Study was a requirement of all the brethren. The ultimate goal of study was the service of truth, not self-advancement. Dominic placed such a high level of importance on study that a brother could be dispensed from prayers and even conventual chapter if study demanded. The cells of the brethren were designed for solitude to provide an environment conducive to study. The brothers who because of their preaching missions were in greater need of time to study received private cells.

    During the 13th century, books were not inexpensive items. However, for the Order of Preachers books were considered, “an indispensable luxury.” In Dominic: The Grace of the Word, Guy Bedouelle noted that books were the subject of much of the early legislation of the Order. In fact, the early legislation referred to books as “sacred objects” to encourage their use.

    This dedication to study is evident in our community in a variety of ways. (While I know I am not yet fully incorporated into the community, I use “our” because my heart feels at home here.) There are opportunities for continuing education through the classes offered by Sister Ann Regina and Sister Regina Marie at the Motherhouse. Sister Sharon Therese has offered classes on global climate change. The sisters at Jubilee Farm also offer videos to bring a greater awareness of some of the many environmental concerns we are faced with today. We are being educated through the work of the different committees, the Anti-Racism workshops, retreats, and other workshop opportunities throughout the year. The topics for dialog often allow us to learn and explore new areas like genetically modified food. In addition, there are sister pursuing graduate degrees and professional development for their various ministries.

    The experience that stands out the most for me in the pursuit of study is Sister Helen taking the Old Testament course with me this fall. I believe she chose to do this because she wanted to grow in her understanding of the scripture. This was a wonderful example to me of life-long learning and keeping a passion for study alive. The sisters here at the Motherhouse also reflect those two aspects for me. There are a great number of them dedicated to attending the classes offered by Sister Ann Regina and Sister Regina Marie. Many take the classes offered by Sister Sharon Therese to learn about climate change.

    While working on a Dominican customs interview project, many of the sisters expressed that study was not only important but at the heart of being Dominican. Some of the thoughts they shared were these: Dominicans are never fully formed; continual renewal, study, classes, and quality learning were necessary even in retirement; accurate study is essential to teaching; we must be formed, shaped, and molded by the Word of God.

“For Dominicans, study not only leads to prayer but is itself a contemplative act.”

Constitutions and Directory, Springfield Dominican Sisters

 Rooted in Prayer

    The deepest source of St. Dominic’s inspiration was his love of Christ Jesus. He gave one, single ideal — to follow Christ, “speaking only of God or with God.” This indicates to me that St. Dominic’s prayer life was deeply rooted in obedience, attentive listening, to God. Dominic said that speaking with God was constant prayer and speaking about God preaching for the salvation of souls. Bedouelle described Dominic as living in intimacy with the Word of God, carrying the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles of Paul with him wherever he went.

    Dominic was always in prayer. He was always in conversation with the Lord, whether in quiet contemplation or singing joyful psalms, especially on the numerous walking journeys made by Dominic and the brethren. Dominic’s life of perpetual prayer seemed to embody St. Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians, “Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18).

    Bedouelle mentions that Dominic was guided by reflection. I believe Dominic was very attentive to how God was calling him to serve. Dominic knew that this time with God was what nourished his soul and strengthened his reaching out to other people. He took the fruits of this time of reflection and contemplation, and shared them with the world through his preaching. The contemplation was not just evident in the actual preaching, but in the way Dominic lived his life as an example. He practiced what he preached and exhorted the brethren to do the same.

    One of the mottos of the Dominican Order is contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere, having contemplated, to give to others the fruits of our contemplation. St. Dominic’s life was a perfect example of this motto. In addition to personal prayer, Dominic also emphasized the importance of participating in the liturgical events of the day. He cited this as a source of strength for the community of believers.

    We are called in our Constitutions and Directory to daily contemplation, in the spirit of St. Dominic, to strengthen our preaching mission. Emphasized, too, is the importance of sharing daily Eucharist, celebrating the Sacraments of Penance and Anointing, Morning and Evening Prayer, and praying for the deceased. There is also a call to personal prayer, to listen attentively to God’s voice and discern His will for our lives. We choose to do this through silence and solitude, daily contemplation, spiritual reading, annual retreats, and saying the rosary.

    I have witnessed and felt the powerful presence of prayer in our community since my first visit to the motherhouse. My first experience here was evening prayer. It was incredible to come together with others in prayer in that way. I suppose this witness could really be traced back to one of my earliest childhood memories — the fifteen decade rosaries hanging from the belts of Sister Josetta and Sister Joseph Mary at the Villa.

    Our time of communal prayer is a wonderful way to come together each day. We are uniting our prayers and offering them with and for the Church. There is a power for me in raising our voices together in the psalm tones. One of the most awesome experiences for me last fall was to experience prayers with the full voice of the community at the Jubilee celebration.

    Another beautiful aspect of our communal prayer is the uniqueness in that experience between different local missions. The prayer really reflects the spirit and personality of the local house. In our formation community, I feel there is much power in the time within our communal prayer that is more contemplative. There is “breathing space” to really reflect on the Word we have shared. We are comfortable just being in the presence of God with one another.

    I feel like I have definitely witnessed many examples of personal prayer, but that witness is harder to put into words. I believe each individual sister has her own way of coming together with God in prayer. Just within our local community, I believe there are five different ways of listening and being attentive to God’s presence. In the larger community there are probably as many ways to pray as there are sisters. But somehow I feel that we can observe each other’s personal prayer. I believe it becomes visible in how we are present to one another, in communal prayer and community life, and in the way we approach our ministries.

