Eccomi is a simple word in Italian that means “Here I am” and is often used for someone to indicate his or her presence at a particular event. It is also the word those who are to be ordained say when their names are called at the start of the liturgy of ordination. Saying “Eccomi” before family, fellow Jesuits and friends was a privileged moment for a group of young Jesuits to affirm their vocation of service to God and the Church before their ordination to the diaconate.
Under the baroque splendour of the fresco of the triumph of the name of Jesus in the Church of the Gesù in Rome, 12 Jesuits from eight countries spread over four continents were ordained as deacons by Archbishop Cyril Vasiľ SJ, Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, on April 23. The Mass was concelebrated by Fr Luis Orlando Torres SJ, Rector of the Jesuit Community of Collegio Internazionale del Gesù in Rome, Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves SJ, Delegate for Interprovincial Houses and Works, and other Jesuits.
Numbered among the 12 new deacons were two from the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, Yu-Ming Stanley Goh SJ from the Malaysia-Singapore Region and Changjoon Rosario Lee from the Korean Province.
In his homily, Archbishop Vasil’ exhorted the new deacons to be firm in their life of service and to be clear that their service is not just for the betterment of lives but to focus on being bearers of the love of God. He emphasised the significance of the call as well as the love and support of many that brought them to the point where they could say “Eccomi” and encouraged them to continue to respond with great love in all that they do.
Deacon Changjoon Rosario Lee, 34, was born in Gwangju and grew up in Busan, Korea. He studied Law in Sogang University. Before his graduation, he entered the Society of Jesus in 2009 in Suwon. After the novitiate, he majored in Law, Philosophy and Religion and went on to do a master’s degree in Theology in Sogang University. He went to Cambodia for his Regency in 2015 where he worked in Jesuit Service Cambodia and in the parish in Kampong Thom for two years. After this, he began his studies in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, residing at the International College of the Gesù.
Deacon Yu-Ming Stanley Goh, 41, is from Singapore and entered the novitiate there in 2010. Prior to his entry to the Society, he read Political Science and Philosophy in the National University of Singapore and the London School of Economics before teaching in a polytechnic in Singapore for several years. After his time in the novitiate, he went to Manila for studies in Education and Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University before Regency in Kuching, Malaysia where he taught at St Joseph’s Private School. He arrived in Rome in 2016 to begin theological studies.
Watch the ordination Mass: