DESPITE the hardships of life, St. Dominic was able to live a life full of praise.
Dominicans were urged to seek balance in prayer, study, community and preaching during the Triduum Masses in honor of St. Dominic’s 800th dies natalis or birth in heaven.
Fr. Art Vincent Pangan, O.P. of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas in UST said Dominicans must always be grateful and prayerful in any situation.
“Dominic did not live an easy life, but his life was full of praise. His prayers are full of praise. His preachings were full of praise. If you want to become like saints, like our holy Father Dominic, we have to pray, we have to preach, we have to live like him. Live a life full of praise,” he said during the first of the Triduum Masses in the University.
“Hindi man niya ibigay ang lahat ng hinihingi natin. Hirap man tayo sa buhay [ngunit] kapag pinuri natin ang ating Panginoon, lumilinaw at lumilinaw ang plano niya para sa atin,” he added.
Pangan said praising Christ should be a way of cultivating Christian virtues and not to satisfy one’s self-interests.
“Praising is very difficult in the midst of a crisis and hardships of life. Pero mahirap talaga mag-praise sa self-centered culture na mayroon tayo ngayon. It has become a strategy to have more wealth, to have more power. If you give praise in order to benefit, that is called strategic praising,” he said.
During the second Triduum Mass, Fr. Rudolf Steven Seño, O.P. of the UST Ecclesiastical Faculties reminded Dominicans to always observe the four pillars of Dominican life.
“What Dominic wants us to do is to balance all these elements—prayer, study, and preaching. Let us balance them in such a way that they [n]ourish and support one another,” Seño said.
“We must avoid overdoing one element at the expense of another element. We have to balance them so that they will always go together just like inhale and exhale and fly to greater heights,” he added.
Seño also stressed the importance of the Dominican motto: “To praise (laudare), to bless (benedicere), to preach (praedicare).”
“When a Dominican studies, he’s also praying. [S]tudy can also be an act of blessing when you share the fruits of your study to others. When we preach, we are also studying. This is the reason why prayer is deeply connected with study. When we pray, we are conversing with God, who is the truth himself,” he said.
Fr. Ramon Santos, O.P. of the UST priory said that as members of the UST community, all students, faculty members and non-academic staff were “not only Thomasians, but also Dominicans.”
Thomasians, he said, should build a community because “to love God and then your neighbor were the first commandments given to us.”
“Community is not merely just coming together and staying together under one roof. There is this explicit command to be observed, to love God and thy neighbor. Community life can be both a source of strength and quite a challenge,” he said.
The 800th year of St. Dominic’s dies natalis was commemorated on Aug. 6, 2021. Since his death coincides with the date of the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, St. Dominic’s feast day was moved to Aug. 8 in accordance with the new Roman liturgical calendar.
By tradition, the University holds triduum prayers and Eucharistic celebrations to greet the feast days of St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, and St. Thomas Aquinas.
St. Dominic passed away in 1221 in Bologna, Italy.
Before he died, he consoled his brothers by saying, “Do not weep, my children, I shall be more useful to you where I am going than I have ever been in this life.”
St. Dominic is founder of the Order of Preachers, the religious order that administers UST. with reports from Nolene Beatrice H. Crucillo, Christine Joyce A. Paras, and Allainne Nicole C. Cruz
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