Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints

Fra Angelico, “The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs” (c. 1423-24)

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
 1 John 3:1-3
 Matthew 5:1-12a


Today's feast day and holy day of obligation is a reminder to us all just what it is that we are called to be, and where we are called to make our ultimate destination. We know that the Church has quite literally canonized many thousands of Saints whose feasts have found their way into various places on the ecclesiastical calendar. For most of us, in our own time we have had the honor and the pleasure of seeing many great Saints recognized by the Church, and their holiness correctly placed as an example for all of us to follow. Most recently, we have seen the canonization of Saints John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and John Henry Cardinal Newman. Many of us have seen other great Saints canonized in our lifetimes, and these events have rightly made headlines in both the religious and secular world.


The Church officially declaring someone to be among the Canon of the Saints, however, is merely an official recognition by the church that this person lived a life with and for Jesus Christ and in His companionship and friendship, and as a result of that, the Church can officially declare because of the evidence, that this person is among the saints, they are among the holy who are in Heaven with God.

Not every saint will be canonized, however. The reality is that most will not. The reason for this is because being a saint is not some special dignity conferred upon someone by the Church after they are dead-that's merely a recognition of the obvious. Being a saint of God is what you and I are called to be right now, in this life, among our neighbors in the world today. A life of Holiness-a life of saintliness-is the life of a Christian. The Latin word for saint, sancte, literally translates as "holy," and the early Christians understood that this kind of holiness is what should distinguish all Christians. "Saint" is what they called one another.


In more than one of St Paul's Epistles, he refers to the believers in Christ as "the saints." St Jude, in his General Epistle or Catholic epistle, calls on believers to "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." (cf. Jude 1:3) When the Lord spoke to Ananias and told him that Paul was coming to see him, his first reaction was to say "Lord I have heard how much evil he man has done to your Saints at Jerusalem…" (cf. Acts 9:13) in the epistle to the Romans, Paul tells believers to "contribute to the needs of the saints." (cf. Romans 12:13) When Paul is warning fellow Christians against filing lawsuits against each other, he tells them that it is better to go before the saints then before the law of the unrighteous. (1 Corinthians 6:1) He warned the Ephesians against immorality because that is not behavior befitting saints. (cf. Ephesians 6:18) The writer to the Hebrews tells the Christians in Palestine to greet their leaders "and all the saints." (cf. Hebrews 13:24) To the early Christians, being a saint, holy one, wasn't just something that the Church recognized of people after they died-although that absolutely did happen-but being a saint and living as one is something that all Christians are called to be and to do. If the apostles were here with us today, they would refer to us as saints, that is how they referred to their fellow believers.


Pope Saint John Paul II wrote and spoke repeatedly about the universal call to Holiness. That great Pope understood that Holiness is the call of every single Christian, it's not only reserved for a few, and certainly not only for those that the Church has officially recognized for their sanctity. Indeed, those people whose sanctity the Church has officially recognized are simply a sampling of the Holy people that have graced the lives of many through the centuries. Those who the Church recognizes in an official way seem to be a great number to us, but there have been many others who truly lived their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ and the spread of his Gospel message, many people who live the Christian Life in such a way as to be an example to those around them, but who may not be well-known to their local bishop or to the authorities of the Church.


 The book of Revelation refers to the number of the Saints as a number which no man could number, and so even taking into account Jesus' admonition to us that the gate to Heaven is narrow and few will find it, we know from Sacred Scripture itself that many people have made it to Heaven over the centuries whose names are not known to us, but they are saints nonetheless. These people lived out their baptismal call to Holiness as best they understood how to do it, and they lived their lives for Jesus Christ as we are all called to do.


Sainthood is not merely for those who are publicly declared by the church to be Saints, as great an honor as that is, and as much as those who have been so declared certainly deserve it. Sanctity is what we are all called to live as followers of Christ.


 This feast is the feast for all of those people which Sacred Scripture mentions who are part of the Kingdom of God, part of the Church triumphant in Heaven, but we will never find their names on the Church's calendar. In our hearts and minds, we might have some inkling of who some of them are, but none of us are in a position to say that for sure, but God knows each one of them by name, and today we honor them, today is their feast day.


It is a day for all of us as well, a day for us to be reminded of our call to live and be Saints. If we live as a friend of Christ, if we serve Him, if we are living the sacramental life, if we are striving to live out the call of God in this world today, the apostles call us saints. Let this great feast with a reminder to us of our baptismal call to live out the Holiness of Jesus Christ in our every day life.


 Holiness is not just for priests or deacons or bishops, and it's not just for those whose causes are approved by the congregation for the causes of saints, people who were and are holy before God, but can seem distant to us because we fail to see that all of them were recognized because they did exactly what we were called to do. According to their state in life, they lived the call to holiness.


