ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD - January 15, 2010

Noel’s Testimony

Hello. I am Noel. I will be 47 years old in 2009, yet it has only been 10 years since I left home to pray, preach and live the Word of God fulltime. St Peter says that the Lord does not delay, rather He is being very patient with us, wanting none to be lost; this means that now is the perfect time, though the facts seem to indicate that I’m a late vocation by most people’s standards. Moreover, St James says that there is no shadow of doubt with Him; so I want to believe that He wanted me to travel from my home in Singapore, to meet Him in Southampton University, England and enter this vocation immediately after graduation from law. Who knows the mind of the Lord? But this I know, two things I recall:

The Word of God changed my life. He marked a BC (before Christ) and AC (after Christ) for me. This BC-AC phenomenon was not something that occurred once and for all in Holy Week 1997; it was only my first, acknowledged experience of the difference He has made in my life. BC-AC occurs even today, with every reading of Him in prayer, when I allow Him to show me what He wants me to see.

The Verbum Dei (“Word of God” in Latin) changed my life. It marked a BC (before Christ) and AC (after Christ) for me. This BC-AC phenomenon was not something that occurred once and for all at my first Verbum Dei activity in Holy Week 1997; it was only my first, acknowledged experience of participating in a Church group that made a difference in my life. BC-AC occurs even today, with every experience of Him through prayer in the community, mission together and community life, when I allow the will of the community to be stronger than my pride, sinfulness, etc.

And now, the Word of God, expressing Himself through the Verbum Dei, desires to change my life ontologically, i.e., in substance, not just in appearance. The change He proposes is deeper than merely beginning to wear a stole and flowing robes and stand at the altar in the Mass. If the experience of the last 12 years is anything to go by, the Word of God knows what He is doing. I need ‘only’ to see what He shows me, listen to what He says to me, go where He leads me and do what He tells me, while trying not to let surrounding factors tempt me otherwise. I know that He will guide me through my prayer, through others and through the situations I find myself in with Him.

How wonderful must it be to go wide-eyed into the big, bright, blue beyond, with Him and with the Verbum Dei Family, to do for others, what has been done for me?

Michael’s Testimony

Hi, I’m Michael.  I am 34 years old now and have been a Verbum Dei missionary for the past nine years.  I just professed my perpetual commitment to the Lord and to the community last September, and I feel now very blessed to be ordained as a deacon in His Church today. 

I come from a family of five.  Being the youngest, I guess I’ve always been spoilt by my family.  But when I began to grow up, I learnt the joy and the need to assume responsibility in the family too.  Somehow, when I got to know Christ in a personal way at the age of 21, I took on the same attitude towards God.  I lived as a “spoilt” child of His, knowing only how to ask blessings from Him, but never asking Him how I myself could be a blessing for others with my own life.  But …in a very gradual way, Jesus taught me about growing up in faith.  I remember, in one particular prayer meeting with the Verbum Dei missionary sisters in Singapore, I understood that prayer is not only to talk about myself or to escape from the world for a while.  Instead  it is about allowing God to speak to us  through the needs of others and through the Word of God; to make us grow in concern for people beyond the bounds of our own families, society and even country.  From then on, Jesus has been for me a real model for life and for Christian maturity, of what love is all about and how much our efforts to give of ourselves mean to Him. 

God-willing, after a period of serving as a deacon I will be ordained as His priest.  It’s really a miracle to see how God could have expanded my love for the members of this great family the Church.  It’s all grace, mercifully poured out, and I am truly thankful. I thank everyone for your support in gracing this occasion.  I thank especially the members of the Fraternity and of the Verbum Dei Missionary Family for supporting my vocation with your love and with your own fidelity to God. I commend my fidelity in the ministry also to your constant prayers.