Under Palazzo Valentini, in Rome, archaeologists have discovered the ravishing remains of the homes of wealthy Romans of imperial times; among much else, these include mosaic floors, in which each tiny individual tile contributes to the overall effect. If even one is missing, or out of place, the pattern is flawed.
Our Dominican Family is rather like that: every individual member is a crucial part of the whole, yet paradoxically no individual is important except in relation to all the others. We have friars (ordained priests and co-operator brothers), contemplative nuns, laity, Sisters in apostolic life, the Youth Movement, the international volunteers: each of us has a place in the Family, and each of us has a contribution to make. Like the tiles in a mosaic, we fit into our individual places and so form a harmonious picture.
It’s natural for a lay Dominican woman to wonder, at times, what exactly her role can be. With rare exceptions, we don’t live in community, we don’t wear distinguishing costume, there may be little or nothing to tell those we meet that we are members of the Order. And yet there are many lay Dominican women who show clearly that it’s possible to combine an active Dominican life with a job, a family, all kinds of activities. Think of Patricia Robinson, who was the first ever European representative on the International Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities (ICLDF) – mother of seven, grandmother of many more, now very elderly but still a force to be reckoned with: she not only sets a wonderful example of Christian family life, but preaches regularly on word.op.org and is an active member of the European Council’s new formation commission; or of Eva KameniarovÁ from Slovakia, who until very recently fulfilled the same role on the ICLDF – Eva is a nurse, totally dedicated to her work with the sick. They, and many others, are living their Dominican vocation to the full.
Women have fought for recognition at all levels in Western society, and in large part the battle has been won. What’s disturbing is to see how many young women take as their role model someone like Madonna or Lady Gaga, hugely famous and successful, not least on the basis of their ineffable vulgarity, instead of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese politician and Nobel Peace laureate, who combines the highest moral integrity with an exquisitely feminine appearance. Lay Dominican women, who can testify to their faith in their homes, at work and in all the day-to-day contacts of their lives, are unlikely to achieve international fame, but they can follow our Patron, St Mary Magdalene, in announcing to others that Christ has risen. For that is exactly what preaching, etymologically, means: it comes from the Latin prae "before" + dicare "to proclaim, to say". Every time we witness to our faith, in our daily lives, in active participation in the work of the Order and of the Church as a whole, we are fulfilling our role as members of the Order of Preachers.
In the 1990s a book by a “relationship counsellor”, John Gray, became a best seller; it was entitled Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Gray contended that the relationship between the sexes was necessarily complex because they are, in effect, from different planets: men are aggressive, confrontational,; women are gentle and collaborative. Like many generalisations, this one can be disproved again and again from our daily experience; but like all generalisations, it has a smidgen of truth in it. What is far more important, though, is that the sexes can be complementary, and at best can enrich each other through friendship and respect. Among the many Lay Dominicans whose lives testify to this are Catherine of Siena and Rose of Lima, both of whom had close friends among the friars. And if we are tempted to say “They were saints, I’m just an ordinary person” – what is a saint but an ordinary person who has made an extraordinary effort to be what s/he was called to be? Our brothers in the Lay Dominican Chapter “Our Lady of Mercy” in Norfolk Prison, Massachusetts have a saying that I love: “Every saint has a past; every sinner has a future”.
We have 800 years of history behind us. Our job now is to build for the next 800years! Praedicator gratiae, nos iunge beatis.
Ms. Ruth Anne Henderson op
Ms. Ruth Anne Henderson op, a Scot who has lived in Italy since 1979, has semi-retired from her work as a professor of English language at the University of Turin. She is currently President of the European Council of Lay Dominicans (ECLDF) and preach regularly on word.op.org