 To quote the late Mother Angelica, "we are all called to be great Saints, don't miss the opportunity!"

Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Amos 6:1A, 4-7
1 Timothy 6:11-16 
Luke 16:19-31


We are not told that the rich man in Jesus’ parable didn’t believe in God, or that he lacked faith, or that he didn’t observe the letter of the law of Moses himself. What we do learn about the rich man is that he has one of the worst problems that any professing believer in God, any professing Christian today can have, and that is the problem of indifference. The rich man was obviously indifferent to the plight of Lazarus who was at his gate, but even more, it is clear that while he was alive, this man had no fear of God. Why can we say that? He saw Lazarus all the time out at the entrance to his property, and he chose to ignore the situation. This is not only an illustration to us from Jesus that we should not ignore the poor and the helpless and should be keen to lend them a hand up, it also represents a flagrant violation of repeated commands of God not to ignore the cry of the poor.



Indifference may be the greatest tool of Satan to bring the greatest number of people into Hell. The Devil isn't worried about the hardened sinner, the unrepentant murderer, the unrepentant adulterer, the unrepentant criminal, the atheist who violently renounces the faith (out of spite against God), a phenomenon we see more and more of today. Satan already has these people, those who have turned away from God in a very public way. He doesn't have to make any effort to try to get them, Jesus is the one who gave his all to bring those people to repentance, and it is the Lord who makes the effort to pursue the hardened sinner. Instead, the Devil has to make an effort to lure the decent and the reasonable people into the Kingdom of Darkness, and indifference is how he does it. The rich man in Jesus's parable is a classic example of how indifference can ultimately send someone to Hell.



Nowhere are we told that the rich man was a personally bad individual, or that he treated members of his own family or his friends with such a lack of care or concern. We are told, however, that while he was eating and drinking well, and while he was well clothed and all of his needs were provided for, there was a need in front of him, a man who was his neighbor. To Lazarus and to his needs, the rich man was indifferent.



Because this was a parable of Jesus, we aren't told much about the rich man's personal life. However, because of the way things worked in 1st Century Palestine, we could probably glean that such a rich man was a Jewish person who was probably at least outwardly observant. That could mean that he went to the synagogue or to the Temple on a regular basis, and certainly for Holy Days and the Sabbath. He would certainly have paid his Temple tax and given the expected alms to the poor, and likely a sizable donation to the Temple treasury. His friends and family likely would not have seen him as anything other than "a good Jew," because that would have been what was accepted in that day and time for someone of that kind of status.


But as men see on the outward appearance, God sees on the heart (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7), and more than anything else it was the rich man's indifference to Lazarus and to the sin of failing to love his neighbor as himself which is what sent the rich man to Hell. (A note here… some of you may remember that a couple of years ago we had Father Stephen Imbarrato here, and he gave a wonderful Parish mission. In one of his talks he suggested that the rich man in the Gospel today might be in purgatory. I'm going to respectfully disagree with him, every decent commentary I have found places the rich man in Hell).


It should stand as a warning to all of us. God does not wish to send anyone to Hell, even Sacred Scripture tells us that much. Going to Hell is not in God's will for you, it's not in God's will for me, and despite what some of our ultra-Calvinist friends may think, it's not in God's will for anyone's life. (cf. 2 Peter 3:9) But God is both a wonderful father and wonderful friend, he doesn't force anyone to love him and he doesn't force anyone to keep His commandments… however, we are repeatedly warned that there are consequences if we don't keep His commandments. These are not consequences that he heaps upon us out of vengeance, but the consequences of failing to follow God are the results of the choices we face in life and the choices we make. The most dangerous choice of all is the choice of indifference. Indifference to our sins, yes, but also indifference to the things of God and to the plan of God.


God created us, and God loves us. He loves us enough to respect the choices that we make. If we choose to live a life without God (something that is possible to do even if you put up the front of coming to Mass on Sunday), we are the ones who have made the choice, and we've made it for eternity.


How can we make the right choice? We have the tools in front of us, we have the teachings of the Church, we have Sacred Scripture, and we not only have the Sacraments, but if we want to be right with God, and if we choose to accept the Graces that God wants to give us through the Sacraments, He will give us the Graces to live the kind of life that he expects of us to live (and part of that means not being afraid of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God loves a repentant sinner).



But we can make the wrong choice as well, and that's entirely up to us. We can choose to be overly concerned with the things of this world, with our own self-enrichment, with our own pleasure and the things which please us. We have the choice to concern ourselves with getting by from day-to-day in this world with little concern for the next. So many people do as Saint Paul described, they have the form of religion, but deny the power thereof (cf. 2 Timothy 3:1-5).


