HOLY THURSDAY: THE LORD’S SUPPER
Fr. Alejandro Salcedo, OP
As we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper we commemorate three main events this evening: the institution of the Holy Eucharist; the institution of the Priesthood; and Jesus’ new commandment to love one another as He has loved us.
Some months ago, the History Channel showed a documentary in which scientists tried to construct a 3-D image of the face of Christ.
After many years of investigation and the use of the latest computer technology on the Shroud of Turin, the face of a young man with long hair, and a beard, and scars, and blood stains in his forehead came out.
According to the study the supposed Jesus was about 1.75 heavy and muscular built. But tonight we are given a very different image of Jesus from the one portrayed by the History Channel. We see him on his knees, washing feet. The image of Jesus given to us tonight is surprising, and challenging. It is God becoming less, so that we can become more.
I would like to invite you to reflect on this amazing scene from John’s Gospel, how just on the night before his arrest, during the Last Supper, Jesus bends over and washes the feet of his disciples, and then puts a question to his disciples and to us: “Do you realize what I have done for you?” “I have given you a model to follow,” he says, “You too should wash one another’s feet. As I have done for you, you should do for one another.” I believe it is an amazing scene to reflect upon because we have a “a God who bends over” a God who serves us, a God who is inviting us to be people who bend over and serve one another in humility and love. Blessed are you if you do itâ€, He tells us.
And it is out of this love that He wants to immortalize himself among us, but he does not do it in the way we perpetuate ourselves. He does not want to be remembered like the Pharaohs by the huge pyramids, or like the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan by its famous and beautiful Taj Mahal palace, or by statues erected on our name for all we have done during our life. Out of his love, He perpetuated himself in two ways – in his priesthood and in the mystery of his Eucharistic.
Although He is the only priest who offered his own sacrifice however in every generation he chooses ordinary men to be a living witness to him by their very presence in the community, to offer again his sacrifice in his memory. The priesthood and the Eucharist are inseparable; one cannot exist without the other. Both, the Eucharist and the priesthood were instituted simultaneously as a sign of his love for us making a new covenant sealed not with the blood of animals as in the old times but sealed with his own blood. “Happy are those who are called to His supper.â€
Over the past decade we all have been scandalized by the revelation concerning certain priests or bishops, or we have experienced the defects of those who are call to continue what we celebrate tonight, their impatience, anger, and I am subjected to it every day, however if we have a look at the people in the Upper Room sitting around the table with Jesus, we will find out that Jesus did not choose angels to be His priests. We will see Judas, who would betray Him. Peter the head of the apostles who will deny Jesus. The rest of the disciples, with the exception of John, will run away and abandon Jesus. Clearly Jesus did not choose angels, but purposely he chose those twelve men. St. Paul sums up his priestly ministry very beautifully when he says; “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.â€
I believe that the event of the Last Supper and what was instituted that night it is not just a description of what love looked like in the life of a nice Jewish rabbi from 2000 years ago. It was not just the institution of the Eucharist or priesthood. The Last Supper is the mission statement, job description, and guiding principle of anyone who dares to call him/herself a Christian. Likewise what we celebrate tonight is not just a nice piece of history; it is an invitation to the mystery of our own life.
The choice is only ours. I am sure you have heard the saying, “Let’s eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will die.†However Christ’s invitation reads, “Eat and drink that you may live.†In the Eucharist Christ perpetuate himself among us and enable us, with all our faults, and imperfections, to be perpetuated in him through the sacrament. Christ lives in us and we live in Christ. And in this way we too fulfill that desire to perpetuate ourselves, but not as I mention before with palaces, stars in Hollywood or with statues of streets named after us. He is inviting us to live our humanity, not in his divinity, because that would be impossible for us, but perpetuating our humanity in His humanity.
