On Saturday 6^th of October, at the Parish of the Body and Blood of Christ  in Rome, the Provincial Director, d. Oliviero Magnone, presided over a Eucharistic celebration during which he officially welcomed seven young men into the Initial Formation program.   With this official act, these young men enter into the time of Special Formation, which will lead them to the definitive incorporation into the Congregation.

During the same ceremony, d. Oliviero also admitted for the Sacred Orders, four other students, who have begun their first year of theology: Marco an Valerio from Rome; Enzo from the province of Palermo and Alessandro from Cesena. With this ceremony, the students receive the cassock, which is the proper cloth of the priestly ministerial office, and the church welcomes them into the specific path that will bring them to the sacrament of the Order.

During his homily, the Provincial Director recalled the text of the ten lepers who were healed.  Of the ten who had been cured, only one came back to thank God; the Samaritan.  The cure of the grateful Samaritan- one thought to be a foreigner, heretic, and enemy- is a sign that no one is excluded from the salvation given by God and that certainly we can’t bind the mercy of God.

The conclusion of the homily, given especially for the young students, was to invite them to hear the exhortation of the Master to the Samaritan; to go they as well, healed by the grace of God, to witness to the world the “mirabilia Dei”.

Text: don Benedetto Labate, CPPS 
Photos: Alberto Celani