Until Death... | Solemn Profession 2021
Very Rev. Fr. Filemon I dela Cruz, Jr, OP,
Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines
April 25, 2021, Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City
Good afternoon brothers and sisters! Today is a momentous event for five of our brothers who will be making their solemn profession – three of them are Filipinos while two are Indonesians. They will be consecrating their lives to God through their profession in the Order. Until when? ...Until death! They will be making a lifetime commitment. By solemn profession, they will also become full-fledged Dominicans and will carry at the end of their names the initials “OP,” which stands for Order of Preachers, for the rest of their lives as a reminder of their religious identity and mission.
This momentous event is made more beautiful and gracious by the alignment of significant celebrations in the Church: 1) the 800th Anniversary of the Dies Natalis of St. Dominic; 2) the 500th Year of Christianity in the Philippines; 3) the 50th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Dominican Province of the Philippines; and, 4) the Year of St. Joseph. And, as if these are not yet enough, we add more, for today, April 25, is the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist in the liturgical calendar. And since this day fell on the fourth Sunday of Easter, today is also the Good Shepherd Sunday and the 58th Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
Despite the pandemic, you are indeed so blessed. So remember this beautiful date and day, my dear brothers: Jaymar, Johnny, Simon Peter, Leonito and Lukas. Each of the feasts mentioned, each celebration, brings special inspiration into our lives, into our Christian vocation and present-life conditions. And, some of the celebrations extend through the days ahead of you; thus, you have so much time to nourish what you have professed today.
I recommend that you check the message of His Holiness Pope Francis for this year’s World Day of Prayer for Vocations with the title, “St. Joseph, the Dream of Vocation.” In this message, he spoke about three keywords: dream, service, and fidelity. All of these could be seen from the life of St. Joseph. You might also want to check his message last year, where he spoke of four keywords, namely: pain, gratitude, encouragement, and praise. And for today’s celebration, my keywords for you are fear, temptation, assurance, trust, and obedience.
FEAR is real. We, as religious, are not always courageous as we also experience fear in our lives. And perhaps the most recent fear that our brothers have undergone is the fear of making a lifetime commitment. I am sure it took (them) some time to muster that strength to be here today and to have the courage to say, “until death.” It is scary to say those words, not because of death but because of the challenges that lie ahead. Fear is real as we have seen from the very lives of the apostles and the succeeding generations of disciples. Fear is real for us too. Do not ever think that because you have mustered the strength to be present here today and make a lifetime commitment, fear will never come back. It will pop up any time, challenging and making you think whether you can carry out what you have professed. You will be haunted by questions like, “What if I fail? What if one day I become weak? What will I do? What if I become scared to continue? What if I could not meet the expectations given me?”
But it is not only fear that you must contend with. You also must contend with temptation – a very particular temptation. In one of our retreats in the Studentate, I remember a retreat facilitator, a Dominican priest who is still alive. He is one of our lolos who said and shared with us his observation: “After profession, we start to take back what we have given up.” It struck me because it is true that it is a big and real temptation, which sometimes we unconsciously do. When we start to seek some form of returns any return for the service that we render, then we start to take back what we have given up. When we start to change and develop a different kind of lifestyle contrary to what we have embraced, then we are returning to where we have come from. And this also is why we ask you, friends, brothers and sisters, to help us. Sometimes, in your love for us, you are the ones who are tempting us to return to where we came from and start to take back what we have given up.
Now we turn to the Gospel. The third word is ASSURANCE. Voice recognition is an old thing, which even goes way back to the biblical times. You find it in intimate relationships. It is captured well in the Gospel reading that we have today about the intimate relationship between the shepherd and the sheep. John 10:14 says, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” And again in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” God knows you in and out, and your weaknesses and your strengths. We can even say that God knows when we will fall, and in what way we will fall, just like when He predicted the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter. And yet, He never took back His call and still extends His love and friendship and continues to assure us, “Do not be afraid, it is I. Do not be afraid, I will be with you.” And what is very assuring in the image between of the shepherd and the sheep is that once a sheep is lost, the shepherd will leave everything to find the lost sheep. Hence, whatever happens and whatever lies ahead, always be assured of the voice who knows you, who has called you, and who will look for you when you are lost.
But it does not end there. It also needs trust, the willingness to be found and the willingness to be brought back home to the flock. God always looks for the lost sheep but not everyone is willing to be taken on his shoulders and to return home because there is always another option. Such other option is to hide just like when Adam and Eve first committed sin out of disobedience. And thus, the fourth keyword: TRUST. Trust that the voice who called you from the very start, the voice who knows you, and who asks you to follow him, to bring you back home.
The last keyword is OBEDIENCE. Though this might have already been part of your examination, I invite you to go back and understand obedience in the whole context of the deep relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, which means that the way to nourish obedience is to keep on listening and opening your hearts to the voice of the Lord day by day.
Do not take back what you have given up. But rather, from this day forward, keep on practicing, in big and small ways, giving and giving up for the sake of following our Lord, the Good Shepherd.
I know that many of the families and loved ones of our brothers could not come today because of the pandemic. But as we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I ask you, especially those who could not come here and those who are with us in this celebration, to please continue to pray for our five brothers that they may persevere in God’s love in following Christ until death. I also ask you to pray for the rest of us – brothers, priests, men, and women who had the courage to follow Christ. For the most part of the year, you have asked us to pray for you. But at least for on this day, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we ask you to remember us in your prayers that we may overcome our fears and temptations, and that we may always recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd.
We would like to thank you, dear parents of our five brothers, for giving and entrusting your sons to the Dominican Order. We thank you and we could not thank you enough. What we could say is that we received them as our brothers, we will treat them as our brothers, and we will be brothers to them until death, just as they had professed.
And so, my dear brothers, thank you for having the courage to say ‘yes’ and making this profession to the Order.
NOTE:
Last April 25, 2021, the 4th Sunday of Easter, and Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, five student brothers made their Solemn Profession to the Order of Preachers. Having bestowed with this remarkable blessing, Br. Jaymar D. Godalle, OP, Br. Johnny Luntungan, OP, Br. Simon Peter L. Ramos, OP, Br. Leonito F. Mateo, OP, and Br. Lukas Sabdaningrat, OP, promised Obedience to Br. Filemon I. dela Cruz, Jr., OP, Prior Provincial, in place of Br. Gerard Francisco P. Timoner III, OP, Master of the Order, until death, and in this way, making their lifetime commitment as sons of the Order.
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Transcribed by Br. Gian Linardo Mari T. Estrella, OP
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