A very large group of colleagues, family and friends clothed the eight Jesuits who were ordained deacons in Ventilla (Madrid) on February 8. The ceremony was presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Mr. Carlos Osoro Sierra, and concelebrated by more than a hundred priests. Among them the Provincial, Fr. Antonio España SJ, the Provincial of Portugal, Fr. P. José Frazão Correia SJ and the new person responsible for the economy of the Holy See, Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves SJ, who was the master of novices of the five Spanish Jesuits who are now new deacons.

For their ordination they had chosen as the opening of the booklet of the faithful a precious message from Father Arrupe entitled "Be good", taken from a retreat that the then Father General of the Society gave to priests in Cagliari (1976), where he invited them to be good in their way of listening, in their face, in their hands, in their speech and in their judgement...

To this the newly ordained deacons, the spanishs Iñigo H. Alcaraz Torres SJ, Antonio F. Bohórquez Colombo SJ, Daniel Cuesta Gómez SJ, Nubar J. Hamparzoumian Herrero-Botas SJ and Álvaro Lobo Arranz SJ; the Timorese Isaías Abilio Caldas SJ, the Indonesian Fransiskus Pieter Dolle SJ and the Portuguese Francisco Mendes Cortés Ferreira SJ.

In his homily, the cardinal urged them to be servants, without ever neglecting the situation of people in the places where they are sent; to be and live this service with the wisdom that comes from Christ and to be servants, welcoming and knowing that it is the Lord who wants them to be the Salt and Light of the world. After the presentation of the candidates and right after the homily, the essential rite of this sacrament was celebrated with the imposition of the bishop's hands on the heads of the ordinands. The litanies with the prostrate jesuits and the presentation of the stole and the dalmatic (liturgical vestment that is put on above the dawn), by the sponsors to the newly ordained, were other emotional moments of the ceremony.

To close, the already deacon Iñigo Alcaraz, in the name of all his companions, made the thanksgiving. In the first place, he acknowledged that the new eight deacons do not have a curriculum for this task, but that there are many debtors among those attending the ceremony, thanking all that was received from families, friends, the Company and the universal Church. He concluded by quoting a phrase of a Jesuit friend "what is truly important in life is not owned, but received. With this conviction they already begin their new task in the service of the Church as deacons.

See previous video of the ordinands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQHpLr0ywE&feature=youtu.be

See photo gallery of the ceremony: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesuitasesp/sets/72157712997693988/

See previous testimonies: https://infosj.es/obras/sector-formacion