Pope Francis鈥檚 calling

Fr. Timoner reflected on Pope Francis鈥檚 Apostolic Letter addressed to the consecrated people during the year of consecrated life and invited men and women to look at the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion, and to embrace the future with hope.

Filipinos giving back to the Church

Reflecting on the commemorative logo depicting the first Eucharistic Celebration in the Philippines, fr. Timoner said the Filipinos are now ready to return the gift and lead the Catholic Church. 鈥淲e have received the faith and after 500 years, we are ready to give the same gift,鈥� fr. Timoner said. 鈥淚t is interesting that the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregations for the Evangelization of Peoples鈥攖he congregation of the Holy See that is in-charge for the preaching of the gospel to all nations鈥搃s headed by a Filipino, His Excellency Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle,鈥� he added.

H.E. Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle was named the prefect of Congregations for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) in December 2019. 鈥淚t is as though the Filipinos are ready to give back the gift that we have received. And it echoes very well on what the Lord has told us in the Gospel: 鈥楾he gift that you have received, give as a gift鈥�. And we are doing that,鈥� fr. Timoner added.

Another Filipino priest who is currently serving outside the country is Most Rev. Bernardito C. Auza, D.D., a Thomasian who was named the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain in October 2019. 鈥淚t is like everything has come to a full circle; we have received the faith from our Spanish missionaries, and now the delegate of the Holy Father to Spain is a Filipino,鈥� fr. Timoner said. 鈥淚t is also important for us religious to realize that our desire to dedicate our lives to the service of God and to the church, to the service of our brothers and sisters is prompted by a desire to express our gratitude by giving back what we have received鈥攖he faith and all the many blessings and graces that we have received,鈥� he added.

On Fratelli e Sorelli Tutti

Fr. Timoner said the biggest challenges that the religious can face will be the loss of passion. 鈥淪o how do we recover passion? In his encyclical letter, Fratelli e Sorelli Tutti (On Fraternity, Sorority and Social Friendship), Pope Francis, before the publication of the letter, wrote in his own hand. He was inviting us help him share the message of Fratelli e Sorelli Tutti,鈥� he said. Pope Francis鈥檚 letter was an exhortation of St. Francis to follow the message of Jesus, which is to recognize each other as brothers and sisters, and to live accordingly in the common home that God entrusted to his people. According to fr. Timoner, however, brotherhood and sisterhood alone cannot solve the problems. 鈥淔ratelli Tutti invites us to look at the Good Samaritan in the scriptures, and the characters,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he Good Samaritan tells us that a piety that forgets one鈥檚 neighbor, like that of the priest and the Levite who pass by the victim, is only a form of idolatry鈥攁 worship that is empty. Like the work of charity accomplished by the Good Samaritan, [it] restores humanity to the likeness of God,鈥� fr. Timoner said. 鈥滳hrist is presented as the one who is present in the wounded person who needs our help,鈥� he added.

On promoting and sustaining vocation

According to fr. Timoner, Vocation Promotion was not limited to the new vocations itself, rather it was a comprehensive term that embraced both new vocations and the vocation of all the professed. 鈥淥ur capacity to be useful to the Church and the society depends on the promotion of our vocations, that we are able to live the present with passion is actually an important aspect of the promotion of the vocation,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t involves the renewal and rekindling of the vocation of everyone, of all of us religious and Christians, as preachers of the Gospel.鈥� fr. Timoner added.

According to fr. Timoner, to look back at the past with gratitude, which can sustain one’s vocation, one can learn from the five timeless lessons: 1) Zeal for the mission; 2) Collaboration among Religious; 3) Learning from the People, to Evangelize the People (Interculturation); 4) Compassion and Mercy, Justice and Peace; and 5) Preaching in the Community.

The webinar was organized by Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines.

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In a message to the community gathered in Vietnam, the new Master of Order confessed to an initial resistance to the election. Had it not been for the prayers and the encouragement of the brothers, 鈥渢he answer would have been 鈥榥o.鈥欌�� Recalling what Fr. Vivian Boland, O.P., Socius of the Master for North West Europe and Canada, 鈥溾�淲e have prayed for the Holy Spirit. We must trust the brothers.鈥�

Recognizing the challenges of the modern times, fr. Timoner said that the present times of the Church seem to point out a time 鈥渨hen the Church needs a Francis and a Dominic. There is a need for a new evangelization, and we are all called to do precisely that.鈥� To do so, fr. Timoner echoed the call of his predecessor, fr. Bruno Cador茅, O.P., for the Order to revisit its mission.

鈥溾�榃e are preachers [said St. Dominic].鈥� It is not what we do. It is who we are. Mission is not what we do. It is who we are. And if that is clear, everything will just follow. We are preachers even when we are not preaching. We are preachers even if in our old age, we can no longer speak. We are preachers even if we are not ordained. We are preachers even if we are sick. We are preachers even if we are doing serious research alone in our rooms. We are preachers when we are helping the less privileged. We are preachers. That is our identity.鈥�

The new Master of the Order called on the Dominican family to be in communion and to talk with one another, to overcome differences, and agree, 鈥渁nd once we have agreed, I think that is my job, to be the first among brothers to say 鈥榃e should do what we have set to do.鈥欌��

Fr. Timoner, who hails from Camarines Norte, was the immediate past Socius of the Master for Asia-Pacific and prior to that was the Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines. His formal assignment in the Province is in the Priory of Saint Thomas Aquinas in UST, where was once the Vice-Rector for Religious Affairs and Rector of the . In 2014, Fr. Timoner was named a member of the International Theological Commission by Pope Francis himself. As the new Master of the Order, Fr. Timoner now takes over as UST鈥檚 Grand Chancellor.

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