"St. Dominic Lisant"

Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:

•  “through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts”; it is in particular “theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth”.
• “from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience”, the sacred Scriptures “grow with the one who reads them.””.

~ccc 94

 

“The bride of the incarnate Word, the Church taught by the Holy Spirit, is concerned to move ahead toward a deeper understanding of the Sacred Scriptures so that she may increasingly feed her sons with the divine words. Therefore, she also encourages the study of the holy Fathers of both East and West and of sacred liturgies.”

~Dei Verbum §23

 

“The purpose of Dominican formation is to produce people truly adult in faith and so able to hear, celebrate and proclaim the word of God.”

~ Rule, §11

“Study is not one activity [amongst others] of a Dominican; it should enter into every aspect of our life. It is part of the way that we grow in friendship with God, delight in His creation, and take pleasure in His presence. It is  fundamental to our preaching, challenging us to wrestle with the complexity of human experience in its encounter with the gospel, moving us beyond facile answers that do not take seriously the people to whom we talk. Study belongs to our search for a new and more just world.”

~ fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.