On the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the Office hymn for this day, Vexilla regis likens the Cross to a processional standard, and so it is that we look to the Cross as we move forward in life, journeying towards the Promised Land of heaven. As today's preacher, Fr Gonzalo Bernabé Ituarte Verduzco (Provincial of Mexico) said, the people of Israel in the first reading (Numbers 21:4b-9) longed to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt. But there is no going back, just as St. Dominic did not return to Osma, nor did the Dominicans who went to the New World 500 years ago return to Salamanca; they set out with Christ towards new horizons for the Cross in a kind of point of no return. It is a sign of hope, and of liberation from all that bind us, and together with Christ, the Cross leads us onwards to the Promised Land. The principal celebrant at Mass this morning, which was sung in Spanish, was Fr. Pablo Carlos Sicouly, Provincial of Argentina.

Today's plenary sessions discussed the proposals of the Commission on Study. The document was presented by Fr. Charles Morerod, the president of the Commission and Rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, also known as ‘The Angelicum'. The Commission had worked in French and English, and the proposals were in either one or the other language for the official text. Study is a central element of our Dominican life, and the proposals sought to strengthen this by encouraging collaboration between the intellectual centres of the Order. As we saw in the session on economic administration, fundraising is also an important part of the Order's mendicancy, and needs to be an essential element in the strategic plans of all of the Order's centres of learning. Such themes were brought out in today's discussion.

Apart from a break for lunch, the capitulars worked until the late afternoon on this document, and as a consequence they completed discussion and voting on the proposals concerning study today. After the afternoon's plenary session, those who had work to complete in their Commissions met to continue working, while other brothers took the opportunity to rest or have some exercise in the grounds of the Salesianum.

A pleasant interlude to the working day came before lunch, when four distinguished Dominican brothers came to visit the General Chapter and join us for lunch. The Master warmly received Cardinal Cottier, former Theologian of the Papal Household, an office that was formerly held by St. Thomas Aquinas in the days when the Dominican Friar who held it was called ‘The Master of the Sacred Palace'. The Cardinal was joined by Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship & Discipline of the Sacraments, Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Fr. Wojciech Giertych who is the present Theologian of the Papal Household. Since St. Dominic's appointment in 1218 to this post, which is to be the chief theological adviser to the pope, the position of Master of the Sacred Palace has always been filled by a Dominican Friar.

These four Vatican-based Dominican brothers were welcomed into the Chapter Hall, and the Master, Fr. Bruno Cadoré then explained that the capitulars were examining our legislation on study. Study, the Master said, is an essential feature of our asceticism, and an integral part of our life given to the mission of preaching. Study did not make us academics, as such, but people with a preacher's heart who are free to love the world, the people we serve, and the Church. So, the work of the General Chapter was to examine our legislation so that we could give ourselves more fully in our mission of preaching the Gospel, and in service to the Church.

Cardinal Cottier responded, and expressed his fraternal joy at being among the capitulars, and he affirmed that preaching places us at the service of the Church. The first mission of the Church is preaching, for the faith cannot be received unless it is first proclaimed. He recalled that study is a contemplation of the mystery of God, and His salvation in Christ. So, we have to listen to God's Word, but we also need to listen to the needs of the world, and to reflect on its challenges. Dominicans, then, provide a service to the Church when they are faithful to their vocation to study and preach.

Archbishop Di Noia was next to speak; he urged the brothers to open the eyes of the faithful to the relationship between life and liturgy. This, he thought, was something Dominican preaching could do well since our life was attuned to the liturgy. "It's in our bones", he said, and he noted that recent studies have shown how St. Thomas Aquinas' writings are imbued with a liturgical sensibility. The great annual cycle of the liturgy, Archbishop Di Noia said, gives context to, and sanctifies human life, framing our lives between Bethlehem and Golgotha and beyond. He reminded us that often what seems obvious to us is something precious and unheard of by many others, so we should not hesitate to make known through our preaching these insights about living a life attuned to the liturgy.

Archbishop Bruguès then spoke about the urgency of Catholic education in our world, not least because education offers the poor a chance to take part in the workings of an increasingly complex and technology-dependent world. He briefly mentioned two challenges facing Catholic education: firstly, a failure by the previous generation to transmit the best ideas of that generation rather than mere ideology. So, the current generation has to begin from scratch, which means it is open to learning, but the task is immense as everything has to be rebuilt up from the ground. Secondly, he said that there was now a lack of a general culture or shared worldview concerning life, the world and the human person. This would have underpinned later specialization in various academic disciplines. Christianity used to find a vector in this ‘general culture' but now that people specialized much earlier on, and neglected any education in a ‘general culture', the sense of a Christian culture was now lost, even among the people of God.

Finally, Fr. Wojciech reflected on Dominican formation which is based on our intellectual tradition, and a rigorous community life in which we learn to ask questions, and to be questioned by our brothers. This model of dialogue, personal growth, discussion and debate in the quest for Truth is something invaluable, and it is a great contribution which the Order brings to the Church and the world.

After these speeches, all the brothers headed to the dining hall for lunch, and the brothers were able to meet and enjoy fraternal exchanges with our guests.

In the evening, Vespers was enlivened by a re-enactment of the story of the first Dominican Friars who went from Salamanca to Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti) in 1510. These Friars had grown in love and respect for the indigenous peoples of the New World; their passion was to preach the love of Christ among them. But they were shocked by the inhuman way in which the local people were being treated by the conquistadors, and so in 1511, Antonio de Montesinos was chosen as the best preacher of his community to preach a sermon to which they had all consented. This sermon, a holy preaching inspired by the work of Dominican theologians in Salamanca, demanded that the indigenous people be given due respect and rights as fellow divinely-created and loved human beings. And we were powerfully reminded to keep preaching this sermon again and again today wherever and whenever God's people are being dehumanized.