São Tomé, 18 March, 2024 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
The newly Consecrated Bishop for the Diocese of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Central African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe has been urged to guild his Episcopal Ministry on a life of prayer in front of the tabernacle, where he can learn to sacrifice himself for the Lord.
In his homily during the March 17 Episcopal Ordination of Mons. João de Ceita Nazaré at Our Lady of Grace Cathedral of the Diocese of São Tomé and Príncipe, the outgoing Apostolic Nuncio in Angola and São Tomé & Príncipe, Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari, called upon the new Bishop to be a shepherd after the example of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.
“For a Bishop, prayer is a necessity and not a simple devotion,” Archbishop Gaspari said, and emphasizing the need for the new Bishop to continually offer himself to the Lord in service further said, “You have to learn before the tabernacle to trust the Lord more and more and to give yourself to Him.”
He called upon Mons. Nazaré to shepherd the people of God under his pastoral care after the example of Jesus Christ, saying, “This is the vocation and mission of a Bishop, called to become the fullness of another Christ in the Priesthood, the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and offers them eternal life, the one who unites the flock, the only Good Shepherd and the only Savior, who gave Himself for our salvation.”
“As a commitment among many, with a ministry that is indispensable, a Bishop has the duty to bring people before God every day, to be a teacher of faith, charity and hope,” said the member of the Clergy of Italy’s Archdiocese of Pescara-Penne, who is set to represent the Holy Father in Korea and Mongolia following his March 2 appointment.
