The Desk, The Cross, and Truth: The Dominican Pillar of Study
Within the Dominican Four Pillars, study has a distinct metaphysical dimension because it engages reality itself and offers an intimate experience of the Divine Logos. As Lay Dominicans, we are Catholic and believe that objective, universal truth exists and is embodied in Jesus Christ. As St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) wrote, “God is truth. All who seek truth seek God, whether this is clear to them or not."1
There were certainly times in my own formation as a Lay Dominican when I thought I knew what “study” entailed, only to find I was mistaken. I used to believe studying was purely about acquiring knowledge, collecting answers, earning a credential, or worse, trying to sound as smart as possible. It took me a few years of further experience, recognizing my own missteps and arrogance, to better understand the Pillar of Study. I thought study meant mastering ideas, but I have learned it means praying for humility and conforming to truth itself.
Even though I am still very much a student of this tradition, I will share what has helped me make progress in understanding the purpose of study in Lay Dominican life. Drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas’s thought, I offer a few quick points that helped me better fulfill my commitment to the Pillar of Study. Most importantly, I had to grasp how the Dominicans view truth, being, and the human intellect’s ultimate telos (purpose).
Our Ultimate Telos (Purpose)
What is our end goal? St. Thomas writes, “Hence, if Christ is the end of our life, we should regulate our life not according to our will but according to Christ’s will."2 If the human person is made for union with God, then study helps train our intellect to apprehend reality as it really is. When we seek what is true and real, it is easier to let go of false notions of reality. Here is a simple analogy: study is like cleaning a dirty car window so we can see the road and landscape more clearly. The window does not create the view; it lets us see what is already there. In the same way, study does not invent truth. It removes the distortions and falsehoods that cloud our perception.
Being and Truth
St. Thomas Aquinas also writes, “Everything, in as far as it has being, so far is it knowable … therefore, as good is convertible with being, so is the true.”3 In other words, reality is intelligible. Since being and truth belong together, what exists is intelligible. Our limited intellect may not fully grasp it, but that is why study matters. It allows us to receive truth.
Another simple analogy: discovering truth through study is like learning to read a map that corresponds to the roads as they truly are. Proper study does not invent the path or impose direction upon reality. It helps us see the roads faithfully. Study becomes the compass rose of the soul, guiding our journey toward Truth itself.
The Purgative Aspect of Study
Another saying we often hear is, “For Dominicans, the wood of the cross is the wood of our desks.”4 In simple terms, this means that study has a purgative element. In my opinion (admittedly, I have not exhausted all his writings), Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., wrote beautifully about the purgative role of study in the spiritual life. He helped people understand that the Christian life is more than learning religious ideas. It is about being gradually drawn into deeper union with God.
I find his observation of scholars who separate learning from the spiritual life particularly insightful. He writes in The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, “Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist.”5 For me, this warns me to constantly remind myself that study is a means to God, not an end in itself. Study may be challenging and difficult at times, but through the wood of the desk, as through the wood of the Cross, I can be purified, humbled, and drawn toward resurrection in Christ.
What Can Block Me from Authentic Study?
One of the biggest hurdles for me in truly authentic and prayerful study as a Lay Dominican is my own pride and ego. It is easy to turn study into a dry consumption of facts or something to master like a middle school assessment. Coming to know God through study isn't about passing a test by regurgitating facts; rather, discovering genuine truth allows the human mind to participate in God's reality. I must pray for the humility to receive and accept God's reality as a child willingly receives guidance from his father.
Another hindrance for me is when my faith falters. If all truth comes from God, and being and truth belong together, then I should trust that God can draw me closer to Himself as I sincerely seek the truth. Therefore, I have found that study improves when I do my best to live a sacramental life that disposes my soul to receive His grace.
A Way of Life
In the end, our Dominican Family’s Pillar of Study is foundational to who we are. I am reminded of various religious orders in the Catholic Church that have mottos, maxims, or prayers that capture their charism and spirituality. The Benedictines have a phrase traditionally associated with Benedictine life: Ora et Labora (“Pray and Work”).6 TheJesuits: Ad maiorem Dei Gloriam (“For the greater glory of God”).7 The Franciscans have: Deus meus et omnia (“My God and my all”).8 For the Dominican family, one of our primary mottos is simply Veritas, or Truth.9 Seeking truth underpins all we are. It is not just about knowing Jesus; it is about becoming like Jesus and being in union with Him. As the first few lines of St. Thomas’s prayer before study say, “Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding.”10 Veritas!
1 Edith Stein, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916–1942,trans. Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D., The Collected Works of Edith
Stein, vol. 5 (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1993), Letter 259 to Sr. Adelgundis Jaegerschmid, OSB, March
23, 1938, p. 272.
2 Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Second Epistleto the Corinthians, ch. 5, lect. 3, trans. Fabian Larcher, O.P.,
HTML ed. JosephKenny, O.P.
3 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 16,a. 3, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province.
4 Dominican Vocations, “Pillars of Dominican Life,” under “Study,” accessed August 22, 2026,
https://www.opvocations.org/pillars-of-dominican-life.
5 Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ways of theSpiritual Life, chap. 1, “The Life of Grace and the Importance
of the First Conversion,” EWTN, accessed August 17, 2026, https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/three-
ways-of-the-spiritual-life-12556.
6 Subiaco Abbey, “Work,” sec. “Ora et Labora,” accessed August 22, 2026, https://abbey.subi.org/work. The abbey
notes that Ora et Labora is commonly associated with Benedictine life while also explaining that the phrase itself
does not appear inthe Rule of St. Benedict.
7 Jesuits, “A.M.D.G.,” Jesuits.org, accessed August 17, 2026, https://www.jesuits.org/glossary/a-m-d-g-2/.
8 Murray Bodo, OFM, “The Prayer of St. Francis: My God and My All!,” Franciscan Media, September 8, 2023,
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/the-prayer-of-st-francis-my-god-and-my-all/.
9 Leon Pereira, O.P., “Dominican Mottos: Veritas,” Dominican Friars in Britain, January 31, 2007,
https://english.op.org/godzdogz/dominican-mottos-veritas/.
10 Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph, “Aquinas’ Prayer Before Study,” December 15, 2011,
https://opeast.org/2011/12/aquinas-prayer-before-study/. [opeast.org]
Nicholas Foster made his Perpetual Profession as a Lay Dominican in 2020. He is President of the St. Catherine of Siena Fraternity in Carmel, IN. His Fraternity's Apostolate is teaching and preaching about and praying for the dead.
"I knew I was meant to be a Lay Dominican because of my undeniable attraction to the 4 pillars of the Dominican life, namely, prayer, study, community, and preaching. When I'd study the lives of Dominican Saints, it felt like a homing device in my heart was activated and leading me to proclaim the Gospel in my ordinary daily life and to seek and share the truth."