By Rev. Fr Denib (DJ) Suguitan

Most of us started the year 2020 with high hopes. I, for one, after my holidays in January, was looking forward to the 11 July, the original date for my Ordination.

All my plans for the year were founded on the assumption that I would be ordained mid-year. But, just as we get too comfortable with our own life plans and programs, God seems to give us, in one way or another, a reality check. And what a reality check the last ten months have been! I realise now, more than ever, that life plans only work if, and only if ,they are in sync with what God has willed for us.

But, I’ve got to be honest; it was a difficult ten months. There was a great temptation to despair, to lose hope. But then reflecting on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on which my Ordination fell, I came across the words of Our Lady to a man named Juan Diego when she appeared to him on Mount Tepeyac, in Mexico almost 500 years ago: "No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?" "Am I not here, I, who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more? Let nothing else worry you, disturb you.”

Let nothing else worry you. Let nothing else disturb you. How consoling these words of Our Lady are! When I read this bit during my message of gratitude, I had to let myself be contained in those motherly arms. I was her child after all ... all of us are.

If there is one thing I have learned over the weekend, it is the fact that God never ceases to amaze us, as long as we let ourselves be amazed. He works so mysteriously that it takes a while to understand his ways.

I have been a priest for around 48 hours. I have undergone the experience. It is now time for me to let its meaning unfold. And there is my whole lifetime for me to let it happen.

May God who has begun his good work, continue to bring it to fulfilment.