The Prior Provincial of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary, fr Ruben Martinez, visited Saint Dominic’s Priory during the month of November. He saw this visit as an opportunity to connect with his fellow brothers. He met with the brothers individually and shared in the life that they lived here in Macau. He also listened to their thoughts on the state of their own lives as well as of the community as a whole. The brothers were quite happy to see him and he himself was happy to see them as well. As a whole, his entire visit was a pleasant experience for everybody.
In honour of St Thomas Aquinas, Fr Franz Gassner, SVD, the Dean of the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy of the University of St Joseph, delivered a lecture entitled Quinque Viae Ethicae Oecologiae: Five Ways to Care for Our Common Home – Ecological Ethics at St Dominic’s Convent in Macao.
The lecture outlined five different ways to explain how the relationship between humanity and the rest of creation should be using St Thomas’ thought. It gives us an opportunity to rethink how we should treat creation especially with the different environmental issues in our world today.
The Dominican Family in Macao, composed of the friars, sisters, and lay Dominicans, was in attendance. Some friars outside Macao also followed it online. After the lecture, Holy Mass was celebrated for the Feast of St Thomas Aquinas and lunch followed afterwards. It was a great day not only because it was the feast of our brother St Thomas but also that the whole Dominican Family was with us throughout.
On 24 November 2021 Fr Javier Gonzalez accepted his office as Prior of St Dominic’s Priory in Macao. Three days later, he took the office during the community prayer of Vespers. It was a simple, meaningful ceremony, which consisted in the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity. Afterwards, Fr Javier addressed a few words to the community. He first explained that the public profession of faith and the oath taking indicated that he was accepting the office of Prior in the name of the Church. Then he welcomed the newly arrived student brothers from Hong Kong, inviting them to feel at home. He further thanked the former Prior, Fr Paul Fan, for his services to the community during the previous years and wished him success now in his new position as Master of Students. Finally, Fr Javier thanked the members of the community for their trust and evoked those words of St Augustine saying that the superior should strive to be loved by the brothers rather than feared, ever mindful that he must give an account of them to God. In closing, as the moment marked the very beginning of Advent, he encouraged everyone to let the new liturgical season be also the beginning of a new life, while he placed himself at the service of the community.
On July 25, 2021, the three Dominican Brothers Richard HTOO, Gabriel Robinson KYAW KO KO and Justin SAW KAUNG HBOWN MYINT, made their solemn religious profession into the Order of Preachers. They had just finished their institutional studies of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Saint Joseph in Macau.
By making their solemn profession, our three brothers culminated a five-year-long process of formation, counting from the moment they completed their Novitiate, in July 2016. It was on that day when they made their first simple (temporary) religious profession, taking upon themselves the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order. Now, after five years, they did the same until death: A sort of matrimonial covenant with God, the religious profession seen in spousal terms. The ceremony of the religious profession takes place normally within the Mass. At the end of the proclamation of the Gospel, the brothers are called by their names and asked to affirm their willingness to live according to the evangelical counsels. Then, one by one, the brothers kneel before the altar, place their hands in their Provincial hands atop the Book of Constitutions of the Order of Preachers, and pronounce the formula of the profession.
In our missionary Province of Our Lady of the Rosary, with an additional promise, namely, to go to Missio ad gentes, if so decided by their Superiors. In the formula of profession used in the Dominican Order, only the evangelical counsel of obedience is mentioned. Everything else, even the other two vows of poverty and chastity, is included there, as the Book of Constitutions of the Friar Preachers explains: By obedience, a person dedicates himself totally to God, and his actions approximate to the goal of the profession, which is the perfection of charity. Everything else too in the apostolic life is included under obedience (LCO, 19). The act of obedience, in which one gives his entire self in service to God, is what brings unity to a brother’s life, and it is what enables him to grow in charity and love. Poverty and chastity go hand in hand with obedience.
In the Dominican culture, a life of evangelical poverty frees the friar of the desire for material wealth. Furthermore, it allows a brother to grow in his dependence on the Lord and his trust in God’s providence and care. Likewise, a life of chastity is manifested through religious celibacy. It enables a friar to devote himself ceaselessly to preaching and to the proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of souls without the responsibilities of married family life. In addition, they support themselves in this endeavor, through a fraternal life in common, working, praying, and studying together.
Through the solemn religious profession, a brother acquires certain responsibilities, like voting rights in the community Chapter and the capacity to serve in different offices. More importantly though, complete, permanent religious consecration allows the brothers to be dedicated to God, who is supremely loved, and to seek the perfection of charity in the service of God Kingdom, for the honor of God, the building up of the Church and the salvation of the world (c. 573). Our sincerest congratulations to the three solemnly professed brothers!
