Seminaries are designed is to form men, who have been called by the Lord to carry out the ministry of the priesthood. Ordinations are the culmination, the climax of seminary life to which every seminarian look forward to. Ordination day is the accomplishment of God’s call, a whisper which was made in the heart of a seminarian. When the Bishop lays his hands on his head, he becomes a priest forever. A priest in Persona Christi.
He ceases to be a ‘brother’ to be a ‘Father’. He has not only become a minister of Christ but also someone who shall beget many spiritual children in Him. “A priest is not for himself but is for you” these words of St. John Marie Vianney, the patron of all parish priests, point out this fatherly role. A man becomes a father only after he has a child. He has to form himself to fully carry out his fatherly duties. He needs to prepare himself by learning, seeking counsel, and even make sacrifices to offer the best he can for his children.
A seminarian does this and much more. He studies so that he may teach his children about the love of God. He lives in a community, where he fosters familial relations and in turn fosters such relations with his children. He makes apostolates with people so that he may have first-hand experiences and glimpses of begetting children. He strives to have an intimate union with the exemplar of all fathers– God Himself. This union only would allow him to beget spiritual children. He does all this so when he rises to the altar he may offer himself to and with the Divine Victim for all those who are entrusted to his fatherly care.
It is with great joy that the seminary of Our Lady of Sheshan has three new ‘Fathers’ – Father Ruel Juanta, Father Benjamin Gnanaprakasam, and Father. Jayapaul Polisetti. The archbishop of Lipa ordained them on July 25, 2020, together with five seminarians to the Diaconate. The ordination took place in the Archbishop’s Residence. Only the immediate family members of the ordinands were present.
The next day, Fr. Ruel Juanta celebrated his first mass in his Alma Mater in thanksgiving for the graces God has given him especially the perseverance in his vocation. The mass concluded with a consecration of their priesthood to the Sacred Heart of Jesus so that they may carry out their fatherly office after that the fatherly love of our Lord who died and begot us for the Father. A “begetting” which these new priests renew on our altars
We ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of all priests to intercede for these sons of hers- that they may beget many children in the Lord throughout their priestly ministry.
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