Unfortunately, we live in a world that has been caught up in death for a long time. We kill each other in acts of murder, abortion, euthanasia, execution, war, and terrorist activities. We kill ourselves through suicide, drugs and alcohol abuse, overwork, stress, bad eating habits, and physical neglect. We watch as others die from poverty, hunger and malnutrition, unemployment, disease, child abuse, discrimination, and all the laws, policies, practices and attitudes, which contribute to these conditions. So, the question how in the world are we going to perpetuate ourselves in Jesus may very easily spring up into our minds and we may be tempted to act like Judas, Peter or like the rest of the disciples. This is the very reason why we should reflect more often on what went on that night in the Upper Room and reflect on what Jesus said: I am sending you out into the world, among the people from whom I called you. Your mission? It is very simple. Just love them.â€
Fr. Alejandro Salcedo, OP
FRIAR WHO EVANGELIZES IN THE MALL:
“WE ARE AN ABSOLUTELY PASSIVE CHURCH”.
Dominican Father Tony Wall thinks Catholics should spend more time living out their faith in the marketplace.
That’s why he spent every day, except Sunday, for a month in Portland’s Lloyd Center Mall. Father Wall, a priest for 60 years, wore his Roman collar or white friar’s habit, simply making himself obvious for those yearning to talk about life’s greater issues.
“People don’t meet priests any more. We are hiding in the rectory,” says Father Wall, who has moved on to lead missions from the Dominicans’ California headquarters. He plans to return to Portland at the start of 2012 for another month of mall evangelization.
“Jesus sent people out on the road,” explains the 86-year-old friar, who helped found the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. “St. Dominic was out in the crossroads and at the inns. He was not waiting for people to find him.”
Educated in Rome during the 1940s, Father Wall counted the future Pope John Paul II among his classmates. He served in parishes and was a teacher before starting the Berkeley project. He served as president of the theological union for two terms. Then he joined the Dominican preaching band, men who give retreats on the road in honor of the itinerant charism of their 13th century founder.
In Mexico on a mission, he met a priest from St. Charles Borromeo Church in Harlem. The pastor said his church counted as many as 339 converts in a year and attributed that to the habit of priests standing out on Harlem street corners to engage the people and give them cards with Mass times.
When he visited Holy Rosary Parish in Portland, just down the street from Lloyd Center, he got thinking. There is no priest at the mall, and there should be.
“We are no longer a missionary church,” Father Wall says of Catholics. “We are an absolutely passive church. We stand back.”
Mall officials were receptive. There were limitations, however. Father Wall had to stay put in one place. Amplification and big signage was out.
That all suited the priest just fine. On weekdays, he chose a bench and sat, smiling. On weekends, he donned the habit and rented a kiosk near Macy’s and filled it with free crucifixes, rosaries, holy cards and sacred medals.
Many shoppers asked who he was and that led to encounters, some brief, some lengthy. Everyone seemed impressed that a man representing deep matters had set up in a place devoted to fashion, skin products and fast food. He heard several confessions.
“People are hungry to have the church stand up and say, ‘Come, come, come,'” Father Wall says. “I think every big mall in the country should have a Catholic presence. All I think the church needs to do is rent a chair and have a priest sit there and have a sign that says, ‘Have a question? Ask a priest.'”
Mall security guards took a special shine to the priest. They passed a hat several times and gave him the money to further his work.
Mary Halvorsen is not surprised the priest had that effect on the mall workers.
“Father Tony had a great method of engaging passersby,” says Halvorsen, prioress of the Holy Rosary Dominican Laity, a group that helped the priest on many days. “People just naturally were drawn to him. Father would ask those people what their names were and would tell them what their name meant in Latin or Greek or what saint was connected to their name. Some would be shy and say they knew a Catholic or used to be a Catholic.”
Halvorsen says other vendors in the area would come introduce themselves to the priest.
“People are hungry for God even if they don’t know it and when they are fed by a gentle, holy man they are filled with gratitude and joy,” she concludes.
As for Father Wall, he talks a lovely torrent that puts everyone he meets at ease. Within the amicability, though, he has an urgent message.
“What we Catholics need is a four letter word — a little bit of z-e-a-l,” he says. “And you have these zealous lay people just waiting for someone to point them the way and say, ‘Go.'”
