The Four Pillars in Thessalonians 3:12-13

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Thessalonians 3:12-13 is a prayer of encouragement that we can pray for each other and especially those in our Dominican community.  He strengthens our hearts through the pillars of daily prayer, study, and in community with one another.  Our foundation in prayer and study builds a stronger community and leads to apostolate or preaching His Word and Christ to the world.  God asks us to be open to allowing Him to strengthen our hearts through the 1st 2 pillars of prayer and study so that we may be His light in the world and share the Good News of Christ.

I’ve seen the pillars in practice as a member of an orchestra in high school.  Through daily practice and study (as in daily prayer and study) and music lessons we were strengthened (as in a community) to share our God-given talent of music for the benefit (and even possible healing) of others. (as we are called to preach God’s Word for the benefit of souls).

We also see the 4 pillars in practice in the lives of Dominican saints:

St. Rose of Lima spent hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament and fasting.  Her prayer life led to an apostolate of helping the sick and hungry in her community.

St. Vincent de Ferrer fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays and distributed alms to the poor.  For 3 years he read solely on Sacred Scriptures and committed them to memory.  He became a Master of Theology and delivered lectures on philosophy.  He later won over 25,000 Jews to Christianity by his preaching and spent 21 years traveling and preaching and there were many conversions in England, Scotland, Italy, Switzerland and France. 

St. Dominic himself was a man of silence who spent hours in prayer (even forfeiting sleep).  His preaching flowed from his contemplative prayer and study.  

I’ll conclude with a Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas: (from the Catholic Medical Association website):