Preaching the Gospel: Dominican Pillar of Service

One of the mottos of the Dominican Order, where we find our heritage at Bishop Lynch, is Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere, meaning “to contemplate and to give to others the fruits of our contemplation.” This motto is often attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas, and is at the heart of our Heart of St. Dominic Christian Service program. Our students are filled with the love of the Lord here on campus and are then invited to bring forth that love in service to others.

Also called the Order of Preachers, the Dominican Order has another motto to help us live this call: laudare, benedicere, praedicare or “to praise, to bless, to preach.”

As Fr. Mark noted in his column on prayer, what we do in service to our brothers and sisters should always be rooted in our relationships with the Lord. We begin by praising and blessing the Lord in prayer, and then share with others the fruits of these actions by preaching about Him to others. Our praising and blessing Him always bears fruit because our Father in heaven is a good Father who likes to give good gifts to His children. Sharing this fruit with others is at the heart of our call as Christians and where we will find deep fulfillment.

As the Dominicans would rightly remind us, preaching refers to our words and our actions. We are not all called to speak on a stage to thousands to preach the goodness of the Lord and follow in our call to preach (though we may do so, too!). We are all called, however, to preach in our everyday actions and interactions. For our students, this includes the service they complete in their local communities.

On March 22-23, our students have the opportunity to preach the Gospel globally as BL participates in a mobile meal packing event for Feed My Starving Children. More than 1,500 children have received a year of nourishing meals from BL's past mobile packing events, and this year, our goal is to feed an additional 396 children for a year with the food that we pack.

Let us be encouraged today in our service to others as Jesus tells us in the Scriptures, “just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

Laura Gauthier, Director of Campus Ministry