ARGENTINA, AICA / editorial team •
With the motto “Do whatever He tells you”, Deacon Agustín Ozcoidi received his priestly ordination this Saturday from the hands of the Archbishop of Mendoza, Monsignor Marcelo Colombo, in the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows, in the city of Mendoza. —
“Born in this Church of Mendoza, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary, in its rich network of gifts and charisms of institutions and movements, Agustín heard the call of God in the Schoenstatt family and gave his yes to the personal invitation to follow him”, explained Bishop Colombo in his homily.
At the same time, he pointed out that, “far from considering ourselves perfect, mature, fulfilled, we are always challenged to grow in the search for the will of God, to respond to him with fidelity, to give the best of ourselves, to grow in this same following of the Lord according to his plan of love”.
Ordination Fr. Agustin Ozcoidi – Photo: Instagram
A believer on the way
In this sense, he invited Agustin to recognize himself as “a believer on a journey, servant of your people and animator of their hope, aware of your own limits, ready to grow.” “Let yourself be loved by God and by his people, in all that is great and good that God wants to work through you,” he encouraged.
“I assure you of my prayer for the fruitfulness of your ministry and I ask you not to forget your Mendoza roots, those that unite you to your family and to this particular Church, to which you will return again and again with the memory of your heart, to strengthen you and evoke that first love in which you discovered the call of God”, he concluded.
The new Provincial Superior of the Schoenstatt Fathers, Fr. Pablo Pol, had expressed on the Feast of Sion the desire that the entire community of the Fathers of the region would accompany this ordination of Augustine. And from the last one to be ordained, Father Lucas Chiappe, to the oldest, Father Guillermo Carmona, almost everyone traveled to Mendoza to welcome the new priest in the community. In addition, several priests from Chile, Paraguay and Brazil joined them.
First Mass in the Shrine of the Puntilla
Motto of Fr. Agustin Ozcoidi
The following day, Sunday, April 14, Agustin celebrated his first Mass in the Shrine of La Puntilla, the place where he grew up and where his vocation was born. The altar was placed outside the Shrine and was ornamented with jars on both sides from which red and white cloths came out, symbolizing the water and wine of the wedding feast of Cana, present in the motto of Father Augustine.
The homily of this mass was in charge of Fr. Pablo Mori, who in some passages expressed: “Mary is the queen of Augustine’s heart. He received an image of the Pilgrim Virgin, which he received from a novice who many years ago did his practicum here in Mendoza, who always accompanied him, accompanied him in his novitiate and in his seminary.
And just as Mary in Cana gave him a “little push” more than a request to Jesus… starting from your Covenant of Love, Mary also gave you “little pushes” that impelled you to do great things. Blessed was the day you made the Covenant of Love! If you did so much good by being an ally of Mary, you will do much more by being a priest, a bearer of Christ.
I am this land, I am these people, I am this history… I am the fruit of the Shrine
“Providence has wanted me to be the first Schoenstatt Father from Mendoza, which is a great joy for the entire Schoenstatt Family of Cuyo,” said Agustin, who, inspired by the mountains and vineyards of his native province, chose the episode of the wedding feast at Cana as the Gospel passage for his ordination.
“To be able to serve the miracle with the small daily contribution is something that has always inspired me. The transformation of water into wine is a sign of our inner transformation. However, it is Mary who has motivated every good action in my life. Once again, I entrust myself to her to follow Jesus,” he added.
First Mass in the Shrine of Mendoza – Screenshot
Biography
Fr. Pablo Perez blesses the new priest
Agustin Ozcoidi was born on March 11, 1993, in Mendoza. The son of Ricardo and Mabel, he is the third of four brothers. He completed his primary and secondary studies at the Centro Educativo Dios Padre, a school of the Kentenich Circle of Schools. There, together with his family, classmates, and teachers, he was formed and grew in his devotion to the Virgin Mary and in the Schoenstatt spirituality.
Since he was a child, he participated in the Schoenstatt Boys’ Youth. He remembers with joy the soccer games at school, the camps, the family missions, and the leaders’ schools. With his life group “Templarios del Fuego Eterno” (Templars of the Eternal Fire), he grew in values and friendships that continue to this day.
