As the Jubilee of the 8th Centenary of the Order of Preachers draws to a close, young Dominicans are sent to preach!
The Jubilee of the Order began on November 7, 2015 (Feast of All Saints of the Order) and will end on January 21, 2017 (the date of the issuance of the Bull Gratiarum omnium largitori – Giver of all gifts of Pope Honorius III). As a new century commences in the long history of the Order, we focus our attention to ourselves; to us young Dominicans. On our shoulder the future of the Order is placed upon, as we are sent to preach the Gospel today, and most especially tomorrow. But for us to be effective preachers of tomorrow, we have to begin TODAY; for today we are Dominicans; today we are commissioned to be preachers; today we are sent to preach.
Sent to Preach
To be sent presupposes a particular mission; a destination; a purpose. Thus, as we are being sent we aptly ask ourselves; Who sends us? How are we sent? For what does he sends us? Where does he send us? What must be the fruits of having been sent? (Trogir, 2013, n.50).
To preach the gospel is to evangelize. And evangelization is the greatest charity we can offer to one another as it involves the breaking of the Word of God with one another (Bologna, 2016, n.3). Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reminds us that: “There is no action more beneficial – and therefore more charitable – towards one’s neighbor than to break the bread of the Word of God, to share with them the Good News of the Gospel, to introduce them to a relationship with God” (Message for Lent 2013, n. 3). This is the mission given to us in 1216, and it remains to be the mission of the Order after 800 years: Sent to Preach the Gospel.
Who sends us?
The One who sends us is the One who called us: God Himself! God is calling us towards a particular way of life. But today the voice of God is competed by many other voices; consumerism: telling you that you are not good enough so you have to buy many products to modify yourself; careerism: telling you that your success in life is based on the success of your profession; how much money and honor have you made?; the throw away culture: telling you that you can easily dispose anything or even anyone you do not like anymore, throwing away the values of commitment. There are thousands of other voices that compete with the voice of God. How then one can hear the voice of God calling him or her towards a way of life? It is by developing a conversation of friendship with God (cf. Bologna, 2016, n. 8.). Converse with God as often as you converse with your friends, as often as you update your status in the Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Cultivate your relationship with God by constant communication with Him primarily through the sacraments and through personal prayers. Be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit because God speaks through unexpected way; through the events in our lives. With constant communication with God, day by day His voice will be clear to you.
How are we sent?
“He sent them two by two.” Jesus sent his disciples two by two. And St. Dominic sent his brothers two by two in 1217 to build communities. For us Dominicans our community is our first preaching. Thus in the beginning, Dominican communities are called Sacra Praedicatio, a Holy Preaching.
A Dominican is a witness of a life lived in a community. We exercise charity first in our community. From there, we attain credibility in our mission of preaching to others; how can we preach the love of God without building community with our brothers and sisters (cf Bologna, 2016, 12)? As Blessed Paul VI said “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses (Evangelii Nuntiadi, 41)."
The call and mission that God bestows upon is always in the context of a community; of a family. We are called to be a member of a family. All of us belong to our biological family. I belong to the Sicat-Vasco family in as much as you belong to your particular families. I belong too to a spiritual family; the Dominican Family, in as much as I am called to be a Dominican brother. It is in these family that we first learn how to love; where we first experience love; more so the love of God. Our biological family later extends to our family in the school clubs, offices and to our circle of friends whom we consider too as our family.
For us Filipinos this is not difficult to understand for we are family-oriented people (see CFC 34-36). We do everything for our family: Why do we study hard and earn a living? Not for ourselves but for the honor that we would bring to our family, and for welfare of our parents, spouses, and children. But the love we experience in, and for the our families ought not to remain alone in our families. It has to be extended. It has to be shared. In fact if what we experience in our families is true love and goodness it cannot but be shared, after all love and goodness are self-diffusive. We do not keep good news among our families alone. When one of our family members passed the board exam we share it to the whole world; We post it in the Facebook. We print tarpaulins and hang them in front of our houses. So it should also be with the Good News we experience in our families. Let our families be places where one experience God’s goodness. And share the goodness of God you have experienced in your family, so much so that when people see your families they see God. Through this, our families, can also be rightly called as Sacra Praedicatio; a Holy Preaching.
Why are we sent?
