TOMAS AGUON CAMACHO
Seventy Five Years to Thank God for Life and its Mission
(Homily delivered by His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, at the Eucharistic Celebration on the occasion of the 75th Birthday of His Excellency Most Reverend Tomas A. Camacho, Bishop of the Chalan Kanoa, on September 18, 2008, 5:00 in the afternoon, at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral, Chalan Kanoa, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands)
The Book of the Psalm says, “The span of our life is seventy years – eighty for those who are strong – but their while extent is anxiety and trouble, they are over in a moment and we are gone” (Psalm 90, 10). His Excellency Bishop Tomas A. Camacho stands today in between the ordinary and the very strong.
Growing up in a family of seven children the thirteen year old Tomas expressed to his Mama on the way to an Office one day that he wanted to become a priest. Like many impressionable mothers, aware of the way spirits hover and inspire, Mama Maria encouraged her son with prayers and inspiration to go ahead and become a priest. A Priest! A priest is all little Tomas wanted to be. And Mama was only encouraging her son to become a good priest.
That is the little that Mama and son wanted. A Priest! But it is precisely where the wonder of a tremendous God lies. With little things, great ones will surely follow. And so the young Tomas Camacho entered Father Duenas seminary. From the Duenas Seminary he pursued Theological Studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. He was faithful to the littlest of things; but he was put to the test too in little things – like homesickness – that almost derailed his further Seminary training.
Ordained priest by the late Bishop Apollanaris Baumgartner at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral in Agana, Guam, he was first assigned as Parochial Vicar in the same Cathedral. His ministry brought him to seven different parishes fulfilling different responsibilities. Different school assignments also hounded him in the Eighties.
Then, what he was not asking for when he told his Mama about being a priest (one day) finally caught up with him. The new Diocese of Chalan Kanoa was created and made suffragan of the Archdiocese of Agana (Guam). His Excellency, Bishop Tomas A. Camacho was elected to the Episcopacy and ordained the first Bishop of the new Diocese on the 13th of January 1985.
It is the teaching of the Church that “the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by Episcopal Ordination, that fullness which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers of the Church, is called the high priesthood, the summit (summa) of the sacred ministry” (CCC 1557; LG, 21 #2). In the Church the Bishop, through the grace of Episcopal Ordination, has been appointed as teacher, priest and shepherd. In this manner the Bishop is to guide the Church with the power he has received.
In the episcopacy the link between the power or authority received and the commitment to serve is sealed only by love. Thus the triplex munus or the triple duty of teaching, of sanctifying and of serving the Church cannot be expressed except only in Charity. It is no wonder then that before Our Lord Jesus Christ commissioned Simon Peter to serve the Church and to care for the flock He had to demand from Peter his own confession of love.
But unlike most covenants as between marrying couple, the promise of mutual love is not made between the shepherd and the flock. The love of a shepherd is pledged to God.
In the conversation after they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?” Simon Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus replied, “Feed my lambs.” Three times he asked, and three times He said, “feed my sheep” (John 21, 15-17). The promise of love by the Bishop is not to the people whom he serves; but to God.
There are many images in the Gospels that the Lord Jesus Christ used in order to describe the qualities of those who work for the people. “Come after me and I will make you fishes of men” (Matthew 4, 19). Why fishermen? The fishermen are tireless when they work; they will even spend the whole night only for a catch. They best describe the zeal, the dedication and the efforts of the servants of the people. Fishermen have the patience to wait for just another minute more, or cast the net again in order to get a catch of fish.
But the perfect icon to describe the servant of the people is the good shepherd. The Lord Jesus used this image for himself when He said, “I am the good shepherd, I know mine and my own know me” (John 10, 14). In Jesus Christ there is more than just an acquaintance between Jesus and the people He serves, because He compares His relationship with people He loves with His intimacy with the Father, “I know my own just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (John 10, 15). “I lay down my life for my sheep.” The Shepherd knows how, and is ready to make sacrifices for his flock.
Forty-seven years a priest, and now nearly twenty-years in the Episcopacy, Bishop Tomas A. Camacho reaches the mid-mark to a very strong life. He looks back sixty-two years ago when he told his Mama, “I would like to be a priest someday.”
But today, mother and son need not retrace their steps along the path that led to that town office. The whole Diocese of Chalan Kanoa and the whole Church will have to look back at the years behind and hear the Master say, “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; and join your master’s happiness” (Matthew 25, 21). Only God knows what greater things there are that are beyond what Tomas A. Camacho has attained.
For you of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa whom Bishop Camacho served so faithfully and well, and for us friends and brothers in the Episcopacy, let us all pray for his continued good health, happiness and enduring closeness to the Lord so that everyday of the unfolding future may yet be to our Bishop Tomas ever greater than today.
Thank you, Bishop Tomas A. Camacho. And God bless!
+ GAUDENCIO B. CARDINAL ROSALES
Archbishop of Manila
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