I’M still savoring the outpouring of love and support that my family and friends showed me when I celebrated my silver jubilee as a priest last July 9. I felt so special that day as I saw the huge number of people that came to the event— about 600 people including the 17 fellow priests and 3 deacons.
I could feel their exuberance and excitement for me, as I have served God and his people for 25 years. They were happy to be present and grateful that they have been part of my journey as a priest.
I realized then that their overwhelming care and attention are all part of God’s excessive personal love and mercy to me as his son and priest.
It’s humbling to realize this truth about me. There are times when I feel that I am not worthy to be a priest, especially when I look at my personal weaknesses. But God has been overly patient with me, loving me and showing me his tender mercy despite my sinfulness, and assuring me of his confidence in me.
Indeed, my silver jubilee is a celebration of God’s tender and excessive mercy. I’m sure my fellow priests would identify with me in this contention.
Pope Francis says that we cannot be merciful to people unless we have not experienced God’s mercy. “God’s name is Mercy,” the pope stated during a retreat he gave last June for Jubilee of Priests. “The only way to be ‘excessive’ in responding to God’s excessive mercy is to be completely open to receiving it and to sharing it with others,” he explained.
The First Reading this Sunday speaks of God’s excessive mercy. While Abraham saw his visitors walked on farther toward Sodom, he drew nearer to God and asked him: “Will you sweep away the innocent and the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within? The Lord replied, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham then went on, “What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five? The Lord answered, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Abraham then went down to forty, thirty, twenty and ten innocent people. The Lord replied again, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it.”
This famous Old Testament story speaks of God’s excessive mercy. And it’s not just the story of an ancient people. It’s our story too. God will not forsake us; he will never give up on each of us!
In these times when many countries around the world see un-mercifulness through the continuous terrorist attacks, the killings of innocent people and police officers, and the shootings of criminals without due process, we need to remind ourselves of God’s best attribute—his excessive mercy.
It’s not a coincidence that the Pope declared this year as the Year of Mercy. It’s God speaking to us that the world has to be merciful as he is.
As I look forward to many more years of service as a priest, I hope that I can continually bear the name of God and share it with others. Indeed, mercy is his name, and he has profoundly shown it to me.
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of ImmAaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
