Last evening, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Archbishop J. Michael Miller ordained the first permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of Vancouver. It was a great moment for our local Church, but also for me, since I have directed their formation since our permanent diaconate program began.
Here, with his kind permission, is the Archbishop's homily.
What a
blessed and historic day this is – and at long last! – in the
life of the Archdiocese of Vancouver: the Ordination of these sixteen men now
elected to the Sacred Order of Deacons.
Not only is this the first group of men who will serve our local Church
as permanent deacons, it is the largest Ordination ever held in our beautiful
Cathedral. Truly it is a moment of
special grace and joy for each one of you, brothers, and for your families, but
for all of us as well. We cannot but
repeat the words which marked the dawn of our salvation in Christ when the
Angel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary: “Rejoice” (Lk 1:28).
Yes, this evening we rejoice and give the Lord thanks and praise for he
is doing marvelous things for us (cf. Ps 98:1) by enriching our Archdiocese, as
he did the Church of the Apostles, with “men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of
wisdom” (Acts
6:3) to share in the ordained ministry.
Expression of Gratitude
It is
also fitting tonight to offer profound thanks to all those who, for over four
years, have been intimately involved in accompanying our ordinandi on
their journey to Ordination. Above all,
dear brothers, I am thinking of your wives and families, the domestic churches
where your vocation to the diaconate first took root – for
some of you even many years ago, and for others more recently. Yours is a “vocation within a vocation,” a new
gift and a new responsibility alongside the Sacrament of Marriage.
Often
with considerable sacrifice, they have supported your rigorous program of
formation. I wish to acknowledge their
invaluable contribution and you know – far more than I ever could – the
extent to which their steady encouragement, sometimes their forbearance, and
always their heartfelt prayer have played an indispensable role in sustaining
the “yes” you
have each given to the Lord’s call.
Married permanent deacons derive so much of their spiritual experience
and strength from living in their families.
I also
wish to express my deepest gratitude to Monsignor Greg Smith. From the very outset, he was been tireless in
putting together a superb, if demanding, formation program for the aspirants
and candidates. He has spent so many
hours beyond what could be expected of any program Director that I can only
marvel at all that he has accomplished to ensure that the permanent diaconate
is established in our Archdiocese in an exemplary fashion. Working closely with him have been many
pastors, priests and Religious, as well as the Advisory Committee, and the
administration and faculty of St. Mark’s College: all of these men and women have been
extraordinarily generous in offering their teaching, as well as their wise and
discerning counsel, at every step of the formation journey.
And, of
course, I wish to thank you, dear elect in the Lord, for imitating in your own
lives Mary’s
response to the Lord as recounted in the Gospel for this Solemnity of the
Immaculate Conception. Because you are
being ordained on this feast, you are by that very fact alone “Mary’s men,
Mary’s
deacons.”
She had
within her heart the faith and generosity to say “yes” to the call of God: “Here am
I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk
1:38). That fiat didn’t make
life easy for her. Her “let it
be” was not
only acceptance of a vocation, but also a trustful openness to whatever the
future might bring.
Today we
thank the good Lord for your “yes.” Despite
your responsibilities as husbands, fathers and professional men, you are
willing to devote yourselves to the service of God for his Church in
Vancouver. You are to be for us living
icons of Jesus the Servant, the first Deacon, who came “not to
be served but to serve” (cf. Mk 10:45). Your
ministry, like that of Jesus, is first and foremost the service of God,
expressed in the pastoral care of the people to whom you are sent.
Threefold Ministry of Deacons
Through
consecration by the laying on of hands, a practice that originates with the
Apostles, and strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit invoked upon them,
our deacons will show themselves to be servants of all and helpers of me and
the priests of our presbyterate by serving as ministers of the altar, of the
word, and of charity and justice.
Ministers
of the Altar
“As
ministers of the altar, they will proclaim the Gospel in the liturgical
assembly, prepare the Sacrifice, and distribute the Lord’s Body
and Blood.” They also “preside over public prayer, administer Baptism,
assist at and bless Marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and conduct funeral
rites.”[1] They can also officiate at Exposition and
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, conduct prayer services for the sick and
dying, administer sacramentals, and lead popular devotions.
