The Community of Friars Preachers in Macau gathered this morning to honor the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A child is born in Bethlehem, alleluia; o come, rejoice Jerusalem, alleluia. Let grateful hearts now sing, a song of joy and holy praise, to Christ the newborn.
Following our community custom, which is the tradition in our Province, Brother Aloysius Thurein Htun, OP., on behalf of all the student Brothers greeted our Prior, Fr. Paul Fan, OP., followed by our Subprior Fr. Javier Gonzalez, OP., on behalf of the Fathers. It is important to mention that Fr. Paul is our new Prior, which fills us with joy and hopes because the new generation is taking offices of great responsibility; the example is palpable: the guidance of such a dynamic and complex community as our priory is. A community that as a family accepts and loves one another as brothers around our Prior.
Brother Aloysius reminded us that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year; that is the time for all of us to show gratitude and to acknowledge the presence of one another in our community. Addressing Fr, Paul, Br., Aloysius said that it is nice to have a Prior who, like a tender father, guides this community which is our home; this is particularly necessary since we are far away from our own families. To this idea, Fr. Javier added: As religious, far away from our native homes, we remember with affection our relatives and beloved ones. They continue to be in our hearts and prayers.
Fr. Paul, a prayer of this community for you: May God blessings of peace be upon you not only during this season, but also during the entire year (and years as Prior) enabling you to carry out those meaningful words you adopted as program on your taking of office: the Prior should not consider himself happy because of the power he exercises over the community, but because of the charity with which he serves (LCO, 299).
Peace and good health, strength and joy, happiness without alloy, is our prayer and wishes for you, Father Prior and for all the members of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Since 1914, when the Catholic Church established the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, every year it is celebrated throughout the world. This year 2019, upon the initiative of the Diocese coordinated by the Catholic Pastoral care for Philippine migrants, here in Macau the celebration took place on Sunday, 27th of October. The venue was Saint Paul School.
His Excellency Stephen Lee, the bishop of Macau, began the program of activities in the morning with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist at the school main auditorium. Ten priests from different nationalities, Orders and Congregations, concelebrated with him.
Before the Mass there was an entrance procession, led by migrants from several nationalities present in Macau, to the image of Our Lady placed near the stage, while a song was performed by a Philippines choir. It was a sign and expression of trust in our Mother Mary, our refuge. To our Lady we brought our worries, our difficulties and problems, trusting always in her. Then we proceeded with the Mass, which was attended by more than a thousand people from different nationalities who reside in Macau, as well as by local people. The main choir members for this Mass were the Dominican Brothers and Sisters.
During the homily, the Bishop talked about the challenges that migrants face in Macau. He said something like this: You may feel excluded and mistreated by the local people, and so forth, but remember you are Christians, children of God; therefore, you should not retaliate these things to them because God never excludes or mistreats you. Moreover, you may worry about your families or feel isolated and lonely because of being away from your family and from your own countries, but remember that you are here with a mission, working to support your family and help the local people to become more charitable. Bishop cited an example he had seen. A family started to be converted to the faith because the housemaid brought their children to Sunday school. The children shared their faith with their parents and eventually they were converted. If I am too exaggerated, the Bishop said, you are not only migrants: you are missionaries; therefore your role is to shine with your faith.
After the Mass, lunch break: an agape-fellowship was served with cuisines from Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines. Moreover, the Brazilian community also brought cakes for dessert.
At 1:30 pm we gathered again in Saint Paul School auditorium for the performances of the different artists in representation of 11 countries and communities, including Portugal, Brazil, East Timor and Venezuela. All in all there were 150 performers. Some nationalities performed some of their traditional dances, such as Burmese bamboo dancing, Indonesian dancing, etc. Other groups sang and danced, reflecting in their singing and dancing different life-styles of society nowadays. For instance, some people travel by air while others had to walk barefoot on the ground. Some people seem to be happy, while others are depressed with the difficulties and problems that they face in their lives; some people seem to be satisfied with what they have, while others are never satisfied, and so on.
In conclusion, the World Day for Migrants and refugees remind us that we may have many different cultures and languages but we all belong to one human race. Hence, we should not exclude anyone from our society, whether he or she is newly arrived or permanent resident, because God never excludes anyone. This day is not only for migrants but it is for all of us to come together and celebrate the day of our humanity.
The Dominican Family, composed of clerical and cooperator brothers, nuns, sister, members of secular institutes, and fraternities of priests and lay members, as defined by the Constitution of the Order, share a common vocation, each serving the mission of the Order in its own distinctive ways.
