Francesco Cotta became a priest. The 45-year-old from Genoa was ordained a priest by the bishop of Savona-Noli, Msgr. Calogero Marino, with yesterday’s mass, April 28, in the Nostra Signora Assunta cathedral, in Savona. With a decree the bishop appointed him parochial vicar of the Santissima Annunziata in Spotorno, where he already carried out his ministry as a deacon. The new priest will preside at his first masses on Sunday 5 May at 11am in Spotorno, on 12 May at 9am in the Santissima Annunziata Oratory also in Spotorno, on 19 May at 11.30am in San Paolo Apostolo in Savona and on 26 May at 11am in San Lorenzo Martire in Quiliano.
“I still have to ‘realize’ that I have been ordained a priest – said the presbyter – I feel gratitude for a journey that ended today but at the same time I am aware that this day is a new beginning. As the bishop told me, now I must learn to become bread broken for others, day by day, and this is the gift that God has given me for my life. There are many people to whom I say a big ‘thank you’: they are people who have supported me in these years, starting from my family up to the bishop and the priests who wanted to support me. It was exciting to see old friends around me again.”
“Today’s readings suggest two verbs to us – said Mgr. Marino in the homily -. The first, from the Gospel, is to remain, which has many variations. Sometimes we have an idea of the Church always on the move, busy, as if it were a company that had to produce. Instead it is about ‘staying’, like Mary at the foot of the Cross, remaining in the memory in which Jesus, dear Francis, accompanied you in the years of your formation. Where there is life there is also the courage to cut the dead branches, to ‘leave’. It is not possible to ‘stay’ without ‘leaving’. Remaining in the memory of Easter is the gift of today’s Gospel of John for you, Francis.”
“I would like to entrust you to the custody of the apostle Barnabas, a giant of the first Church, who takes Saul with him – he continued -. May you too learn from Barbara of the Acts of the Apostles. His gesture is the gesture of accompaniment, of care. The first Christians were afraid of Saul and Barnabas instead accompanies him into the Christian community, he who is the enemy, the unknown, the stranger. The right posture of the priest is to take everyone with him, friends and even those we are afraid of. Have the courage to take with you your brothers and sisters, those whom no one looks at and of whom everyone is afraid, the despised and the rejected, because among them someone like Barnabas is hidden.”
“The verb of the Gospel is to remain, that of the Acts is to accompany. The latter in particular is fundamental for the priest, who is not called to preach, ‘do’ and ‘get excited’ but to accompany brothers and sisters who seek the Lord, perhaps unconsciously, without thinking about it – concluded the bishop -. Sometimes we are the ones who claim to be accompanied, the priest’s charism is instead to guide everyone to the encounter with Jesus. Remain and accompany are Easter verbs, profoundly generative, vital, spring-like, which open to the future. Dear Francesco, I hope you follow them on the new path that begins for you today.”
