The Cathedral of Valladolid will host the next ordinations of Jesuits in Spain on June 26th at 7:30 pm. It will be Cardinal D. Ricardo Blázquez, archbishop of the diocese who will lay hands on these six Jesuits who were ordained deacons in 2020, just a few weeks before confinement. They are: Íñigo H. Alcaraz Torres SJ, Antonio F. Bohórquez Colombo SJ, Daniel Cuesta Gómez SJ, Nubar J. Hamparzoumian Herrero-Botas SJ, Álvaro Lobo Arranz SJ and Iñigo Merello Terry SJ. 

They have lived , marked by the pandemic, with more isolation than desired, some residing outside Spain. Their ministry, which under normal circumstances would have started with weddings or baptisms, began with funerals in morgues and cemeteries. But these circumstances have prompted them to value it even more.

Nubar Hamparzoumian and Dani Cuesta, are two of the Jesuits who went for weeks to the crematorium of La Almudena (Madrid) and also in Barcelona to offer prayers for the deceased by Covid and to accompany their families. They recognize that the diaconate they had imagined was clearly different from the one they experienced. But the new circumstances, says Nubar, "have made me put to the test what attracted me so much to the Society of Jesus: availability. It's not always perfect, but as much as I like to have my plans tied up, God is present - and in a more subtle but solid way - beyond my schedules and calculations."

"A little more than a month after being ordained, everything changed and began to be governed by the rhythms set by the pandemic," Dani Cuesta explains. "On the one hand, the pressing needs at the beginning meant that our service consisted more in consoling people's sadness through faith than in sharing their joys. On the other hand, not being able to leave Rome for almost a year prevented us from presiding at several marriages and baptisms of very dear people". Like his companions, he considers that "despite the harshness of some of these experiences, all this has made me realize that our ordination is not for us or for our families, but for the People of God".

Before his priestly ordination 

A few days before their priestly ordination, and even in the midst of the difficulties, they live this time with joy and hope. "One perceives that people need God, need community, need someone who listens to them and can give them a word of hope and encouragement," explains Antonio F. Bohórquez, who wants to live with intensity the preparation for this moment.

Iñigo Alcaraz lives the priestly ordination as "a call to be attentive to those who are going through the worst, to bring them the hope of God's love. Where our society sees only failure, to get involved to participate with those who inhabit those darknesses and look with them for reasons to believe and fight for justice, for the good. In short, to promote the joy that Jesus Christ brings to life".

These are also moments of nervousness. "On the one hand, you have to pay attention to the accessory details, which in Covid's time multiply, and on the other hand, to the more existential, where illusion is intermingled with the fear of making mistakes and with many mixed feelings", says Alvaro Lobo, who considers that the passage to the priesthood, "in our way of life does not change much and, however, it allows you to access and serve people in a different way, deeper and more of God".

Not all these Jesuits are clear about their next missions. Iñigo Merello, however, feels strengthened by two tools: "The first is the spirituality I have received and the second is the common mission we have of openness to dialogue with culture. For him, "the coming years will involve a constant effort to understand the vertiginous change of the world, its dynamism and complexities". He does not know in which Mission field he will develop his task, but aware of the challenges he believes that "the world today invites us not to close ourselves in that which gives security but to be ready to serve, to be grateful, to risk".