Dominicans: Regular Observance and the Sacred Preaching: Homily for Sunday, August 2, 2026

Regular Observance and Sacred Preaching. If St. Dominic were here in Denver today, would he see what we do as consistent with the mission he started? Perhaps the answer to this question or these questions will become clear when we examine the life of St. Dominic. Readings for Today.

Regular Observance

Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. Dominic. When I was first assigned to a ministry, one question I sought to ask those in a parish or in a school in the early days of my time in the ministry was this, “What does it mean to be in a ministry staffed by Dominican friars?” I felt this was not an unimportant question or simply a nicety to acknowledge those friars who were in the ministry before.

Rather, for Dominicans, it was the central question. Put another way, if St. Dominic were here in Denver today, would he see what we do as consistent with the mission he started? Perhaps the answer to this question or these questions will become clear when we examine the life of St. Dominic.

The most significant quality of St. Dominic was his constant attention to God and God’s will. He was said to either be speaking to God or about God. This was not just something that happened when he founded the Dominicans. It was in some ways a hallmark of his life, dedicated to philosophy and theology, dedicated to a life of poverty, selling these same books to feed the poor during a famine in Spain, recognizing the essential foundation of prayer by first founding the cloistered Dominican nuns in Fangeaux, France, but eventually in Prouille in 1208.

It can be easy to assume that simply by St. Dominic’s hard work, the Order succeeded and flourished. But a close examination of the life of St. Dominic tells us otherwise. His barren mother going to St. Dominic de Silos Abbey to seek prayer for a child. Shortly after, she has the dream of giving birth to a dog with a torch who sets the world on fire.

It was not by accident that the boy born to her she named Dominic. It was not by accident that he joins a monastery and is eventually ordained a priest, becoming a canon, that is, one living according to a church rule, in the cathedral in Osma, Spain. It was not by accident he is asked by King Alfonso VIII to accompany the Bishop Diego on a trip to Denmark to arrange for the marriage of the Crown Prince Ferdinand and a princess. But as the princess died before the negotiations for the marriage could be completed, the most significant part of the trip was not the attempt to get a bride for Ferdinand, but a powerful insight into the importance of sharing the faith.

A chance encounter with an innkeeper that leads to rejecting heresy and embracing the faith. And the vision of St. Dominic took root in an important foundation. While the expression of the foundation of the Dominican Order is today referred to as the Four Pillars, such language would not have been understood by St. Dominic. A more accurate expression would be “regular observance and the sacred preaching.” His experience with cathedral canons, the Norbertines, the Augustinians, the Benedictines, and bishops of the Church. The regular observance and the sacred preaching.

What does this mean? Regular observance is the dedication to the common life, common and personal prayer, and study. And the sacred preaching arises from the common life, every interaction that arises from community, common praying of the liturgy of the hours and meditation, common and individual study.

The synergy of this regular observance gives rise to the sacred preaching. Now today, we limit preaching to what is done from the pulpit in a church. But for us Dominicans, the sacred preaching is far bigger. It is any action that preaches the gospel and leads people to deep faith in Jesus and a commitment to the Church.

This mission of informed sharing of the faith is as relevant today as it was in the time of St. Dominic. And the foundation of regular observance is also just as important today as ever. This all leads us, leads rather, to help us, to understand just what it means to be in a parish staffed by Dominicans.

First, to be not only staffed by Dominicans, but for each one of us here in this parish to live out the Dominican charism, the gift given for the entire Church. It means being committed to the community of the Church. This commitment is to both our local community here at St. Dominic’s, but also to the universal community of the Church in the Archdiocese, and indeed around the entire world.

Second, to be staffed by Dominicans, to live out the charism in a Dominican parish, is to be committed to both communal and personal prayer. Liturgical prayer, but also to mental contemplation that is the gift of those fruits we share with others.

Third, to be staffed by Dominicans means to inform our faith by exploring our faith in conjunction with reason. To read theological books and articles. To study the signs of the times. To inform our lives so that our faith is supported by a firm foundation.

All of this leads to the most important thing, the sacred preaching. Sharing our faith. Being committed to engaging with both those we know, but perhaps more importantly with those who are strangers, about just what Jesus in his mercy has done for us.

For this is exactly what Jesus told us to do. It is the silence of God that spoke loudly to Elijah. It is the abiding presence of Jesus who can show St. Peter that he can lead him through any type of storm. So, go, teach, baptize. Commit to the regular observance and the sacred preaching and lead people through Jesus, rather to Jesus, through the church.

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