ANOTHER CHRISTMAS WITH QUITE SOMETHING
Saint Dominic’s Priory, Dec. 27, 2010. – This Christmas is our fourth Christmas as a community in Macau. Following the tradition, just like any faithful awaiting a festive Christmas, we also prepared greeting cards, decorated the house, arranged the nativity scene and rehearsed Christmas carols for Masses and Christmas Eve performance. Yet this year is perhaps the first time ever since the establishment of the community that we could again experience a Christmas celebration with deeper joy and meaning.
Joining a group of retired policeman and teachers we set off for “Instituto De Menores” on December 18. Here we met a group of around 40 boys, from about 12 to 19 years of age. Guided by the policeman we began our activities with an impromptu prayer and the prayer to “Our Father.” Surprisingly, some of the inmates could recite the second one. Did they come from a Christian school!? We then had two hours together playing games, singing Christmas songs and finally sharing with them the snacks we had brought in. We went home with a good impression of these young friends: They were really an active but disciplined team!
Christmas Eve was probably the most busy and weary day of Christmas time. Nonetheless, the most joyful moment bursting at the end of the day, when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” did make up for everything. Our 12-pew chapel which usually receives no more than 40 people now could seat a capacity crowd of around 70. There were at least seven nationalities unitedly present in this celebration. Amazing! Fr. Alejandro, the prior of the community and the celebrant at the Mass, said when he wished the congregation a Merry Christmas that this could be written as a new record. It was about midnight after the Mass. Everyone was then invited to join in a friendly party with the community.
On the two consecutive days later, with the help of a local friend, we formed a group of generous volunteers and again followed the retired policeman and the Beatitudes paying visits to the mentally disabled at St. Luis and St. Lucia centers. This time we did not have much to give them but music. With songs and dances we were trying to animate, uplift and share with them our Christmas joy. Some of them knew a good number of songs.
Some could dance quite well. Totally astounded, a question poses in my mind about the role of the intellectual, are they more human than these people? We realize that disabled people, as well as other unfortunate people, deserve more attention and compassion.
Is it only the young, the poor, the simple and the lonely, who are like the shepherds, that could understand Christmas!? Anyway, the fact was that when we reached out to herald Christmas joy to many people with our own life, many did come back to share their Christmas joy with us. A joy shared is a joy multiplied!
Peter Thoai
Two years in the making
The movie is an effort of home grown talents being a thirteen man film composed of all Filipinos. The executive producer of the project, Fr. Christopher Jeffrey Aytona, O.P. and neophyte film director, Fr. Marcelino Saria, O.P. led the artistic team together with the associate director, Marinette Losanta and director of photography and editor, Lauro Rene Manda.
The film was two years in the making. The team directed themselves in the revision and finalization of the script, treatment of the story, and making of mock-up props very much alike the Medieval tools and fixtures. The ocular preparation was on Aug 2009 in Spain, France and Italy. The shooting of the film ran from July to August this year.
All actors and actresses are Spanish, French and English who perseveringly portrayed their roles to give a picture of the life of St. Dominic and how the Dominican Order came into being.
The verse in Matthew resonates in the film as a conviction of St. Dominic, the words of Jesus to his disciples, “…whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you do unto Me.â€
On his deathbed he said to his brothers, “Do not weep, I shall be of more use to you after death than I ever did in life.†(CBCPNews)
Dominic: Light of the Church trailer.mp4
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORDER
Dominican Order or Order of Preachers was founded by St. Dominic of Guzman who was a man of flesh and blood walking this earth in Spain, France, and Italy. He was born in Caleruega, in Old Castile, in Spain, in 1170. Educated as a young boy by an archpriest uncle in a nearby town, he later enrolled at the University of Palencia where, after finishing six years of Liberal Arts, he followed a four-year course of Theology and Sacred Scriptures. Ordained a priest, he joined the community of Canons Regular of the Cathedral of Burgo de Osma. There, “the man of letters and the theologian lived the life of a contemplative religious, becoming a truly “vir evangelicusâ€, (Man of the Gospel). After such a thorough intellectual and spiritua
l preparation, Dominic, now in his mid-thirties, was to become “vir apostolicusâ€, (an Apostolic Man); and this, not just to comply with the Pope’s orders, but as a new vocation in his life.
The 12th and 13th centuries were centuries of strong faith in Europe, but they also saw the emergence and spread of heresies and witnessed their devastating effects on the people of God. One such heresy was the albigensian (so called because it was centered around the city of Albi, in the district of Languedoc, in what is now Southern France). Albigenses believed in the old Manichaean theory of two principles of creation: on good, and one evil; and, therefore, in two realms: one good (the spiritual) and the other evil (the material). They accepted part of the Scriptures and called themselves Christian. Their leaders, known as “perfectiâ€, and regarded as the pure and authentic representatives of the Gospel, lived in utmost austerity and wandered about barefoot, preaching their brand of Christianity. In the process, they disparaged the Church’s authority and many of its teachings, with the subsequent disruption of genuine Catholic life.
After getting acquainted with the teaching and ways of the Albigenses, Dominic decided to meet them on their own ground. Through public disputations on the Scriptures, Theology and Church History, he unmasked the fallacies with which the heretics confused the minds of simple people. Moreover, by going about on foot and living in total poverty, he showed that true gospel humility is not a matter of external appearance for the sake of creating an impression, but something that must come from the heart in a sincere imitation of the Lord Jesus. He was successful along the threats. However it was too much for one man. As the days went by, some young men joined him, offering their services to the mission at hand. A community of preachers was formed. With the suggestion of the Pope, St. Dominic chose the Rule of St. Augustine for his Order. Pope Honorius III gave the official name, “Order of Preachersâ€, “Dominicansâ€.
In 1216 the Order was well established. Throughout the centuries, Dominicans defended the faith of the Church and brought the true light of faith to the world, bearing their motto, “Veritasâ€, (Truth), in mind.
