In so many ways, the greater part of a young Dominican’s formation happens in his living religious life: participating in the life and activity of the brethren, and keeping our observances.  This is his first and most important responsibility, for his call to the priesthood is discerned through his call to be a religious.  Our priories are the foundational institution for the development of young friars.  If you like, the priory as such comes first, the formation of certain brothers who are assigned there consequential to the life of the priory.  So it is in our communities that we learn to take responsibility for imbibing what has been taught, and to share in and take initiative concerning the care of the priory, its apostolates and surroundings.  One of our friars has been given to say, “Much of the student-friars’ formation happens around the breakfast table!”  The brethren form us; we learn from them, observing and inculcating their wisdom and virtue over the time we are given in the priory designated as the studium.

That we appreciate the very life of the brothers as formative leads us to the Dominican understanding of life-long formation.  Once we have completed our time in the studium, our formation continues, though in a less formal way.  As with initial formation, ongoing formation too is an integral part of the Christian life, of our conversion from old ways to the newness of life promised and offered by the risen Lord, and the proper context for the life-long formation of Dominican friars is our communities.

The brothers form bonds of charity by the vows, which are called Evangelical Counsels: obedience as the principle of community life, poverty, and chastity.  By the faithful keeping of the vows and growing in the corresponding virtues, we achieve unity of life, the fruit of our total conversion to the way of the Lord Jesus.  The vows then are the hope-filled sign and expression of our call to a higher love, the love of God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind (Lk 10:27).  Our obedience, poverty, and chastity are instrumental to living harmoniously with one another; they frame our community life, and so too our initial and life-long formation.

A young Dominican’s life of study takes first place among his duties during formation.  His very first assignation is to study for the sake of preaching and the salvation of souls.  Foremost in his mind as he studies is zeal for the Gospel born of Christian charity: to hand on what has been contemplated.  This apostolic zeal carries through into and from the friar’s life of prayer in the Order.  Our studies, especially though not confined to initial formation, prepare us for the complexities of the life in all of its spiritual, pastoral, and intellectual aspects; they help us to be attentive to Wisdom incarnate wherever he may be found.  For the young friar, his study is to become a joyful habit, a virtue which is confirmed by God’s grace in the living of the vows and participation in the sacramental life of the Church.  Self-denial and discipline in study tend towards formation of the young Dominican in the spirit of sacrifice which is required of our priests: “the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”