PETA IN CLED (low)

light of the church:




saint dominic de guzman













































































written & illustrated by:

helanie m. ocampo

11stem-b

How can we know that someone at the early age

has a mission to be fulfilled? A calling that is


answered through a long journey of life until the


last breath where the mission is done and will


sprout from its root of faith in grace of God.


Are the sufferings enough reason to give up on

that mission? Or will strength be the signs to vision


the truth and continue to live by faith? We will


never know our calling unless we are the true

listeners of the truth….

In the year 1170, a lovely child named Dominic de Guzman was

born in Caleruega from the two beautiful souls, Felix de Guzman &

Juana de Aza. Her mother prayed passionately to Benedictine

Abbey of Silos with the grace of the Lord to bless her with a son

and suddenly it was answered by the pureness of heart she had.

Dominic was named after Saint Dominic de Silos who was named to

Benedictine Abbey of Silos. The vision of his mother during the

pregnancy became real that her son will be the light to enlighten

the world they have back then. And by that vision, she knew that

her son will have a big mission to fulfill in the world and to be the

ruler to the unknown to seek the torch of hope and ignite the

fire within their hearts to live in the truth of life.











“Patron Saint of the Astronomers”

that is baby Dominic known for

he was seen during baptismal with

a shining star in his forehead that

gives the message that he will be

the star in the dark times to offer

his brightness and illumination

to people through the preach of the

gospel.

Dominic lives a simple life even if their family is wealthy. His eyes are wide open to

the real meaning of life here on Earth and he remains to be humble enough as he sees

the people are different to one another. He always had something to share with the poor and

oppressed people he surrounded. The good deeds that her mother is doing is the start of

Dominic’s love for humility. His family is part of the parish who’s feeding the beggars

and sharing their blessings to other people in their hometown. The love language of his

mother is by shaping his brilliant mind with a golden heart to the poor people as they

are committed to their missionaries in the church.











































One of the humbleness of the child Dominic shown by sleeping on the floor as a sign of

being humble to the Lord as he believed. One time, her mother saw him and he apologized

for what he did for sleeping on the floor. Her mother hugged him softly and gave the rosary

to him and reminded him to always call upon the Blessed Virgin Mary for intercession for

he will be always guided to his future mission.

By the vision of his mother, he introduced to his uncle-priest or the brother

of her mother for his early education. The uncle-priest of Dominic asked his sister Juana if

she was really determined to let Dominic enter the life of being a priest and she said let her

son take his time to understand where he belongs to and that is the church and to enlighten

the minds of those who lost.



At the Palencia University in 1190, he was not only studying at the seminary but he was in

the process of living the life of a priest by doing his own feeding program together with his

lay brothers to give foods to those who are hungry. He successfully did it by trading his own

things to exchange for the foods. Until one day, he has nothing left to trade off and the people

from the Castile keep on coming to Palencia to beg for the alms because King Alfonso lost the

battle against Almohands. And by that, he is willing to sell his own manuscript for the exchange

of foods where Henrico and his priest-professors are against his will but he stands on his

principles over their opinions and that is what we called the principal works of mercy.

He has so much empathy for the people to the point that he is willing to offer himself for

the sake of freeing the moors from Christian Crusades however it is denied.




By “Divine Providence” the powerful line that mirrors how God is great among everything

through his mercy and grace and Dominic lived in that promised line that made him seek

his purpose. In everything he does, he always does it with pure intentions with committed

confidence to the Highest. Father Diego is the witness of how persistent he is so he offered

a study in Osma to continue his calling and Dominic was so glad for the good news.

All his sacrifices he planted, blooms when he was ordained as a priest in 1995 at the

Diocese of Osma, Spain. He has a heart for the children who are innocent and ignorant

about the sins. He took advantage the moment in the peaceful farm to teach and symbolize

the wheat and bread in glorifying God and introduce the Holy Trinity to the children

who were joyfully listening to him.

For the fortification of the two kingdoms, Dominic together with Bishop Diego de Sebo


represented King Alfonso VIII of Castile, Spain to have a fixed marriage between the
princess of Denmark and Prince Ferdinand. Dominic encountered the heretics from


Albi for the first time during his journey outside Spain. He observed the hatred of
people because of the false doctrines or known as Cathar Perfecti that believed in the


doctrine of two Gods. The Old Testament God is the cruel & avenging one while
The New Testament God is the true God & all-loving. Dominic saw a little boy staring


at him while having a conversation with Bishop Diego and he called that boy to have
a talk. The little boy admired Dominic for his kindness and was amazed by his suit


that represents as a priest. He saw the beads around the waist of Dominic and as a
giving priest, he gave the beads or the rosary to the little boy and reminded him to


take care of it. Dominic faced one of the Cathar and that non-christian man was
aggressively argumentative to his own perspectives about their religion when Dominic


asked about their faith. It takes a day to finally absorb the Cathar man that what he
believes is false and what is true is the gospel that Dominic is trying to proclaim on him.

The princess of Denmark died before the marriage that failed the union to the prince of Spain.


The crisis by Cathars and Albigensians erroneous doctrines became more critical that Bishop
Diego and Dominic began to plan a way for the transition to make those people enlightened


by the gospel of truth. The heretics believed that their spirit should be separated from their
body that caused them to extremely abuse themselves until they die by fasting and abstinence


and producing another life is evil to them.