Here in Macau, there are Dominican Fathers and Sisters and for the last three years, there is a lay Fraternity of Saint Dominic, The torch of Macau. As for the fathers, some are dedicated to their permanent tasks as formators of the Dominican Students, their brothers; several of them are teaching at the University of Saint Joseph. Some are following superior studies at the University, and others are fully involved in different offices of the Province, etc. Aside from that, some of our fathers are doing their ministry at the service of the Diocese of Macau. The sisters do more or less the same, fully involved in their own apostolates.
Our lay Confraternity, The Torch of Macau, founded in 2016, is presently composed of thirteen members, practically all of them from the Philippines.
As lay people and working, they have their different tasks to attend to, and different schedules to carry out. Therefore, it is not easy to have their activities and meetings as a group in formation needs to. However, as part of their formation, they meet together twice a month with their spiritual councilors Father Jose Luis de Miguel Fernandez and one of the sisters, to pray, to become more familiar with one another and with the Dominican saints and most prominent representatives of the Lay Dominicans in the history of the Order. And above all, to receive an initial formation on the spirit of the Dominican Family, and an initial formation regarding the Word of God. From time to time, other members of the community are invited to give a talk or a retreat to our Lay members of the Dominican Family.
On the occasion of welcoming the five aspirants to join the Confraternity as novices, and simultaneously, for the celebration of the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, OP(29 OF April), patroness of the Dominican Laity, we took advantage of the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, to celebrate this Joyous event. At the same time, the other batch of four Novices made their first promises with the presence of the other four who professed two years ago.
It was indeed a blessed, meaningful day for them and a very fraternal and joyous day for us. As the members of the fraternity, the novices will come to experience together with the professed ones and if it is what they look and long for, they will be making their first promise in one year. However, for the ones who just made their first promise, they have decided and they are willingly dedicated themselves to live according to the profession of the evangelical way of life, adopted by the Order to their secular status and by this they are drawn together by a special gift of God in the apostolic spirit of Saint Dominic, to announce the Good News to this present World, and to seek their own salvation and that of others.
We thank God for all the blessings that He has bestowed on our Sister; for being chosen to form a Lay Fraternity of Saint Dominic; for the gift of the Dominican vocation; for the loving-kindness and mercy which He has bestowed on them, to be His witnesses, and to bring His Good News to others by what they preach and by what they are. Dear Sisters, welcome to the Dominican Family!
The University of Saint Joseph (USJ), in Macau, previously known as Macau Inter-University Institute, was founded in 1996. It was jointly organized by the Catholic University of Portugal and the Diocese of Macau. It is also connected by structural, academic, and social bonds to the Special Administrative Region of Macau, to Portugal, and to mainland China.
The University has three campuses: one is located in NAPE, where Master’s degree courses are offered and laboratories are located, another is in the Seminary of St. Joseph, where our Dominican brothers are taking their institutional studies at the Faculty of Religious Studies, and the third one is the Ilha Verde campus, which is the main, newly blessed campus of the USJ.
The main campus in Ilha Verde had not yet been blessed until now despite that it started operating on September 11, 2017. This is why such a blessing took place now, on the 4th of March, 2019. The occasion was graced with the presence of His Eminence Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who had been invited by the University to preside over the ceremony, which consisted of a votive Mass in honor of Saint Joseph and the blessing proper. On this day the morning classes and activities were suspended by the Rector of the University in order to facilitate the participation of the students, professors, staff and friends in the ceremony.
Concelebrating with Cardinal Filonni were two bishops, namely, D. Stephen Lee, the bishop of the Diocese of Macau, and D. Jose Lai, his predecessor. Joining them was Archbishop-elect Msgr Ante Josic, the Delegate of the Holy See in Hong Kong for the past ten years, who has recently been named Nuncio in Ivory Coast. Likewise, Fr. Peter Stilwell, the Rector of the University, and a good number of priests-professors and priests from different Congregations settled in Macau diocese were also around the altar. At the very start of the Mass, the bishop of Macau, D. Stephen Lee, had some welcome remarks and words of gratitude towards those attending the blessing ceremony.
In his homily, Cardinal Filoni highlighted the importance of the University of Saint Joseph in Macau. This institution, according to him, not only offers, like any other university, a wide range of programs across different fields of knowledge, but, as a Catholic University, is also called to be a leading center for the study of Catholic Theology and related disciplines in East Asia, attuned with Macau’s unique historical position in the Church in this part of the world. In addition, Cardinal Filoni spoke beautifully of St Joseph as Jesus’s teacher by word and by example. This same pattern he applied to the professors and the students of this University named after him.
