Your Excellency, on this feast of St. John Marie Vianney, we
are with you today our parish priest to celebrate your birthday and the
anniversary of your ordination to the episcopate. By celebrating your birthday we affirm not
just the fact of your existence but we celebrate who you are to us, your
existence in relation to us. In other
words we celebrate your purpose, the reason why God created you in love. In the bible, particularly in the book of
Genesis, the holy authors affirmed that each one of us is created on purpose
and with love. That when God creates a
human life it is not some machinery that creates in random, that it is not some
haphazard or arbitrary setup that creates accidents and indiscriminate
results. Each one of us is created on
purpose. Each one of us has been
prepared for. Each one of us has a
reason. This is what we celebrate today
in our seminary community – who you are for us, what you are for our community,
who you are in our calling to become priests – that which you uniquely provide,
that which only you can provide in our community in God’s behalf.
In behalf of the Seminary of St. Vincent Ferrer, thank you
for your gift of person – happy birthday.
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