General Chapter of Diffinitors
Sixteenth Day
Tultenango, July 31, 2022
This Sunday, the capitulars changed their activity, a more recreational one to socialize with the Dominican Family in Querétaro. To get to Santiago de Querétaro, the friars traveled by bus for three hours. The city holds the title of the cleanest city in Mexico, and is located in the center of the country, with a population of more than one million inhabitants in addition to a beautiful historic center with colonial architecture, much of it well preserved since its original construction.
The capitulars arrived at the Santo Domingo convent. The Dominican Family was waiting to start the Eucharist. The celebration was presided over by Bishop David Martínez de Aguirre Guinea, OP, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Maldonado, and concelebrated by fr Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, Master of the Order, and fr Luis Javier Rubio Guerrero, OP, Prior Provincial of the Province of Santiago de Mexico.
In his homily, Bishop Martinez reminded the friars that “we are the image and likeness of a God who is absolute overflowing, who in essence is a gift of himself and a gift to humanity: the Father overflows himself in the very work of Creation; the Son gives himself without measure in his life, passion and Cross; the Holy Spirit overflows himself at Pentecost and continues to overflow in the life of the Church. In our DNA is present this divine seed of overflowing, of generous self-giving and gratuitousness”.
After the Eucharist, the confaternity of lay Dominicans, Manés de Guzmán, shared and served food to the capitulars, while a trio of music from Querétaro entertained them. After that, the capitulars toured the convent of Queretaro, where the Dominican Institute of Historical Research (IDIH) is located, to appreciate a historical exhibition with some documents that narrate the journey of the Province of Santiago de Mexico, from its birth, restoration by our Spanish friars, and contemporary times.
Before returning to Tultenango, seat of the General Chapter, the capitulars were organized into three groups (according to the three official languages of the Order) for a guided visit of some points of the historical center of the city. This tour was led by a group of lay historians, who collaborate with the friars in the diffusion and historical promotion of the Order of Preachers in Queretaro. After a significant tour, the friars returned to the Chapter headquarters to resume work tomorrow on their respective commissions.
