August 28th - Feast of St. Augustine
Structure, schedules, timetables, shared responsibility. The
gift of St. Augustine to the Dominicans is structure, a common structure to
wrap our common life around. These first
weeks at the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate have been filled with establishing
order out of chaos! We have worked on schedules for our common prayer, common
meals, common chores, preaching, school, meeting with our directors, travel and leading
the weekly days of reflection. We are living into the daily structure of our
lives, which includes morning contemplation, morning prayer, study, ministry,
evening prayer, meal preparation and sharing. If we’re lucky there are actually
a few spare moments for recreation.
Amidst all the busyness though, God’s voice gently continues
to invite. When all the imposed order erupts in chaos, as it is wont to do,
there is God saying, “Remember me?’ This entire year is geared toward helping
me discern if this is the life to which God is calling me. If I do not welcome the chaos within the
order I’m afraid I will miss that still, small voice leading me to God’s
deepest desire for me. So, thank you St. Augustine for giving us a structure on which to pattern this common life and thank you God for keeping it real!
