Walking with the People of God

Ministry of the Word: Teaching and Preaching
From my own life, I have experienced the transformative power of the Word of God. Some spiritual writers have compared it to drops of water that have the power to break down hardened rocks and cause new growth. As a priest, I must always minister in the concrete circumstances in which God’s providence places me and I think that the culture today more than ever needs to experience in a new way the transformative power of the Gospel. We cannot be indifferent to the cries of our times: Men and women, young and old, institutions, societies, and more so the family seem to be at the verge of collapse. The cries of man find their true answer in the cry of God who cries out through prophet Hosea (4:6) saying, “My people are ruined for lack of knowledge!” But this is no other knowledge than a knowing of Jesus Christ who the Second Vatican Council called ultimate fulfillment of all modern desires. 

It is through the ministry of the Word by teaching and preaching that I hope to present Christ Jesus as the fulfillment of all desires, hopes, aspirations, and the answer to the most fundamental questions of modern man. The Word of God destroys the web of ignorance that covers our society and moves individuals and communities from darkness into the wonderful light of Christ. I follow the words of St. Paul, “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). If I am to enliven the lives of the faithful in all its dynamic dimensions, ministry of the Word (in the many forms it will take) will have a prominent place in my priestly ministry. Indeed, I can say, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).

Family Ministry
When God became man, he entered into and belonged to a family, the family of Nazareth. To renew the entire human race, Christ’s salvific mission began and developed within the context of the family. What Christ did then, he still does it today. He still desires to enter into and be present in every family with all its joys and sorrows, lights and shadows. In light of the centrality of the family, the Second Vatican Council recovered the concept of the family as the domestic church, and this will have a great bearing on my priestly ministry. If indeed the church is to be ever more relevant to the world today, she must with a greater energy renew the family, and as such enable the Gospel to affect every baptized person since the family is the most fundamental community of the baptized. What we celebrate in our parish churches and cathedrals as mysteries must become lived out realities in the family. It is principally in the family that the rubber of the Gospel hits the road of daily life. Yet, it is without saying that most families today face tremendous challenges, most of which we know. Many have to walk alone into the darkness and confusion caused by the prevalent cultural trends, most have no spiritual life, and the virtues and the moral life are never taught.

Since the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood, entering into the family will become for me a way in which I place my priesthood at the service of the baptized in the wider context of married and family life. As a priest, I want to demonstrate my availability to enter into every household, to listen to the members, to accompany them while allowing their joys and sorrows to affect my priestly ministry. What shape this ministry will concretely take, I do not fully know. But for certain, I hope that family visitations will be an essential element in my ministry. By doing this, I will assist each family to strive to be the Nazareth of our time.