Feria Secunda infra Hebdomadam VIII post Octavam Pentecostes – I Augusti
III Classis | Tempora
On this day, the Church recalls the shining exemplar of the vir apostolicus, St. Dominic, Confessor, whose life was consumed with zeal for the salvation of souls and the preaching of divine truth. As we consider the liturgical readings from today—2 Timothy 4:1–8 and Luke 12:35–40—we find a luminous harmony between the apostolic exhortation of St. Paul, the vigilant warning of Our Lord, and the burning charity of St. Dominic’s life and mission.
“Preach the Word… Be Instant in Season, Out of Season” (2 Tim. 4:2)
St. Paul, near the end of his earthly course, exhorts his beloved disciple Timothy with the solemnity of a dying father:
“I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming and His kingdom: Preach the word.” (2 Tim. 4:1–2)
These words are not merely pastoral instructions; they are a call to holy combat, a spiritual testament of the Apostle who fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith. In St. Dominic, we see a man who lived this charge in the fullest sense—spending his days and nights for the Veritas, the Truth of Christ, which he preached with burning eloquence and lived with luminous purity.
St. Gregory the Great tells us:
“The preacher must dip his pen into the blood of his own heart if he would reach the ears of men.” (Homilies on the Gospels, II.12)
St. Dominic’s preaching was not the fruit of clever rhetoric, but of contemplative fire, born of vigils, fasting, and tears. He was instant in season and out of season—from the pulpits of southern France to the dusty roads trod barefoot in poverty, he spared no effort in opposing heresy and instructing the ignorant.
“Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands” (Luke 12:35)
In today’s Gospel, Our Lord commands a posture of vigilance and readiness:
“Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.” (Luke 12:37)
This eschatological urgency is not anxiety but love—a readiness springing from fidelity and longing. The Church Fathers see in the girded loins and burning lamps the signs of a soul prepared both in doctrine and charity.
St. Cyril of Alexandria teaches:
“The loins are girt with the strength of moral virtue, and the lamp is the illumination of the soul by divine knowledge.” (Commentary on Luke, Ch. 12)
This perfectly encapsulates the Dominican ideal. The Order of Preachers, under St. Dominic’s guidance, was to be a militia of men whose minds were afire with sacred doctrine and whose hearts were steadfast in prayer and penance. St. Dominic himself, often found weeping in the night before the Tabernacle, crying out, “What will become of sinners?”, was one such watchful servant, ever awaiting the Master’s return, ever laboring for His Kingdom.
A Crown of Justice Laid Up
St. Paul concludes:
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord… shall render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love His coming.” (2 Tim. 4:8)
St. Dominic loved the Lord’s coming—not only His final advent, but His daily visitation in the soul and in the Church. He longed for Christ in prayer and saw Him in the poor, in the heretic to be won, in the student to be formed. His was a life of yearning—a holy restlessness for God.
As St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote:
“He who longs for Christ is already filled with Him.” (Sermon on the Song of Songs, 83:4)
This yearning bore fruit in the crown of justice—an eternal reward not only promised, but already glimpsed in the light that radiated from his saintly life and the Order he founded.
Conclusion: Imitating the Watchful Servant and Tireless Preacher
Today’s readings, situated within the liturgical commemoration of St. Dominic, challenge us to vigilance and fidelity in our own vocations. Whether priest or layman, cloistered or in the world, each soul is called to gird the loins—to be clothed in virtue—and to keep the lamp burning with the oil of divine charity.
Let us, then, invoke the aid of our holy father Dominic, that we too may be instant in season and out of season, awaiting the Lord not with fear, but with burning desire and readiness to answer, when He knocks, “Here I am, Lord, I have kept watch.”
Collect of St. Dominic, Confessor (Aug. 4):
Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam beáti Dominici Confessóris tui illumináre dignátus es: da, quǽsumus; ut ejus intercessióne téneamur iis, quæ recte docuit. Per Dóminum nostrum…
Translation:
O God, who didst deign to enlighten Thy Church by the merits and teaching of blessed Dominic Thy Confessor, grant that through his intercession we may not be found lacking in the things which he taught in word and accomplished in deed.
Amen.