Fifteenth rector/president of Assumption Seminary installed
Father Jaime Robledo, PSS
15th rector/president of Assumption Seminary
Father Jaime E. Robledo, PSS, was installed as the 15th rector/president of Assumption Seminary, on fittingly enough, the feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15, in Our Lady’s Chapel on the seminary campus. Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, celebrated the Mass at which Father Robledo made the oath of profession.“Today we celebrate the glorious Assumption of Mary into heaven,” the archbishop began. “Our patronal feast is like the bright sun of an August day in San Antonio — brilliant, almost overpowering!”
Archbishop Gustavo contrasted that with the Gospel reading from Luke, which is so natural and familiar: an older and a younger cousin – both pregnant — meet to share the joys (and anxieties) of childbirth. It could have taken place in any of our families. However, this is not an ordinary domestic scene. “The son of the older woman will close an age. The son of the younger woman will usher in the new age of salvation history. The story is also full of great mystery,” the archbishop explains. “Elizabeth and her husband had not been able to have children, but now, by the action of God, despite her old age, Elizabeth is pregnant. Mary is betrothed, but not yet married; and yet, on the word of an angel, she is found to be with child by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
God is at work — mysteriously but certainly, the San Antonio prelate continued. “The baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy at the encounter with the unborn Savior. Elizabeth is inspired to bless Mary because she recognizes her as the mother of the Lord and also, very importantly, because Mary has believed God’s mysterious words to her. Mary, in turn, sings a beautiful, inspired song about how God raises the lowly, the powerless, the oppressed — and puts down the proud, the powerful, the oppressors.”
The full gospel — the good news of God’s saving deeds — is summed up in the simple narrative of two cousins sharing their pregnancies.
“The story ends simply by telling us that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months, no doubt helping her, serving her in anticipation of her beloved Son who came ‘to serve, not to be served,” said the Missionary of the Holy Spirit. “Here is true discipleship, evangelization, and service.”
The archbishop exclaimed that Mary is an example for the whole Church, a teacher of the spiritual life, “a model I hold up to you at the beginning of another year of formation and study at this seminary named in honor of Mary’s Assumption,” he emphasized. “Let us deepen our relationship with Our Lady in deep veneration, burning love, trusting invocation, loving service, zealous imitation, profound wonder, and attentive study.”
Archbishop Gustavo concluded by imploring the help of Our Lady of Guadalupe, la Morenita, that all recommit themselves to the service of God and his people. “Let us also listen attentively to God’s word and respond appropriately,” he closed.
About Father Jaime E. Robledo, PSS
Father Robledo is a priest of the Diocese of Buga, Colombia, and a member of the U.S. Province of Sulpicians. He came to the United States in 2006 to serve on the faculty of Assumption Seminary, and he was here for five years, working as director of liturgy, spiritual director, and formation advisor. He also served as an instructor at Mexican American Catholic College and Oblate School of Theology.
He recently completed the core curriculum on bioethics to obtain a doctorate in Moral Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Linkedin
Pinterest
Snapchat
Youtube