On April 23, László Felföldi, bishop of Pécs, ordained priests the Piarist religious Roland Márkus and Dániel Szabó.
The celebration in the Chapel of the Piarists in Budapest was attended by religious guests from abroad, including the General Assistants Carles Gil and József Urbán, Andrés Valencia of Rome, Ion Aranguren and Israel Cuadros of the Province Emmaus, and Grzegorz Misiura and Łukasz Fabijański of Krakow.
In his homily, Bishop László Felföldi focused on the unity of body, soul, and spirit, which is the foundation of each person’s life. He illustrated this triple unit with a three-legged chair, the most stable seat on earth. “Body, soul, spirit. They are never the same, but if one is too weak, they inevitably fall. If I stabilize only one, concentrate only on one and let go of the other two, life escapes me.” The body has been given to us by God, in which he has placed all our functions, our soul and our spirit, to serve him, to be present with him, to live with him, the bishop said.
Jesus defines the most important task and attitude by sending them to the world to teach, to live as priests. “Being an educator, the priesthood, religious vows create a unity and security in which you will always find yourselves.” But it is important that you are in it, the bishop stressed. “The knowledge, the love, the faith, the human dignity that God has given you, has not been given to anyone else, and no one else in this world can narrate it. […] The journey and the world into which you enter is a completely unknown world. No one on earth has walked this path. No one can tell you how to live it.”
The tentative step of St. Joseph Calasanz towards the first child, when he said: “I want to be by your side”, must be lived and transmitted by all the Piarists, by all the teachers, by all those who look at the children. “Never in history have children, young people, been so alone, so abandoned, so unloved as they are now. They expect a human being, a heart, to stand by their side, to help them and to unfold their destiny.”
“Let us give thanks for them and with them,” concluded Bishop László Felföldi, in his homily, “to the family and to all those who loved and helped Roland and Daniel, so that their hearts may be formed, and their lives may be realized. Welcome as friends in the great community of Christ.”
At the end of the Eucharist József Urbán read the letter of Father General Pedro Aguado. In his greeting, the General stressed that in ordination the Church gives to the ordained her most precious treasures: the Eucharist, the loving forgiveness of the Father, the Word of Life, the community of followers of Christ, the Mission and the poor. “In addition to these treasures, the Order offers you its own: the charism of Calasanz, to incarnate it; the dedication to children and young people, to live it with passion; and the challenge of being for others a priest, religious and educator as Calasanz was: living in unity this triple vocation and as generous givers. You will receive all these treasures as Piarists. Looking at Calasanz, you can see the model of the Piarist priest: always serving, given to the end, with the Lord at the center of his life, dedicated to children and young people, passionate about the Order of Pious Schools, devoted son of the Blessed Virgin, loving the poor.”
Pedro Aguado asked the newly ordained to be “people of faith and prayer; community builders; enthusiasts of evangelizing education; close to young people; free from any temptation of clericalism or worldliness; desirous of sharing with the laity the common responsibility of the Calasancy mission; desirous of being among the poor; open to the mission of the Order; committed to the renewal of the Province; eager to invite more young people into our lives and mission.”
Viktória Csapó
