THE HEAD of the Philippine Franciscan province said the faithful should follow St. Dominic’s example by rejecting mere “performances of holiness” and expressing their faith through genuine love for others.
Fr. Lino Gregorio Redoblado, O.F.M., minister provincial of the San Pedro Bautista Province, also urged Catholics to speak out against corruption, social injustice and misinformation, during the Mass for the Solemnity of St. Dominic de Guzman on Saturday, Aug. 8 at Santo Domingo Church, Quezon City.
He said Dominic’s works “were not performances of holiness. They were expressions of love. Dominic was willing to be tired, hungry, uncomfortable, even rejected because people mattered more than his own comfort.”
Like the founder of the Order of Preachers, the faithful must defend the truth when it is distorted by those in power, he said.
“We cannot remain silent when truth is deliberately distorted by lies and misinformation,” he said, adding that “truth without love becomes harshness, while love without truth becomes compromise.”
Reflecting on the Dominican motto “Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere” (to contemplate and give to others the fruits of contemplation), Redoblado said authentic preaching must be rooted in prayer and knowledge of God.
“St. Dominic challenges us: do not make yourself the message. Let Christ be the message. Do not simply preach the light, become the light. Make the gospel believable by the way you live,” he said.
Redoblado concluded his homily by calling on Catholics to become credible witnesses who live out and spread the Gospel in their daily lives.
“Our world does not simply need more eloquent preachers. It needs credible witnesses,” he said.
St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers in 1215 in Toulouse, France.
His feast is traditionally celebrated by both Dominicans and Franciscans in recognition of the long-standing friendship between St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi. Enzo Miguel D. Mejia with reports from Alexandra Gabrielle C. Mansineros
