Mtr Margaret Babcock

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe without someone to proclaim him?
—Romans 10:13-14 NRSV

Dear Friends,

I get a lot of mail with offers like “Free Steak Dinner!” sponsored by time-share companies or retirement homes. As I toss them in the trash, I mutter, “Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it!” I don’t trust their pretty pictures and glib phrases, assuming “free” means I’ll have to sit through an intense marketing pitch with a stranger to earn a meal.

Most humans register skepticism when something seems too good to be true. Conversely, we admire people who working hard to achieve a worthy goal, even if we don’t feel up to doing the same.

Today is St Dominic’s feast day, and he was a man caught between these two instinctive reflexes. In the early thirteenth century, Dominic visited France and found the Albigensian heresy dominating the religious scene. Members of this cult performed extreme acts of asceticism, like starving themselves to death, in an effort to separate from a material world viewed as evil and opposed to everything spiritual. Even those who didn’t follow their example admired such masochism as proving their integrity.

Earning God’s love by denying physical needs, however, isn’t the good news Jesus brought us. And although the Church sent preachers to re-evangelize these heretics, they weren’t making any headway. Dominic identified why the Church’s message was ignored. These teachers took advantage of benefits their culture granted them (coaches, soft beds and lavish meals) while telling people struggling to survive that God loved them. I can imagine those peasants muttering, “I’ll believe it when I see some of those perks for me!” This preaching smelled like a sales job, even in 1200 AD.

The Gospel isn’t a set of facts to impart, but a relationship initiated by God. Dominic set about showing people what God’s love looked like. He and a few friends became itinerant preachers, living with the peasants, getting to know their struggles and needs, and then by example, even more than words, proclaiming God’s grace.

People responded positively to this embodied teaching. Dominic went on to establish the preaching order of Dominicans—a brotherhood dedicated to evangelism built on deepening one’s own relationship with God and showing God’s love to others, as the foundation on which sermons must rest.

I pray we may follow in Dominic’s footsteps, proclaiming with our lives and actions the good news of God’s love so that others may indeed believe.

Blessings,

—Mtr Margaret