Take from:Â http://www.catholicsentinel.org/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=35&ArticleID=14726
CHINESE NEW YEAR MASS AT THE PRIORY
The Chapel of Saint Dominic’s Priory was filled to its capacity on Febuary 3, as the community and friends gathered to celebrate the first day of the Chinese New Year of the lunar calendar. A group of Vietnamese Catholics in their traditional garbs also attended the liturgy adding color and solemnity to the feast. In accordance to the calendar of the Macau Catholic Diocese, the day’s liturgical was celebrated in honor of Our Lady of China, families came together and prayed, thanking God for the blessings over the past year and asking for the Virgin’s unconditional protection and blessings during the new year of the rabbit.
The solemn mass was presided by Fr. Athanasius Chen OP who reminded the congregation that the New Year festival is not only a celebration of Chinese culture and their way of life but also a remembrance of the faith and the struggle of the Church in China in these most difficult of times. China we celebrate the Chinese people, their faith, their culture and their way of life.
In his homily, Fr. Jarvis Sy, OP commented on the gospel passage of the day when Mary was entrusted to the care of John at the foot of the cross. The feast reminds us of Mary’s role as the Mother of humanity. Bringing all of us to the singular grace of sonship through Jesus; and through Jesus, uniting the whole humanity into one body and one spirit He also spoke on the importance of appreciating God’s gift of eternal life, embracing everyone in love and service and creating new opportunities for creative inculturation and authentic evangelization.
After Communion, the Prior, Fr. Alejandro Salcedo, OP wished the congregation, their families and friends, a prosperous New Year, calling on the maternal protection of Our Lady of China, and asking for peace and prosperity in the world and in China.
The celebration ended with the singing of the Salve.
BACKGROUND OF OUR LADY IN CHINA
According to popular tradition, during the height of the Boxer rebellion in northern China, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Donglu, Hebei province. The mother of Christ appeared to the Christians as protector and consoler, defender for helpless and the righteous.
During the historic Council of Shanghai in 1924, the Apostolic Nuncio Celso Constantini led all the Bishops of China to make a collegial act of consecration of China to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This consecration was to be repeated yearly on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. In 1941, Pope Pius XII approved the Marian title of “Queen of Chinaâ€. With the liturgical reforms after the Council, the Chinese Bishops’ Conference (Taiwan), the feast was transferred on the Saturday before the Second Sunday of May with the title “Our Lady of Chinaâ€; while the Diocese of Macau chose that the feast be celebrated on New Year’s Day.
Through the years, this Marian title has grown more significant with China begins to take center stage in the global world and international economy. From an ecclesial perspective, it is also the most populous country where the Gospel needs to be preached and religious freedom be assured. With Mary’s intercession, may China become a beacon of light and hope for the world where family is valued, life is protected and rights be defended.
Note on the image: An officially-sanctioned image of Our Lady of China—the seated Virgin and the child Jesus seated in a throne and wearing a crown and ornate imperial Manchu gowns— was blessed and by Pope Pius XI in 1928. This image had become identified with the apparitions of Donglu. In recent years, various artists had represented the Virgin in Chinese garb and had become popular among Christian communities.
Fr. ALEXANDRO SALCEDO OP. St. Dominic priory prior.
The Feast of the Presentation 2011.
…This Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple can teach us so much about Jesus, about His Mother and His foster Father, and about the consecrated life, which the Church also we celebrates today.
Today, Jesus is presented to us as the one who fulfills all the prophecies of the Old Testament, particularly Malachi’s message that “suddenly there will come to the Temple the Lord whom you seek,” and that He will be the “messenger of the covenant.”
In the Gospel we are introduced to two elderly people who were in the Temple at the time. The first of these was a devout man called Simeon.  He had been told that he would not die until he had first laid eyes on the promised Messiah. Guided by the Spirit he came into the Temple and recognized in Mary’s child the long-awaited Messiah.  He makes a prayer of thanksgiving to God for answering his prayer “for my eyes have seen your salvation”.
