Text of the Mission Sending of the brothers going to Timor Leste

16 January, 2013, St Dominic's Priory witnessed the historic mission sending of the founders to the new mission of the Province of the Rosary: Timor Leste. During the mass, Fr. Provincial presented them to the friars and asked for the support and prayers of the community. Though it was a very private affair, the communities of the GCA were well represented with the presence of their superiors: Fr. Hyacinth for St. Joaquim Royo, Fr. Secundino for St Albert, Fr. Fernando of Saint Dominic's Yangoon aside from the friars assigned to the Priory,.  Here is the text of the blessings used yesterday.

ORDER OF BLESSING AND SENDING OF MISSIONARIES WITHIN THE MASS
Greeting
P. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.

P: May the Lord, who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, be with you all.

All: And with your spirit.

My dear brothers, today we are gathered here in prayer as we ask for God’s blessing for the brothers whom we are sending to make a new foundation in Timor Leste.

We are in a sense reliving a practice of the early Church, the eager sending of its members to other peoples, to assist either those who were already of the household of the faith or those who did not yet believe in Christ.

The sending of our brothers to this new mission, to serve the needs of the Church will strengthen our bond of communion with the people of Timor Leste is a very historical event for the Church and also for us. We hope that this mission may flourish and bring about a renewal of missionary fervor among us, and this can only be realized with the support of our prayers as a
family.
 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

Biblical Reading
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah  (1:4-9)
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you; I appointed you as prophet to the nations.'
I then said, 'Ah, ah, ah, Lord Yahweh; you see, I do not know how to speak: I am only a child!
But Yahweh replied, 'Do not say, "I am only a child," for you must go to all to whom I send you and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of confronting them, for I am with you to rescue you, Yahweh declares.'  Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me: 'There! I have put my words into your mouth.  Look, today I have set you over the nations and kingdoms, to uproot and to knock down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.'
Word of the Lord.
A.   Thanks be to God.

Song: Here I am Lord!
Presentation of those who are to be sent to the Missions

The introduction of the departing missionaries:

Celebrant: Dear brothers: inspired by charity and strengthened by obedience, these brothers are sent to begin the Dominican foundation in Timor Leste to serve the Church and to proclaim the Gospel:
Fr. Ruben Martinez Ortega
Fr. Gerson Javier Nieto Flores

When their names are called they stand.

Celebrant: May by your words and your lives proclaim to all peoples the Gospel that is proclaimed in this house of God, so that the mystery of Christ and the Church may be revealed to all.
The Community then stands for the Gospel Acclamation:

Alleluia:

Gospel Antiphon:
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Gospel

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew (28: 16-20)
Meanwhile the eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them.  When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'
The Gospel of the Lord.
All.   Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

After the homily the celebrant sits down.
Let us now ask Fr Ruben to say a few words as a response.
C. Let us now stand for the Blessing and the Intercessions.

Prayer of Blessing

The celebrant then hold his hands outstretched over the departing missionaries, as he says the prayer of blessing.
P. We bless you, O God, and we praise your name. In your merciful providence you sent your Son into the world to free us from the bondage of sin by his own blood and to enrich us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Before he returned, triumphant over death, to you, Father, he sent his apostles, the bearers of his love and power, to proclaim the Gospel of life to all peoples and in the waters of baptism to cleanse those who believe.

Lord, look kindly on your servants our brothers Ruben and Gerson Javier: we send them forth as messengers of salvation and peace, marked with the sign of the cross.

Guide their steps with your mighty arm and with the power of your grace strengthen them in spirit, so that they will not falter through weariness.

Make their words the echo of Christ's voice, so that those who hear them may be drawn to obey the Gospel.

Fill the hearts of your missionaries with the Holy Spirit, so that, becoming all things to all people, they may lead many to you, the Father of all, to sing your praises in your holy Church.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.
C. Please be seated.

Presentation of Crosses to the Missionaries

C. We shall now have the blessing and the presentation of the mission cross.
The celebrant blesses the crosses:
P. Father of holiness, you willed the cross of your Son to be the source of all blessings, the fount of all grace. Bless these crosses and grant that those who will preach the crucified Christ to others may themselves strive to be transformed into his image. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
R. Amen.

Then one by one the missionaries go to the celebrant, who gives each one a cross, as he says: Receive this sign of Christ's love and of our faith. Preach Christ crucified, who is the power and wisdom of God.

The missionary replies: Amen.

Then the missionary takes the crucifix, kisses it, and returns to his place.

Intercessions

P. Let us pray together to God, our merciful Father. He anointed his own Son with the Holy Spirit to preach the Good News to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, and to comfort the sorrowful. With great confidence we therefore say: R. Lord, may all your people praise you.

God of everlasting mercy, your will is that all people should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; we give you thanks for sending your only Son into the world as our Teacher and Redeemer, we pray to the Lord. R.

