Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

We all have many key moments in life that help to shape who we are and have most certainly been guided by God’s plan in our lives. For many of us, those moments are shaped by a family/life event, reaching a milestone, accomplishing an important task, or meeting someone remarkable.  For Michael Eguino [now Fr. Mike], all of those key moments happened all at once very recently. The ordination of Fr. Michael Eguino into the Salesian priesthood took place on June 27 at his home parish of  St. Benedict’s Church in Bronx, NY.  Surrounded by countless friends, family, fellow Salesians, and many more, Fr. Mike embarked on a new journey in his life that has been many years in the making. While the best part of the entire experience was watching this very dedicated and faith-filled young man cement his vocation to God, there were many beautiful moments that made the day that much more special.                 

One such moment was having Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, there as the principal celebrant. His Eminence began his homily with a touching address directly to Fr. Mike and his entire family. As he addressed each member of the Eguinos, he seemed to highlight the impact that each person had had on making that day the celebration of love and God that it was. During the homily, Cardinal Timothy Dolan also surprised the congregation when he stated that Fr. Mike was “unworthy” of being a priest.  I was particularly struck when Cardinal Dolan went so far as to say that even Michael’s family knew that he was unworthy, after his special opening to them all. However, Cardinal Dolan was not putting down Fr. Mike in his address, but rather wanted to emphasize how important it was for Fr, Mike to respond to God’s call in his life despite the many limitations in life we all have as imperfect perfect creations of God.  

The cover image and scripture passage about St. Peter from the Gospel of John [John 21:17] seemed to capture the point that Cardinal Dolan was making.  St. Peter was a good example of being unworthy as the Lord’s servant.  He had many good starts in faith and even professed it. However, he fell short when it really counted because he could not walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary.  Despite Peter’s manifold limitations, the Lord still chose him to head the Church as a growing family.  With the help of grace, Peter came around to rally the faith community and bring many people to the love of God through the examples of Christ.

 

Despite Fr. Michael’s unworthiness to enter into the Lord’s service, and all priests’ unworthiness as well, it is family that links a priest to serve.  The Eguino family, as active parishioners of St. Benedict’s, led Fr. Michael to be nurtured in faith so that later he could make his own faith response to follow Jesus as a Salesian and then as a Salesian priest.  In a similar vein, The Salesian Family, provided a faith environment for Fr. Michael to grow, so that, moved by the faith from his family of origin, he would mature and avail of himself for priestly service in the Church.  

     Those of us that participated in the ceremony have been enriched in faith as well.   Gathering as a family, we experienced life with Fr. Michael in the celebration of his call to priestly service, and being united as Church, we were renewed with zeal to serve as well. As the Salesian priesthood grew by one more that special day, it was a wonderful reminder of just how we’re all called to walk with God and follow the example of Christ to bring light and love into the world. Fr. Mike is a testament to that!