Frt.
Reymond Barrales- Mulingbayan of Our Lady of the Pillar Parish will celebrate
his 10th anniversary of sacerdotal ordination tomorrow, Saturday,
October 12, 2019. This Mindoro blogger is happy because this young clergy reached
this far wearing the cloth.
Fr.
Ymon’s ordination exactly a decade ago coincided with the 25th founding
anniversary or Silver Jubilee of our Vicariate’s Saint Joseph College Seminary
(SJCS). Two years later, the SJCS was padlocked due to reasons that God only
knows.
Seminaries are important and Pope Pius XII in his encyclical “Ad Cathoici Sacerdotii” has this reminder to local ordinaries: “The seminary is and should be the apple of your eye …. [I]t is and should be the chief object of your solicitude.” Without seminaries, no priests like Fr. Ymon can be ordained!
Seminaries are important and Pope Pius XII in his encyclical “Ad Cathoici Sacerdotii” has this reminder to local ordinaries: “The seminary is and should be the apple of your eye …. [I]t is and should be the chief object of your solicitude.” Without seminaries, no priests like Fr. Ymon can be ordained!
Father
Ymon, now 39, is the the second child in a brood of four of Cleta Barrales, my second
cousin from maternal side, and Reynaldo Mulingbayan who are both active members of various
religious organizations and ministries in their parish. Father Mulingbayan
finished his Elementary in Mamburao Central School, Secondary Education in West
Mindoro Academy or WEMA. In college, he studied at Christ the King Minor
Seminary in Quezon City and Divine Word School of Theology in Tagaytay City.
My
favorite definition of what a priest is came from Saint Pope John Paul II who
once wrote that a priest is “the living
and transparent image of Christ.” The man, who is a priest, is chosen and
consecrated by God to make the love of Christ present in the world. At his
ordination, the man who is ordained a priest is configured to Jesus Christ, the
true High Priest, in a very special way. On his ordination day, a man becomes a
priest in his very being. From that day, his deepest identity is that he is a
priest; a priest forever. That is what those who love him must pray for Fr. Munding
(AKA Fr. Ymon).
Like Prophet Isaiah, Fr. Ymon was sent to give fresh vision and hope to a people in suffering,
anguish and pain. He at present is assigned parish priest of St. Joseph the
Foster Parent Parish in Central, San Jose after having served in San Raphael
Parish in Abra de Ilog and other assignments that I cannot now recall. Like Prophet Isaiah, that is also the task of the priest-prophet
in the new exile, in every parish where the priest is assigned.
Priests
are here not to fix the world or anything or anybody in it all by themselves.
They are not solo parents in this wayward, dirty home called “Pilipinas” with
the most dangerous, indecent and murky firstborns live. You are not alone
because God is with you. Since you took your vows ten years ago, you are one
with the Lord in your vocation and mission and pastoral ministry.
Priests
are not like a certain president of a country or a despot who sees everything
as objects to be dominated and controlled. Priesthood is about simple, humble
service. It is about tenderness and compassion rather than rigidity and
arrogance. Over and above, the gift you received some 10 years ago today was given
so that through you, the Lord can shine forth.
Our prayers for Fr. Reymond Mulingbayan for he entrusted his vocation to the care of the Nuestra Senora Del Pilar, the patron of Mamburao, his place of birth.
Aside from Fr. Ymon's priestly anniversary, tomorrow is also the town's fiesta celebration. If I may add some trivia, also in October 12, 1492, feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar, Christopher Colombus first sighted American land and the first Mass in the Americas was celebrated. Our Lady of the Pillar, before that Columbus' event, is considered as the first Marian apparition in history. It was when St. James the Apostle, brother of St. John the Evangelist, witnessed Our Lady appeared standing on a pillar at the bank of the river of Ebro in Saragossa, Spain in 40 AD. "E, ano ngayon?," one may ask. Wala lang. Mema lang.
Happy fiesta Mamburao and congratulations Fr. Ymon! ...
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Our prayers for Fr. Reymond Mulingbayan for he entrusted his vocation to the care of the Nuestra Senora Del Pilar, the patron of Mamburao, his place of birth.
Aside from Fr. Ymon's priestly anniversary, tomorrow is also the town's fiesta celebration. If I may add some trivia, also in October 12, 1492, feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar, Christopher Colombus first sighted American land and the first Mass in the Americas was celebrated. Our Lady of the Pillar, before that Columbus' event, is considered as the first Marian apparition in history. It was when St. James the Apostle, brother of St. John the Evangelist, witnessed Our Lady appeared standing on a pillar at the bank of the river of Ebro in Saragossa, Spain in 40 AD. "E, ano ngayon?," one may ask. Wala lang. Mema lang.
Happy fiesta Mamburao and congratulations Fr. Ymon! ...
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Reference: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/nuestra-senora-del-pilar-our-lady-of-the-pillar-622
Photo: Jasper H. Francisco
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