What does it mean to be a priest?

“To act in the person of Christ.” This was the reminder of the Most Rev. Romulo G. Valles, D.D. in his homily during the ordination of Rev. Fr. Alfredo Bustamante, Jr. in St. James Parish, Bunawan last January 6, 2021.

“When we are ordained, we don’t bring our goods to people… All we bring to our people will be the Good News, the Gospel or better agere in persona Christi,” the Archbishop said.

The archbishop says that once called to the priesthood, the agenda is not anymore personal but becomes the agenda of the one who calls.

Archbishop Valles also shared a text message from his classmate in high school in Davao Oriental who recently informed him of another classmate who became so sickly and was in need of a priest. “What will I say? That I cannot go because I just recently experienced a stroke?” Facing this dilemma, he assured his positive response to minister to the sick by requesting his collaborator, the parish priest of the area, Fr. Johnny Autida, where the sick resides. The family was relieved of their difficult situation for the prompt action.

Knowing how busy our priests are in ministering the faithful even in this time of the pandemic, Archbishop Valles thanked the faithful for their support and love for their priests.

The archbishop reminds the faithful of the communitarian aspect of the response to the call of the priesthood as he says, “Ang imong pagkapari resulta sa mga ‘yeses’ natong tanan, sugod kanimo [referring to Fr. Abloy] and the support of the family, friends, teachers, and formators.”

Indeed, the priest is taken from the community of believers and sent for the community to act in the person of Christ, the Lord.