Arms stretched out (the prayer of violence)
Day 6- August 4
On other occasions the holy father Dominic was seen praying with his hands open, his arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and standing with his body as straight as he could. This is how he prayed when, at his prayer, God raised the young Napoleon from the dead in the sacristy of the convent of San Sisto in Rome. (...) The holy man Dominic used this way of praying only in those circumstances in which, under the inspiration of God, he knew that something great and marvellous was going to happen by virtue of his prayer. If he did not forbid the brothers to pray in this way, he did not exhort them to do so either. (...) He pronounced with slowness, gravity and mature reflection the words of the psalter which mention this kind of prayer. (...)
Thus, every pious person could admire both the devotion and the knowledge of our father when he prayed in this way, either because he wanted to exert great violence on God by the virtue of his prayer, or rather because, under the effect of an interior inspiration, he had the feeling that God was urging him to ask for some singular grace for himself or for his neighbor. He drew his strength from the doctrine of David, from the fire of Elijah, from the charity of Christ, from an all-divine devotion.
With Dominic who prayed with his arms outstretched as if on the cross, we implore you, Lord: give us, following the example of your Son Jesus, the grace to carry our cross with love in order to follow him in truth.
Stand with open arms... open to meet, as if waiting for an embrace. Like a child who wants to be held, we want to be taken up into your arms, God our Father.
And like Dominic, who obtained many graces from you, with the same confidence, enrichened by his intercession, we pray to you for all humanity. Grant us the abundance of your mercy.
Jubilee Prayer
O God Our Creator, Redeemer, Paraclete,
In prayer, we lift our praise, our blessing, our preaching.
Eight hundred years ago, you called Saint Dominic
to enter into eternal life, and to join you at table in heaven.
As we celebrate this Jubilee, feed us and fill us with grace
so that we may realize our mission of preaching for the salvation of souls.
Help us nourish your people, with your Truth, your Mercy and your Love,
until the promised day when we are all united with the blessed.
We ask this, as One Dominican Family,
through the pleas of Mary, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