In the last years of high school, and later in college, he discovered his priestly vocation, accompanied by Fathers Juan Pablo Catoggio and José María Iturrería. He studied psychology for three years and continued to participate actively in the Boys’ Youth; he was, in fact, branch leader and, with his friends, founded the “Via Iesum” missions and the “Alegra tu Patria” and “Los Amigos de la Calle” projects.
After a long discernment, in 2014 he decided to begin his journey to become a priest. He made his novitiate in Tupãrenda, Paraguay. The following year, he made his novitiate practice at the Dr. Humberto Notti Pediatric Hospital in Mendoza. In February 2016, he went to Chile, where he began studying Theology and accompanied the youth of the Shrine of Schoenstatt in Nuevo Belén.
From July 2018 to December 2019, he was in Córdoba (Argentina), doing his pedagogical practice and accompanying the Boys’ Youth of that province, San Juan, and San Luis, and working in the Mary of Nazareth Institute.
He did his tertianship in Schoenstatt (Germany) and, in 2021, he did a semester of mission and exchange in the Schoenstatt seminary in Ibadan (Nigeria). He then returned to Chile to finish his studies in Theology, while carrying out his apostolate at St. Michael the Archangel School.
Last year, he lived in Puente Alto, Chile, accompanying the community of the Señor de la Misericordia Chapel. He also graduated as a theologian from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and, on October 7, he was ordained deacon, together with two of his course brothers, in the Shrine of Bellavista.
Agustin is currently doing an internship in the parish of “Nuestra Señora del Valle” in Yerba Buena (Tucumán), where he will continue to serve in his new stage as a priest.
Ordination in Mendoza
El regalo del primer Padre de Schoenstatt cuyano
Fr. Guillermo Carmona, from the first course of the Schoenstatt Fathers in Argentina, shares:
Schoenstatt Fathers
The priestly vocation, like faith and love, is a treasure that God gives, but it is carried, as St. Paul affirms, in earthen vessels (1 Cor 4.7).
Hence, together with gratitude for Augustine’s vocation, we should pray for the fidelity of the one who has been graced with the gift of the priesthood. Precious things must be guarded so that no one steals them. Moreover, every treasure should retain its original beauty: the more time passes, the more precious it should look.
These days we have lived as Schoenstatt Family of Mendoza the experience of the centrality of the call, of the encounter and of love.
The priestly vocation is not a human invention, but a call from Jesus: “He went up the mountain and called to his side those he wanted. They came to him, and Jesus appointed twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach” (Mk 3:13-14).
We rejoice that even today Jesus is walking through the “Galilee” of this world, invited and waiting for a response: “As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and his brother Andrew, casting their nets into the sea because they were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him” Mt 5:18-20).
Augustine has given us some clues to understand the presuppositions of the call: Mary was the great instrument of God to sow the intrigue for the priesthood. The male youth was a propitious environment to germinate the vocation; the testimony of some older brothers in Schoenstatt and their natural family, especially their parents, who sowed the values of faith, the appreciation for the Church and perhaps for the consecrated life, also helped. The liberating presence of grace and the patient action of the Holy Spirit made the vocation mature.
To follow Jesus requires some audacity, courage, and unreserved confidence that the one who would begin the work would bring it to a successful conclusion. It also takes a lot of patience, for the road has been a long one.
In the meantime, we, the Schoenstatt Family, especially from Mendoza, will continue to accompany Agustín with our prayers. We not only ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers for the harvest (Lk 10:2), but also to accompany them very closely so that the fire of the first love is never dimmed. The gift of Jesus must always be very present: “Behold your mother” (Jn 10:27-29). It is the cry of love. Thanks to the Father of Mercy for so much kindness and caress to his children.
With material from www.aica.org and www.schoenstatt.org.ar, with permission.
Video of the Priestly Ordination of Agustín Ozcoidi (streaming recording)
Video of Agustín Ozcoidi’s first Mass (streaming recording)
Original: Spanish. Translation: Maria Fischer @schoenstatt.org