You sent Jesus Christ to preach the Good News to the poor, to proclaim the release of captives, and to announce the age of grace; 'grant that the embrace of your Church may extend to people of every tongue and every nation, we pray to the Lord. R.

You call all peoples out of darkness into your marvelous light, so that at the name of Jesus every knee must bend in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; enable us to bear true witness to the Gospel of salvation, we pray to the Lord. R.

Give us hearts that are upright and simple, so that we will be open to your word; make our lives and all the world rich in works of holiness, we pray to the Lord. R.

You continue to preserve the missionary spirit of our Province with new foundations and generous vocations, we also ask you to bless the brothers who are sick and elderly, our different communities in the mission, the different vicariates around the world, we pray to the Lord. R.

You inspire us to respond to the needs of your Church, as we send these brothers of ours Ruben and Gerson Javier to the Church of Timor Leste, we ask you to bless them with good health, apostolic zeal and love for your people, may they continue the long and glorious tradition of the many Dominican missionaries who had given their lives to that church and may the Saints and Blesseds of our Province help them through their prayers, we pray to the Lord. R.

P: God our Father, we thank you for calling us to share in the mission of preaching; as we now begin a new mission in Timor Leste with our brothers Ruben and Gerson Javier, we humbly ask you to confirm them in your grace and grant them the courage to face all difficulties and faithfully serve your people in the ministry entrusted to them. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

All:  Amen.

After communion:

Presentation of gifts to the new missionaries:

The mayor of the student community will present a gift to the new foundation in behalf of the student community.

The prior of the community also presents the gift of the priory to the departing friars.

Concluding Rite

P. "Bow your heads and pray for God's blessing,"
V. May God, who in Christ has shown us his truth and love, make you messengers of the Gospel and witnesses to the divine love before all the world. R. Amen.

V. May the Lord Jesus Christ, who promised that he would be with his Church until the end of time, guide your steps and fill your words with power. R. Amen.

V. May the Spirit of the Lord be upon you, enabling you as you go through the world to bring the Good News to the lowly and to heal the brokenhearted. R. Amen.

V.  May almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit. R. Amen.

C: As it was the tradition of our Province that the friars greet the Virgin when they leave for the missions, let us now chant the Solemn “Salve” and the “O Spem miram”.

 

10 January Blessed Ann of the Angels Monteagudo

10 January
BLESSED ANN OF THE ANGELS MONTEAGUDO
Nun and Virgin
Optional Memoria
Ann de Monteagudo was born in Arequipa, Peru in 1602 and in 1619 professed her vows in the monastery of Saint Catherine of Siena.  She was completely taken up in prayer with God, devoted her life to the imitation of Jesus Crucified, whose humility, patience, gentleness and prayerfulness she exemplified to perfection. Yet she did not neglect the needs of her neighbours, she faithfully fulfilled the offices of sacristan, mistress of novices and prioress to serve her community. Physical and mystical sufferings befell upon her together with heavenly illuminations. Confined to her bed in pain, she suffered neglect, distress, fever, loneliness and total blindness. She bore these afflictions during the last decade of her life with courage, serenity and resignation for love of her beloved souls in purgatory. She died in Arequipa on 10 January, 1686.
 
From the Common of Virgins or of Holy Women: for Religious, except the following.

THE OFFICE OF READINGS

Second Reading
From the Homily of Blessed John Paul II on the Beatification of Blessed Ana of the Angels Monteagudo.
(Arequipa, 2 February, 1985 nn. 5-7a; ASOP 93(1985)pp. 60-62.)
She realized the Dominican program of light, truth of love and life

We recognize this chosen daughter of your land whom today we can proclaim as Blessed of the Church: Sister Ann of the Angeles Monteagudo.  In her we especially admire the Christian example, the contemplative, the Dominican nun in the famous monastery of Santa Catalina, a monument of art and piety in which the Arequipans reasonably feels proud of.  In her life, she realized the Dominican program of light, truth of love and life, which is centered on the known phrase: to contemplate and to share what had been contemplated.

Sister Ana of the Angels realized this program with an intense, austere, radical surrender to the monastic life, according to the style of the Order of Saint Dominic, that is in the contemplation of the mystery of Christ, the Truth and the Wisdom of God. But at the same time her life had a particular apostolic extension. She was the spiritual teacher and faithful executor of the norms of the Church that urged the reform of the monasteries.  She knew how to receive all those who depended on it, leading them towards the paths of forgiveness and the life of grace. Her hidden presence was made known beyond the confines of her convent, with the fame of her holiness.  To the bishops and priests she helps them with her prayers and counsels, to the travelers and pilgrims who came to her, she accompanied them with her intercessions.

Her long life was almost consumed in its entirety within the walls of the monastery of Santa Catalina where at a tender age as a student, and later as a religious and superior.  During her last years she led a painful identification with the mystery of the Christ crucified.

