Since 2017, the Dominican Order has been celebrating a “Dominican Month for Peace”, assigning each year a particular country, where there is presence of the Dominican Family, as a host to raise awareness on issues related to justice and peace of the country. The Amazonia region was selected this year.
Cries and Dreams — Dominican Month of Peace Draws Us into the Amazon
By choosing the Amazonia, the whole Dominican Family of the region is asked to participate in studying the reality of injustice in this region of the world. We appreciate the Dominican Family of Peru’s leadership and coordination of our work during this Dominican Month of Peace 2023.
Amazonia, is a massive biome and region that includes 200 million square miles and crosses the boundaries of eight nations. The plan for this year’s Dominican Month for Peace is led by the Dominican Family of Peru and includes Dominicans who serve in the entire region of Latin America and the Caribbean: lay fraternities, the Dominican youth movement, the sisters, nuns, friars, and the apostolic vicariate of Puerto Maldonado, where one of our Dominican brothers, David Martínez De Aguirre Guinea, is bishop.
We invite you to have an intense and personal experience with our Amazonia Region. In each of these weeks we are going to reflect on one element that will immerse us in what is happening in the Amazonia and how, from our reality and study during this month, we can raise awareness of the reality and also be moved to support this mission which the Dominican Family has been carrying out.
Our Approach
We will work with a framework called “CICA” which will allow us to go through each week of Advent in the Amazonia and how we can be protagonists in the care and protection of this important region for the world. The Amazon encompasses parts of 9 countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. There are Dominicans in 6 of the 9 countries.
Contemplate: We will learn about the reality of the Amazonia, its cries and dreams, its weaknesses and riches.
Illuminate: With the reading and reflection of the Gospel of each week of Advent, we will listen to the voice of God through the Amazonian reality and the challenge it offers us.
Celebrate: In the Prayer as a Family we will thank God for the opportunity given to us to get to know the Amazonia and we implore the Creator to send us more collaborators to his harvest.
Amazonize: Concrete actions that generate concrete commitments to the care of creation, the defense of human rights, the collaboration for educational improvement and volunteering.
We have chosen to extend our time of involvement in the Dominican Month of Peace through Lent.
Resources
Podcast “Amazonia: Dominicans in Solidarity with Creation”
“Journey into Amazonia” a written introduction to the PBS Series
Weekly Reflections
During Advent you will receive a weekly reflection for your mediation and study. Each reflection will be contemplative of the realities of Amazonia, reflective of the Gospel, will celebrate with prayers of thanksgiving, and will challenge us to creatively DO something concrete. Below, Pope Francis opens each reflection with his dream.
We will find Lights and Shadows that appear in the Amazonia, with each area representing a call that the Amazonia makes to the Dominican Family.
- THE CRY OF THE LAND
I dream of an Amazonia that guards the overwhelming natural beauty that adorns it, the overflowing life that fills its rivers and jungles
- THE CRY OF THE POOR
I dream of an Amazonia that fights for the rights of the poorest, of the original peoples, of the excluded, where their voice is heard, and their dignity is promoted
- CULTURAL DREAM – EDUCATION
I dream of an Amazon that preserves the cultural richness that makes it stand out, where human beauty shines in so many different ways
- AN ECCLESIAL DREAM – VOLUNTEERING
II dream of Christian communities capable of giving themselves and becoming incarnated in the Amazonia, to the point of giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features
- THE CRY OF THE LAND
I dream of an Amazonia that guards the overwhelming natural beauty that adorns it, the overflowing life that fills its rivers and jungles