The two poles of Dominican life are Contemplari et aliis tradere. Our call to preach the Good News is an invitation to live with God, and realize through our lives His message of Salvation; of healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God. This brings us close to the broken and to the poor (cf. Bologna, 2016, 16). As preachers, we bring mercy, hope and the presence of God in the peripheries; among the poor. We name the grace of God present in their midst, even in their very sorry situation.
We approach the poor and broken to share the goodness of God we had experienced, to be their companions with whom we can share the Bread of God. And we would be surprised that we too would be nourished by the poor and broken by their own experience of God shared to us preachers. They too have something to share. Thus as preachers to the poor and broken, we ought to be listeners too. We have to be prepared to become good listeners, before we become good preachers.
We preach not with the arrogance of an all-knowing speaker. We approach the poor with docility and openness to learn also from them. I once shared to a group of young members of the legion of Mary in one of our parishes. I taught them about the importance of giving back the love we have received from a person. When I asked their individual reflections, an unassuming girl replied: We should love a person even though he or she may not have loved us. Love can begin from us. Such was a humbling experience for me. I thought preaching before kids would be an active role for me, after all what can little babes add to my knowledge acquired after long years of studying. But that girl who spoke with the wisdom taught me that preaching can also have a passive dimension. A preacher should also have a receptive attitude towards his receivers because he can also learn from them.
To where are we sent?
We are being sent to the people of God; to be in their midst. Our preaching is contextualized not only by where we are, but also in the people who live there; in the men and women who need the announcement of hope founded in Christ (cf. Bologna, 2016, n. 19). Our preaching should be relevant to others and primarily to us. God begins from where we are. As a student He is asking you to preach in your classrooms, in your schools. He would not sent you now in Africa to be a missionary, perhaps later. But today he is sending you to preach in your present situation.
Today, we young people, the so-called millenials and digital natives, are sent to the digital continent; in the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This is a very familiar landscape for us. Internet has become a part of our lives. And God begin from this recognizable place for us. We can post, like, share Bible quotes in the Facebook instead of latest gossips about our favorite Hollywood stars. We can update our friends about Church events. We can follow news from Vatican. We can engage in a more productive conversation in the Internet by joining Catholic blogs and sites. We can bring Christ in this Digital continent in just a click of our finger. Indeed, the technological advances offer us a powerful instrument for preaching (Bologna, 2016, 21).
What must be the fruits of being sent?
“They returned full of Joy.” The disciples returned filled with joy after fulfilling their mission. They are joyful not because they are successful but because God succeeded. They are happy after a lifetime of preaching not because their plans had been realized but because God’s plans had taken place. The joy of the disciples is rooted not so much in what they have done by themselves but in how they have served humanity in the name of Jesus (Bologna, 2016, 26).
When I was a Dominican postulant, we were asked to facilitate a recollection to a group of students. For us, then, the indicator that one successfully facilitated a recollection is when students cried: when recollection became a crying session That became may goal. Students must cry in my recollection, but to my frustration. Students kept on laughing, activity after activity. No one cried except me, after the recollection. Looking back, I was frustrated and felt as failure because I had set my own goal, before the will of God. But in the end, I think the will of God prevailed, after all recollection are no crying session but encounter with God who prefers laughers than tears. If only I learned to own the will of God, I too would have end up laughing with my students in that recollection.
In the beginning of our preaching ministry, we have to learn to entrust our lives to God, to offer ourselves at the disposal of God, and embrace the Paschal Mystery as our own spirituality; To offer ourselves as Christ offered Himself for our sins; To die to our selfishness and individualism, to die for others; and to live as Christ has risen from the dead. As we embrace the Paschal mystery of Christ as our spirituality we would never experience in the end. In between, there would surely be sorrows, difficulties, frustrations, negativity. God doesn't promise us a smooth journey, but he does promise us the best destination. We can only returned back to the One who sent us with Joy if throughout of preaching ministry we have made Him the center of our lives that holds us together; keep as whole, in the midst of trials and difficulties.
The future of the Order
The Dominican Order exists for 800 years. Through its faithfulness to its mission mandate: to preach (for the salvation of souls), the Order has an uninterrupted service to God and to the Church in the past. At the threshold of the new-century of the Order, we young Dominicans commit ourselves in preaching the Gospel: sent by God, as a Family, to name His grace, in our world today, sustained by the paschal mystery of Christ. The future is full of possibilities but it can only be defined by the present guided by the wisdom from past.
The future of the Order can only be as bright as we can be bright today. Upon our shoulder the future of the Order is placed as we, young Dominicans are sent to preach the Gospel, today.