With her life, Sister Ana of the Angels confirms the fruitfulness of the contemplative life in the Mystical Body of the Christ which is the Church. Contemplative life that has been rooted immediately here since the early moments of evangelization, and continues to be the mysterious wealth of the Church in Peru and of the whole Church of Christ. 

Imitating the charity and the ecclesial sense of her patroness, Catherine of Siena; with a meek and humble heart, open to the needs of all especially the poor; everyone found in her a true love. The poor and the humble found efficacious acceptance; the rich, understanding which does not misconstrue the demand of conversion; the pastors found prayer and counsel, the sick, relief; the sad, consolation; the wayfarers, hospitality, the persecuted , forgiveness ; the dying an ardent prayer.

The prayerful and effective charity of Sister Ana was present in a special way among the deceased, the souls in purgatory which she called “her friends”. In this way, enlightened by the ancestral piety for the deceased with the doctrine of the Church, and following the example of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino whom she was devoted, she extended her charity to the deceased with prayers and suffrages.

Today the Church in Arequipa and all of Peru desire to adore God in a special way for the benefits He had granted to the People of God through the service of this humble religious. Sister Ana of the Angels. In this way that mystery of God’s grace, within the womb of the Church in your land has been made manifest and reveals itself: it is Sister Ana of the Angels, the Blessed of the Church!

The holiness of man is the work of God. It is never enough to show gratitude for this work. When we venerate his works, the works of God, we venerate and adore He himself-God above all, the most holy.  And among all the works of the Lord, the greatest is the holiness of a creature: the holiness of man.

Responsory
V.   How great is your beauty, virgin of Christ! * You have been proved worthy of the reward given by the Lord, the crown of perpetual virginity.
R.   Nothing could bring you to surrender virginity; nothing could separate you from the love of the Son of God.
R.   *You have been proved worthy of the reward given by the Lord, the crown of perpetual virginity.

Alternative Second Reading

Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Nuns of Monte Mario (24 June, 2010, Rome)
The way of contemplative life places you in the heart of the Lord’s Mystical Body, the Church.
The community you make up is a place where you can dwell in the Lord; it is for you the New Jerusalem, to which the tribes of the Lord go up to praise the name of the Lord (cf. Ps. 121:4). Be grateful to Divine Providence for the sublime and gratuitous gift of the monastic vocation, to which the Lord has called you without any merit of yours. With Isaiah, you can affirm “the Lord formed me from the womb” (Is. 49:5). Even before you were born, the Lord had kept your heart for himself to be able to fill it with his love. Through the sacrament of baptism you received Divine grace in yourselves, immersed in his Death and Resurrection, you were consecrated to Jesus, to belong to him exclusively. The way of contemplative life, which you received from St. Dominic in the form of cloister, places you, as living and vital members, in the heart of the Lord’s Mystical Body, which is the Church; and as the heart makes the blood circulate and maintains the whole body alive, so your hidden existence with Christ, interlaced with work and prayer, contributes to sustain the Church, instrument of salvation for every man whom the Lord redeemed with his blood.

It is this inexhaustible source that you approach with prayer, presenting in the presence of the Most High the spiritual and material needs of so many brothers in difficulty, the strayed life of all those who separate themselves from the Lord. How can one not be moved by compassion for those who seem to wander aimlessly? How can one not wish that in their life they will encounter Jesus, the only one who gives meaning to existence? The holy desire that the Kingdom of God be established in the heart of every man, is identified with prayer itself, as St. Augustine teaches us: Ipsum desiderium tuum, oratio tua est; et si continuum desiderium, continue oratio (cf. Ep. 130, 18-20); because of this, as fire that burns and is never extinguished, the heart remains alert, it never ceases to desire and it always raises a hymn of praise to God.

Because of this, recognize that in everything you do, beyond the personal moments of prayer, your heart continues to be led by the desire to love God. With the Bishop of Hippo, acknowledge that the Lord has put his love in your hearts, desire that dilates the heart, until it makes it capable of receiving God himself (cf. In. O. Ev. tr. 40, 10). This is the horizon of the earthly pilgrimage! This is your goal! This is why you have chosen to live in obscurity and in the renunciation of earthly goods: to desire above all that good which has no equal, that precious pearl that merits the renunciation of any other good to enter into its possession.

Responsory

V.   How great is your beauty, virgin of Christ! * You have been proved worthy of the reward given by the Lord, the crown of perpetual virginity.
R.   Nothing could bring you to surrender virginity; nothing could separate you from the love of the Son of God.
R.   *You have been proved worthy of the reward given by the Lord, the crown of perpetual virginity.

Concluding Prayer

Bountiful God, you gave Blessed Ann the gifts of contemplation, of penitence and of charity towards her neighbors. With the help of her prayers and example may we worship you with this sacrifice of praise and learn what is pleasing to you through the signs of times. (We make our prayer) through our Lord. (Through Christ our Lord.)