Priestly Anniversary of Fr. Florentino

“"Out of love, serve one another." Gal 5:13.

It was with this motto that I was ordained ten years ago, on June 18, 2016.

What does it mean to be a priest today? I'm not going to answer with textbook theology. I'm going to answer with the life God has given me in these 10 years: seminary, college, parish, high school, children, youth, scouts, health center, etc.

To be a priest today is to be a servant where life hurts the most. Our reality is harsh. Everyone knows it. So much poverty and injustice that it can't be contained in statistics, only in the face of the mother who comes begging for rice for her five children, money to pay school fees. Health problems that keep us awake at night: malaria, high blood pressure, lack of medicine, problems of social injustice. It is there, in the midst of all this, that we hear the "cries of blood" every day.

Being a priest today isn't about standing on the altar and then leaving. It's about getting down from the altar and sitting on the floor with the people. Jesus didn't ask if reality was harsh before washing his disciples' feet. He washed them. Being a priest today is about washing feet. It's about making oneself a servant "out of love," as my motto says. Love without excuse.

A detail of the spirituality of the Most Precious Blood that you appreciate.

In the spirituality of the Most Precious Blood, there is something that both breaks and heals me at the same time: Christ did not shed his blood only on the altar of the cross. He poured it out on the ground, amidst the suffering of the people, amidst stories of so many injustices, in the midst of this country where the people have no voice and their rights are not counted. Even before the cross, Jesus was already bleeding with anguish. This teaches me: the priest's sacrifice begins before Mass. It begins in the sleepless night for the people, in the anguish over the suffering and poverty of the people of Guinea. That is why St. Gaspar del Bufalo, founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, said: "The Blood of Christ is a price, not a punishment.".

What mission does the Church challenge you to?

If they ask me “"What mission does the Church challenge you to undertake today?", I'll answer with 3 words: TO BE A BRIDGE OF HOPE. And I'll explain:

To answer this question, I drew upon the motto of my priestly ordination, and the reality of the people of Guinea-Bissau. The Church calls me to be the priest who brings hope amidst suffering, to be in the neighborhoods and villages (Tabancas). As Romans 8:24 says: "In hope we were saved." The Church challenges me to bring this hope from the Bible to the table of those who have no bread. The Church challenges me to be a BRIDGE of hope for the youth without a future. I see young people every day: scouts, high school students, those who have already finished 12th grade. Many say: "Father, Guinea has no future." The mission the Church gives me is to shout louder: God has not given up on Guinea-Bissau. To be closer to the nameless pain, to the sick without medicine, to the single mother, to the child absent from school. The Church challenges me to live my motto to the end: "Out of love, serve one another."“ Gal 5:13. May my priesthood be a bridge: a bridge between Christ and the people, a bridge between the suffering of today and the hope of tomorrow.”