Saint DOMINIC, Priest
Memorial 
August 8

A Spanish canon, Dominic de Guzman discovered his vocation as a missionary to the common people. Pope Innocent III sent him to counteract the Albigensian heresy in Southern France, caused by the people's ignorance, the clergy's complicity in politics and money, and the inquisition. He founded an order of friars not compromised like the seculars with the powers of his day, to share the poor life of the masses and to win them back to Christ by prayer and catechesis.

Lord our God,
we thank you today
for the example of St. Dominic,
who studied and prayed
that he might read the signs of the times
and understand your plans
so as to serve the poor better.
Help us to understand your plan of salvation
and to draw the strength for carrying it out
from encountering you in prayer.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Introduction to the First Reading
       To a people that has almost as a whole deserted God, Jeremiah gives the assurance that God will never be unfaithful to them. There will be a remnant that responds to God's love. The clue to this is as simple and tremendous as this: God loves his people, the one from the past and that of the present. And so he loves us also. He loves us with a love that does not wear out. His affection remains constant.

Introduction to Gospel Reading
      There are some obvious problems with the story of the Canaanite woman. The words of Jesus sound harsh and discriminating against non-Jews. Some exegetes see in it an exchange of wits between the woman and Jesus, reflecting the prejudices of their time and yet fundamentally revealing that salvation is for all without discrimination and prejudice wherever faith is found. The way this story is told reflects the problem of the primitive Church whether to accept non-Jewish converts. Everyone who believes may eat from the Lord's table and is fed more than crumbs.

General Intercessions

- That there may be room in the universal Church for the cultural riches of various peoples and for manifesting one and the same faith in a variety of languages and forms of expression, we pray:

- That we may have open hearts and homes for people who are hard to accommodate: strangers and refugees, the jobless and the poor, victims of discrimination and oppression; that we may do all we can to integrate them into the human and Christians community, we pray:

- That all of us here may be concerned about those who are not here because they are estranged from the Church, that our lives may reveal Christ to them, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
we bring before you bread and wine,
the fruit of human toil,
and you change them through your Spirit
into the body and blood of Christ.
Make our human efforts always fruitful
by the strength of your grace,
that you may do great things in us
for the salvation of the world
and for the glory of your name.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
the good news of your Son
can change the whole world.
We pray you today
for that deep faith in the gospel
which Saint Dominic had.
With this faith and with your grace
we can make the gospel believable
to the people of our time.
Let us be humble messengers
of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.

Blessing

Music from one instrument can be beautiful, but the most beautiful form is found in the harmony of many different instruments together in one symphony, or many human voices blending in one chorus. May God give us the symphony and chorus of many cultures and peoples together, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.