date: 28.07.2014.
Fr. Goran Azinović celebrated on Sunday, July 27 at 11 a.m. his first Holy Mass in the church of St. James in Medjugorje. He was ordained as a priest on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in Mostar Cathedral. Fr. Branko Radoš, who used to be a parish priest in Medjugorje and is now engaged in pastoral work in Croatian Missions in Luzern. He emphasised that Fr. Goran represents parishioners of this famous parish and of our whole Croatian nation before God: “You are at the top of mount Sinai, as the parish priest said in his introduction word, as Moses before Yahweh. You are, as one spiritual writer said, the vertical line that stretches to the sky as well as the horizontal line to the final ends of the world. You are invited to speak and even more perhaps to be silent. To speak as the prophet Jeremiah spoke when everyone was objecting and closing their ears. You are invited to encourage when many are depressed, to love when many hate unfortunately. You are invited to forgive when that would ‘cost you a lot’ in your life. You were created for God and for the eternity, but do not forget, you were nothing the less created also for the present time. You were created for the other, but you are the priest because the other exists. Along with God, that other is the greatest value.” Both Provincial of Herzegovinian Franciscan Province, Fr. Miljenko Steko and the parish priest, Fr. Marinko Steko thanked for the gift of this new priest. Fr. Goran at the end said that he desires to be Mary’s priest and that means to be Christ’s – through Mary, Heavenly Mother that led him all the way until he reached his priesthood. Fr. Goran said that he is grateful to God for the gift of life and for another gift of eight other young, newly ordained priests who were at the altar, which is the great gift from God but also the fruit of many prayers.
