Following the ordination to the diaconate of Deacon Rene Ramos at St. John the Baptist Parish Church in San Fernando, last July 19, 2025, the same parish church has been the locus of another ordination, this time to the priesthood, of Deacon Rexwilson Alto, of Pamukid, San Fernando. It will be recalled that Rexwilson was ordained a deacon in the same parish church last year, on July 16, 2024. He spent his diaconal year at St. Joseph the Worker Parish as an Assisting Deacon. He should have also served as formator at St. Joseph Pre-Seminary located within the same parish, but the two propaedeutic seminarians admitted for formation both left, barely a month after the formation year started, leaving the Pre-Seminary without any students. As a cleric, Deacon Rex was also appointed as Assistant Director of the Diocesan Music Ministry.
As a deacon in the second year of Vocation Synthesis, the last stage of priestly formation, Deacon Rex continued attending the course on Psycho-Spiritual Integration. It was, however, for Deacon Rex much more a period to integrate into a parish setting, solidify his identity as a cleric, and prepare for the full responsibilities of the priesthood. Notwithstanding its academic component, this stage required Deacon Rex to live and serve in a parish—thus, his assignment as Assisting Deacon in Milaor—so he could gradually realize his responsibility for the care of souls, and rehearse the skills needed for priestly ministry. On the whole, it was time for Deacon Rex to integrate into the life of the diocese and solidify his identity as one configured to Christ through ordination and as a member of the clergy.
After one year of diaconal formation, the awaited moment came on Saturday, the 26th of July, 2025. In the hands of the bishop, Deacon Rex received the sacred order of the priesthood, a gift he longed for even as a child. There is reason for Fr. Rex to feel honored and privileged but the bishop reminded him during the homily that all that priestly authority and power that come with such privilege is a shared one, not something he has merited on his own, but is bestowed simply because he has been called and chosen by the Lord.
In that moment of the laying on of hands, Fr. Rex could not hold back his tears. It may have been the fruit of unbelief and awe at having received such a precious gift, but no doubt those tears also came streaming down out of sheer joy. As the priests lined up to lay their hands on Fr. Rex and subsequently to bestow on him that fraternal embrace, the faithful watched, mesmerized, and some of them, unable to hold back their tears, were moved as well. Their eyes glowed with gratitude, and their hearts certainly–in silence–sang praises to God for having gifted the Church with another shepherd in the person of Fr. Rex.
Among those present, however, it was Fr. Rex’s parents, Exequiel and Vilma, and his sister Mary Rose, who were the very fortunate ones to have been bestowed his first priestly prayer and blessing. In the end, the faithful applauded as the Vicar General, Fr. Alejandro Besinio Jr., announced that Fr. Rex was being assigned as the new Parochial Vicar of St. James the Greater Parish in Libmanan, Camarines Sur, while retaining his previous assignment of being the Assistant Director of the Diocesan Music Ministry.