Mary and Joseph are quite amazed at the words being spoken. There is a lot they still do not know about their Son. But Simeon then had some ominous words for the Mother: “This child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  This is the paradox of Jesus. He comes as Saviour bringing life for the whole world and yet there will be people who will reject his message of truth and life. His own people will be deeply divided over him. This will be a source of deep pain for the Mother, something she will not realize fully until she sees him die in agony before her eyes.
Simeon’s words must have been very puzzling and even alarming to Mary and Joseph. The second person to greet the parents and their Child was another deeply religious person. She was Anna. On seeing the Child, she gave thanks to God and spoke about him to everyone she met.
Now, what does this Feast and what do these readings teach us regarding the consecrated life. From Malachi we learn that Jesus is like the refiner’s fire, that He is daily refining us and purifying us if we allow ourselves to be perfected by Him. All of us are called to a life, which is truly a response without reservation to the initiative of God’s plan for us.
The Gospels teaches us that we should never forget that consecrated life is a gift, which comes from God. None of us has the right for this gift! None of us deserves this gift! It is totally a pure gift of God for a special mission.
So on this day, besides getting to know or to review how we are doing in our life, as consecrated people, we have to accept that our life, like Mary’s and Joseph’s, will be full of challenges, challenges in living the vow of poverty, or the vow of chastity, or the vow of obedience. In the beginning when one enters a community, it seems very easy. But the more we live this life, the more it requires from ourselves the dying of our own will for the will of God manifested in community decisions and of our superiors.
The Rite of the Blessing of Candles at the beginning of today’s liturgy reminds us that Jesus is the “light of revelation to all nations.” But it also calls to mind Jesus’ challenge to us in the Sermon on the Mount, that we too are meant to be the light of the world.
Our way of living and working can express our consecrated life and our mission. We Consecrated people are called to be watchmen in our society and we are all entrusted with the task of proclaiming, by word and example the new life already present in our history.
Together with the elderly Simeon and the prophetess Anna, let us rejoice for having meeting the Lord and for having received the gift of religious vocation. And together with Mary and Joseph let us live to the full our special vocation and mission by accepting the challenges ahead of us and by committing ourselves to spreading Jesus message.
EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
We celebrate today the great feast of the Epiphany of our Lord.
God, the creator of humanity and the world, manifests himself to us in many ways. He “appears through†(Diaphany) in the incredible beauty of his creation. He shows himself (Theophany) to his people in the history of salvation. And, He reveals himself, above all (Epiphany) in his Son Jesus Christ, the Savior and Light of the World.
What is the meaning of Epiphany to us today?
1.    THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
The sacred readings help us find the meaning of the Epiphany of the Lord.
First Reading: Is 60:1-6. Disciples of the prophet Isaiah provide us with a beautiful eschatological poem which is centered on the light. God is the light that enlightens all: all nations journey to Jerusalem, where the glory of the Lord shines for all peoples, who offer gifts to God, including gold and frankincense.
Second Reading: Eph 3:2-3, 5-6. God wants the salvation of all peoples, without distinction. He gives sufficient graces to all, and Christ died for all. All are called to participate in the mystery of Christ, to become members of the Body of Christ, to be coheirs and copartners of Christ.
The Holy Gospel: Mt 2:1-12. With the lovely story of the Magi, Matthew teaches us that the manifestation or appearance of God in Jesus Christ is for all peoples – believers as well as unbelievers. At Christmas, Jesus reveals himself to the Jews, represented by the Shepherds. At Epiphany, Jesus appears to all peoples, represented by the Magi. In both cases, Jesus manifests himself as the Light of the World.
2.    REFLECTION
Let us reflect briefly on the Magi, and on the meaning of the symbols of the star and of the gifts given by the Magi.
Christmas and Easter, the two greatest feasts of the Christian, remind us of our life as a pilgrimage, as a searching for Jesus in our own life. The Magi in Christmas and the Disciples of Emmaus in Easter encourage us to continue the journey.
Tradition has enhanced the story of the Magi (wise men) from the East. By the fourth century, the Magi became the Three Kings, one of them black. By the ninth century, the Three Kings had the current names: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar.
