ARCHBISHOP GOMEZ REMINDS EIGHT NEW PRIESTS THAT PRIESTHOOD MEANS SANCTITY AND SERVICE AS HE WELCOMED THEM TO THE ARCHDIOCESE

June 4, 2022  |  By: newsroom  |  Press Releases  |  

Archbishop José H. Gomez reminded eight new priests that priesthood is about sanctity and service to others with love and patience, especially during these challenging and difficult times, as he welcomed them to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles during the annual Ordination Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. As in prior years, the ordination was open to a limited amount of family members and friends of the ordinands due to limited capacity. To view the entire ordination ceremony, please visit lacatholics.org/ordination.

“The priesthood is not about status. It’s about sanctity and service; it’s about holiness and helping other people,” said Archbishop Gomez in his homily. “We heard in the second reading, ‘No one takes this honor upon himself, but only when called by God.’” Please see full homily below.

“And my dear brothers and sisters, as we know, these are challenging, difficult times. There are so many signs of crisis. It is a time of pandemic, of fear, uncertainty, and death; it is a time of social unrest and angry divisions in our country and in our world. Jesus is sending all of us out into a world that sometimes no longer remembers God, a world that no longer understands the beautiful truth of creation, the beautiful truths about the human person. These times call for courage and sacrifice. Most of all, these times call for love,” said Archbishop Gomez.

The men who entered the priesthood today are Fathers Guillermo Alonso, Juan Cesar Martinez, Juan Gutierrez, Daniel Lopez, Justin Ordoveza, Ramon Reyes, Daniel Vega and Kamil Ziolkowski. All have completed five to seven years of theological formation at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, preceded by four years at Queen of Angels Center (for those who had not earn a university degree, which is mandatory), plus their service as transitional deacons and a year-long internship at different parishes in the Archdiocese. They will celebrate their first Mass as priests on Sunday, June 5, and will begin their parish assignments on July 1.

The Ordination Mass is a sacramental ceremony in which a man becomes a priest and is enabled to minister in Christ’s name and that of the Church. The essential rite of the Sacrament takes place during the Laying on of Hands and Prayer of Consecration, an ancient tradition in the Church, mentioned in the Bible. The ceremony includes various rituals, rich in meaning and history, such as prostration, or when the men being ordained lay face down before the altar as a symbol of their dependence upon God and the prayers of the Christian community. The new priests received their investiture, the vest or robe used by the priests when they celebrate Mass, from a priest, and were anointed with chrism oil, only used during baptisms and the anointing of the sick and dying.

Archbishop Gomez called the Church a place of mercy and compassion, and reminded all the priests to be patient with others, always mindful of their own weakness. By the end of the homily, he called the faithful to pray for increased vocations.

“The Church in this moment must be a place where every person can find God’s mercy and compassion, and the truth that sets us free… So, my dear Brothers, today’s second reading is a special reminder to you and to all of us, priests. We need to be very patient with people, with their mistakes and weakness, because we ourselves are ‘beset by weakness.’

“My dear brothers and sisters, let us also pray for our brothers who are ordained today and for all our priests. And let us especially ask Jesus every day that he will call many more men to this beautiful vocation of being his priests.”

A video of each new priest sharing their call to the priesthood plus their brief biographies can be found on lacatholics.org/ordination and angelusnews.com/local.

Following is full homily delivered by Archbishop Gomez during the Priesthood Ordination:

Homily — Ordination to the Priesthood[i]

Most Reverend José H. Gomez

Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

June 4, 2022

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and especially you, my dear brothers who are about to be ordained,

How many different paths have you walked to reach this day — when you will be called a priest of Jesus Christ a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 

Guillermo, Juan Cesar, Juan Manuel, Ramon, Kamil, Daniel, Justin, and Daniel, in the Gospel today, Jesus, as he is praying, he is referring to each one of you — personally and with great love.

Let us listen again:

I gave them Your Word, and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.Consecrate them in the truth. Your Word is truth.

As You sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.

Today you are being ordained as successors of the twelve men at the Last Supper table. Those twelve men whom Jesus consecrated, whom he called, simply, my friends.[ii]

And he is reminding you today — that you are not being ordained so that you can have an easy life.

We all remember those stories about the apostles — how they argued about which of them was the greatest; how two of them asked to be seated at his right hand and his left.[iii]  

The priesthood is not about status. It’s about sanctity and service; it’s about holiness and helping other people. We heard in the second reading: “No one takes this honor upon himself, but only when called by God.”

The world teaches us to look out for ourselves, to seek pleasures and comforts. Jesus Christ calls us to sacrifice and self-denial, to strive for greater things. He asks us to stop thinking about ourselves and instead live for others. This is the most beautiful way to live.

Brothers, Jesus longs to do great things through you. He has given everything for you. He is calling you today to give everything for him — to lay down your lives for the Gospel.

And, my dear brothers and sisters, as we know these are challenging, difficult times. There are so many signs of crisis. It is a time of pandemic, of fear, uncertainty, and death; it is a time of social unrest and angry divisions in our country and in our world.

Jesus is sending all of us out into a world that sometimes no longer remembers God, a world that no longer understands the beautiful truth of creation, the beautiful truths about the human person.

These times call for courage and sacrifice. Most of all, these times call for love.

Jesus gave us life so that we can share our life with him — so that we can know him, and love him, and walk with him on this earth, and follow him to heaven.

Our world needs to hear this good news. We need to open the doors of faith for our neighbors to meet Jesus!

No doubt that this time calls all of us to reflect on our participation in the common priesthood of Jesus Christ and that we have a “priestly soul.”

We are also call to intimacy with Jesus and to continue his apostolic mission, but as we grow in Christian perfection, we also understand better the need for the ministerial priesthood.

The Church in this moment must be a place where every person can find God’s mercy and compassion, and the truth that sets us free:“Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.”

So, my dear Brothers, today’s second reading is a special reminder to you and to all of us, priests. We need to be very patient with people, with their mistakes and weakness, because we ourselves are “beset by weakness.”

Remember this when you are preaching, when you are in the confessional, when you are at the altar. The heart of the priesthood is the heart of Jesus Christ, which is a heart of love, a heart of sacrifice.

Soon you will be at his altar, offering the sacrifice of his Body and Blood, his Soul and Divinity, to God Our Father, interceding for your people, as Jesus did.  

I hope you never lose that sense of Eucharistic amazement, that awareness of what a privilege it is to bring Jesus to your people.

And when you raise up your arms to give a blessing, I hope you will always recall how Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross — to offer himself as a sacrifice for others; to heal, and to make peace.

 

Brothers, Jesus entrusts this saving work now — to you. Love him, obey him, imitate him. Walk with him in friendship.

As St. Paul says in the first reading, absorb yourself in working for the salvation of others. Be a sign of Christ’s living presence by your “speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.” 

And my dear brothers and sisters, let us also pray for our brothers who are ordained today and for all our priests. And let us especially ask Jesus every day that he will call many more men to this beautiful vocation of being his priests.

And let us ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to walk with our new priests and help them to open their hearts to follow and love her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

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