The Importance and Sources of Study

St Dominic in founding the Order was truly innovative: he intimately linked study to the ministry of salvation. 1  He himself always carried around with him St Matthew’s gospel and Saint Paul’s letters. 2  He directed the brothers to the schools, 3  and sent them ‘to study, preach and establish convents’ 4  in the larger cities.

1. It follows that ‘our study should principally and zealously be directed to this, that we may be of help to the souls of our neighbours.’ 5
2. Study enables the brothers to ponder in their hearts the manifold wisdom of God, and equips them for the doctrinal service of the Church and of all people. They ought to be all the more committed to study because in the Order’s tradition they are called to stimulate people’s desire to know the truth.
3. Such study must respect the demands of different subject matters. It requires strict discipline and the application of all one’s abilities.

God is the light and source of our study, the God who  spoke in former times and in different ways, and who now speaks in Christ. It is through Christ that the mystery of the Father’s will, through the sending of the Spirit, is fully revealed in the Church and the minds of all humanity are enlightened.

Divine revelation, of which Tradition and Sacred Scripture constitute one sacred deposit, is the material to be meditated and critically examined by the brothers. And pondering the perennial
teaching value of the plan of salvation, they will discover the many and varied paths of gospel truth to be found in creation, in human institutions and artefacts and in different religions.

In all things the brothers should be of one mind with the Church and should comply with the different acts of the Magisterium which is entrusted with the authentic interpretation of the word of God. Furthermore, faithful to the Order’s mission, they should always be prepared in a spirit of willing service to collaborate with the Magisterium as it fulfils its doctrinal obligations.

The brothers should study carefully the writings of the holy Fathers and of the illustrious exponents of Christian thought who with the help of different cultures and of the wisdom of philosophers, have endeavoured to achieve a fuller understanding of the word of God.
While following their thinking, they should be respectfully attentive to the living tradition of the Church, and engage in dialogue with the learned, opening their minds to contemporary questions and discoveries.

The best teacher and model for the accomplishment of this task is St Thomas whose teaching the Church particularly commends. The Order accepts his teaching as a patrimony that exercises an enriching influence on the intellectual life of the brothers, giving it a special character.
Consequently, the brothers ought to cultivate a genuine familiarity with his writings and thought, and responding to the needs of the age and with legitimate freedom, they should renew and enrich his teaching with ever-new riches of sacred and human wisdom.

Assiduous study nourishes contemplation and fosters with a lucid fidelity the living of the evangelical counsels. The very perseverance it demands and its difficulty make of it a form of asceticism. Being an essential part of our life, it is an excellent religious observance.