An Idente missionary born in Muscat, Oman and now living in Rome, Loyce Pinto was ordained a deacon on Sunday, 9 November 2025, in the parish of Our Lady of La Salette. The celebration was presided over by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the Pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome, together with four Missionaries of La Salette.
Around him stood the Idente missionaries of Rome and, above all, his family: his parents who had travelled from India, and his brother, sister-in-law and nephew who had come from Germany. Thousands of kilometres travelled to share this decisive step with him.
“The heart learns to love when it stops asking to be loved”: quoting these words of Fernando Rielo, Loyce explains, “for me they are incredibly powerful.” From this starting point he looks back on the days leading up to his ordination and on the celebration itself.
What follows is his testimony.
“Our essence is the kiss of the Heavenly Father”
During the preparation for my diaconate ordination, in the time of the retreat, there were two phrases that struck me in a particular way and on which I kept reflecting. Both come from our Father Founder. In one of them he says that our essence is the kiss of the Heavenly Father. It is this kiss that we must transmit, help grow, welcome and live throughout our lives. I feel that this is the vocation of every Christian: to recognise that we are children of God.
For me, in a special way, it was the recognition that this is what I am called to preach: the kiss of the Heavenly Father. Elsewhere he wrote that the heart learns to love when it stops asking to be loved.
For me this is something incredibly powerful, because it was only when I realised that I had been loved infinitely—even before I was born, even before I was conceived in my mother’s womb—that the Heavenly Father already knew me, loved me, and ‘kissed’ me into existence.
And in recognising that I am loved, only then can I love and transmit this love. Not continuing to search for something I already have, that I already possess, but recognising what has been given to me and sharing it with others.
The “yes” that does not change
The other phrase that touched me during the retreat is this idea that when we say ‘yes’ to the Heavenly Father, when we say ‘yes’ to Him, the Divine Persons also say ‘yes’ to us. And this ‘yes’ of the Divine Persons does not change; it remains forever, because it is an eternal yes, spoken by their will.
And so, even though I may change, the yes of the Heavenly Father and of the Divine Persons does not change. For me, it is about remaining faithful to this yes, to this relationship that the Divine Persons have established with me. It is something I must live, keep in mind, and do everything out of love for the Divine Persons, in dialogue with them.
The presence of the saints
During the Mass and the ordination celebration there was a hymn sung by the Missionaries of La Salette that touched me deeply. It said:
‘Here I am, Lord, I am weak. You know it. I trust in You.
Consecrate me. Your grace is enough for me.’A few lines, but full of truth.
And this is how it is: my whole being, my whole ministry, is a grace from God. A gift.
During the Litany of the Saints I felt strongly this gift, this awareness of the love each saint has for me. I sensed that what I was receiving united itself to the prayer of each saint in that moment: they were praying for me as older brothers and sisters, desiring that I become holy, that I reach the fullness of life. It was something I perceived deeply—beyond the words themselves.
At the moment of the consecration, I thought of how many times Christ has been present on the altar and I may not have given Him my full attention or realised it. And once again it struck me how much more I need to fall in love with the Heavenly Father and with Christ, who is there every day, present and giving Himself to me. Only by opening my heart can I receive this grace.
“Be saints and always keep your joy”
I also remember that during the sign of peace, Cardinal Reina, the vicar of Rome, said something very important:‘Always strive to become holy and always live in joy.’
For me this is fundamental: to safeguard joy. Because this is the essence of the diaconate—to serve Christ with joy, until we become completely identified with Him, becoming truly children of the Father in the Son.
And this is the path: to announce Christ, yes, but at the same time to identify with Him. This is the charism of the Idente missionaries in short: to identify with Christ and to go and proclaim Him.
🎧 Loyce shares his personal reflections on the day of his ordination:
Congratulations, Loyce: may your new ministry grow each day in that one form of authority that truly matters, the authority that is born of service and of a life that brings light to other lives.
