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fter
nearly eight centuries we Dominicans are still
one
Order, while enjoying that diversity of gifts which,
according to St. Paul, is a sign of the working
of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12 : 12-30). Given
the
Order's active involvement, since the thirteenth
century, in most of the important events that
have
marked the history of the Church and society, this
unity is astonishing. Yet it is this unity that
St. Dominic prayed might bind together his followers.
Just
think how different are the circumstances in which
one might have encountered a Dominican during this
long history, marked by both continuity and contrast.
In the thirteenth century one might have come across
a couple of the brethren making their way across
the country lanes of Europe, singing psalms to keep
up their spirits, in danger of attack by thieves
or heretics, on their way to the frontiers of Christendom
and beyond. Or one might have found them preaching
in our churches built in the new towns that were
appearing all over Europe at that time, teaching
in the newly founded universities such as Paris
and Oxford, debating the hot issues of the day,
the suspect Aristotelian philosophy or the new experimental
sciences, and even experimenting with a little alchemy.
During
the Renaissance these same churches are transformed
by the artists and architects of the time, and are
where the brethren struggle with the new questions
of the moment, wrestling with the moral problems
posed by the new world economy or engaged in the
first formulation of a theory of human rights. Other
brethren cross the Atlantic in search of a new world,
and disappear into the jungles of Central America,
refusing the protection of the armies so as to preach
peacefully to the native people. In the last century
we find the brethren again crossing the ocean, in
the new steamships, to accompany their people as
they push west in search of food and gold and freedom.
In
our own age, the followers of St. Dominic are to
be found nearly everywhere - ninety two countries
sent representatives to the General Chapter of 1992
in Mexico - engaged in every imaginable work, from
running an ecological farm in Benin to exploring
Coptic verbs in Fribourg. What has held all these
different men and women together throughout the
ages? A passion for the gospel, after the image
of St. Dominic.
The
preached word does not merely communicate an abstract
truth but can refashion lives and society. If it
is in any sense "the Word of the Lord",
then it is a creative and transforming word, helping
to bring about the Kingdom. And so there is a deep
relationship between the Dominican vocation to preach,
and a passion for justice. 
(Source
: Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. from the preface of ;
Bedouelle, Guy, In the Image of Saint Dominique.
Nine Portrait of Dominican Life. Ignatius.
1994.)
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