THE INVITATION CARD OF SOLEMN PROFESSION FROM ROME

THE INVITATION TO THE SOLEMN PROFESSION OF JOHN

EAST TIMOR IS CALLING!

“Go out to the whole world and preach

the God News to all creation” (Mk 16:15).

The first evangelizers of East Timor (in the middle of the 16^th Century) were Portuguese Dominicans. After a long absence, the Dominican friars have just been asked by the Bishop of the Diocese of Dili to “please, renew the work” of the first Dominican apostles of East Timor. This new apostolic beginning will be, according to the Bishop, “a great blessing to the Timorese Church.”

Bishop Dom Albert Ricardo da Silva spoke these words to Fr. Javier González, OP, Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary, after he handed over personally to him a letter of petition on June 5, 2012 at his episcopal house asking the good bishop to allow the Province to establish a house in East Timor. Fr. Javier, accompanied on this occasion by Fr. Fausto Gómez, OP, Regent of Studies of the same Province, was thus carrying out the desire of Fr. Bruno Cadoré, OP, Master of the Order of Preachers. Fr. Bruno wrote to Fr. Javier on November 28, 2011: Please, “take the responsibility in bringing the presence of the Order to this land of East Timor.” By the way, two Congregations of Dominican Sisters are already present in East Timor, namely, the Congregation of the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary and the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena of Portugal. During their stay in East Timor, Frs. Javier and Fausto stayed at the Orphanage in Bidau, Dili, run by the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary. They also visited the Portuguese Dominican Sisters in mountainous and beautiful Remixio (about three hours by car from Dili).

In his official letter of June 6, 2012 to Fr. Javier, Bishop Alberto Ricardo accepted the request to establish a religious house of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. The main task of this community, the Bishop added, will be pastoral service to the city of Betano, South of East Timor. For this purpose, a new parish – the first – shall be created in this promising town of over fifteen thousand people. At present, there is a chapel under the care of the Parish of Same (a city between Dili and Betano). Once the appropriate plans of the new project are “fixed,” the bishop will “conclude the permission.” Let us quote some main lines from the significant letter of Bishop da Silva:

The presence of the Dominican Order in our Diocese of Dili will be very helpful to our pastoral work since there are still many places that need pastoral assistance. The people of Betano have been longing to receive pastoral assistance permanently due to many challenges to their faith from (many) kinds of international religious sects and the need to live better their faith by regularly attending the sacraments. I hereby recommend that your congregation be established there. I hereby accept your request to establish a religious house of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary in our Diocese. We will conclude the permission by our decree when all plans are fixed.  I consider this engagement a vital and important contribution to the apostolic life and vitality of the Church in this Diocese for the greater glory of God and the good of souls.

In the cordial meeting with the Bishop, the issue of the philosophical and theological formation at the Major Seminary came up. The Bishop invited Fr. Javier and Fr. Fausto to contribute with professors, in particular of Sacred Scriptures and Moral Theology, to the academic and pastoral formation of the many seminarians in East Timor.

The immediate task of the Provincial now is to present the concrete plan of action to the Council of the Province; to inform the Master of the Order about the whole process, and to look for members of the Province willing and able to carry out the urgent task requested by the Bishop of Dili. Hopefully and prayerfully, the Province and the Holy Spirit will find three or more members ready to break new ground in East Timor and begin serving the local people from a parish in Betano. This challenging project of the Order of Preachers spearheaded by the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary will be ideally assisted, as the Master of the Order wishes, by members from other Dominican Provinces, in particular from the Australian and Philippine Provinces, that have already accepted the challenge, and also perhaps from the Portuguese and Brazilian Provinces. Doubtlessly, East Timor, a very young country where the majority of its people are young, shall become a place of Dominican evangelization and a source of vocations for the Order and for the Church.

East Timor, or Timor-Leste, is an independent Democratic Republic, member of the United Nations since 2002. It is a developing country with great resources – material and spiritual – and a promising future. The languages of the country are Portuguese, Tetun and Bahasa. The majority of its one million and two hundred thousand people are Catholics. There are beside Dili two other Dioceses, namely, Baucau and Maliana.

Certainly, East Timor is calling!

“Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

(Mt 28:18)

EASTER 4TH (B): THE GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

1. INTRODUCTION

 On our journey of Easter, today we meet the Risen Lord as the Good Shepherd. It is the Good Shepherd Sunday: “The Lord is my Shepherd…” Ps 22)

 2. LITURGY OF THE WORD

 First Reading, Ac 4:8-12. We proclaimed the Sermon of Peter after he cured the crippled man who was begging at the gate of the temple. He tells his owed audience:” I did not do it, Jesus did, He is the name that heals, “the only name by which we can be saved.” Throughout the Gospels and Acts, we find two clear signs of an authentic follower of Christ, namely, courage and joy: joy in being persecuted for the sake of Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, our Brother.

