic converted so many souls. From whatever point of view we may regard him, down to the smallest details of his public or private life, in his manner of acting, of speaking, and of praying, even in his deportment, his repasts, and his clothing, everywhere he was seen to be a holy man who had nothing earthly about him, a man without any other passion save that of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, who, notwithstanding an illustrious birth and the possession of great riches, loved poverty to such an extent as to make himself a beggar for the sake of Jesus Christ, and to choose for his own use the poorest tunic of the community, after having distributed amongst the poor, before entering into religion, not only his possessions, but even his books, annotated with a great deal of labor by his own hand. We see in him a penitent who had no other bed than a plank or the bare ground, no other undergarment than a coarse hair-shirt which tore his innocent flesh. He was, lastly, admired as a religious so humble that he received opprobrium and insults as things that were due to him; so modest in his behavior, that his face, as though it were shining with a ray of the divine majesty, inspired every one with profound veneration; so recollected, above all in prayer, that no one could behold him without being astonished. He was always full of reverence in presence of the greatness of God; sometimes his eyes were cast down and his body motionless; at other times his arms were stretched out in admiration like a man who is in an ecstasy. And all these things taken together were an eloquent sermon, which touched and converted souls. Behold a man of God! they said, and no one could resist such an example. Let us here examine ourselves; is it thus that we exercise the apostolate of example? Does everything in us, in the house, at church, in society, everywhere where we are, edify others?
THIRD POINT
St. Dominic Exercised the Apostolate of Preaching
The first condition for performing this kind of apostolate with success is to burn with the sacred fire of zeal, in such a manner that the mouth really speaks out of the abundance of the heart. Now such was St. Dominic in an eminent degree; and God was pleased to reveal this several times to the world, sometimes by making a halo of glory appear above his head, sometimes by raising his body from the ground, as if the flame, which tends always to rise, had endeavored to take to Paradise his pure body and holy soul. Every day this true apostle wept over the sins of the world, and made the accents of his charity, like a cry of distress, ascend to heaven. "O Lord," he would exclaim, "have pity on these poor sinners; what will become of them if they are not converted?" Then, possessed by a holy passion for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, he appeared in the pulpit like Moses descending from Sinai, and from his mouth flowed words full of fire which converted hearts. When he descended from the pulpit he went into the houses of the people, into the fields, along the roads, by the bedside of the sick, speaking to all of God and of salvation. He sometimes met with perverse and wicked men who responded to his zeal by insults, threw mud at him, and spat in his face; but he continued his apostolate in spite of them. They threatened to kill him. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "I do not deserve so beautiful a death!" and he pursued the course of his preaching in Italy, France, and Spain. He was an indefatigable apostle, and yet it seemed to him as though he had done nothing yet; and in order to increase the little he did in his own opinion, he created the Order of Friar Preachers, who were to go throughout the whole world bearing with them the Cross and the Gospel. What is our zeal for God and for souls compared with that of St. Dominic?
Resolutions and Spiritual Nosegay as above