Our companions Giuseppe, James, Angel, Michael, Nelson, Anuj, Benjamin, Pedro, Lluís and João were ordained deacons by Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Osoro on February 9 in Madrid, the city where they study theology.

The ordinands came from six countries: Spain (Lluís Salinas, Pedro Rodríguez-Ponga and Angel Benítez), Rwanda, India, Italy, Portugal and Malta. Cardinal Osoro was accompanied by the bishop of Lérida, Salvador Giménez Valls and the bishop of Ethiopia, the Colombian Jesuit Rodrigo Mejía. Also concelebrating with the provincial, Antonio España, were the provincials of Portugal, José Frazao SJ and the provincial of Mediterranean Europe, Gianfranco Matarazzo SJ and his delegate for the Elderly, Vincent Madri SJ.

Carlos Osoro talked in his homily about the work and virtues that should characterize deacons. "You are what you are by pure grace (...) servants of the Gospel by pure grace" he told to the ordinands and reminded them of various conditions necessary to be so: to listen, "put our whole life at the service of the one who configures you today; let Jesus speak through you (...); do not remain on the surface, enter the depths of life... rowing into the deep; find companions on the way and place yourselves in the hands of Jesus (...) Tell the Lord: Here I am! aware that it is by his grace and that the Lord calls me to serve the Gospel in its originality".

Once ordained, each of the godparents of these ten Jesuits imposed on them the stole in the diaconal mode and the dalmatic. Then the new deacons approached the bishop to receive from his hands the book of the Gospels. Finally, their superiors gave them the book of the Liturgy of the Hours. For the first time, and once ordained, the new deacons distributed communion.

One of the ordained deacons pronounced at the end some words of gratitude to the Lord for his call, for the Church and for their families, for all those who accompanied them in their vocation, the absent, the deceased and the companions who preceded them in this vocation.