Second Reading, 1 Jn, 3:1-2. Before his Ascension to heaven, Jesus told his disciples: “I am going to my God and to your God, to my Father and to your Father.” Jesus the Lord is the Son of God; we are the adopted children of God. This is our greatest title: we are not only creatures of God; we are also sons and daughters of God, and we try to behave as good children of God after Jesus Christ, the only name that saves us and as respectful and in Jesus compassionate brothers and sisters of one another.

Third Reading, Jn 10: 11-18. The lovely allegory and parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus as our Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. “I am” – the name of God (“I am He who is,” God said to Saint Catherine of Siena, and “You are-she-who-is not”). Jesus knows his sheep, He calls them by name and loves them and gives his life for his sheep – for all of us. (Coming from a small town in Avila, El Oso, I know well how hard it was to be a good shepherd. I admired them a lot! But what turned me off when I was a child was that the shepherds could not celebrate feasts or holidays – for them no holy or holydays!)

 3. REFLECTION: “WE ARE THE LORD’S SHEEP”

 What does it mean to be the Lord’s sheep?

It means, in the first place, to know him, that is, to believe and to love him: faith finds its expression in love. Not merely knowing him, but mainly loving him ; this is the best way of knowing  him – and  others. The Little Prince said: “It is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” (A.Saint-Exupery). To have faith in and to love the Good Shepherd imply not only to study books on Christ, but mainly to encounter him in prayer, to tell the world of his love, to show  by our words and deeds that “we have seen the Lord,” that we are his sheep, his followers. Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd, I know my own, that is I love them; and my own know me, that is they love me, and those who love me are willing to follow me” (St. Gregory the Great. 4^th Sunday of Easter, 2^nd Reading).

To be a member of his flock entails to listen to his voice – to his teaching. Jesus says: “He who listens to these words of mine will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” Jesus’ words to us today: “God is love…,” “Love one another,” “Love your enemies and pray for them,” “I was hungry and you gave me food…”  “What you do the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me.” We truly listen to our Good Shepherd! “The only listening that is worthwhile is that which hears and learns; and that is the only way to listen to God” (W. Barclay, In Jn 6:41-51).

To know and love Jesus, to listen to his voice imply to follow him. Jesus is the Way to be followed, the Truth to be preached, and the Life to be lived.”  To follow entail to follow him in suffering and joy; in Lent and in Easter; on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday: To follow Jesus by the path of our vocation, by obedient fidelity to our call.

Is it hard to follow Jesus today? By ourselves, we can do nothing for we are sinners and weak; but with God in us – as the Psalmist tells us – we can scale any wall. Jesus continues healing us and, if sick he, the Good Shepherd, carries us on his shoulders.

4. CONCLUSION

Is Jesus our Good Shepherd? “The Lord is my shepherd…” I love this story that some of you already know well. There was a famous British actor who used to give a grand party on his birthday. After dinner he liked to recite some emblematic texts and poems by English authors, and other great writers. His guests were also invited to ask him to recite a poem or other literary texts. Once, an old priest asked him to recite the Good Shepherd Psalm (23). The actor obliged, but with one condition: the priest must also recite it after him. Regretting his request, the humble priest also obliged. After the actor recited it with his booming and vibrating voice, the audience gave him a standing ovation. The turn of the priest came. He began to recite it slowly, prayerfully: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; besides restful waters he leads me, he refreshes my soul…”  When he had finished, there was a talking total silence. You would have heard a pin being dropped! You could hear some sobs, and see tears in the eyes of many. To break the silence, the actor said: “I hope you have seen the difference! I know the Psalm; he knows the Shepherd.”

We are in Easter. We are Easter People and Alleluia is our song. To be followers of the Good Shepherd means to be witnesses of the resurrection of Christ: dead to sin and selfishness and pride; and alive for God in love and compassion.

Today is also Vocation Sunday. We pray in our Eucharist for more vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life. We also pray, in particular for the priests and religious men and women in the Diocese of Macau, where it is also the Thanksgiving Day for priests and religious who celebrate their Golden or Silver Jubilees of Ordination or of religious Profession.

May the Good Shepherd heal us all with the prayers of Mary our Mother and our angels and saints! We praise the Lord for He is good and his love endures forever!

                                                FAUSTO GOMEZ, O.P.

                                                Macau, April 29, 2012