24 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst Year in Review 2020 SEMINARIANS For me personally, 2020 has been a year in which God taught me, amongst many other things, obedience.” In 2020 I learned that we are not in the control seat of life. Certainly, there are some things that we can handle ourselves but, even though we like to think that we can control everything, there are many things that are simply beyond our reach. We might not feel His presence all the time, but God is still in control. 2020 was to be the year in which I was ordained a priest. An initial plan to be ordained at Sacred Heart Cathedral in July, with then fellow-Deacon, Fr DJ Suguitan, was repeatedly pushed back in what seemed like a rolling calendar of impossible logistics. When I learned my first flight from Rome to Melbourne had been cancelled by the airline, I became disheartened. Then, as subsequent flights were booked and cancelled, my prospects of being ordained a priest in 2020 started to fade away. Amidst all this, I was reminded of the promise that I took at my ordination to the diaconate, a promise of obedience to Meanwhile in Rome “For me personally, 2020 has been a year in which God taught me, amongst many other things, obedience.” Rev. Deacon Adi Indra is currently studying a Licentiate of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a deacon in Rome in October 2019 and God willing, will be ordained a priest of the Diocese of Sandhurst at Sacred Heart Cathedral in July 2021. my Bishop and his successors. Contrary to popular belief, the Church’s idea of obedience to our superiors, in my case, a Diocesan Bishop, is not a blind one. It is about understanding God’s will through the decision of our superiors, who have a wider vision of a community (either a diocese or a religious congregation), while trying to make the best of a situation. Obedience is often tough to do, but it gives freedom and peace if practised properly. The etymology of the word “to obey” tells us that its root word is “to listen”. I really hope that we can learn from our experiences in 2020, how to listen more closely to Our Lord Jesus, whose words are “Spirit and Life” (John 6:63). Obedience to God through the believing community in the Church leads us to a more attentive listening to the Holy Spirit, who always leads us to the Truth (cf. John 16:13). God does not use obedience to enslave us, but to set us free from any forms of slavery.
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