Today the Church celebrates the life of Saint Dominic.  “Dominic’s ideal, and that of his Order, was to organically link a life with God, study, and prayer in all forms, with a ministry of salvation to people by the word of God. His ideal: contemplata tradere: “to pass on the fruits of contemplation” or “to speak only of God or with God.””  [Source: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-dominic/]

Saint Dominic realized the importance of the Word as well as words as a conveyor of faith.  A true story:  I was helping out staff to prepare for the funeral of a dear, long-standing woman parishioner of Bellarmine Parish on the campus of Xavier University in Cincinnati where I worked before coming to Omaha and CHI Health.   The woman worked as a copy-write editor and her love was the English language and speaking and writing it properly. We had worked hard for a couple of days making sure everything was set for her funeral Mass, music, photos, stories, incense, everything.  We finished the worship aid and had on the front a beautiful picture of her and one of her favorite poems.

The Church was going to be packed, for as I said she was well loved among the Bellarmine Parish family, yet 10 minutes before the viewing of the body a family member rushed in looking as if she was about to faint straight away.   She was pointing at words toward the end of the Worship Aid.  We looked, and as a staff we stood aghast, for there on this lovely woman’s worship aid, this woman who worked so hard making sure published copy was perfect, well there in black and white we had type not final commendation, but final condemnation.  

As sure as you can say, ‘well shut my mouth and call me Charlie,’ we went back to print, ‘quickly people, quickly’, and no one was but the wiser.  Into your hands, I commend my spirit.   So,  the readings and the Gospel today spurs in me a reflection on the cross, Jesus on the cross, the crosses Saints like Saint Dominic carried, and our own crosses, as saints, and the crosses that we commend as followers of Jesus, as the saint that Jesus, on his cross, calls us all to be.
Words matter, and understanding words, especially God’s Word, Jesus, matters.  Jesus’ Word is always, always calling us to action, to be better, to be better than what the ‘powers that be’ of this world offer, to everyday be the light of God’s love.  We hear of early Christian communities that constantly, like the first disciples, Mary Magdalene the greatest among them, not fully getting it – ‘Sir, they have taken my Lord and I do not know where they put him’, and of course dear Saint Peter’s rebuke from Jesus from today’s Gospel, ‘Get behind me Satan’. 

I always wonder what was going through Jesus’ mind as he hung there on that Cross.  Seemingly, his earthly ministry failed, the people did not fully get it, we do not fully get it, but we should.  Jesus hanging there commending his whole life, the joys, the deep friendships, the healing, preaching, teaching, and call for conversion, the good, good work that was his mission.

He honestly carried with him as well, things like the sins of the world that divine love condemns, things that were contrary to God’s love, like exploitation, manipulation, hatred of self and one another, violence, unjust attitudes and actions that keep others down in the prisons of their life. 

Are we not called to fully commend our entire life, whether you are nineteen or ninety, not only the many crosses but also the divine love we have encountered and experienced throughout our life from this God who created us out of love, for love.  Anything less and we are not in an honest and integrated, and full relationship, giving God, as Jesus, did every fiber of his very being, with our God whose love is, was, and always has been there for us.   We need to see and feel the light of God’s love, and then in action, not just words, be the light.  It’s only love after all!