In the Monastery of Prouille France, Dominic together with his lay brothers continued to

proclaim the gospel just like the twelve apostles because the population became bigger.

Court Raymond’s knights assassinated by Peter Castelnau bring misfortune to the financial

crisis and people are hungry but as a priest, Dominic stands to believe that God will always

provide for them. They are just going to continue preaching the good news and let those

sacred words be their strength in the trying times. Bishop Diego who is their ruler became

weak and got sick and suddenly died. The whole ministry got weak because their leader

has gone. Even Dominic came to point that he begged for God’s mercy to guide their mission

to continue without Bishop Diego. And then he realizes that the Divine Providence is in him

and from that he empowers the people surrounding him to continue to life.

1215 in Fanjeaux France, people who are part of Dominic’s community continue to live after


the wars they experienced as Dominic strengthens their faith in being a role model.
In the night, they offer prayers and sacrifices. During the day, they work and ministry.


The lay brothers are worried about not having dinner and Dominic said that it’s no excuse
not to pray instead they should always be grateful and call upon God. They pray together


as their eyes are closed and after they are amazed as they see a bunch of bread to eat.










































He travels to Rome with Bishop Faulk to check the progress of the confirmation of their

Order to the approval of Pope Innocent III to solidify for the proclamation of Good News

and especially to convert the heretics to a christian. By the confirmation of request,

Dominic returned to his community to gather all the papers needed to submit for the

approval.

1271 in Fanjeaux France, the new Pope Honorius III granted the confirmation to approve

the establishments of Dominic’s religious community named as “Ordo Praedicatorum”

as known as the Order of Preachers and later on called Dominican Order. They built a large

scale of christianity in the Midi-France doing their mission separately to preach the gospel

and convert heretics to christian. Even his lay brothers has examined their faith from

all the catastrophes they have been in those trying times to achieve the victory to grant

their request to the Highest in the church. But as Dominic believes and empowers his lay

brothers, they continue together to build their own community and to make it more bigger.

Dominic undying and burning heart for his mission became all the impossible things to be

possible in his commitment and dedication to the Lord.

In 1221 in Bologna Italy where the General Chapter was held he commanded his two lay

brothers to send the letter immediately to Pope Honorius III for the laid out Constitution

of the Order of Preachers. And they separate their own ways and let Dominic walk on his

own by barefooted reaching to the Saint Nicholas convent and he was helpless and sick

and the two sisters accompanied him. On August 6, 1221, he lay down on the bed surrounded

by his children and he felt the call of death so he reminded them not to weary instead to

continue what they started as he is glad to be finally in that stage with purity and humility.

Until his last breath, he spoke the gospel with his confidence that finally he will get where

he belongs to. After a year, Blessed Jordan was elected to be the second master of the Order

of Preachers. Saint Dominic was canonized in the year 1234 under the authority of

Pope Gregorio IX.



The life of Saint Dominic was one of the stories that worth to watch or read. It tackles all

the sufferings and sacrifices of being a priest or being committed to the religious missionary.

Based on what I observed, the journey wasn’t easy but it is fulfilling to the true follower of

Christ. In the midst of those wars and false doctrines during that time, it’s really hard to hold

on to something that is not promised but then again Saint Dominic is the light of the church

that existed to enlighten even himself and the other people to the journey of hope and bring

the new beginning with prosperity and grateful in heart. It is a good start that the parents

themselves are the ones who influence their children to the abundance of their faith.

It’s inspiring that his family is devoted and committed to serving God and people especially

those who are poor and oppressed. Saint Dominic’s humbleness sprouted by the help of the

right people surrounding him from he was a child until to the very end of his life.

He was so blessed despite all of the challenges he has been through because at the end of the

day he stands still in his purpose and that is to enlighten the minds of those who are blurry

and lost in their faith to the true God. I was wondering if maybe God chose people who to call

with this such a huge mission to fulfill on Earth and then He strengthened this people by the

power He has. The challenging part of the life of Saint Dominic related to mine is that it's hard

to be the light when you, yourself, need to be enlightened. As the sun rises, you need to rise

too and to surrender to the Highest above all the worries and fears and just continue to seek

the purpose of all the pains and sufferings you have been experiencing for the fulfillment of

victories. It’s a tough journey for him but it gives a guide to the dark roads of those heretics

to open their hearts to the light that strikes their soul. I adore how passionate he is in

the mission given to him and until now his spirit was felt by those who were inspired

in his story. He’s part of the history of the Christiany that’s why he is a Saint and he

deserves to be honored by many as he reflects the spirit with God inside. As a student

of a Dominican educational Institution, I can relate to him by the sense of continuing

my mission despite the circumstances I am with, all these challenges, problems, and

weaknesses, I still choose to stand up every morning to fulfill my mission here on earth

which is to be an inspiration to my brothers and sisters and to proclaim how powerful

can God do to our lives by doing such good deeds with humility in the heart.

Impossible things are all possible with Him and in Him.

Prayer to St. Dominic de Guzman


God of Truth you gave your church a new light in the


life and preaching of our Father Dominic.



Give us the help we need to support our preaching


by holy and simple lives. We ask this through our



Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns


with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.



Amen.