Deaconal Ordinations in Bogotá (Colombia) and Mérida (Venezuela)
Bogotá, Colombia
The on August 12, Monsignor Luis Manuel Alí, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Bogotá, ordained deacons to Fathers Óscar Ángel, Óscar Gamboa, and Wilmar Soto, LL.CC. The ceremony took place at the San Alfonso María de Ligorio Parish in Bogotá.
In his homily, Mons. Luis Manuel Alí spoke about the importance of being passionate about Christ, living the call to charity inherent in the diaconate ministry, and exercising this service through prayer: «The service of charity and the proclamation of the Lord’s word must be accompanied by constant prayer […]. It is the prayer of intercession that makes God’s ministers the mediators of that people hungry for the Lord’s word, who are in great need of being heard by our Good God. That is why, the thermometer of the love you have for your people is the prayer you make for them.»
«A particularly difficult moment for me was when I traveled to Spain. Suddenly I found myself thousands of kilometers away from my beloved family, my homeland, surrounded by people from other countries and cultures. I realized what it meant to follow Christ along this path and thought that perhaps I wouldn’t be able to live that kind of uprooting. When my heart was going through that storm of doubts, I had a moment of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, I opened my hesitations to the Lord, and I understood that on this path there was someone who was steady, my rock, who was with me in Colombia and who was now before me in Spain and had promised to accompany me every day until the end. Words are not enough to describe the peace I experienced at that moment. I cried with joy. I felt that, in some way, my heart had to be rooted in Christ and only in Him. Since then, I have greatly enjoyed getting to know other cultures, people from other countries, I have longed more for my homeland, and I have formed very deep bonds with my loved ones. So, this was a difficult but extremely wonderful moment,» said Father Óscar Gamboa, LC, referring to his vocational journey.
The Father Óscar Eduardo Gamboa, LC was born in September 1986 in Socorro, Santander (Colombia). He was a member of Regnum Christi before entering the Legion of Christ at the Medellín Novitiate in February 2003. He studied two years of humanities in Salamanca, Spain, and completed his high school in philosophy at the Pontifical Ateneo Regina Apostolorum in Rome. During his apostolic practices, from 2009 to 2013, he was a formator at the Vocational Center of Córdoba, Argentina. In 2013, he returned to Rome to study for a degree in philosophy. From 2014 to 2015, he collaborated in the territorial secretariat of Mexico. In 2015, he returned to Rome to begin his bachelor’s degree in theology. He currently works in youth and vocational pastoral work for Regnum Christi in Medellín, Colombia.
The Father Óscar Ángel, LC was born in Fusagasugá, Cundinamarca (Colombia). He entered the novitiate on February 5, 2005, in Medellín, Colombia. Six months later, he was sent to the São Paulo Novitiate in Brazil. He took his vows on February 25, 2007, and that same year moved to Salamanca, Spain, to begin his studies in humanities. Later, he traveled to Rome to study philosophy. From 2011 to 2015, he carried out apostolic practices as a vocational promoter in Bogotá, instructor of formation at the Cumbres Bogotá School, assistant at the ECYD, and later as a formator at the Vocational Center of Colombia. In 2015, he returned to Rome to undertake theological studies at the Pontifical Ateneo Regina Apostolorum.
The Father Wilmar Soto, LC was born in May 1986 in El Santuario, Antioquia (Colombia). He is the second of a family of five children. He joined Regnum Christi in 2002. In 2003, when he entered the Legion of Christ, he did his first year of novitiate in Medellín, Colombia. The second year was spent in Monterrey, Mexico. From 2005 to 2007, he studied classical humanities in Salamanca, Spain, and then completed his high school in philosophy in Thornwood, United States. In 2008, he began collaborating in vocations promotion in the Táchira state, Venezuela, and later in San Luis Potosí and the Bajío region, Mexico. Starting in 2011, he was an instructor of formation at the Alpes Cumbres Institute in Guadalajara. He completed the first two years of theology at the Pontifical Ateneo Regina Apostolorum in Rome and interrupted his studies in 2015 when he returned to Mexico to collaborate as an instructor of formation at the Cumbres and Godwin Mérida Institute. A year later, he returned to Rome to complete his theological studies. He is currently studying for a degree in moral theology in Rome.
A photographic gallery of the deaconal ordinations in Bogotá can be accessed through this link.
Mérida, Venezuela
On August 21, Monsignor Luis Enrique Rojas, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mérida, ordained Father Iván Leonardo Rojas, LC, as deacon in the chapel of the Vocational and Novitiate Center of Venezuela.
In his homily, Monsignor Luis Enrique highlighted Christ’s diaconate, to which the ordained deacon must conform through his service to the Church and the community where he carries out his ministry. Father Iván Leonardo Rojas, LC, commented: «The diaconal ordination is the beginning of a long path of service to God and to men guided by the Light of the Holy Spirit.»
«I have always been helped by trusting in God and recognizing that I have miseries, faults, weaknesses, that I am not a superhuman. This has helped me seek the grace to be humble and to recognize that everything comes from God […]. It has also helped me to know God’s mercy, to know that He is there with open arms waiting for me, to hear His forgiveness, and to feel His embrace,» added Father Iván.
The Father Iván Leonardo Rojas, LC was born in September 1988 in San Cristóbal, Venezuela. He entered the Legion of Christ Novitiate Center in Monterrey on August 15, 2006, and made his first religious profession there in 2008. From 2008 to 2009, he studied humanities in Salamanca, Spain, and then began his bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the Pontifical Ateneo Regina Apostolorum in Rome. In 2011, he began his apostolic practices in Venezuela, as a discipline prefect at the Vocational Center, and from 2012, he was a formator at the Venezuela Novitiate Center. Three years later, he returned to Rome to begin his bachelor’s degree in theology.
The communication office of the Venezuela territory conducted interviews with the new deacons, which can be read at this following link.
