Celebrating the Feast of St. Dominic


Today we honor the great feast of the founder of the Dominican Order – St. Dominic.  As members of the worldwide Dominican Family we remember him as founder, as father, as friend.

He is founder of a creative movement in the 13th century to bring preaching to the people of God by going out to wherever they lived.  He is father for all who follow his lead in proclaiming the mercy of God.  He is friend to any who long to live with others as sisters and brothers and to share their ­ “one wild and precious life.”

Last night at Sinsinawa, we welcomed into the novitiate a woman who is asking to live among others who have come to know Dominic as founder, father and friend.  She is choosing to live among others who feel called to follow that same path and to learn more about the nearly 800 years of Dominican life in more than 100 countries.

It’s an amazing family story!  It’s not that Krissie Koll is learning all of it for the first time.  She is a graduate of Dominican University in River Forest IL – where, among other things, she learned that she has a relative (Sister Angela Donovan) who is a Dominican of Sinsinawa.  She spent a year living with Dominicans of Sinsinawa in Spokane WA, as a volunteer in one of their ministries, and as a candidate she lived with yet a different group of Dominicans of Sinsinawa in Whitefish Bay WI.  Her journey continues now in St. Louis MO, as she joins with others who seek to live contemplatively and justly, and who celebrate this feast with us.

In poet Mary Oliver words, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Ruth Poochigian, O.P.
Madison WI

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nuns can have nose rings? (and other frequently asked questions)

Happiness and Joy in Religious Life?

Where are my...(fill in the blank)?