The Star that guided the Magi to Bethlehem, to Jesus, symbolizes Jesus as the Light of the World, our light of faith. Jesus Christ is not just a Star, but the Morning Star, the Sun. Benedict XVI tells us in his encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi (“Saved in Hopeâ€) that Jesus is the Sun, the guide of our life, and the saints are the stars that guide us to Jesus: Mother Mary is the main star among the stars – Stella Maris!
The Magi offered to Jesus three significant gifts: gold to signify that the Holy Child was King; frankincense, that He was divine, God; and myrrh, that He was going to die and be buried.
3.    OUR RESPONSE
Our life is a pilgrimage to the house of the Father – to heaven, our home. It is a constant search of Jesus within and around us, that is, a deeper union with him and all others – our brothers and sisters.
Jesus is the Light of the World, our light: the light that illumines our darkness, burns our sins, heals our hearts and our bodies, and helps us stand up when we fall.
Like the Shepherds at Christmas, like the Magi at Epiphany, we offer to Jesus sincerely our simple gifts: our life, our love! The Magi exhort us to present to Jesus “the incense of our worship, the gold of our gratitude, and the myrrh of our repentance†(J. M. Cabodevilla).
Like the Shepherds, like the Magi, we offer to Jesus our gifts as a sign of our adoration. The attitude of adoration is indeed the attitude through the Christmas Season: Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, the Magi: they all adored the Child Jesus; they venerated him and knelt before him. We ought to continue doing the same: to worship Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. Thus, we recognize humbly our radical dependence on God, on Jesus, in the Spirit.
Jesus is God’s Epiphany to us. We ought to be – and become more – Jesus’ Epiphany to others, particularly to those around us. May people notice that we live in Jesus! May they realize that Jesus lives in us by the way we treat them with kindness and compassion! Being Jesus’ Epiphany to others is also the best way to have a peaceful New Year. May 2011 be a golden opportunity for all of us to become closer to Jesus: we will never, never regret it! 
Dear Lord, make us your light to all our brothers and sisters.
Lead us to your glory in heaven by the light of faith.
FR. FAUSTO GOMEZ BERLANA, O. P.
St. Dominic’s Priory, Macau: January 2011
JANUARY 1:
NEW YEAR, DAY OF PEACE AND OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
For us Christians, the first day of a New Year calls our attention to three points: the New Year, the World Day of Peace and the Feast of Mary as Mother of God.
NEW YEAR
On the first day of every New Year, we wish happiness to our relatives and friends – and to all! Yes, may we all have a Happy New Year!
Charlie Brown, the friend of Snoopy, asked Linus (of the wonderful Peanuts Family): “What is happiness?†The understanding of happiness by the world is always connected, if not identified with money, power, pleasure, fame and glory. The understanding of happiness by Jesus is diametrically opposed to that of the world. For Jesus Christ, happiness is spiritual poverty, mercy towards the suffering and needy, work for justice and peace.
Perhaps, for most people the meaning of happiness is to have a meaning for living. For many people – as it is made clear in different world-wide surveys – the meaning of life is to love – and to love more! As young Cathy Rhodes puts it: Give more that what you take…Love more. Don’t be bitter. Forgive, forgive, and forgive.†Happiness, someone wrote, is the unconditional donation of what has been unconditionally given.
Indeed, to live is to love and to love implies not just to love our family and friends, but to love all. If love is selective it cannot be true love; this includes love of all neighbors, in particular the suffering and poor – and even the enemies!
Selfishness or the fat ego is a source of envy, pride, anger, insensitivity to others – of unhappiness.
For the followers of Jesus, blessed – or happy – are the poor in spirit, the merciful, and the pacemakers, those suffering for the sake of justice. For Christians, the Eight Beatitudes of Jesus (see Mt 5:1-12) are eight forms of happiness. Truly for those who believe in God – the majority of people – happiness is happiness with others and for others, for “to be a human being is to be a fellow human being†(M. Buber).
WORLD DAY OF PEACE
In a world of injustice, violence and wars, there can be no full happiness without peace. And there can be no peace but by peaceful means to peace. To underline the need of peace in our world, the Christians since 1966 celebrate every first day of the New Year the World Day of Peace. The celebration is highlighted by the Pope’s Message for the World Day of Peace. This year of 2011 Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Message on “Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace.†We reflect briefly on this papal message.