“Our proclamation of the Word demands a rootedness in the Word, a being formed by daily contemplation of that Word. We contemplate God’s Word, revealed in Scripture and in our daily lives, and we give to others the fruits of our contemplation.”

 Constitutions and Directory, Springfield Dominican Sisters

 Indestructible perseverance

    All members of the Dominican Order, from St. Dominic and the earliest brethren to the newest of us embarking on the journey, have been called to the same mission — preaching for the salvation of souls, preaching the Word of God. The most striking aspect of Dominicans fulfilling the mission has been the spirit of perseverance. I believe that hand-in-hand with this perseverance is a trust in the Providence of God.

     St. Dominic demonstrated this perseverance in the way he went about completing the mission. There is the story of Dominic staying up all night, persistently and successfully, working to convert an innkeeper in Toulouse. He would preach tirelessly to bring people back to the faith. For Dominic, trust in God’s Providence was complete. He exhorted his brethren to likewise trust in God, “Go in confidence, for the Lord will give you the gift of divine preaching. He will be with you; you will want for nothing.”

     Trust in God seemed to provide Dominican saints and other members of the Order with a sense of indestructible perseverance. Study of the Dominican saints revealed that they were faithful to the mission and persevered despite torture, family resistance, threats of forced marriage, kidnappings, illness, attacks from the devil, ambushes, and false accusations, not to mention expulsion from France at the time of the revolution.

     Studying the origins of active, vowed communities of Dominican women also provided a good example of trust and perseverance in the mission in the face of challenges and set backs. Looking specifically at the beginnings of the Kentucky Dominicans, their first home was a log cabin and their provisions were whatever could be obtained from their families. They were an active teaching community, who also ran a farm in the beginning, with the constitutions of second order nuns. The sisters quickly recognized the need to adapt these constitutions. The cloistered prayer schedule was too much for the active life. Some other challenges they faced were debt, fire, persecution, yellow fever, and being transferred from the jurisdiction of the Order to that of the bishop. Yet despite the odds, they flourished and prayerfully fulfilled their ministry, trusting God to guide them through.

    Then, with only 48 hours notice, six sisters were sent from Kentucky to Jacksonville, Ill. “Plagued by illness, cold, prejudice, dire poverty, and the myriad needs of the immigrant families they served, the faith-filled community found strength in their individual and common prayer and in their common life” (Constitutions, Foundations and Identity). They persevered in these challenges, with the hope of returning home to Kentucky, only to find out that they were in fact a new congregation. The perseverance of our pioneer sisters gave our community characteristics that shape us today, seen in the quote below.

    Presently, I believe that we see this trust and perseverance in many different ways. We are still facing challenges like closing missions, becoming an anti-racist congregation, a smaller number of responses to religious vocations, our role in promoting social justice, changes in ministry, personal discernment, personal illness, and preparing for death. Our sisters live this trust and perseverance in bravely facing illness, amputation, and death. They embrace the itinerant spirit and open their hearts to new ministries. Trust in God’s Providence gives us the strength to keep moving forward, persevering in preaching the Gospel.

“From its beginnings our congregation has faced difficult circumstances with qualities that would characterize it throughout history: trust in God’s presence and call in the present moment, abandonment of the past to God’s mercy, and hope in God’s graciousness in the future.”

 Constitutions and Directory, Springfield Dominican Sisters

A Rule of Love

    Early in the Order’s history Dominic emphasized the support and strength to be gained from community life. For example, if a brother needed to be dispensed for study, the others would pray in his place, creating a balance. Dominic structured the early constitutions in such a way that they were open to change but there have been no essential changes in more than 700 years. Dominic’s vision was “farsighted and astoundingly mature,” according to Hinnebusch, especially in aspects like shared decision-making and a representative government. St. Dominic selected the Rule of St. Augustine for the brethren to follow in addition to the constitutions.

    It was in our study of the Rule of St. Augustine, that the power of our community life really came to stand out for me. The beginning of the Rule exhorts us to “live together in harmony, being of one mind and heart on the way to God.” Our Constitutions note that it is this “union of heart and mind in God which binds us together.” In reading Van Bavel’s commentary on the Rule, I was struck by the theme of love that pervades St. Augustine’s writing. Community life should be an expression of the love of God. In order to express this love, the Rule focuses on the right relationships between community members. Van Bavel says, “a good community life is nothing other than the practice of love.”

    I believe our community life provides support and strength to help us carry out the mission to preach the Gospel. Community life is also preaching in and of itself. It can be a sign for living Christian life. We can encourage one another, challenge each other to new growth, support each other in difficult times, rejoice together in joyful times and come together to live our vows more fully.

     There is joy, warmth, love, and welcome that permeates our community. No matter which local house one happens to be visiting and no matter how different those houses may be there is always that sense of joy, warmth, love, and welcome. I believe that this speaks strongly of the way we embrace community life and live out the Rule and our Constitutions.

    I believe that this is especially true of our local community. There is an overwhelming sense of being accepted right where I am at any given time. There is a feeling of support that provides me with the freedom to be myself without fear. It is a place of prayerfulness, gentleness, caring, trust, respectfulness, openness, love, service, and perseverance.

“Gathered in God’s name and rejoicing in God’s presence, we share the responsibility for making our life together a living sign which encourages all Christians to fulfill their vocation.”

Constitutions and Directory, Springfield Dominican Sisters