The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor… This passage of Scripture that you have just heard has been fulfilled today (Lk 4,18.21).
A beacon in my vocational life
Have you ever felt that a biblical word came to life in your personal history? It happened to me on August 16, 2025, when I had the grace of being ordained a priest with the laying on of hands and the consecratory prayer of Monsignor Roberto Madrigal Gallegos, Bishop of the Diocese of Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico.
The biblical passage with which I wanted to begin this article is fundamental in my vocational life. On the one hand, in it I found a beacon, a goal to achieve, that is, the moment of the consecration of my hands with holy chrism and of my whole being with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The moment of my ontological configuration with Christ, the high and eternal priest.
On the other hand, in the same quotation, I also found my mission: “to proclaim the Good News to the poor.” Because this gift is not for personal advantage or benefit, but to be shared with all those to whom the Lord sends me: those most in need of his grace and mercy.
I can say that my vocation to the priesthood has been a constant manifestation of God’s love, of his mercy. My response has often been hesitant, unfaithful, inconsistent, limited… but it is God’s faithfulness that has prevailed over my weakness. That is why today I can say with St. Paul: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12,10).
The Eucharistic celebration
The Holy Mass and the rite of priestly ordination took place in Ranchería Reforma 2da Sección in Jalpa de Méndez, Tabasco, in the community of Señor de Esquipulas, because that is where I was born and where most of my family lives. This community belongs to the parish and sanctuary of the Assumption of Mary, Cupilco, which in turn belongs to the diocese of Tabasco.
The Eucharist was attended by the Superior General, Fr. Helio Meira Augusto, the General Councilor, Fr. Giovanni Passantino, the parish priest of Maria Causa Nostrae Laetitiae in Rome, Fr. Marco Santarelli, the fellow priests of the Servants of the Poor of the Mexican mission, and Brother José Daniel Xalamigua, priests of the diocese of Tarahumara, Chihuahua, and the diocese of Tabasco, including my parish priest, Fr. Miguel Ángel Camacho García, young seminarians from the Seminary of Tabasco, Sisters Servants of the Poor, and other religious institutes. There was a large turnout of lay faithful, estimated at around two thousand people: family members, friends, acquaintances, members of my community of origin, and members of the parish community of Cupilco.
In the footsteps of a saint
Since I had the good fortune to learn about the life, work, and spirituality inherited from Blessed Father Giacomo Cusmano, my life has been illuminated by his example of total dedication and consecration to the service of the least and the marginalized of Sicilian society of his time. He has been a model for me of how to put this precious gift of the priesthood at the service of those most in need. Following in his footsteps, I decided to consecrate my life, first as a religious and now as a priest, to the service of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Can you imagine dedicating your life completely to those who suffer the most? For me, it was the natural response to so much love received. I seek and strive to recognize in them the face of the suffering Christ and to attain that mysticism lived by our Founder: to see Christ in the poor.
Mexico: new challenges, new hope
The new mission entrusted to me in Mexico is very demanding and complicated. The pastoral area where the parishes entrusted to us are located is marked by violence, drug addiction, alcoholism, child abandonment, broken families, promiscuity, disinterest in religion, and economic poverty. But I am aware that these are the new forms of poverty afflicting our peoples. And that in the midst of these realities I am called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5,13-14).
The faithfulness that sustains
The Lord has guided my life to this point, and throughout this process, the most important thing is that He has accepted my offering and kept His word that He will always be with me.
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, I invite myself and I invite you to “hold fast to the profession of our hope without wavering, for He who made the promise is faithful” (Heb 10,23).
Fr. Manolo Frias Silvan, s.d.P.
