On April 25, 2015, Good Shepherd Sunday, Korean brother Andreas Kim Sung Dae, OP, made his Solemn Profession before fr. Javier Gonzalez, OP, Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was done within the Holy Mass, which was presided over by fr. Javier himself and concelebrated by eleven Dominican priests, including the eight from St. Dominic’s Priory, where br. Andres pursued his institutional studies. Our Dominican brothers, some Korean men and women, and a good numbers of sisters and lay faithful attended the religious event, which was held at the chapel of our St. Dominic’s Priory in Macau.
The entrance hymn introduced the deep meaning of the unique Eucharistic celebration:
Here I am Lord. Is it I, Lord? / I have heard You calling in the night. / I will go, Lord, if you lead me…
It is a highly significant Sunday of the year: the fourth Sunday after Easter, the Good Shepherd Sunday, and the 52nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations. After the Liturgy of the Word, fr.  Javier asked br. Andreas: What do you ask? His answer: God’s mercy and yours. Thereafter, the main celebrant pronounced his homily focused on the sacred readings: in the second reading done in Korean (1 Jn 3: 1-2), St. John the Evangelist tells us that we are children of God; in the third, the holy Gospel (Jn 10:11-18), Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd and us as his followers, as his sheep; in the first (Ac 4:8-12), St. Peters proclaims us that Jesus is the only savior, our savior. How wonderful our identity is! Hence, we have to try hard to behave as children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus and, in Jesus, brothers and sisters of one another. The Holy Gospel connects us with the especial meaning of this Sunday: the Good Shepherd Sunday. It is also vocation Sunday and invites us all to follow faithfully God’s call: to listen to God’s voice and to follow our Shepherd gratefully and humbly. Then the Prior Provincial answered the request of br. Andreas: “Yes, you – as we all – have God’s mercy, and also ours.â€
Thereafter, br. Andreas made his solemn profession: to be obedient, usque ad mortem – till death. He also promised to go to the missions when requested by the authorities. The Prior Provincial prayed the Prayer of Blessing over br. Andreas. The Ritual of the Solemn Profession ended with the singing of the well-known hymn to our Father St. Dominic the O Spem Miram.
The Offertory Hymn prayerfully confirmed br. Andreas’ free and total surrender to God:
Here I am and I long to do your will. / Here I am, I follow your commands. / Here I am! Here I am.
Finally, the Communion Hymn asked for God’s grace to be faithful:
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life.
After the communion prayer, br. Andreas spoke from the heart and gave thanks to each of the priests and brothers for the help they all gave him through the years at St. Dominic’s Priory. He told us that he has an only brother, younger than him, who is now a brother Franciscan. “We are not enemies,†he added jokingly. Throughout his profession, the newly solemnly professed Korean brother was deeply moved. He was also moved to tears when he expressed his gratitude to all. We all gave thanks to God for his love endures forever!
After the wonderful Eucharist and the moving solemn profession of br. Andreas, all the people attending shared with the Dominican community in a simple agape. Good Shepherd and Vocation Sunday 2015 was indeed a day to rejoice and remember . This is the day the Lord has made!
Br. Andreas, hermano, a most cordial welcome as permanent member of the missionary Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. Joyful congratulations!
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Once again I have the pleasure to greet you a Happy Easter. I do it not only to respond to the numerous greetings that I receive on these days from individual brothers and communities, but also to share with you the joyous news of the Lord’s resurrection. He is Risen!, the apostles were told by Mary Magdalene, and that short news was everything they needed to have their fainted hearts uplifted. ‘He is Risen!’ we are told every year at Easter, and that short news ought to be all we likewise need to have our fainted hearts uplifted. Still let me add: May His peace and joy be with you!
