Chapter Talk - Vestition 2010

Our God is a consuming fire.

The twelfth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, which we've just heard being proclaimed, begins with these beautiful words: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith, but ends with these stirring but also frightening words, Our God is a consuming fire. The author of Hebrews here is quoting the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, v. 24, in which Moses, about to die without crossing into the Promised Land, is warning the people not to forsake the precepts of the Covenant God established with them at Mt Horeb: Take heed, therefore, lest, forgetting the covenant which the LORD, your God, has made with you, you fashion for yourselves against his command an idol in any form whatsoever. For the LORD, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

You twenty-one who are to be clothed in the holy habit of our father St. Dominic this evening have heard the voice of God calling you to draw near, to come close, to belong to Him alone. Your response to the call of God enters a new stage, a new phase this evening -- a formal demarcation point, as it were, vividly symbolized by your being clothed, by myself and your Novice Master, Fr. James Sullivan, in a new and distinct manner, as you receive the habit of the Order of Preachers and begin your novitiate year.

But it also says in the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 12, You have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness and storm and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them, for they could not bear to hear the command: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said, "I am terrified and trembling." No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.

This evening is, indeed, a joyful occasion, not just for you, whom I am certain have long anticipated this moment when you would begin to wear the habit of the Dominican Friars, but for us as a Province, as well. While it would be practically impossible to fit another living human being into this already over-crowded Chapel this evening, we here present are not the only ones rejoicing and giving praise to God! The brethren throughout the Province of Saint Joseph are offering prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord for His abundant blessings given to us.

And while you have been called to draw near, as Hebrews says, "to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven," I would not be doing my job if I did not caution you that our God, who has revealed Himself and His mercy fully in the Person of His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, remains a God who is a consuming fire. You have been called to enter into that fire, and there to let yourself be fashioned anew, so that together, as Friars Preachers, we may "offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe," both for the salvation of our own souls and the salvation of others.

This image of God as a consuming fire brings to mind another Old Testament image of fire, from the Book of Daniel, and the Three Young Men cast into the Fiery Furnace, whose names we invoke in the Canticle at Morning Prayer on Sundays and Solemnities and Feasts: Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, or by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You'll recall that these young men, the finest specimens of the Hebrew race, did not capitulate to the demands of King Nebuchadnezzar: they would not worship false gods, and they would not eat anything that was forbidden to them. And when the King, in his rage, orders the furnace to be heated to seven times its normal temperature and to bind the three young men and toss them into the fiery furnace, the fire erupts and consumes the servants of the king who were ordered to toss Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael into the furnace, and yet the three young men are seen to be unharmed and walking around in the fire, accompanied by a fourth, whom King Nebuchadnezzar describes as "looking like a son of God."

For the servants of the Babylonian king, the fire destroys them in an instant; for the servants of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the fire purifies and refines them and, in fact, prepares them for the task that lay ahead of them, and they are accompanied throughout the ordeal by an angel of the Lord, one "like a son of God." They are never abandoned in the midst of the fire.

In the week before the twenty-one of you reported to St Gertrude's, we were given in the Office of Readings one day that week a selection from The Imitation of Christ as our second reading, so some of you might recall it. As I was listening to it being read in the Friars' chapel at St Vincent's in New York City, I thought of all of you about to begin your novitiate year, and I thought it was excellent advice as you prepare yourselves to enter into the fiery furnace of our God, who is a consuming fire.

Listen for a moment: "Turn to the Lord with your whole heart and leave behind this wretched world. Then your soul shall find rest. For the kingdom of God is the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. If you prepare within your heart a fitting dwelling place, Christ will come to you and console you.

"His glory and beauty are within you, and he delights in dwelling there. The Lord frequently visits the heart of man. There he shares with man pleasant conversation, abundant peace and a wonderful intimacy.

"Make room for Christ. When you possess Christ, you are a rich man, for He is sufficient for you. He Himself shall provide for you and faithfully administer all your cares. You will not have to place your hope in men. Put all your trust in God; let Him be both your fear and your love. He will respond on your behalf and will do whatever is in your best interest.

"You have here no lasting city. For wherever you find yourself, you will always be a pilgrim from another city. Until you are united intimately with Christ, you will never find true rest."

This is the task that lies ahead of you during your novitiate year. Give yourself over completely to the program your novice master and this community have prepared for you, because they are the means the Lord has prepared for you to draw you to Himself, to draw you into the fire of His love, so that He will find a fitting dwelling-place in your hearts.

And you can do this with absolute confidence, because the way of life entrusted to us by our holy father Dominic works. It works. There's no better way to put it. If we give ourselves over to it wholeheartedly, it is a sure and certain path to holiness, to holiness which is nothing other than God Himself shining through us and making Himself known to others through us.

Because God does not invite you into the furnace of His love for your own sake or for your glory. No, God does it for His own glory and so that He can make use of you to set other souls on fire. It is not by mistake that one of the chief icons of our Holy Father Dominic is the little black and white dog with a flaming torch in his mouth, as dreamt by his mother, Blessed Jane. Even now, as novices, you are being prepared to be a flaming torch, the instrument by which God can set many hearts on fire with His love.

I want to close my Chapter talk this evening with one more passage from Scripture, for you to come back to time and again in the course of your novitiate year, especially at those times when the intensity of your life as novices feels like it is scorching you and singeing you rather than purifying and refining you, and let me assure you, those times will come! It is from the first chapter of the First Letter of St Peter:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time. In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Although you have not seen Him you love Him; even though you do not see Him now yet believe in Him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of (your) faith, the salvation of your souls.

The gift of faith in you, which is your salvation, is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold to God, who, by means of the trials He will send you, will draw you to Himself, so that you may attain the goal for which He made you, to see Him face-to-face, which is your salvation. Amen.