Nos iunge beatis, 'join us to the blessed'

The salvation of souls (other people's, but also our own) has always been considered the goal of the Order of Preachers. As Dominicans, we must always pray that our preaching may bear fruit, and bring people to see and know Christ: it will never be able to do that, though, if we do not ourselves come to share more deeply in his divine life, that grace of which St Dominic was such an ardent preacher.

Of course, there is a sense in which we can only be joined to the blessed once we die; only then may we be admitted to the fullness of the beatific vision, and, indeed, when we say ‘nos iunge beatis’ we are asking for the assistance of St Dominic’s prayers for our own salvation. However, salvation is not just a one-off event at the moment of death, but rather a process which works itself out from the moment of our baptism, in which we first received God’s sanctifying grace. So we pray that already now in this life we may share something of the fullness of that blessed life which God offers to all mankind through his Son’s saving death in order that, by knowing it more deeply ourselves, we too may be preachers of grace.