Here in Hong Kong, where I am writing these lines, our good Bishop has reminded the Catholics of his diocese to be happy and grateful at Easter time. Reasons for it are plenty, according to him; some of them he quoted from a 2.400-year-old Chinese book in the form of a story: “In the area of Mount Tai a Master came across a man wearing rather poor clothing; he was strumming a guitar and singing a song. When he asked him ‘¿Why are you so happy?’ he replied: There are many things to be happy about. First, Heaven has brought forth everything in the world; among them, human beings are the most valuable. I am a human being. This is the first happy matter. Secondly, of those born as human beings some die even before opening their eyes and some die in their swaddling clothes. But I have been able to live until middle age. This is the second happy matter. Finally, poverty is common in a human being’s life and death only signifies reaching our final destination. However, I am peacefully and normally going along in the direction of a human being´s final destination. Is there anything else I should be worried about? And the Master felt great admiration for him.’
In addition to these, the Bishop added two more reasons to be happy and thankful this year in Hong Kong. The first is that 3600 adults receive the sacraments of Christian Initiation on the Easter Vigil and become members of the great Catholic family. Secondly, because more and more Catholics are happily pursuing further theological education so that they can participate in the mission of the Church by becoming volunteer catechists or evangelizers effectively spreading the gospel by their words and deeds.
I am sure that in your respective places these same things are happening, too. They should produce in us happiness and gratitude and move us to take at heart Pope Francis’ appeal on his message for the Year of Consecrated Life: Be joyful witnesses of the gospel. Be evangelizers who trust in God and courageously carry out the work of evangelization. Unite with one another and be concerned for the poor, so that the Kingdom of God will be realized soon throughout the whole world.
Brothers, Jesus live on! Alleluia! His Resurrection is a pledge of our own resurrection. So let us rejoice and be thankful. Happy Easter!
Javier González, OP
Provincial
St. Joseph House
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, April 2015
101st Celebration of WDMR, Macau
January 18th, 2015.
The program of “Migrant Day†began with the mass by the Bishop of Macau and concelebrated with the priests from different congregations and different nationalities at St. Augustine Church. The mass began at 10:30 am and around 800 migrants attended the mass. The purpose of this Migrant Day is that not to look at the differences that we have but to appreciate what we have in common. Those are the people who migrated to Macau with different purposes and different reasons. Just as the Bishop said in his homely “We are one, we are the same in God’s family no matter what our nationality is or where we come fromâ€. The motto of this celebration is “Church without frontiers, Mother of all.†During the mass, the Bishop made different intentions for the migrants.
After the mass was followed by agape buffet lunch at the St. Joseph auditorium. There were different kinds of food from different countries. After lunch, there was cultural shows from different countries. They are— Philippine traditional dance performed by Philippine community. Myanmar (Burmese) traditional water festival dance, performed by Myanmese (Burmese) community. Indonesia traditional dance, Vietnam traditional dance, East Timor traditional dance was performed by Dominican Sisters from East Timor and others performances were performed in singing traditional songs. The Dominican Brothers and the Dominican Sisters from Myanmar performed Karen (Kayin) traditional dance. All the people enjoyed showing their own traditional performances and watching others traditional performances. All, those who participated in this program could feel the togetherness and being one in God’s love. As the motto says, Church without frontiers, those people from different countries did not feel the wall between them that they are in the same family of the Mother Church.
The Associations of Religious Men and Women in Macau had an unforgettable Christmas Party on December 29 at St. Lawrence Parish premises. Over one hundred and fifty consecrated men and women from different religious Congregations celebrated Christmas informally with the singing of Christmas carols, a simple dinner – and much warmth and fraternity.
The unique affair started with the powerful Christmas Carol “A Hallelujah Christmas†(by Cloverton) rendered by our Dominican brothers and sisters. It continued with a prayer and a blessing. Thereafter, all present shared in the food and drinks brought by all the Congregations represented, and some generous donors.
The dinner was accompanied by Christmas songs sung in different languages. The most repeated was “Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad…†The most moving was the singing of the first stanza of “Silent Night†in different languages: Chinese, Portuguese, English, Spanish, Burmese, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. The harmonious variety of the traditional Christmas Carol was truly touching and meaningful: a great variety of languages united in the same musical notes – in the same faith in the born Jesus who continues to grow in our minds and souls! The event was indeed an encounter of a different kind: an encounter with the Born Child present in the hearts of all and an experience of fraternal and sisterly communion.
We said Good Bye to each other with “May you have a Happy New Yearâ€!
Good Bye 2014 and Welcome 2015!
