Message from Father Emmanuel

June 26th, 2022

Life is full of changes. Three years have passed since I was ordained a priest and started my 3 year assignment at OLPH. And halfway through it, I lost my mother to lung cancer. Recently, some of you have told me that I have grown so much into the priest I am today. I have learned a lot since you saw me celebrate Mass that very first time with Fr. Craig early July in 2019. How fitting that this Sunday's gospel message (Luke 15:3-7) of "the lost sheep" resounds the same message through St. Matthew's account (Matthew 18: 10–14), which was the Gospel passage proclaimed at my class's priesthood ordination.

Our Lord Jesus had sent out his apostles to baptize all nations into a new life, holy in that they follow the path of Christ, even against all the power and influences of the pagan and secular cultures of the world. His apostles were the bishops/ patriarchs of their days and they later ordained men into the diaconate and into the priesthood. And through the subsistence and protection of the Holy Spirit, Holy Mother Church continues her ministry to this day and beyond, through her lay faithful, religious and clergy.

When Archbishop Gomez anointed my hands and laid his hands on my head at my ordination, I thought this was solely for God's blessings upon me to be his priest and the minister He wills me to be for His people. But after just these past few years with all of you at OLPH as well as at other parishes, hospitals, and cemeteries I've ministered, the blessings I received must have also meant for me to receive your blessings and your ministry towards me.

I first thought that I was to be the shepherd that must leave the ninety-nine for that one lost sheep, who also was deserving of God's salvation and who symbolized any one of you. Now I can also see that one sheep had also been me and that the shepherd had been each and every one of you. By your encouragement, you've rescued me from self-doubt; by your suggestions and support, from feeling inadequate; by your jokes and humor, from an inflated ego.

Every time you asked me for a blessing or anointing, for confession, to lead your devotional groups, to speak about our faith or to clarify of anything controversial, to baptize your children, to help you prepare for your marriage, or to pray to God as your loved-one is dying, you rescued me from the mundane and brought me back into a life for the divine, of prayer, of the Sacraments and sacramentals. Every time you called me "Father", I am reminded of the self-sacrificing duty I accepted and professed to God three years ago. A "father" who nourishes as well as protects and leads to God.

I am very thankful for the little time I was given to be among you, to grow with you, and to pray with you. I am grateful for each and every one of you for your fiat to God to be my teachers. You've taught me to put aside some personal things for ministry and God bestowed more gifts to me than I could imagine. I've learned to be more myself, laughing and sometimes crying with you. And regrettably, I have been impatient and I apologize for having hurt you. I do still have much more to learn and I pray for as much of a loving community at St. Anthony's in Oxnard as what you have been to me. Let us remain together in prayer and thus be ever bound into the mystical body of Christ. May our Lord Jesus continue to keep you close to himself and bless you!

Father Emmanuel