This was true as well for a Franciscan friar, born in colonial Mexico, who became Mexico�s first martyr. This Franciscan died for Christ in far away Japan. His name was also Philip, or rather Felipe, Felipe de Jesus. And this is also true for the new bishop of St. Augustine who like his namesakes also suffered from a �scattering� � one that separated him from his native Cuba but never from Christ and his Church.

The exile that brought Bishop Estevez to this country as a young boy in Operation Pedro Pan was certainly an �ill wind�. But God continues to bring good out of evil, and as �Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ to them�, so too this Philip, Felipe de Jesus Estevez, has proclaimed Christ where he went � in Fort Wayne, Indiana where he first settle, in Montreal, Canada where he received his priestly formation, in Honduras when he served as a missionary priest when the doors were closed to his returning to his native Matanzas. Then, he came to Miami, first as teacher in the seminary, where I still a seminarian first met him some 37 years ago, then as a rector, associate vocation director, pastor, and spiritual director and most recently as auxiliary bishop.

Felipe, the Archdiocese is most grateful for your gentle and loving service to this local Church. You leave us � and we will miss you, as I am sure you will miss us. But this time, your leaving is not an �exile� � for this is no ill wind that carries you away from us but it is the wind of the Holy Spirit that continues to renew the face of the earth.

In your coat of arms, �two hands come from above in majestic verticality� to represent the gratuity of Jesus� mission from the Father to the world; the image also echoes the prayer: "When we were lost and could not find the way to you, you loved us more than ever; Jesus � gave himself into our hands"

You do not go to St. Augustine empty handed � The gifts � the many gifts - you have shared with us, you now bring to the Diocese of St. Augustine; but more importantly, you do not go empty handed - for in your hands, you carry Christ who loves us to the end.

In finem dilexit eos (Jn 13: 1), he loved them to the end. You chose this passage from John gospel as your Episcopal motto. As a priest and as a bishop you have been called to share in and to share Jesus� selfless love for the Church. This selfless love of Jesus for us is no more evident than it is in the Eucharistic mystery, in Jesus� gift of himself to us in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. �I am�, Jesus says, �the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.�

Blessed John Paul II wrote in Pastores Gregis: �The shepherds of the Lord's flock know that they can count on a special divine grace as they carry out their ministry as Bishops.� On the day of your ordination as a bishop, Archbishop Favalora after invoking the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prayed the ancient prayer: �Grant, O Father, knower of all hearts, that this your servant, whom you have chosen for the office of Bishop, may shepherd your holy flock. May he fulfill before you without reproach the ministry of the High Priesthood.�

As you leave us, we thank you for that ministry you exercised �without reproach� among the clergy, religious and members of Christ�s faithful here in the Archdiocese. And while you served me as auxiliary bishop for almost exactly one year, you served me well and I am grateful to you for your collaboration and your friendship as I made this transition coming back home. And, of course, as Metropolitan, I will continue to count on your collaboration and your friendship.

Bishops � just like priests � have to remember that the dioceses or the parishes entrusted to our care do not belong to us. We � like all the baptized - can say: We are the Church; but the Church is not ours � she is the Lord�s. And we bishops and priests likewise do not belong to ourselves. We belong to the Lord � and we serve him and his Church according to his will making our own the Fiat of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

Blessed John Paul II insisted that �the Bishop is called in a particular way to be a prophet, witness and servant of hope.� The culture of the �here and now� can stifle hope � and where hope is absent, faith is called into question and even charity is weakened. This is why the Easter Season calls us to a renewed hope, a hope that finds its strength in the Resurrection of our Lord from the death.

As you leave us for Northeast Florida and the Diocese of St. Augustine, be assured of our prayers for you and for your ministry as the tenth Bishop of that local Church. May you be for that Church �a vigilant sentinel, a courageous prophet, a credible witness and a faithful servant of Christ, �our hope of glory�.