John 12:26 "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be."
This past Saturday my Dad was ordained to the Holy Order of Deacon. What a beautiful vocation, and what a joy to witness this blessed event! These past five years have been quite a journey for him, my mom and our entire family. It has been a blessing to be able to discern my own vocation as he has discerned his call to the diaconate.
“Deacons are ordained as a sacramental sign to the Church and to the world of Christ, who came ‘to serve and not to be served.’ The entire Church is called by Christ to serve, and the deacon, in virtue of his sacramental ordination and through his various ministries, is to be a servant in a
servant-Church” (usccb.org). At my Dad’s ordination, the bishop himself recalled his time as a deacon and the necessity of never forgetting that call to service that carries through every ministry he performs, even as a bishop. Each of the deacons was assigned to a parish and to a local ministry of service. My Dad will be serving at our parish and at a center that ministers to the poor in our city.
One of my favorite parts of the ordination Mass was seeing the wives of the newly ordained deacons and their support of their husbands and commitments to fidelity to their marriages. Strong marriages and families build up the Church, as does each one of us living in the center of our Catholic faith and fulfilling the call God places on our hearts daily. The bishop also stressed the need for everyone to live his baptismal call. We are all needed to bring about Christ’s mission in this world with our own unique gifts and callings. There is a purpose for each one of us.
As I saw the 9 men to be ordained lay prostrate in front of the altar for the Litany of the Saints, I could feel the power of the prayers of the Church Triumphant in heaven, interceding on behalf of these faithful sons and of all of us, that we might proclaim the Gospel with our lives and fulfill our calls to serve. May we say yes eagerly, and live authentically this call today and always! Let us thank God for this gift to the Church of 9 new deacons, and pray that they may be strengthened to serve the Church and their families in love and truth!
