Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Only the Best


Finally, after his diaconal ordination last July 15 that can be revisited here, Rev. Reymond B. Mulingbayan is now a full-blown man of the cloth. Fr. Ymon was ordained yesterday, 12th day of October 2009, in Our Lady of the Pillar Parish in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro this Year for Priests.

His ordination reminds me of this story. An old priest said to a new batch of seminarians : “Prepare to sacrifice and be a true servant of God and the people.” If a seminarian do not adhere to this personal promise to God, they are just wasting their teachers’ time including their own. Also, the seminary is even wasting its resources on them. Even God will only be wasting His time on them!

Many of us consider that the biggest problem of our local Church is the so-called “priests’ shortage”. While the problem is admittedly true and in need of concrete solutions,-like strengthening our programs and campaigns geared towards producing more vocations, etc.., I am not personally too concerned with their numbers or such (vital?) statistics. What concerns me most is how to produce quality priests, even at this early stage of one’s formation because our Basic Ecclesial Communities or BECs, the people of God deserves nothing but the best! Indeed, a priest (or even a seminarian) must be literally and figuratively attached to our community. It is unlikely,- I suppose, for a priest to be detached,- physically and spiritually; to the community, specifically to the BEC or to what we call in Occidental Mindoro as Pamayanang Kristiyano or the PAKRIS. Definitely it’s a sin but I am not academically competent to discuss its nature.

All I know is that in his homily for the opening of Year for Priests, Pope Benedict XVI said that the faithful should “pray that the Lord inflame the heart of each and every priest … because the greatest suffering in the Church is the sin of its priests.”

Of course, I give a damn to the scandals being involved by priests in other dioceses inside and outside of the Philippines, but I firmly believe deep inside my heart and from my experience (or viewpoint), priests are generally men who are trying their very best to serve the Lord and the community entrusted to them. Doing everything they can for their vocation for this noble and divine purpose and asking forgiveness for their sins and for others. Just like the recently ordained Fr. Reymond Mulingbayan, who entrusted his vocation to the embrace of the Father. There will be no ordination to be held in our diocese until 2013.

True, a number of priests went out of their ministry due to various reasons and remained Christians, but we pin our high hopes on our seminarians inside and outside of the province. Let us all support them in any which way we can.

The sex scandals that zoomed out of the local and foreign media some years ago, - especially the pedophilia issue, were evil acts committed by only a tiny pack of sick, perverted, coward, and twisted "wolves" who just happened to be men of the cloth victimizing innocent children and youngsters. Priests that are disgrace to their ordination and to God. The Church hierarchy should be alarmed and make necessary action on this matter, pastorally and administratively.

Luckily, we do not have such reported case here in our Vicariate. All we have is someone who never learned his lessons and reportedly gunning again for a top political post in the province.

God, save us from snollygosters...

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(Photo : SSC File ; Our Lady of the Pillar Parish in Mamburao)

7 comments:

  1. My congratulations to Fr. Mulingbayan... I do not have the means to reach him to personally convey my greetings (MS).

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  2. When we were students in SJCS, we always heard Fr. Tony's admonition: "Be the best in the west." It's sad to note that your next ordination will still be in 2013 -- that is, if the prospective ordinandus decides for it.
    Yes, I agree with you totally that quality is better than quantity. But it does not mean that your number of priests need not meet the level that is proposed: that is, 1 priest for every 2,000 faithful.
    Good luck to you son, who's in the seminary now. Your prayers should accompany him (MS).

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  3. To MS :

    Nice to hear from you again. Thank you for your reminder on Yob's vocation and comment...

    ReplyDelete
  4. batiin mo raw kami dito sa bangkok sabi nila tita helen :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. a reliable source told me that Apigo and Villarosa had a meeting recently... ang gagara daw ng mga kotse at mga de bodyguard.

    i have no problems with that - real concern lang ok na.

    Honest.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi,
    What an excellent and well written post...with many points taken into consideration.

    I will pray that God continues to send us loving priests...who are happy serving the Lord and the community in which he lives.

    Thanks for visiting my blog,
    Jesus Knows You Best...
    I left you a response under the post
    "20 Minutes to Live".

    Thank you for your friendship and may
    God continue to Bless you in all things!
    Sincerely,
    K. Frangeskos at
    Jesus Knows You Best

    ReplyDelete