Sandakan Diocese has another priest

May 22, 2021

SANDAKAN: Deacon Stephen Esguerra was raised to the order of the  priesthood at St Mary’s Cathedral on May 13.

This ordination was supposed to  have been held in the Holy Trinity Church of Tawau, the hometown  of Deacon Stephen Esguerra, on  May 25, 2020. However, with the  COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, his ordination was  postponed. It was later decided that  the ordination should take place at  St Mary’s Cathedral on May 13. Fr  Stephen is the fifth priest ordained  by Bishop Julius D. Gitom in his 14  years.

Bishop Julius presided at the Ordination Mass with all the priests  from the Diocese of Sandakan concelebrating. The Mass was also live  streamed.

Bishop Julius in his homily reminded the candidate to always  remember that he was taken from  among men and appointed on their  behalf for things pertaining to God.  He also advised him to carry out the  ministry of Christ the Priest with  constant joy and genuine love, attending not to his own concerns and  needs but to those of Jesus Christ.

He advised all the young men  and women who are considering  religious life to search for that inner  voice in their prayers and ponder that  voice in their hearts. And should they  have doubts in their vocation, to seek  the intercession of Mother Mary. If  these youths felt troubled, he encouraged them to seek God and put their  trust in him, for as Scripture says in  John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be  troubled, but put your trust in God”

Fr Stephen described his ordination as a gift from God. He thanked  God for all the blessings that He has  given him throughout his journey to  priesthood. He also expressed his  gratitude to the people who have  been a part of his formation, assisting him in one way or another. By  God’s grace his mother and family  were able to attend the Holy Mass of  his Ordination and be present to witness his becoming as a priest. 

Congratulations to Fr Stephen.  His long journey from being a layperson, seminarian, deacon and finally being ordained as a priest has  concluded, but a new one with Christ  in his ministry as a priest has just  started. — By Evelyn Jock