The Lay Dominicans of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Group will be posting meditations for the fifteen Tuesdays leading up to the feast of our Father Dominic on August 8th.   See here for more information on the 15 Tuesdays devotion.

“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father … I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you…if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you…When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you to all Truth” (John 20:17; John 16: 4,7,13).

As Mary Magdalene wished to cling to Jesus after His Death and Resurrection, so we often cling to the familiar to feel secure. But this clinging keeps us from venturing out to discover the unknown.

Recently, I had the chance to try indoor rock climbing.  I thought my greatest challenge would be climbing to the top. However, my elation at reaching the summit faded quickly as I contemplated my descent. There was a system in place that allowed climbers to rappel down the wall easily, but it required me to lean away from the wall and drop, without feeling any support first. It took many minutes of positive self-talk and reassurances from friends who had already finished the climb before I finally trusted.  I leaned back and fell; sure enough, the resistance was there as I easily hopped down the wall. As many times as I was reassured and reassured others, we each had to make our own decision to trust.

When Jesus was with His apostles and friends, they clung to Him; they could see Him, touch Him, and embrace Him. After many assurances that He would be with them always, He ascended into Heaven and they were seemingly left without Him. But He sent the Spirit and fed their faith with His own Body, the Holy Eucharist. Now they understood faith. They trusted and could spread the Truth of the Gospel.

Our spiritual father St. Dominic is a great example of trusting God completely. He began the Order of Preachers at a time when preachers were only bishops, and there were already many orders fulfilling the needs of the Church. He trusted in the unlikely calling to found a group of highly educated, missionary beggars, i.e. itinerant preachers.

We face the challenge in unfamiliar situations to remember our life lessons and apply them as we begin to see God’s will in everything and learn to trust that He is always with us. Let us pray for the grace to make every decision guided by our holy faith, venturing everyday towards Eternity.