Yesterday, Saint Joseph House and the Order of Preachers rejoiced witnessing the Solemn Profession of one of our Brother. In the evening the community and the brothers in Hong Kong gathered with Brother John, OP. in the liturgical ceremony of his solemn profession. The editor dares to ask all the friars: do you remember when you said “I will be obedient to you and to your successors until death”? or “will you dare to utter the same statement when your time comes?”

The Prior Provincial presided over the evening prayer and received the Solemn Profession of our Brother John and after the ceremony; the writer was asked to write a short chronicle about the event. My first idea was to describe the event and I thought it would be not enough, then, I ponder upon the idea of asking Br. John whether he had something to say to the “world”; somehow, I interviewed him. At the beginning, he told me: “Please, do not say anything about my emotional feeling during the profession!”. I accepted, even though Bro John was crying while pronouncing the formula of profession. Afterwards his words were: “the old life has already past, I am reborn now.”

This affirmation makes me think that the words from our Prior Provincial have sense at the end, we all are human beings with a personal background and a history, but called to the service of the Lord, and that there will be moments when our acceptance of God’s will renders us totally free. I think this is the rebirth John wants to point out.

The interview continued and Brother John said: “I am going on in my commitment to religious life but I am not strong enough... so... without others’ help I can do nothing” I dared to ask him, “whose help?” and he answered: “God’s and yours”. Do we need a deeper example of community life?

Further John continued and says: “... I repeat it again “whosoever needs my help, I will try my best to help him, but I also need all your help. There is one sentence that I remember always ‘do not think about what the people can do for me, think, rather, about what I can do for others’.” Does Brother John need to give us more examples of Dominican life?

We rejoice and we are glad because the Lord has called Brother John to this life! May God, who has begun this work in him bring it to completion!

Likewise, in this joyful celebration brothers Martin and Reynaldo (from Macau) renewed their simple profession aiming, with God’s help, to the final solemn profession.

Such a wonderful occasion was followed, as the Spanish common saying goes “después de la mística viene la mástica”, by a fraternal dinner accompanied by some of our brothers from Saint Albert’s Priory, as we enjoyed the meal, we were thanking God for calling laborers to the harvest.

By Brother Reynaldo Chang, OP.