“What do you seek?”

Back in September, during a somewhat inauspicious visit to the Edith Stein Archive in Cologne, I recorded a podcast with my good friend br. Thomas Mannion, Dominican Friar and University Chaplain in Edinburgh. It was the second we had done and since then we have recorded a third. As with so many of our encounters, these occasions are filled with joy and some pretty deep conversations intermingled with laughter. During the second recording, I briefly mentioned a theory I had about how unity in the Dominican Family was palpable in some concrete things, like the fact that we all follow the same rite of profession, well sort of- for starters as a Lay Dominican you promise to live a life according to the charism of St Dominic rather than take vows. For this reason, this was one of the topics we both agreed needed further thinking and investigating, some things such as obedience and poverty were promises that Lay Dominicans, many of whom are married, would not live in the same way nor was it so detailed in the Rite.

Some years earlier, the summer he was ordained a deacon, we were both present at the Solemn Profession of another brother. At the time, some short months before my first temporary ‘profession’ as a Lay Dominican, the initial question of the Rite, said by all branches of Dominicans, stood out to me. I had heard it several times before at other profession masses of brothers and Lay Dominicans a like: “What do you seek? God’s Mercy and Yours.” 

My own first temporary profession Mass was unique to the eyes of the world: it had been delayed, it was almost up to the day in doubt that it would happened as scheduled as I had been very sick with a very nasty flu and later hospital caught infection, and during the Mass itself fr David mixed up the order in which things were suppose to be done but spiritually, things were just right. God knows me, He knew how nervous I was, and the mishaps, disorganised order of the Mass and Rite, made me chuckle as human foibles usually do, and that relaxed me enough so that I had the mental space to focus on what matter, God and me. 

 As Lay Dominicans we are in a curious space, and the Dominican Family as a whole has been meditating on this over several decades. We are laity, we live lives that all lay faithful live, most are married, most have children, and those that are not yet, and some never do marry, can in fact marry if the circumstances arise for it. We have regular lay jobs, most working with non-Dominicans, non-Catholics, and in Europe, most likely atheist for whom the Christian life is anathema. And yet, we promise to live this life through a specific path and to do so in a concrete call made to each one of us by God. It is the lay life but under a specific charism and a specific grace. It is a vocation but manifested quite differently to human eyes because we do not visibly change the way we dress or live, or do we? Sr Carino Hodder OP describes quite well in her recent article that if close attention is paid even when all seems the same, visible changes and individualities can be perceived.

Since that September day with br. Thomas the question came coming up, what is the deep meaning of the initial question of the Rite of Profession. Sr Carino goes into this topic beautifully and yet I feel God is trying to communicate something specific to me, as with our vocations, even with somethings shared by so many a specific meaning for me lies hidden -think Psalm 139. Mercy and Light, Christ of Light of the World, Christian’s as called to radiate that light out to the world, is keeps coming up. In His Mercy he reveals to us truths central the Truth, essential for our lives. In His Mercy He calls us to a particular way of life, whichever that may be, with its joys and difficulties. In His Mercy He gifts us with a freedom to follow Him along that unique path He created for us.