Peace means living together in justice and love. Its four columns are, beside justice and love, truth and freedom. Freedom, or the power to do good includes necessarily religious freedom, which is an essential component of genuine human freedom. Religious freedom entails the profession of their religion individually and in community by billions of people throughout the world. Rooted in human dignity, and radically in God, religious freedom is with life a basic human right, and therefore it demands respect – reverence and esteem – by all human beings. Respect of religious freedom is “a condition for the moral legitimacy of every social and legal norm†(no. 2). Indeed, religious freedom is the path to peace, an authentic weapon of peace (no.15).
Religion and its varied expressions and manifestations must not be marginalized, much less prohibited from social life. Different religions contribute substantially and positively to society, the common good and the ethics of a good life. On the other hand, the exploitation of religious freedom for fanatical or fundamentalist practices is deeply harmful to social life and cannot be justified but strongly condemned. Similarly, the political and social hostility to and rejection of religions as well as imposition of a religion should also be condemned (nos. 6-8).
For her part, the Church respects “the positive secularity of state institutions†(no. 9), and accepts gladly all that is true and holy in all other religions (no. 110). She constantly asks Christians to consider and treat all others as brothers and sisters in Christ and encourages them to work with all towards the building of a just, fraternal and peaceful society.
Before closing his profound and meaningful message, Benedict XVI expresses his affection for the Christian communities suffering persecution throughout the word – in Asia, Africa, the Middle East especially the Holy Land. Violence, he adds, is “not overcome by violence†(no. 14). Moreover, our Pope is hopeful that the West and particularly Europe end their hostility and prejudice against Christians. Benedict XVI concludes: “May all men and women, and societies at every level and in every part of the earth be able to experience religious freedom, the path to peace†(no. 15). As Christians, let us heed and carry out individually and in community the urgent call to peace of Pope Benedict XVI.
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
The Church celebrates the Motherhood of Mary, Mary as the Mother of God, on January 1 of every year, that is, the Octave of Christmas and the first day of the New Year.
The Annunciation to Mary is proclaimed to us thus: Mary said to the archangel: “Let it be†(Lk 1:26-38). Yes!  “When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman…†(Gal 4:4-5). St John the Evangelist speaks of Mary twice in his Gospel: Mary at Cana, and Mary at Calvary, and in both cases, the Evangelist presents Mary as the Mother of Jesus. In a deep sense, the expression tells us everything about Mary. The motherhood of Mary is the source of all her privileges and graces: she was conceived without original sin (she is the Immaculate Conception); she was taken up to heaven in body and soul (the Assumption of Mary); she is Virgin and Mother!
Mary, the Mother of God. This is how she is called through the first centuries of Christianity. In the Council of Ephesus (431), Mary is dogmatically declared by the Church “Theotokos,†that is, God’s Mother. Vatican II tells us: “Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Redeemer, and, therefore, she surpasses all other creatures in heaven and on earth.†In the Church, “she is the highest after Christ and yet very close to us†(LG, 54). Mary is the Mother of Jesus, who is the Son of God and the Son of Mary: “She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ; presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him in suffering as He died on the cross†(LG, 61). Mary is, certainly, the Mother of the Child Jesus, and also the Mother of the Crucified and Risen Lord.
How can Mary, a creature, be the Mother of God, the Creator? Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange explained: “Mary is the Mother of Jesus who is God. Certainly she did not give Him His divine nature, but only His human nature. She is Mother, however, not precisely by reason of the humanity of Jesus, but by reason of the Incarnate Word: Motherhood does not end in the nature, but “in the person possessing this nature, in this case the Person of God.â€
As we wish all a Happy New Year and try to become more peacemakers in our world, we ask Mary the Mother of God and our Mother to bless our brothers and sisters as we pray to her confidently: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now…â€
FR FAUSTO GOMEZ BERLANA, OP
St. Dominic’s Priory
(Posted December 26, 2010)
