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| Eighth Way of Prayer (Sacred Reading) |
Novena to Saint Dominic
Eighth Day: Study
Well done, good and faithful servant; because you have been faithful over a few things, I will place you over many. Enter into the joy of the Lord. (Matthew 25:2)Dominic considered custody of the senses important and fed his soul constantly with spiritual reading. His books were the Bible and Cassian’s Conferences of the Fathers of the Desert. He always carried the Psalms and the Gospel of Matthew with him, and ordered his spiritual children to read Scripture diligently and unceasingly.
He would sit quietly, and after the sign of the cross, begin to read from a book opened before him. As if disputing with a companion he would first appear somewhat impatient in his thought and words. At the next moment he would become a quiet listener, then again seem to discuss and contend. He seemed almost to laugh and weep at the same time, and then, attentively and submissively, would murmur to himself and strike his breast.
His spirit would then be sweetly aroused as if he heard Our Lord speaking, as we are told in the psalms: “I will hear what the Lord God will speak to me." (Psalm 84:9).
Pray for us, blessed father, St. Dominic, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray, O most kind father, St. Dominic, by your saintly life and death, bless and guide us in the path of your holy rule, that persevering until death, we may, through it, attain the eternal joys of heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
