(On the occasion of his ordination to the priesthood this past December in Sokode, Togo, we conducted an interview with him.)

- Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

- My name is Serge Patrick Mabou Simo and I am Cameroonian, from the diocese of Bafoussam in the district of West-Cameroon. I am the youngest in my family, the "Benjamin." After completing my novitiate and my philosophy in the Congo (DRC) and my theology in Nairobi, I came here to Sokode where I was ordained a deacon in June, 2013 and worked mostly with young people both at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish and at St. Augustine Youth Center both of which are run by the Assumptionists in the city.

- Today you are a priest. What does that feel like?

- My first reaction is to thank God for having chosen me, as St. Paul says of himself, as one "untimely born." Everything is just beginning. My work as the Lord's minister lies before me. You are certainly aware that by holy ordination and the mission that a priest receives from the bishop he is configured to Christ Teacher, Priest, and King. He takes part in His work that day by day builds up the Church here below so that it may become the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. In a world that is experiencing constant and profound changes, I know how important this mission is. All of us, His ministers, need God's grace and the constant support of faithful Christians to be effective in our ministry.

Serge, with his family and the bishop who ordained him, Most Rev. Ambroise Djoliba

- Priests don't fall from the skies. As it is said in the Letter to the Hebrews (5:1), every priest is taken from among men. Could you tell us about the background from which you came and how your vocation developed?

- It is the Lord who plants within one the desire to do something great with his life and to pursue this ideal.

I like to say that the Lord really 'harvested' me. I grew up involved in a lot of youth activities. There were a ton of possibilities open to me. Slowly I passed from being an observer to an actor in these activities. I also came to understand that if I wanted to give meaning to my life I would have to give myself fully to helping others see the real meaning of their lives.

This is how the Lord worked with me ... called me from youth activities, from being one among my peers. Yes, the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of this election, "taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins". Today as a young priest I understand well that priests live side by side with other men, as their brothers. This is just what our Lord Jesus did: Son of God, a man sent to men by the Father, he lived among us and wished to become like us, his brothers, in all things but sin. Already he was imitated by the apostles. St. Paul, the doctor to the nations, "set apart for the Gospel of God"  (Rm 1:1), states that he was all things to all men so as to save all. I am aware that by their vocation and ordination priests are, in a certain manner, set apart within the People of God; but it is not so that they might be separated from this people nor from any man, for that matter. It is rather so that they might be totally dedicated to the work to which the Lord calls them.

For I strongly believe that priests could not be the Lord's ministers unless they are witnesses and dispensers of a life that goes beyond this world and that this capacity to serve others would be impossible if they remained strangers to the everyday circumstances of others' lives. Priests must not focus their lives on this passing world even if they must live within it if they are to be good shepherds for the flocks entrusted to them and also capable of seeking out those not of the flock so that they, too, might listen to Christ's voice. They must work so that one day there may be one flock and one Shepherd.

- Do you have anything to say to your younger brothers still in formation?

- My advice flows from what was said in the previous answer. Young people in formation must be constantly trying to develop a set of qualities that will prepare them for the work with others to which they are being called, such as kindness, sincerity, moral integrity, perseverance, a passion for justice, thoughtfulness, and other virtues as well, those that the apostle Paul recommends when he says, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Ph 4:8).

- If you had a word of advice to give to those who are still searching today, especially those thinking of the consecrated life, what would you say to them?

- I would say what St John Paul II said so often, "Do not be afraid." "It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal. ."(Saint John Paul II, World Youth Day, August 19, 2000)

- And would you have a brief word for your formators?

- Thank you for helping me to confirm God's call to me, each in your own way, along the various steps of my formation and according to God's plan. You remain our formators and our brothers now in helping us to become integrated into sacramental ministry. You will help us, your younger brothers by introducing us to all the responsibilities that are now ours, accompanying us with your care, your experience and your wisdom. You will help us deal with the many pastoral problems we'll face and we will be able to share together our joys and sorrows.