Priestly ordinations at Saint Saviour’s Church in Jerusalem 2006 | Custodia Terrae Sanctae

Priestly ordinations at Saint Saviour’s Church in Jerusalem 2006

Once again, the Custody of the Holy Land had the joy this year to celebrate three priestly ordinations on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

The new priests are:
Lawrence Mensah Coblavie of the Custody of the Holy Land province, originally from Ghana,
Sergio Antonio Martinez Gomez of the Francis and James province (Mexico),
Cesar Jose Roman Lozano of the Francis and James province (Mexico.
For our two Mexican brothers, ordination marks the end of their time in the Holy Land. They have been studying here for their four years of theology, discovering the country and learning to love it, as well as forming beautiful friendships with the friars from all over the world who are present in the Custody.
Our Brother Lawrence, in Rome for the last three years, will have to be patient a little longer before he returns to the province of the Custody, which he chose. He is going to round off his formation with a year at university.

Together and individually, the ordinands passed an emotionally charged day on June 29. After their time of pre-ordination retreat, they rejoined their family members and friends, at least those who could make the trip here. But above all, they lived the exceptional day of their priestly ordination. It seemed that, not only the three ordinands but the entire assembly realized the importance for them and for the Church. As the some sixty priests walked up the central aisle of Saint Saviour’s Church to the chords of the organ, the emotion was palpable. His Beatitude Mgr. Michel Sabbah, the primary concelebrant, brought up the rear of the procession, with the Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballaand the Custody’s Vicar Artemio Vitores at his side. After the Liturgy of the Word, the ceremony passed on to the Liturgy of Ordination: impressive, dense and somber; grave yet joyous for the ordinands, certainly, but also for the entire assembly. Gestures, signs, looks marked the moment: the litany of the saints while the ordinands lay prostrate, the laying on of hands. In the faces of the concelebrants who received the new priests as one of their own, it was obvious that they were doing this for their brothers, their friends or compatriots and also in the name of the entire Church, which here at Jerusalem they symbolize better than in any other place because they themselves come from all the continents. The sacerdotal college received the brothers as the assembly of lay people and religious rejoiced in and shared their joy. The Liturgy of the Eucharist continued the acts of thanksgiving as the new priests “made their debut” at the altar.

Following the celebration, the entire assembly enjoyed an aperitif. There, too, the three new priests were much in demand to perform their new functions. After a meal doubly en famille, the Franciscan family and the members of their own families who were present, the new priests spent the afternoon with their family and friends.
In the coming days they will set off for destinations abroad, but from this day forward they are priests forever, to the joy of the Lord and the Church.

MAB