PredicArte
It is fairly common, when proposing a spirituality of Dominican preaching, to resort to Saint Thomas Aquinas’ famous dictum and say that preaching is “to contemplate and give to others the fruits of contemplation.” We often emphasize that preaching is not limited to liturgical spaces or the homily, and that the proclamation of the Gospel takes place in all aspects of life: ministerial, communal, and personal. We understand that to preach is, in a certain sense, to live like Saint Dominic, always speaking either with God or about God.
We assert these things while remaining an Order renowned for prioritizing the power of words, to the point that it is difficult to imagine a Dominican who speaks little or writes nothing. The Dominican theological heritage stands out precisely for its conceptual clarity and philosophical precision, fruits of the enlightening power of the logos. However, we are not only the Order of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Gustavo Gutiérrez, and Yves Congar. We have also given the world artists like Fra Angelico, Plautilla Nelli, and Kim En Joong. In their work, and in that of many other Dominican artists, we see that the intuitive power of the image transports us instantly to where philosophical precision only gradually leads us through logic.
Both words and images have their advantages and limitations, and for this reason, they complement one another, sometimes even occupying shared space in Christian art, as in Byzantine icons, medieval illuminated manuscripts, or the art of popular piety. Christian art is a visual theological reflection in which the image preaches and embodies the contemplation of the mystery of faith. This makes more sense when we remember that every symbol—be it written words, graphic images, or a musical work—speaks of and embodies God to the extent that it is born of an encounter between its human author and the Author of life. This is why Saint Thomas can talk about preaching with contemplation as his starting point, and not the act of writing or public speaking. The Word of God often enters through the ear, but it never fails to captivate through the eye…
It should not surprise us that each Dominican has a particular way of contemplating and proclaiming Christ through their creative and pastoral work. For the artists of the Order, painting, music, literature, and all pastoral endeavors, when they arise from our intimacy with the Lord, are reflections of our human subjectivity which, immersed in the Mystery of God, becomes a point of encounter with the Mystery who loves us. All art born from the grace of the artist’s encounter with God reflects the Incarnation, the Mystery of the Word made flesh. And so the interior life of the artist, full of grace like Mary’s womb, receives the astonishing ability to conceive, gestate, and bring forth God.
Fr. Cristóbal Torres Iglesias, OP
Bro Cristobal Torres Iglesias, OP, a son of the Province of St. Martin de Porres in the United States, was born in New York on 28 December 1971 of Cuban parents. He entered the novitiate in 2009 and made his first profession in the Order on 8 August 2010. He was ordained a deacon on 19 October 2013 and ordained to the priesthood on 21 June 2014. He received his BA from Rutgers University, MSW from New York University, MDiv from Aquinas Institute of Theology, and DMin from Barry University. For nine years he served as University Chaplain and Adjunct Professor of Theology at Barry University. In addition, he has served the Order as interpreter and translator at the International Congress for the Mission of the Order (2017), and at the General Chapters in Trogir (2013), Bologna (2016), Biên Hòa (2019) and Tultenango (2022). On 8 September 2023, the Master of the Order, Bro Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, appointed Bro Cristobal as Promoter General of the Laity. Bro Cristobal also preaches through the visual arts, producing iconographic works and graphic novels. Among his works are Dominican Last Supper; the design of the windows of St. Rose of Lima Chapel in the Zanmi Beni community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the icon cross for Cor Jesu Chapel at Barry University; the cover of A Prophet to the Peoples: Paul Farmer’s Witness and Theological Ethics, published by Wipf and Stock Publishers, and several works in print and in private collections.
