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The OP after our names stands for “Order of Preachers,” the formal name of the religious order founded in 1216 by St. Dominic. As Dominicans, we preach with our lives—in both word and deed—guided by a search for truth (veritas) and a commitment to contemplate and share the fruits of our contemplation (contemplate et aliis tradere).
Our Dominican lives are shaped by the interconnecting movements of study, prayer, communal life, and ministry.
Dominic so firmly believed in the importance of study to the preaching mission that he provided a rule of “dispensation” from other responsibilities in the event they interfered with study. We are women committed to study. Through prayer and contemplation we interiorize our learnings and enter into communion with the Source of all truth. Our communal life orients us to the common good of the whole Earth community. And in ministry, our preaching takes effect.
As women of the Gospel, our preaching is also expressed in word. Read reflections on the Word of God posted by Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates on the Praedicare Blog below.
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Sunday, December 28, 2025 Preaching by Sister Patty Harvat, OP Sirach 3:2-14 Colossians 3: 12-21 Matthew 2:13-23
On this feast of the Holy Family, we remember that Jesus was born into a family – the author Diana Butler Bass writes, “Mary and Joseph’s new family, the family of the people of Israel, and the human family. This child, who knew memory and celebration and family and probably bittersweet relationships, too, is the One whom Christians believe embodies God with us. Yes, God is with us – with our memories and hopes, our sorrows and fears.”
Might these be the thoughts of so many of our families throughout the world today? Very reminiscent of our Gospel today.
Matthew writes quite a story about this newly formed family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Life is off to a rocky start for them: Fleeing to Egypt to avoid Herod, then an angel telling Joseph to go to Israel, but fear drives Joseph to a new and foreign place, Nazareth, where he has to find a new place to live and establish new relationships. This is a story of displacement and upheaval.
What appropriate words to describe the reality of our world these years: Displacement and upheaval. And we see how in the midst of all that happened centuries ago – and what happens yesterday, last week, a month ago – God’s faithfulness never fades, never disappears. We read that Joseph had dreams, just like Ernesto, Miguel, Fatima, and Ingrid today have dreams. Dreams where fear is warded off and confidence bestowed upon the dreamer. The angel says to Joseph, “Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt.” And then later the angel says, “Rise and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel.” Those dreams are repeated today. All we need to do is substitute a different name for the country being fled from.
The Holy Family was born out of displacement and upheaval. But it was also born out of dreams, dreams that transformed fear into trust.
Dreams that “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
Let us pray not for ourselves, but for the minds and hearts of those displaced families:
O God, you keep them waiting for the right time in which to discover who they are, where they must go, who will be with them and what they must do. And in all this, you keep them. Through hard questions with no easy answers; through the patience and the dreams and the love of others, you keep them. For you are Faithful Still.1
Amen.
1The Iona Community Worship Book, 1991, Wild Goose Publications.
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