In an atmosphere of jubilation for the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in Jalisco (Mexico), celebrated the ordination of 30 new presbyters. This new generation of priests reflects the continuity of a positive vocational tendency that has remained during the last three years in the region.
Between June 2022 and May 2023, Guadalajara lived one of the most intense periods for vocational promotion, with 107 priestly ordinations. To this figure another 32 ordered in May 2024 were added and, now, a similar amount in this month of June. According to data from the Diocesan Weekly of Guadalajara, since Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega assumed pastoral driving in 2012, 553 diocesan priests have been ordered.
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The Mass It took place in the sanctuary of Mexican martyrs, coinciding with the solemnity of Pentecost, on Sunday, June 8. During the homily, Cardinal Robles Ortega directed a message to the new ordered ministers, urging them to live their call with authenticity and without “adjustments”.
The Archbishop of Guadalajara said that most presbyters are “witnesses of living and present Jesus Christ in the midst of his people”; However, he acknowledged that some “begin to make adjustments to this vocation, to this identity, to this mission.”
He said that these “adjustments” occur when priests only accept certain aspects of their vocation and think: “This destiny is, but no. With these people who are entrusted to me, yes, but I do not feel comfortable. With this partner, with this brother, yes, but no.”
He warned that there are those who “begin to make readjustments to their priestly identity and their mission of embodying the person of Christ and ends in dribbling, they end up sadly because they are anything but the presence of Christ.” “This is what you have to take care of,” he added.
Along the same lines, the purple recalled that “Christ invites them to follow him closely every day of his life, not for times, for months, or for years; all his life.”
He also assured them that, to persevere in his vocation, “they tell nothing less than with the strength of the Holy Spirit,” and stressed that the Holy Spirit “is the strength of God, and tell me if there is a bigger and more powerful force than that of God.”
“You are going to be covered with the strength of the Holy Spirit, to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, with his word, with his gestures, with his life. That is why I say, they are not alone. The mission is great, the commitment is great, but that is why the gift is great to respond to that mission,” concluded the Archbishop of Guadalajara.
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.