Fittingly the eve of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 28, is a most appropriate moment to once again renew the religious vows, the three evangelical counsels: obedience, chastity, and poverty. In the Office Readings for the Feast of the two apostles, St Augustine says that the sound of these two great apostles has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. Reflecting on how these two greatest apostles gave witness to the Good News throughout the world and how they defended their faith in Christ inspired and moved the brothers who publicly and joyfully professed their vows during the evening prayer in honor of Sts. Peter and Paul.
St. Augustine again says that these two martyrs had seen what they proclaimed: they pursued justice by confessing the truth, by dying for the truth. These thoughts remind us of the confession we made in our first religious profession, when we placed our entire life in God’s hands. This remembrance of our first profession as Dominican brothers helps the eight of us to renew our religious profession in the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. As we renew our profession, we also commit ourselves to confess and proclaim the truth of faith and love. It is for the truth (veritas), one of our Dominican mottos, that these brothers have decided to continue their life as Dominicans promising obedience to God, to Our Lady, to St. Dominic, our Founder and Father and to his successors.
Indeed, these eight brothers expressed their joy and happiness after the ceremony of their renewal. Bro. Joseph joyfully said: “I was really happy to renew my profession again as I love to continue the journey of a Dominican brother. I am very thankful to God for this vocation and to the Dominican Fathers (priests) for accepting me as one of their brothers.â€
Bro. Lawrence for his part said: “I am very happy to get such a chance to continue in this life (Dominican life). I believe that it is the grace and the will of God, and I still firmly hope that God will continue granting His blessing to me, because I cannot go on without God.â€
Another brother added: “I did feel blest and was indeed joyful when I renewed my religious vow.â€
In fact, their joy does not come out of their emotion, but out of their motivation. As we all have our various motivation for something, while seeking God and His mercy in this life, our eight brothers also have their motivation to renew their religious profession, or, so to speak, to continue their search for God and His mercy as Dominicans. One brother expressed his motivation thus: “My motivation is to help the people of God, especially the needy ones and the least ones.†Another brother confessed that “The motivation behind my renewal is to follow Christ in the special manner that St. Dominic has shown us: to be a witness of the words of God and to be part of the building of the Dominican Order in Myanmar as well.â€
Hearing their voice, I could not keep silent myself, since I am also one of the brothers renewing the religious vows together with them. It is by the grace of the Holy Spirit that we joyfully renew our religious profession; and it is the thousands of people who are starving for the Word of God that motivate us to carry on our witnessing for the Word of God as Dominicans in the Church.
Let us add that on the same day, in the morning of June 28 six novices made their first religious profession at St. Albert the Great Priory in Rosaryhill, Hong Kong. So from now on, the eve of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul will be really an unforgettable and blessed day for the Dominican Province. By their religious profession in the Order of Preachers, the brothers become Dominicans “fully committed to preaching the Word of God in its totality†so that they live “an apostolic life in the full sense of the word, from which preaching and teaching ought to issue from an abundance of contemplation.â€
By the way, another brother from our Priory of St. Dominic, Macau, who had to advance the renewal of his simple profession, made his profession the day before: on June 27, during the evening prayer and after the singing of the Te Deum. He is our Brother Pio Yu You Sin, OP, from Korea.
Bro. Paul Aung Myint Win OP