St. Dominic’s Priory, Macau – May 06, 2013. The Master of the Order, Brother Bruno Cadoré, is on ordinary canonical visitation to the Priory of Saint Dominic of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. Brother Vincent Lu, the Socius for Asia Pacific accompanied him this time.
 Soon after the community’s dinner on the day of their arrival, May 03, the Master held a general meeting with all the Student Brothers. Beginning with a brainstorming question, “What does it mean by being a Dominican missionary for you?†the 87th successor of St. Dominic would like to fire the Brothers up about the Dominican missionary spirit.
 Straightforwardly, yet “in an Asian manner,†commented Brother Vincent Lự, the Brothers in turn spoke out what they have so far understood as Dominican and missionary charism. They discussed enthusiastically the necessities of being prepared before being sent. “There should be something to share; we cannot share what we don’t actually have!†agreed all. More ideas came out as the Brothers felt it more confident to join in. They even questioned the efficiency of the Dominican governance and ministries compared to that of other equivalent charisms. The two pressing issues that they finally focused on were the ability to truly listen to one another, to be in common unity, to live and to work as a community, and the erosion of social morals, which affects the Dominican religious life not a little.
 The Master, carrying out the spirit of St. Dominic, gently replied to each Brother’s concerns. He encouraged the Brothers to be frank with themselves, to speak their mind, to practice the Dominican democracy, and to dialogue with different cultures. Yet he cautioned against misconstruing or literally interpreting these technical terms out of individual favors, like “democracy†without responsibility, or “inculturalization†without actually entering into the changing reality of lives. The Master specifically emphasized the importance of listening and of learning how to listen to the others, from which one will definitely learn something good and helpful. Listening to and to dialogue with cultures will make it possible to through them communicate the Word of God. Listening to and dialogue with Brothers in the community will help to strengthen the Fraternity, which is also a way of doing mission. The Master admonished those who keep discreetly silent for their own sake. And, out of any challenges that one seems unable to bear technically, the Master encouraged the Brothers to look at them through the eye of faith and fail not to hope, for “the work is done by the Word, not solely by human efforts.†Above and first of all, the love of God and God’s mission would impel the missionaries to convert to and renew themselves daily.
 Brother Vincent also joined in with the Master saying, “We can choose a friend, but we cannot choose a Brother. We have to accept our Brothers as they are. And because they are our Brothers, we have the responsibility to care for them and to share with them.†Though the way to express our care of the Brothers nowadays may be quite different from the old times, there is still a way, he believed. Talking about cultural diversity, Brother Vincent suggested the Brothers think of the values that make up the Dominican culture – the culture that has united all the Brothers under the same roof and at the same time urged them to spread it.
 One the next day, during the Saturdays’ in-house class on the Dominican Charism, the Master had the opportunity to meet with the Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Rosary when they asked them about his experience in Timor East and in Myanmar. He then shared with the Sisters the reasons why the Brothers come back to East Timor, where together with the missionary history of the Order and the needs to strengthen the local Church the familial relationship with the Dominican Sisters has called the Brothers to come back. Myanmar is seen very promising and thus depending much on the young Burmese Sisters and Brothers. The Master again exhorted both Sisters and Brothers to keep up with studies, not for its own sake, but to become good listeners, so as to reach the common unity and effective collaboration within the Dominican family for the universal fruits that we can share on the missions. He reminded all that we are church and that we should never forget the poor.
 On May 5, the Master and his Assistant spent the whole day meeting all the Brothers individually. On May 6, both of them are living for China, ending the whole four days sharing the community life with the Brothers of St. Dominic in the Far East (Macau). The canonical visitation of the successor of St. Dominic is the time to evaluate, consolidate and strengthen our Dominican vocation. With his words of exhortation and admonition for the particular situations, if any, the Brothers will be again fired up about their vocation as a Dominican and a Dominican missionary.
Br. Peter Thoai, O.P.