Sunday, 24th February 2013 marked another milestone in the vocational walk towards priesthood on the part of Joseph Attard, from the Parish of The Assumption at Żebbuġ and of Mario Curmi from the Parish of Maria Bambina at Xagħra. Mgr Bishop Mario Grech bestowed upon them the Ministry of the Lectorate in the parrochial church of St Gregory and Our Lady of Succour at Kerċem.
On the second Sunday of Lent the Church offers us the opportunity to reflect upon the episode of the Transfiguration. In his homily, the Bishop talked about the ‘beauty’ that enhanced the three apostles who accompanied The Lord to Mount Tabor. “Lord, how good that we are here!” Peter’s words express the sentiment of admiration that Jesus instilled in the heart of the apostle in the moment of his transfiguration. This is the same sentiment that is instilled in the heart of every person who feels the vocation to give himself exclusively to Jesus in a religious or priestly life.
It is the beauty of Jesus that inspired Joseph and Mario, and many other young men, to start on the path of discernment that leads to their priestly ordination. The beauty of Jesus is most evident on the cross. Although His face is deformed and is repulsive, Jesus on the cross is the greatest evidence of God’s love to us. Mgr Grech ended the homily by encouraging Joseph and Mario to keep on contemplating this love of Jesus through the reading of the Holy Scripture so that they too will be able to exercise their ministry as Lectors of the same Holy Scripture. It is only through the reading of the Word that we can know the truth: that God really loves us!
