ST. DOMINIC de Guzman can be considered an “athlete of Christ” and a model for all, Fr. Rodel Aligan, O.P. urged Thomasians during the last of the Triduum Masses in honor of the founder of the Order of Preachers on Monday, Aug. 7.
In his homily, the prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas said being an athlete of Christ involves “total conditioning of the whole person.”
“To be an athlete of Christ is not just [to be] any ordinary athlete…To be an athlete of Christ is to always seek new ways to express God’s touch in our whole life that would include a holistic attitude towards life,” Aligan said.
“Body and soul, the physical and the spiritual, and even in our care for creation and biodiversity.”
St. Dominic is sometimes called the “athlete of Christ” for his physically demanding and disciplined ways of praying and preaching.
Drawing inspiration from the ongoing Paris Olympics, participated in by 22 Filipino athletes including Thomasian pole vaulter EJ Obiena, Aligan likened the games’ motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger–Together” to the Dominican motto of “To praise, to bless, to preach.”
The Olympic motto was first expressed in Latin by Dominican Fr. Louis Didon, O.P. as “Citius, Altius, Fortius–Communiter.”
“The Dominican motto of to praise, to bless, to preach, is a way of life that involves faster, higher, and stronger determination bringing the whole world the good news of Christ,” he said.
“And prayer is the heart of this praising, blessing, and preaching and of any spiritual life. It is guaranteed to bring about change,” Aligan, also the Graduate School regent, added.
The University Mass at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church was concelebrated by Vice Rector Fr. Isaias Tiangco, O.P. and UST Central Seminary rector Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, Jr., O.P.
Classes and office work at the University were suspended on Tuesday, Aug. 8, in observance of St. Dominic’s feast day.
St. Dominic founded the Dominican Order in 1215 at Toulouse, France, which the Vatican approved a year later.
Missionary Dominicans carrying out the will of Fr. Miguel de Benavides, O.P., the third bishop of Manila, established UST in 1611.Vince Alfred Pillagara with reports from Reya Vincent Misa
