29
Fri, Mar

His Excellency Most Reverend Mylo Hubert C. Vergara, DD, Bishop of Pasig, ordained to the Order of Deacons Clerics Albert Garong, SSP and Eric Mark Salamat, SSP on April 1, 2018, Solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection, at the Sanctuary of Saint Paul in Makati City.

In his homily, Bishop Vergara reminded the newly ordained deacons that in the context of the present celebrations of Easter and the Church in the Philippines’ observance of the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons (2018), they are chosen and blessed by Christ to live out in the world the following three-fold diakonia or service: to have blessed lips that proclaim the Good News to all; to have blessed hands that assist the priest in the sacramental and social services in the Church; and to have blessed feet that bring the salvific words and actions of Christ to the farthest ends of the earth.

The Superior General of the Society of Saint Paul, Fr. Valdir Jose de Castro, SSP, congratulated the recently ordained deacons in his message. He invited them to recall how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples during the Last Supper, teaching them this attitude or way of life. The Superior General also mentioned how Jesus accompanied the two disciples to Emmaus, explained the Scriptures, and broke bread with them, thus extolling the new deacons to become a “servant” to those whose hearts and eyes are closed by pessimism and pain. His final words to Rev. Albert and Rev. Eric Mark invite them to a life of service: “Do not tire of being at the service of humanity today as Paulines, because there is a need for hope, for true life, given witness by Saint Paul and Blessed Alberione; be servants of the Risen One, capable of doing everything to everyone, using every language of communication to proclaim Christ, and revive the gift of faith and communion. Serve always, as Blessed James Alberione reminds us, ‘beginning in the morning, to the evening, till nighttime; all 24 hours we must serve God through his people...’.”

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