Servants of the Lord: Archdiocese rejoices with three new priest ordinations

HOUSTON — An overflowing crowd at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart witnessed Daniel Cardinal DiNardo ordain three new priests June 1, thanking them for answering God’s “paradoxically clear yet mysterious summons.”

In his homily, Cardinal DiNardo told the transitional deacons about to become priests — now Father Luis Armas, Father Viet Nguyen and Father David Ramirez — “The Eucharist becomes the heart and center of your life, and as you celebrate the Eucharist, people will know it. Not because you’re flashy, but because you are faithful.”

“I beg you brother deacons, now to become brother priests, share it,” he said.

As part of the ordination, Cardinal DiNardo laid hands on each of their heads and also anointed their hands, saying, “May the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power… guard and preserve you to sanctify the Christian people.”

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“In a very unique way,” he said, “you come here as servants to be ordained, especially in the masterpieces of creation: the Eucharist and Reconciliation.”
Cardinal DiNardo recognized two concurrent celebrations happening that weekend, the Ordination Mass and the arrival of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is part of the National Eucharistic Revival, and made a stop at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart the day before for Mass and Adoration.

Franciscan priest Father John Anthony Boughton, who had been accompanying the pilgrimage since its launch in Brownsville, concelebrated the Mass.

The perpetual pilgrims, the young people who are traveling the entire distance from Brownsville to Indianapolis, joined Father Boughton, including Camille Anigbogu, who found her spot in the choir loft turning pages for the organist, a familiar place for her as an organist herself.

Speaking directly to the three young men, Cardinal DiNardo said: “You are to help people discover [that] what is most simple is what is most omnipotent: the Father loves to empty Himself out in sending His Son, the Son loves to empty Himself out and being available to us even to the point of having His Body and Blood available to us in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit like a beautiful flowing river is always emptying Himself out in moments and acts of grace.”

“Brothers, celebrate the Eucharist well,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “It is the representation of the Lord’s sacrifice on this altar and altars nearby, whereby God’s people are nourished — people want to be nourished with the Eucharist and with His Word.”

Alongside the Eucharistic Revival, Cardinal DiNardo encouraged the priests to continue offering Eucharistic Adoration so that the Eucharist may “seep into the hearts and souls of the people of God.”

Dozens of other priests joined Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, and Abbot Gregory Boquet, O.S.B., of St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana in concelebrating the Mass.

At the end of the Mass, the three gave their first priestly blessings to Cardinal DiNardo, who knelt by the altar before them. Immediately after, the three priests turned to face the congregation, imparting another blessing upon their family and friends. After the ordination Mass, the crowd loudly applauded.