"The priest is just an instrument"

Fr. Javier del Castillo was ordained in Rome on May 21, 2005.

May 23, 2005

Javier del Castillo, a 29-year-old electrical engineer, was born in Mexico. In an interview last week, del Castillo spoke of his upcoming ordination: “It’s hard to absorb the fact that God’s sacramental power will be acting in me. It won’t be me that is acting, but God through me. The priest is just an instrument, through whom the Holy Spirit works.”

“John Paul II used to exhort us to seek the face of Christ. That is exactly what people look for when they see a priest, which means that he needs to be very closely united to Christ, giving himself exclusively to God.”

The new priest enjoys painting, and has a particular taste for impressionistic art. He is a fan of U2, and also likes reading history books.

Besides Fr. Javier, the ordination class of 42 included 28 Europeans (Spanish, Italian, French, German, Belgian), 11 from the Americas (including several Latin American countries), 2 Asians (Filipinos), and 1 African (Nigerian). They range in age from 27 to 48.

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