ROME. Msgr. Javier Echevarría, prelate of Opus Dei, ordained 31 new priests of the Prelature on Saturday, 4 May 2013, at the Basilica of San Eugenio in Rome.
“Go out of yourselves in order to think only of those souls who will be entrusted to your pastoral care,” the prelate said in his homily to the new priests. Citing Pope Francis, he reminded them that “priests who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually end up becoming managers.”
“And this should not be, because the priest is a mediator between God and men, through Jesus Christ, so that divine grace can give life to all,” he added.
Msgr. Echevarría also referred to those words St. Josemaría had written on the occasion of the priestly ordination of faithful of Opus Dei: “they are ordained in order to serve, not to command, not to stand out, but to give themselves totally to the service of all souls, in divine unceasing silence.”
The bishop said that the priest’s task as mediator “is of a greatness that is compatible with our personal littleness. Our Lord grants us these gifts so that we may be capable of guiding souls to eternal life.” Addressing those attending the ordination ceremony he asked: “Let us petition with Saint Josemaria, the grace for all priests to carry out holy things in a holy manner; for us to reflect in our lives the marvellous grandeur of our Lord. A good way to achieve this is to love the Sacred Host more and more each day.”
Anthony Pichay Sepulveda, 29, graduate of Philippine Science High School and Ateneo de Manila University, was one of the youngest in the group ordained.
The complete list of the new priests follows: Julio Paz (Argentina), Peter Benedict Damian-Grint (UK), Jorge Garaicoechea Tijero (Spain), Andrej P. Rant Lesar (Argentina), Andrew Patrick Soane (UK), Onésimo Díaz(Spain), Josh Núñez (Nigeria), Ernesto Yamaguchi (Perú), Juan José Salinas Medrano (Argentina), Neptalí José Balza Ayaach (Venezuela), Juan Eguirón (Spain), Josemaría Fernández Cueto (México), José Benigno Freire (Spain), Jose María Chiclana (Spain), Keisuke Hazama (Japan), Joaquín Rodríguez Mas (Spain), Álvaro Cortés (Spain), Adolfo Luis Qüerio Casas (Argentina), Carlos López Villarejo (Spain), Pablo Giner (Spain), José María Torres (Spain), Javier Bujalance (Spain), Jaime Abascal (Spain), Mariano Carrillo (Spain), Álvaro Lino González (Spain), Rubén Pereda (Spain), Rodolfo Valdés (México), José Carlos Fernández Duarte (El Salvador), Anthony Pichay Sepulveda (Philippines), Stefan Mückl (Germany), and Gerald Mwenyi Nalyanya Wabukenda (Kenia).