20 seminarians of Opus Dei received diaconal ordination in Rome, in a Mass presided by Mons. Hugo Nicolás Barbaro, Bishop of San Roque De Presidency Roque Sáenz Peña (Argentina). Four of the group are from Latin America and seven from Spain.
In the Eucharist that he presided on November 23 in the Basilica of Saint Eugene in the Eternal City, the Argentine prelate highlighted that the spirit of service characterizes the life of the deacon and the priest, “because Jesus did not come to be served but to serve now.” give one’s own life.”
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According to the website of Opus Deithe bishop encouraged the deacons to help the Prelate of the Work, Mons. Fernando Ocariz, in his pastoral service and to engrave in their souls “the teachings of Saint Josemaría, who longed to be the servant of the whole world, without distinction.” .
“What then does the diaconate add to the service of a layman, what does it add to the future ministerial priesthood? Saint Josemaría himself answers them: the priest must be a carpet where others tread softly; Then begins a time for you to train yourself in this matter of being a rug,” continued Bishop Barbaro.
After highlighting that serving “means being available, giving up living according to one’s own agenda, being prepared for God’s surprises,” the bishop highlighted the importance of “not losing sight of the fact that God speaks through the needs of our brothers, of the people, and often they do not fit with what was expected.”
The Argentine bishop also said in his homily that to be “a rug on which everyone treads softly” it is necessary “to have one ear on God and another ear on the people, as the Pope often says.”
“We are here to serve others, making their path kind,” he continued, adding that “to serve is to help, to pray, to apologize, to smile, to encourage, to be mortified, to attend, to listen, to treat everyone with care.” the same affection.”
Prelate of Opus Dei: “Christ is the model” of service
At the end of the Mass, Bishop Ocáriz thanked Bishop Barbaro and stressed that in this “special mission of service to the people of God, Christ is the model.”
For this reason, “a personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and in prayer is fundamental, because that is where we enlarge our hearts, so that all people can fit.”
Speaking to the relatives of the new deacons, the Prelate encouraged them to “continue to accompany the new deacons with your prayers in the months prior to their ordination as priests.”
The 20 new deacons of Opus Dei
The deacons from Latin America are Santiago Fabregat (Mexico), Pedro Perkins (Argentina), Santiago Populín Such (Argentina), and Cristóbal Vargas Balcells (Chile).
The deacons of Spain are: Daniel Callejo, Ramón Fernández Aparicio, Luis García-Menacho Ariz, Álvaro Orejana Martín, Enrique Sañoso Vela, Antonio Santos García and Gonzalo Silió Pardo.
The other deacons are John Robert Bickford and Robert Alvin Marsland (United States), Jose Miguel Marasigan (Philippines), Ezequiel Mercau (Ireland), Vincenzo Affinita and Stefano Baravelli (Italy), Ramón Díaz Perfecto (Hungary), Arturo Escamilla (Australia) ; and José María López-Barajas (Austria)
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.