Thanksgiving for a consecrated life:
Perpetual profession and ordination to the diaconate in Aparecida
The Redemptorist Province of São Paulo rejoices with the Perpetual Profession and Diaconate Ordination of four young Redemptorist missionaries: Diego Antônio, Jonas Pádua, Heliomarcos Ferraz and Rimar Diniz. In a ceremony reserved for the family and confreres, held in the Chapel of St. Joseph in the National Sanctuary of Aparecida on 16 April, these young men professed for life the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and took the oath of perseverance.
Religious consecration is an act of daring in love. It is about going out of oneself to live the radicality of the first consecration: Baptism. After a long process of formation, a time of God’s grace and of allowing themselves to be touched by the abundant redemption, these young people embraced, with faith, hope and charity, the Redemptorist mission, being in line with the Second Vatican Council and the current Magisterium, recognising the place and value of this way of life in the Church.
Religious consecration, however, is not static, nor is it an escape from the world; it implies placing oneself at the service (diakonia) of the other. In times of great change, we are sent ‘to love and serve in an ever new way’. The following day (17 April), after these young men had sought to live their commitment as consecrated men in the priestly ministry, they were ordained deacons at the central altar of the Shrine of Aparecida for the service of the people of God, under the imposition of hands by Monsignor Orlando Brandes.
The celebrations, broadcast by the media, were marked by emotion and joy. The families and the confreres thanked God for the vocation and the commitment of these young men to the service of the Kingdom of God.
Deacon Rimar César Diniz, C.Ss.R.
