Dominic: The Bread and Butter Saint?
You are at an anniversary dinner. The table is ready, and the guests enter and are seated. Your eyes take in the marvelous feast before you. Now be honest. Do your really pay much attention to the bread and butter? So it is with the Church's rich saintly fare. There are flamboyant dishes like Teresa of Avila, replete with Spanish dancing and castanets. There is the delightful little poor man of Assisi who would preach to the birds if no one else would listen. But St. Dominic? Who even knows who he is! We need bread-and-butter saints. They are the staff of life, and Dominic is rich fare. God in Catherine's Dialogue says Dominic's ship is "well ordered." Rather than understand this as "running a tight ship" I'd like to suggest otherwise. First, Dominic made sure that nothing in the Dominican rule of life would bind under pain of sin. This differs from other religious communities. Freedom was utmost in Dominic's vision. This means the brothers ...