Five Years

I have been feeling under the weather this week, so in an effort to recover so that I could keep my liturgical and parish schedule for the weekend, I didn't post yesterday on what would have been the fifth anniversary of my ordination. What few of you follow this blog regularly already know that it is customary for me to post something regarding that anniversary when it falls. I may be a day late and a dollar short (I'm usually a dollar short anyway), I do have a few things on my mind.

In reflecting this week on 5 years of ordained Ministry, there has been a scripture in my head which has repeatedly come to mind... Micah 6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love mercy,

    and to walk humbly with your God?

If it can be said that there is one verse in the Bible which encapsulates what the entire Christian life is about from the perspective of someone who is already a believer, I have long thought that it is  this verse. Furthermore, I would go so far as to say that this verse also is a one verse description of what the diaconate is all about. The deacon is an icon of Christ the Servant, and the very essence of Christ's Ministry was the bringing of Justice and the loving of Mercy. 

It is often said by some theologians and others that the ministry of the deacon is to be a bridge (pontiff) between the people of God and the ministry of the altar, or the institutional Church. Normally I would be inclined to say that this is a very simplistic way of looking at the ministry of the deacon, since deacons are members of the clergy and are part of the hierarchy, and are thus intertwined with the very institution from which they are supposed to be a bridge to the people. However, the oversimplicity of this description does not necessarily mean that it is entirely wrong.

I have found that there are plenty of people who do, in fact, approach the deacon first on any number of pastoral issues, or even liturgical questions. This is most especially true when the issues involve marriage or family life. People often believe - sometimes correctly and sometimes mistakenly - that they will be able to talk to the deacon a bit more freely than they can speak to their Parish priest. I have been married for 18 years and have two young children, so it's easy to see why some parishioners might think they can speak more readily to me about family issues, I have to deal with some of the same ones that they do. 

One of the great joys of ministry personally for me is when parishioners ask me for a blessing, or to bless their holy reminders or holy objects. I will freely admit that I am an absolute "ham" for doing this... The reason is not because I like to draw attention to myself. (In reality, I have found that the longer I'm simply involved in Ministry, the less attention I draw to myself, and I prefer that.) Instead, I love to bless sacramentals because these holy items can be used to bring God's Grace to people in their prayers and remembrance, and I am deeply humbled and grateful to God that I am allowed to play some tiny role in helping to bring His peace and Grace to others in that way. 

Although there are many blessings to ministry as a deacon, another great personal blessing for me has been the fraternity of my brother deacons. Deacon Don Griffith and his wife Patty are the Godparents to my oldest daughter, and they and their family are fine examples, the kind of people you want your children to look at and be able to say to them "this is what a good Catholic ought to look like." I have developed wonderful friendships with many of the brothers I went through formation with, from Deacon Don and Deacon Steve Helmbrecht, who were in formation with me from the same deanery, to Deacon Scott Maentz (who is my infamous beer and conversation buddy, and on those all too rare occasions when I see him), Deacon Tom Tidwell, Deacon Steve Ratterman, Deacon Butch Feldhaus, and others too numerous to mention here, I fear if I continue to mention people I will leave too many more out.

The fellowship of Brothers is so important in Ministry, but one of the great difficulties with this is that I have found that we simply don't get to see one another very often when we actually get into the meat of life doing Ministry in the in the midst of the Church. That reality has been exacerbated, I think, by the recent pandemic, when so many things we might have done were canceled or put on hold.

I am most thankful for the support of parishioners, and the support of my wife, without whom I wouldn't be able to do this. Some wives of deacons like to be way out front, either participating directly in a part of their husband's Ministry where the world can see, or sometimes having a public apostolate of their own. I think that those are wonderful things, but my wife has always been more intent to lead from behind the scenes. She has never liked public attention, and she runs from it like the plague. There are so many ways in which she is my polar opposite, and I think that's probably what made us a good match for each other. In private, however, she will tell me exactly what she thinks, even if it is not always what I want to hear. Much of the ministry that I am able to do I'm able to do because she takes to make sure that all of my i's are dotted and t's are crossed. Some of you know that I don't drive, and in East Tennessee that often means that I rely on my wife to get me where I need to be when I need to minister to other people... So when people tell you that your wife's support for Ministry is necessary, I am living proof of that. Without my wife's support, it would simply have been impossible for me to serve.

But I am grateful that God has given me the opportunity, and every year that passes I will continue to be thankful.