Our Dominican brothers from St. Dominic Priory contributed with their voices to make this celebration more solemn and prayerful, as they sung during the Mass.
Before the end of the Mass, Cardinal Filoni, the bishop of Macau D. Stephen Lee and the Rector of the University, Fr Peter Stilwell, proceeded with the blessing of the USJ Ilha Verde campus. It took place through the prayer and the sprinkling of holy water of a commemorative stone, a landmark of the University placed under the special protection of Saint Joseph and of Our Lady of Fatima. All those attending the ceremony were reminded that the blessing was not mainly for the stone for the material structures, but rather for those who would study, teach and work at the University. As a fitting end, there were some exchange of gifts: the Cardinal gave the University a chasuble for its chapel and a silver medal commemorative of His Holiness Pope Francis.
Finally, after the ceremony, there was a meeting of the Rector, Deans, Faculty members and representatives of the student Association of the University with the Cardinal at Saint John Bosco auditorium
Every year, towards the end of
December, the group of men religious residing in Macau gather together to have
some moments of prayer, partake a meal and sing some carols in the spirit of
Christmas. This year 2018 the gathering took place on the 26th of
December at Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, run by the Comboni Fathers. Around
50 religious men from different Institutes and ages were present. Some of them,
veterans in religious life; others, still in the stage of institutional
formation.
To
begin with, at 6:30 pm and following the program outline, the local parish
priest, Fr. Manuel Machado MCCJ, gave to everyone a warm, fraternal welcome.
Then, the evening Prayer began, led by Fr. Fausto Gómez OP. The psalms and the
gospel canticle were chanted. During the intercessory prayer, there was also a
short moment to pray for those who had entrusted themselves to our prayers, for
the poor and for the victims of the recent natural disaster in Indonesia. The Vespers
ended with the singing of “Salve Reginaâ€.
Afterwards,
all present there proceeded to the parish hall for communal gathering and the
singing of some Christmas songs together before the fraternal agape. It was
beautiful indeed seeing people from different countries in the world together
in the name of the One who came to redeem the world. Time to share with others
one’s life as religious, one’s experiences in the mission and spending some
moments listening to one another.
After
the meal, the program continued with the singing of the most renowned Christmas
song, the “Silent Nightâ€, in the different
languages of those present. The very occasion was closed with the powerful singing
of “Gloria in Excelsis Deo†by our
Dominican brothers, and the final blessing by Fr. Mario Bonfaini CMF. An
evening to remember in our journey’s life.
With the main purpose of meeting the Students, Fr. Pablo Sicouly, Socius of the Master of the Order for the Intellectual Life, paid a three-day visit (5 to 7 of January) to our Priory in Macau. The occasion was also propitious for him to meet the entire Dominican Family in Macau (Friars, Sisters and Laity). And so it happened: An extraordinary gathering was convoked at St Paul School in the afternoon of January 6, Epiphany Sunday.
           The program consisted of three parts. In the first one, we listened to a lecture on “The Challenges of Dominican Study†delivered by Fr Pablo. He based the talk on the first part of the Ratio Studiorum Generalis. Then a friendly dialogue followed between the Socius and the participants. Some student brothers and some Sisters, too, had the opportunity to share with the socius about their institutional study. Fr Pablo answered from his own experience and current position, to the points in questions; and he ended up encouraging all the Students to cultivate the habit of study, something essential for a Dominican.
           After the academic part, the participants moved to the School Chapel where we prayed Vespers together. It was indeed meaningful that the Dominican Family in Macau prayed together. The singing of the Salve Regina and the O Lumen was the crowned those liturgical moments.
           The last part of the program took the form of agape. Having dinner together is another way of sharing. In blessing the food we prayed that “partaking from the same table may help us grow always in brotherhood.†Indeed the agape dinner was the way for us, Dominicans, to share our brotherly and sisterly love as one family in Christ Jesus.
Fr Pablo left for Hong Kong in the afternoon of January 7. Since it was his first time in Macau, he treasured a lot of memories of persons and places. One thing that impressed him was the joyful and harmonious community life lived at St Dominic’s Priory. He enjoyed also his visit to the University of St Joseph, to St Dominic’s church and the other emblematic places Macau offers to visitors. We thanked Fr Pablo for his visit
By:Brs Stehen Saw Lej Kapaw Htoo and Andre Pereira
