Dear sisters and brothers in the Risen Lord Jesus, let me begin my reflections this morning with an experience of St. Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council. As some of you may be aware, every day of the council, the Book of the Gospel was enthroned. The pontiff once told the masters of ceremonies that he himself would like to be the one who enthroned the Gospel. They said, “No, this is a task for deacons and not for the pope, the Supreme Pontiff, or the bishops.” He noted in his diary: “But I am also a deacon, I am still a deacon, and I too would like to exercise my diaconal ministry by enthroning the Word of God.”
Another successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, would comment on Pope Paul’s observation: “Thus, this concerns us all. Priests remain deacons, and deacons clarify this diaconal dimension of our ministry in the Church and in the world. The liturgical enthronement of the Word of God every day during the council was always an act of great importance: It told us who was the true Lord of that assembly, it told us that the Word of God is on the throne and that we exercise the ministry to listen to and interpret this Word in order to offer it to others.”
My brother Cornelius, like Philip in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, you are being charged this day before God and by God to offer yourself as a Sacrament — as a manifestation — an outward sign of a living Gospel for all people to hear through the gift of Holy Orders. Having heard the call of God in your own life, you come to lay it down in diaconal service to the People of God as one devoted to serving charity, serving at the altar, and serving with the Word. As Pope Benedict notes in his first encyclical, Deus caritas est/God is love: “These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable.”
Central, then, to embracing diaconal ministry, is your willingness to listen each day ever anew to the voice of God … to what the Spirit is saying to you. How do you think Philip started his morning on the day we just heard about in our first reading? Do you think he got up and thought to himself, “I’m going to walk down the road to Gaza, meet an Ethiopian official, explain the Gospel to him, and baptize him?” Do you think he then said, “After that, I’d like to be miraculously transported to a completely different location?”
Of course not! We don’t know exactly what was on Philip’s mind that morning, but we can be sure that, as a prayerful man, he was eager to listen to and obey what the Lord might be saying to him. So as soon as he heard the angel telling him to head out, he got up and went (Acts 8:27). Because Philip obeyed that first prompting, he was in the right place at the right time for the next one: to strike up a conversation with the Ethiopian man in the chariot. And then he was able to speak to this man and proclaim Jesus to him.
So here is my challenge to you, my brother … please do not procrastinate in your daily prayer life or in responding to God’s call to announce the Gospel in the public square or to be of service to those around you each day. Remember that the heart of your response to your promise of obedience in this Ordination ceremony is to become a better listener (and responder) to the voice of God in your life. In doing so, you will find the fruitfulness of your Ordination to God’s service and have at hand what you need to accomplish the mission given to you.
Cornelius, in the Sacrament you are about to receive through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you will assist the Order of Bishops and the Order of Priests in the ministries of the Word, of the altar, and of charity – proclaiming the Gospel, preparing the sacrifice, and distributing the Body and Blood of the Lord to the faithful.
According to the local Bishop’s guidance it will be your duty to exhort believers and unbelievers alike and instruct them in holy doctrine, to preside over public prayer, administer Baptism, assist at and bless Marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and conduct funeral rites. Consecrated by the laying on of hands that comes down to us from the Apostles and bound more closely to the service of the altar, Cornelius, you are called to perform works of charity in such a way so as to be recognized as a disciple of the One who came not to be served, but to serve.
The Lord Jesus has set an example for his disciples to follow so that they could remain in his love and act in His Name. I recall the story I used at Evening Prayer on the eve of my Ordination as Bishop. It was about a soldier in the army of Alexander the Great who was brought before the great world conqueror for a court martial. When the emperor had listened to the charges and the evidence, he turned to the soldier facing condemnation and said, “What is your name?” “Alexander,” was the reply. Again, the emperor questioned, “What is your name?” And a second time, the soldier answered, “Alexander.” At this moment, the emperor roared and asked a third time, “What is your name?” And when the soldier answered, “Alexander,” the great general angrily replied, “You say your name is Alexander? You are found guilty of your crime as charged and now you must pay the penalty. Either change your conduct or change your name, for no man can bear the name of Alexander, my name, and do the things you have done.
Cornelius, as a deacon, that is, as one who ministers in the Name of Jesus — who came among his disciples to lay down his life for God’s friends: Serve the people in love and joy as you would the Lord. You will exercise your ministry committed to the celibate state: Know that celibacy is both a sign of pastoral charity and an inspiration to it, as well as a source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world. Compelled by the sincere love of Christ the Lord and living this state with total dedication, you will cling to Christ more easily with an undivided heart. You will free yourself more completely for the service of God and the human family, and minister more effectively in the work of spiritual rebirth.
Above all, my brother, heed the words of an early successor of St. Peter, Pope St. Clement who wrote in his letter to the Corinthians: “Let us, then, preserve the unity of the body that we form in Christ Jesus, and let everyone give his neighbor the deference to which his particular gifts entitle him. Let the strong care for the weak and the weak respect the strong. Let the wealthy assist the poor and the poor man thank God for giving him someone to supply his needs. The wise man should show his wisdom not by his eloquence but by good works; the humble man should not proclaim his own humility, but leave others to do so; nor must the man who preserves his chastity ever boast of it, but recognize that the ability to control his desires has been given him by another.”
In doing thus, Cornelius, may you make the deacon Jesus Christ present — representing and accomplishing the mission of his love in the Church. So that when you go out to meet the Lord on the last day, you may be able to hear him say: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”
