On September 19th, at the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador, Cardinal Gregorio Rosas Chávez ordained Deacon Fr. Juan Carlos Arias, LC, and priest Fr. Roberto Villatoro, LC.
Fr. Noel Quezada, LC, superior of the community of the Legionaries of Christ in El Salvador, presented the ordinands to Cardinal Gregorio to be admitted to the sacrament of Holy Orders.
“Why are we here?” comments Cardinal Gregorio at the beginning of his homily, “it is something unimaginable, we are not in Rome, nor in Mexico, but here in what was Mons. Romero’s chair and now hosts his body in the crypt. Pope Francis reminds us that we must let ourselves be surprised by God, and that is the attitude of the ordinands today.
“You will be ordained during a time of pandemic,” continues Cardinal Gregorio, “when everyone today would like to see your faces throughout the ceremony, we will spend a good part of the ceremony using masks. It is a striking sign. Without a doubt, the biggest surprise is seeing you here. This is the house of our Savior, that Christ whom all of you and we want to follow. Being here is a grace and a commitment. A grace because this temple holds the joys and sorrows, the hopes and aspirations of the Salvadoran people, even of non-Catholics. Who is Mons. Romero? He defined himself as a simple catechist.
John the Baptist also called himself: “the voice crying out in the wilderness.” Mons. Romero, in Advent 1978, based on the well-known comment of Saint Augustine that: “John was the voice, and Christ was the Word,” left us this impressive reflection: “all who preach Christ are voice, but the voice passes, the preachers die, John the Baptist disappears. Only the Word remains. The Word remains, and that is the great comfort for those who preach.”
Addressing the ordinands, Cardinal Gregorio added: “Juan Pablo and Roberto, I know you have come here with open hearts, with open ears to what the Lord wants to tell you today. He is also speaking to you and to all of us. He speaks to us primarily through His Word. That Word that became flesh in Jesus Christ. He also speaks to us through people and events.”
“The Church is a servant. A Church, as the Pope says, poor and for the poor. This is the great challenge of the Church today: to be credible because it chooses, like Jesus, the poor. Being here, in this cathedral, is a reminder that this is possible when we let ourselves be led by God.”
Cardinal Gregorio concluded his homily by saying: “I wish for you a ministry of authentic discipleship and that Christ be the one who goes before you and you follow behind Him. God bless you, and may you have a very fruitful ministry in the name of the Lord.”
Ceremony at San Salvador Cathedral broadcast on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/regnumchristimx/videos/730364910846406/
