PRAYER OF THE DAY

PRAYER TO ST. DOMINIC

O Holy Priest of God and glorious Patriarch,

St. Dominic,

thou who wast the friend,

the well-beloved son and confidant of the Queen of Heaven,

and didst work so many miracles by the power of the Holy Rosary,

have regard for my intercessions.

On earth you opened your heart to the miseries of your fellow man,

and your hands were strong to help them;

now in heaven your charity has not grown less nor has your power waned.

Pray for me to the Mother of the Rosary and to her divine Son,

for I have great confidence that through your assistance

I shall obtain the favor I so much desire:

(mention your intentions).

Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest

Reading

NM 20:1-13

The whole congregation of the children of Israel

arrived in the desert of Zin in the first month,

and the people settled at Kadesh.

It was here that Miriam died, and here that she was buried.

As the community had no water,

they held a council against Moses and Aaron.

The people contended with Moses, exclaiming,

“Would that we too had perished with our kinsmen in the LORD’s presence!

Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this desert

where we and our livestock are dying?

Why did you lead us out of Egypt,

only to bring us to this wretched place

which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates?

Here there is not even water to drink!”

But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly

to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate.

Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them,

and the LORD said to Moses,

“Take your staff and assemble the community,

you and your brother Aaron,

and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters.

From the rock you shall bring forth water for the congregation

and their livestock to drink.”

So Moses took his staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered.

He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock,

where he said to them, “Listen to me, you rebels!

Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?”

Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff,

and water gushed out in abundance for the people

and their livestock to drink.

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

“Because you were not faithful to me

in showing forth my sanctity before the children of Israel,

you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.”

These are the waters of Meribah,

where the children of Israel contended against the LORD,

and where the LORD revealed his sanctity among them.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;

let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;

let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

For he is our God,

and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

as in the day of Massah in the desert,

Where your fathers tested me;

they tested me though they had seen my works.”

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Gospel

MT 16:13-23

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi

and he asked his disciples,

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,

still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter said in reply,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus said to him in reply,

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

And so I say to you, you are Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my Church,

and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Then he strictly ordered his disciples

to tell no one that he was the Christ.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples

that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly

from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,

“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

He turned and said to Peter,

“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.

You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

August 8

St. Dominic (1170-1221)

If he hadn’t taken a trip with his bishop, Dominic would probably have remained within the structure of contemplative life; after the trip, he spent the rest of his life being a contemplative in active apostolic work.

Born in old Castile, Spain, he was trained for the priesthood by a priest-uncle, studied the arts and theology, 

and became a canon of the cathedral at Osma, 

where there was an attempt to revive the apostolic common life described in the Acts of the Apostles.

On a journey through France with his bishop, he came face to face with the then virulent Albigensian heresy at Languedoc. The Albigensians (Cathari, “the pure”) held to two principles—one good, one evil—in the world. 

All matter is evil—hence they denied the Incarnation and sacraments. 

On the same principle, they abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink. 

The inner circle led what some people regarded as a heroic life of purity and asceticism not shared by ordinary followers.

Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it. He saw immediately why the preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of the Albigenses. Understandably, they were not impressed by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at the best inns and had servants. Dominic therefore, with three Cistercians, began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal. He continued this work for 10 years, 

being successful with the ordinary people but not with the leaders.

His fellow preachers gradually became a community, and in 1215 he founded a religious house at Toulouse, 

the beginning of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).

His ideal, and that of his Order, was to link organically a life with God, study and prayer in all forms, with a ministry of salvation to people by the word of God. His ideal: contemplata tradere: 

“to pass on the fruits of contemplation” or “to speak only of God or with God."

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open our lips.

And we shall praise your name.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 94 (95)

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord,

let us acclaim God our salvation.

Let us come before him proclaiming our thanks,

let us acclaim him with songs.

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

For the Lord is a great God,

a king above all gods.

For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,

and the peaks of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his: he made it;

and his hands formed the dry land.

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

Come, let us worship and bow down,

bend the knee before the Lord who made us;

for he himself is our God and we are his flock,

the sheep that follow his hand.

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

If only, today, you would listen to his voice:

“Do not harden your hearts

as you did at Meribah,

on the day of Massah in the desert,

when your fathers tested me –

they put me to the test,

although they had seen my works.”

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

“For forty years they wearied me,

that generation.

I said: their hearts are wandering,

they do not know my paths.

I swore in my anger:

they will never enter my place of rest.”

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Christ is the chief shepherd,

the leader of his flock: come,

let us adore him.

Hymn

Where true love is dwelling, God is dwelling there:

Love’s own loving Presence love does ever share.

Love of Christ has made us out of many one;

In our midst is dwelling God’s eternal Son.

Give him joyful welcome, love him and revere:

Cherish one another with a love sincere.

Psalm 43 (44)

In time of defeat

It was you who saved us, Lord:

we will praise your name without ceasing.

Our own ears have heard, O God,

and our fathers have proclaimed it to us,

what you did in their days, the days of old:

how with your own hand you swept aside the nations

and put us in their place,

struck them down to make room for us.

It was not by their own swords that our fathers took over the land,

it was not their own strength that gave them victory;

but your hand and your strength,

the light of your face,

for you were pleased in them.

You are my God and my king,

who take care for the safety of Jacob.

Through you we cast down your enemies;

in your name we crushed those who rose against us.

I will not put my hopes in my bow,

my sword will not bring me to safety;

for it was you who saved us from our afflictions,

you who set confusion among those who hated us.

