On July 13, the temple of Saint Monica in Mexico City hosted their priestly ordination, presided by the Augustinian Recollect Francisco Javier Acero, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico. The Augustinian-Recollect Family in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Brazil accompanied them with love and emotion.
The Augustinian Recollect religious Eduardo Chávez (Mexico City, Mexico, 1987) and Sergio Pérez (Mochitlán, Guerrero, Mexico, 1992) received the order of the priesthood from the hands of the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico, the Augustinian Recollect Francisco Javier Acero, on Saturday, July 13, at noon, in the iconic temple of the Rectory of Saint Monica, on Fresas Street, Colonia del Valle, in the Mexican capital.
The Augustinian-Recollect Family in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Brazil celebrated this day with special joy. The two Mexican religious, Eduardo and Sergio, carry out their pastoral service now as priests, respectively, in the communities of Ciudad de los Niños in Cartago (Costa Rica) and Lábrea (Amazonas, Brazil).
In the local community of Santa Monica, the pastoral groups and the small evangelization communities collaborated enormously in organizing the event from days before. The Augustinian Recollect Secular Fraternity also collaborated intensely, as did the ministry of the altar boys, who rehearsed the ceremony so that everything went perfectly.
The families of the new priests themselves were significantly present in the initial procession, in the blessings, and the offertory. Saint Monica welcomed all of them: religious and seminarians, contemplative nuns, religious of active life, Secular Fraternities, and Augustinian-Recollect Youth, as well as many relatives of the new priests who came from Mexico City itself and Guerrero, with a significant number of people from the original parish of Brother Sergio despite being located almost 300 kilometers south of the capital.
The ordaining bishop, Francisco Javier Acero, gave catechetical explanations about each priestly ordination rite. In the homily, he invited the two young Recollects to be priests committed to and welcoming of the sheep: men of God, of profound and continuous prayer and tenderness, who serve the Word of God, the weakest and most needy. He also spoke about the need to leave behind “all forms of clericalism or spiritual worldliness.” And he concluded his homily by asking them to “be joyful shepherds for the People and with the People.”
As for the rites, at the beginning of the Eucharist, the parents of the two religious blessed their children, and at the end of the ceremony, they received, in turn, the first blessing as priests from their children.
After the sermon, the assembly continued praying for the priesthood’s two candidates prostrated. In contrast, everyone prayed the litanies to the saints and the moment of ordination with the imposition of hands, the consecratory prayer, the anointing, and the delivery of the elements proper to the priest.
During Thanksgiving, Brother Eduardo recalled the importance of the Christian community of Santa Monica in his vocational path when he accompanied the JAR as a postulant; he also thanked the presence of collaborators who came from the City of Children of Costa Rica.
Father Sergio especially thanked the nuns who accompanied him in his academic, human, and religious formation during his adolescence and also thanked in Portuguese those who followed the ordination from the Brazilian Amazon through social networks. A fraternal agape for all organized by the community of Santa Monica brought the celebration to a close.
On Sunday, July 14, the first Mass of Brother Eduardo Chávez took place in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception of Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, where he was accompanied by Brother Sergio and several priests and professed Recollects.
Brother Sergio’s first Mass was on July 20, at noon, in the Parish of Santa Ana in Mochitlán, Guerrero. The entire town was involved in the celebration, which was well accompanied by members of the Augustinian-Recollect Family.
