Tomorrow’s the big day, so I thought I’d finish up my series on the Four Pillars of the Dominican life tonight.

Preaching is the point of the Dominican Order, the Order of Preachers: preaching for the salvation of souls. It’s that last bit that makes it difficult. Anyone can preach so as to annoy, offend, or bore their listeners, and this is so usual a thing that the word “preachy” has distinctly negative connotations. Outside of church, people don’t like to be preached at, and they especially don’t like to be preached at when they aren’t expecting it. One is unlikely to bring souls to Christ by being annoying, offensive, or boring.

So what does it mean for me to preach? How do I propose to do it without being annoying? These are good questions, questions that I expect I’ll be pondering for a good long while. Here’s what I think I know now.

First, St. Francis is famously said to have said (though I’m told he probably didn’t) that one should preach always; when necessary, use words. In other words, one should draw others to Christ simply by how one lives. This is a tall order; but it is, in fact, what all Christians are called to. But leading a life of Christian holiness is a big topic, and one that I don’t intend to get into now.

Second, I intend to preach through this blog. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to write posts filled with hellfire-and-brimstone; it simply means that I’m going to continue to post on the topics that interest me, and one of those topics is the Lord.

In one sense, I regard preaching as simply communicating truth, goodness, and beauty so far as I see them; and as God is the summit of all that is Good, True, and Beautiful, that will mean talking about God. Further, I think we live in a culture that often has only a shadowy notion of what the truth is—indeed, many doubt that truth can really be known.

It might be difficult to do this in a fitting way; but I’ve been shooting my mouth off here long enough that I rather expect I’ll be able to continue. And if I’m boring, well, folks will just go read something else.

Finally, I intend to preach to my family, friends, and co-workers, though I’m not quite sure how. This is the most challenging way, as it’s so easy to do it badly, and so hard to do it well (and I don’t believe that I’ve ever shown much aptitude for it). And then, there are a variety of constraints. For example, however much I might want to reach my co-workers, I am clearly not paid to evangelize them on company time. On the job, my number one tool must be the way I do my work, and the way I work with others.

If I seem unsure, it’s because I am. But then, I’m not becoming a Dominican because I already know how to do these things; I’m becoming a Dominican to learn.

The Dominican Order is officially titled the “Order of Preachers”. Everything the order does is supposed to be aimed toward preaching for the salvation of souls. But Dominicans have the wonderfully old-fashioned notion that if you’re going to speak about something you should know what you’re talking about. Hence, study has been an essential part of Dominican life from the beginning. A Dominican might not have anything to eat—the early Dominican friars were mendicants, and begged for their food—but a Dominican always has books.

The first book to study, is, of course, the Bible. Studying the Bible in a Catholic context is a challenging endeavor—not because the Church frowns on it, as some have said, but because there is so very much to know. One of the major principles of exegesis is that a passage of scripture cannot be interpreted in a vacuum, but must be interpreted in the light of all of the remainder of scripture and the entire deposit of faith. Acquiring such a universal knowledge of scripture is difficult, to say the least, and practically speaking we must look for help. Even there, the task is daunting, as Catholics have been reading and commenting on scripture from the earliest days of the Church.

But although study must begin with scripture it doesn’t end there. Dominican study often includes philosophy and theology, as well as various kinds of spiritual reading; and in the lay context, it also includes any kind of study required to live one’s life in the world. In my case, for example, it’s appropriate for me to study software engineering and computer science.

Finally, Dominicans need to be up on current events so as to bring the Faith to bear on the issues of the day. This is the bit, I confess, that I have the least interest in.

I said above that study must begin with scripture, but in fact that’s not quite true. In fact, study must begin with prayer, for prayer is the foundation for everything we do.

The First Pillar of the Dominican life is Prayer, with a capital P, just as it is the First Pillar of any Christian life. As a Lay Dominican I will be expected to pray the principle hours of the Divine Office each day, and also the Rosary, and to attend Mass as often as I can, and this in addition to other forms of prayer on a more ad hoc basis. That’s a lot, and it helps that I haven’t really watched TV in years.

Prayer is not, despite the common misconception, primarily about asking God for things. This is one kind of prayer, and an important one; Jesus himself gave us the Our Father, in which we ask God for a number of things, including our daily bread, that which we need to live. But it isn’t the main event. The primary purpose of prayer is intimacy with God. It is, ultimately an act of will, the act of focussing our attention and concentration upon the Lord, of placing ourselves in God’s presence and simply being there with Him.

This is easier said than done—indeed, without God’s grace and the aid of the Holy Spirit we couldn’t manage it at all. It takes practice, and patience, and lots and lots of grace. But the essence of love is not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us. The history of the world is not one of Man reaching up to God but of God reaching down to us. And that makes true intimacy with God possible.* And as God, infinite God, is the source of all that is good, all that is true, all that is beautiful, He is the answer to our deepest yearnings.

* Please do not think that I’m writing as some kind of spiritual master. At most I’ve taken a few steps on what promises to be a very long journey. But I’ve read a lot of travel brochures!

To be a Lay Dominican is to follow Christ in the manner of St. Dominic, as appropriate to the lay state. (That qualification is important; I’m not becoming some kind of pseudo-priest or religious brother.) So what does it mean to follow Christ in the manner of St. Dominic? I’ll say a little bit about it here, and expand on it in subsequent posts.

First, of course, to be a Dominican is to follow Christ, and in particular to be a good Catholic: daily prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments, and so forth. All Christians are called to a holy life in Jesus Christ. This is key. Without Christ, and him crucified, there’s no point to any of this.

But given that, there are four pillars to the Dominican life: Prayer, Community, Study, and Preaching. There is daily prayer: the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, and (if possible) the Mass. There is community: a monthly meeting with one’s chapter, plus occasional retreats. These two things are common to all of the “third orders”: Lay Dominicans, Secular Franciscans, Benedictine Oblates. But Dominican life is especially a life of study: of scripture, of theology, of philosophy, of Jesus. And this study has a particular end in view: the salvation of souls, starting first with one’s own soul, and then the souls of others…which leads naturally to the fourth pillar, which is preaching.

I’ll have more to say, later, but for now I’ll simply point out that preaching doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it must be solidly rooted in prayer, community, and study.