We will glory in the Lord all the day,

and proclaim your name for all ages.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

It was you who saved us, Lord:

we will praise your name without ceasing.

Psalm 43 (44)

Spare us, Lord,

do not let your people be put to shame.

But now, God, you have spurned us and confounded us,

so that we must go into battle without you.

You have put us to flight in the sight of our enemies,

and those who hate us plunder us at will.

You have handed us over like sheep sold for food,

you have scattered us among the nations.

You have sold your people for no money,

not even profiting by the exchange.

You have made us the laughing-stock of our neighbours,

mocked and derided by those who surround us.

The nations have made us a by-word,

the peoples toss their heads in scorn.

All the day I am ashamed,

I blush with shame

as they reproach me and revile me,

my enemies and my persecutors.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Spare us, Lord,

do not let your people be put to shame.

Psalm 43 (44)

Arise, Lord!

Redeem us because of your love.

All this happened to us,

but not because we had forgotten you.

We were not disloyal to your covenant;

our hearts did not turn away;

our steps did not wander from your path;

and yet you brought us low,

with horrors all about us:

you overwhelmed us in the shadows of death.

If we had forgotten the name of our God,

if we had spread out our hands before an alien god —

would God not have known?

He knows what is hidden in our hearts.

It is for your sake that we face death all the day,

that we are reckoned as sheep to be slaughtered.

Awake, Lord, why do you sleep?

Rise up, do not always reject us.

Why do you turn away your face?

How can you forget our poverty and our tribulation?

Our souls are crushed into the dust,

our bodies dragged down to the earth.

Rise up, Lord, and help us.

In your mercy, redeem us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Arise, Lord!

Redeem us because of your love.

Lord, to whom shall we go?

– You have the words of eternal life.

First Reading

Hosea 1:1-9,3:1-5

The word of the Lord that was addressed to Hosea son of Beeri when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were reigning in Judah, and Jeroboam son of Joash in Israel.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said this to him, ‘Go, marry a whore, and get children with a whore, for the country itself has become nothing but a whore by abandoning the Lord.’

So he went; and he took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son. ‘Name him Jezreel’, the Lord told him ‘for it will not be long before I make the House of Jehu pay for the bloodshed at Jezreel and I put an end to the sovereignty of the House of Israel. When that day comes I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.’

She conceived a second time and gave birth to a daughter. ‘Name her Unloved’ the Lord told him. ‘No more love shall the House of Israel have from me in future, no further forgiveness.’ (But my love shall go to the House of Judah and through the Lord their God I mean to save them – but not by bow or sword or battle, horse or horseman.)

She weaned Unloved, conceived again and gave birth to a son. ‘Name him No-People-of-Mine’ the Lord said. 

‘You are not my people and I am not your God.’

The Lord said to me, ‘Go a second time, give your love to a woman, loved by her husband but an adulteress in spite of it, just as the Lord gives his love to the sons of Israel though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.’ So I bought her for fifteen silver shekels and a bushel-and-a-half of barley, and said to her, ‘For many days you must keep yourself quietly for me, not playing the whore or offering yourself to others; and I will do the same for you.’ For the sons of Israel will be kept for many days without a king, without a leader, without sacrifice or sacred stone, without ephod or teraphim. Afterwards the sons of Israel will come back; they will seek the Lord their God and David their king; 

they will come trembling to the Lord, come for his good things in those days to come.

Responsory

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

Once you were not a people at all and now you are the people of God.

Instead of being told ‘You are no people of mine,’

they will now be called sons of the living God.

Once you were not a people at all and now you are the people of God.

Second Reading

From various writings on the history of the Order of Preachers

He spoke with God or about God

Dominic possessed such great integrity and was so strongly motivated by divine love, that without a doubt he proved to be a bearer of honor and grace. He was a man of great equanimity, except when moved to compassion and mercy. 

And since a joyful heart animates the face, 

he displayed the peaceful composure of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the cheerfulness of his countenance.

Wherever he went he showed himself in word and deed to be a man of the Gospel. During the day no one was more community-minded or pleasant toward his brothers and associates. During the night hours no one was more persistent in every kind of vigil and supplication. He seldom spoke unless it was with God, that is, in prayer, or about God, and in this matter he instructed his brothers. Frequently he made a special personal petition that God would deign to grant him a genuine charity, effective in caring for and obtaining the salvation of men. For he believed that only then would he be truly a member of Christ, when he had given himself totally for the salvation of men, just as the Lord Jesus, 

the Savior of all, had offered himself completely for our salvation. So, for this work, 

after a lengthy period of careful and provident planning, he founded the Order of Friars Preachers.

In his conversations and letters he often urged the brothers of the Order to study constantly the Old and New Testaments. He always carried with him the gospel according to Matthew and the epistles of Paul, 

and so well did he study them that he almost knew them from memory.

Two or three times he was chosen bishop, but he always refused, preferring to live with his brothers in poverty. Throughout his life, he preserved the honor of his virginity. He desired to be scourged and cut to pieces, and so die for the faith of Christ. Of him Pope Gregory IX declared: “I knew him as a steadfast follower of the apostolic way of life. There is no doubt that he is in heaven, sharing in the glory of the apostles themselves.”

Responsory

A new herald of salvation appeared, a man of fire;

his word flamed like a torch.

The instruction he gave was true,

and no word of injustice fell from his lips;

his word flamed like a torch.

Let us pray.

Lord God,

you gave Saint Dominic to the Church of his day

as a great preacher of your truth.

We pray that he will help us in our time

by his merits, his teaching, and his unfailing prayer.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us praise the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.