Dear ordinandi:
whenever you will have the privilege of ministering at the Eucharist or
bringing Holy Communion to those at home do so in such a way that the reverence
with which you surround Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament may touch the hearts of
your people and deepen their faith and their trust in him.
I hope
that, with time, the Church’s rubrics for celebrating the liturgy will
become second nature to you, so that when you are engaged in the Church’s
sacramental worship, you can truly focus on drawing those you are serving into
the mystery of Christ’s love, there to experience his mercy and healing, there to be
nourished and strengthened so that they can all truly be missionary
disciples. Remember to pray before you celebrate and while you celebrate, so that your
lives may give God glory after you have celebrated the liturgy.
Ministers
of the Word
As
sharers in the Church’s mission of evangelization, our deacons will also preach the Word of
God at the liturgies, as well as be heralds of this Word by providing, among
other things, catechetical instruction, adult faith formation, and preparation
for reception of the Sacraments.
Dear
brothers: you will be able to evangelize only if you yourselves are constantly
being evangelized through your personal encounter and friendship with Jesus;
only if you allow Jesus to take ownership of your lives.
And so,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, through your prayer, contemplation and
study, cultivate a great reverence and love for God’s Word
as authoritatively handed down in the community of the Church.
Minister
of Charity
Because
the deacons’
ministry is a visible sign of the Church’s service to the world, they will dedicate
themselves generously to the works of charity and justice in the Archdiocese,
above all to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In doing so, they are continuing the ministry
of waiting on tables entrusted to the first seven deacons as recorded in the
Acts of the Apostles (cf Acts 6:2). “The
social service which they [the first deacons] were meant to provide was
absolutely concrete, yet at the same time it was also a spiritual service;
theirs was a truly spiritual office which carried out an essential
responsibility of the Church, namely a well-ordered love of neighbour. [As Pope
Benedict wrote,] With the formation of this group of seven, ‘diaconia’ – the
ministry of charity exercised in a communitarian, orderly way – became
part of the fundamental structure of the Church.”[2]
They are
to bring the marginalized to the Church and the Church to those on the
peripheries of society: the unprotected unborn, the sick, the abused, the dying
and bereaved, the deaf and disabled, those with troubled marriages, the
homeless, victims of substance abuse, prisoners, refugees, and street
people. Fostering the practice of
justice as contained in the Church’s social teaching is a duty entrusted in a
special way to diaconal ministry.
Jubilee
Year of Mercy
Dear
elect: in God’s
Providence, you are being ordained on the day when the Holy Father is
inaugurating the Jubilee Year of Mercy and is inviting the whole Church to “render
more clearly her mission to be a witness to mercy . . . [and] to live in the
light of the word of the Lord: ‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful’ (cf. Lk
6:36).”[3] In Pope Francis’s words, “the Church’s primary task . . . is to introduce everyone to
the great mystery of God’s mercy by contemplating the face of Christ.”[4]
Yours,
then, is to be a ministry of mercy: walking with people whose wounds cry for
healing; going out to seek the lost and the hopeless; lifting up those who have
fallen; helping others to find the path that God is calling them to, the
happiness that he intends for each of his children. May you always have the eyes of faith to recognize
the face of Jesus himself in the “little ones” entrusted to you.
Never
let people “forget
that God forgives all, and God forgives always.”[5] Mercy is “the beating heart of the Gospel.”[6]
Conclusion
As we
continue now with the Rite of Ordination, let us ask the Immaculate Virgin Mary
to awaken in all of us – but now especially our ordinandi – a
renewed desire for holiness: that the beauty of worship may transform our
lives, that the splendour of truth may shine forth in our words, and that the
song of charity may resound in our works.[7]
Absolutely excellent. What a great tribute to Msgr Greg for his unswerving attention to detail. Congratulations good and faithful servant.
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