The St. Joseph Seminary College in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, has produced six graduates of the Justitia Et Quantum Class of 2017.
The new possible candidates for priesthood are John Ric Academia Abordo, Eugene Vincent Bajar Academia, Francis John Acabal Angay, Quincy Jay Torres Cañete, Neil John Berondo Dael and FN Jun dela Peña Vicoy.
Cañete and Vicoy graduated Cum Laude.
Bishop Julito Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete has exhorted the graduates to seriously go into a spirit of discernment to consider pursuing the vocation to the priesthood.
Speaking during the 54th Liturgical Graduation Exercises Sunday afternoon, the Dumaguete prelate thanked them for their generosity to study and complete their degree in A.B. Philosophy there.
The graduation rites started with a concelebrated mass with Bishop Cortes as presider and homilist and was followed by the program proper where academic excellence and special awards were given to deserving seminarians.
Cortes’ homily focused on the importance of water, taken from the third reading of Lent.
Bishop Cortes told the graduates that they, too, should reflect “on water, and on our experience of thirst for water”.
“Water is an indispensable part of our life”, from babies conceived in their mothers’ wombs, living in water, to receiving the sacrament of Baptism with the use of water, and even water’s important role in sustaining human lives and all other living things like trees and animals on earth.
Bishop Cortes said that water was also a central theme in the life of Jesus, who performed his first miracle at the wedding at Cana by changing water into wine.
Explaining his “ramblings” about water, he stressed to the seminarians how water “can be an object that can represent relationships or issues”.
The bishop also called on the graduates to possess critical as well as articulate minds. “Critical in the sense that you are able to distinguish truth from untruth, reality from illusion, nuances, if not the hidden message of meaning, in a certain expression”.
He warned against the “virtual trolls in our society today and expressed hope that the graduates are mentally tough to combat the wily and insidious craft of these trolls.
“What is it that you thirst for? Is it power? Is it wealth? Or it is honor?”
Cortes expressed optimism that the seminarians, especially those who will proceed to study theology, “thirst for God” as they desire to become future priests of the Diocese of Dumaguete.
The Dumaguete prelate told the seminarians three important thirsts that he said he believes will define them for life.
These are the thirst for silence, for prayer and for mission.
“Silence brings you stillness of mind and heart and makes your conscience, your whole being, conducive to prayer”, he said.
As to prayer, it is only when “you dialogue with the Lord in prayer and meaningful silence… that you can continually find the will of God in our lives”, he added.
On thirst for mission, Bishop Cortes told the seminarians to “become evangelizers in word and in deed, of the Lord Jesus in spite of your weakness, shortcomings and sinfulness.”
In an interview after the ceremony, the bishop said that while he hopes the graduates respond to the call for priesthood, “it is really the Lord who calls in the end and we entrust to Him all of this, especially when we are at a time beleaguered and the church is being questioned”, Cortes pointed out.
“But this is also the best time to purify motives, purify intentions as they continue with their seminary studies”, he added. (JFP)