 The Holy Spirit has given us everything we need to succeed in the Christian Life and to win the race. Do we avail ourselves of those tools? Not only coming to Holy Mass on Sunday but also on holy days of obligation? Are we people of Prayer? Do we pray the Rosary? Do we pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Do we pray the traditional prayers of the Church? Do we remember those who have asked us to pray for them? Do we read our Bibles? Study our Catechism? Do we make an active effort for intimacy with God because we love him?


The rich man asked Abraham to go to his brothers and warn them of the torments of an eternity without God, and Abraham reminded him that they had all they needed in this life right now to avoid the torments of Hell. "They have Moses and the Prophets, let them look to them." "But if only they could see you, Father Abraham and you warn them, they will believe."


"If they will not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone should rise from the dead." Someone did rise from the dead, that is why we are here, and we have two thousand years of the Church's Magisterium to guide us. Don't be like the rich man or his brothers...

Preach the Word In and Out of Season

I recently read an article in First Things entitled "Fear of the Word." In this piece, Hans Boersma, who is a professor of theology, says that many of his students are afraid to preach, and the part of the reason for this is because they have become so steeped in what is today known as the historical-critical method of Scripture Scholarship that they are afraid of preaching texts the "wrong way." The Church has teachings which we are duty-bound to uphold, and that is especially true for those of us who are ordained. A huge part of these teachings revolve around Scripture, and there are many texts of Sacred Scripture about which the Church has traditional teachings, many of which are not at all very popular today.

One reason why Boersma says that many of his students are afraid to preach is because they see the Word of God as something historically distant from them. I find that a lot of Catholic priests and deacons are caught up in trying to do historical exegesis of the text, and as a result of this they don't want to even tackle the theological and doctrinal meaning of a text, and the Church teaches that the Scriptures have a theological and doctrinal meaning. Boersma rightly points out that the best thing we can do is follow the Tradition of the Church when it comes to the hermeneutics and exegesis of Sacred Scripture, and that means that the first thing we should look for is Christ in the Scriptures.

Sacred Scripture often presents us with surprisingly clear doctrinal and theological exegesis right in the text. Those of us who are charged with preaching the Word of God should not be afraid to proclaim it when the Scriptures present us with plain meaning. Often, we become so concerned with "applying the Scriptures to daily life" when we preach that we forget to apply the Scriptures with clarity to explain what we believe. Failure to do this adequately leads to people in the pew who say "I've been going to Mass all my life and I've never heard anyone say that the Church believed that." I have lost count of the number of times that I have heard that statement or something like it from well-meaning people who were stunned to learn some aspect of Church teaching which is a bread-and-butter part of our faith.

If you don't believe this is a widespread problem, consider the most recent studies on the matter of whether or not Catholics believe in the Church's basic teaching on the Eucharist. Depending upon which of these surveys you believe, somewhere between 1/2 or as many as 2/3rds of Catholics surveyed do not believe in the Church's teaching on the Eucharist, that when the bread and wine are consecrated during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that they become the Body and Blood of Christ, really, truly, and substantially, retaining only the outward appearance (or accidents) of bread and wine. This is bedrock Catholic teaching, yet so many professed Catholics don't believe it or (as much, or more likely) can't explain it.
 

All Christians are called to spread the Gospel, but the People of God can't do that effectively if they can't explain the Gospel. The reason that many of them cannot effectively explain the Gospel is because many of those in charge of preaching the Gospel have not done so with effectiveness.

The statistics I cited above are such that all of us who are charged with preaching and teaching in any way must treat ourselves as though we are at least partially responsible for the problem.

A number of years ago, Father Bill Casey of the Fathers of Mercy hit on the real source of the difficulty we face in a talk that he gave to priests.

When Father Casey speaks so strongly against superficial preaching, he is hitting at the heart of the problem, I believe. I've heard many people, many of them very good people, actually make the argument that the homily is not the time for catechesis or teaching, or even worse, that the homily is not the time for controversial topics. The real problem with both of those suppositions should be painfully obvious.

First, while it is vitally important for there to be multiple opportunities presented at the parish level for continuing education in the Faith (and certainly in our parish we try to make those available, including FORMED, which I cannot recommend enough) not everyone is going to avail themselves of the opportunities made available. Yes, there are always going to be some who are spiritually lazy, but very often what happens is that even the very best Catholics get caught up in the business of daily life.

I can speak to this personally, as someone who is both a deacon and a husband and Father, it is only by God's grace (and a supportive wife and pastor, both gifts from the Lord) that I am able to fulfill both of these rolls. There are many days that I do not know how it is that I have managed to maintain a prayer life, but I manage to do so. I would write much more on this blog and in other outlets because I know that this ability is part of the gifts that I have been given, but I do not have the time to do as much as I would wish. This reality has given me new empathy for those who have very little time to themselves for time with God. For many of those people, that means they are going to have very little time for the frequent opportunities of parish life.

That makes the Sunday homily extremely important for a lot of people, because for a great many of them, that homily is going to be the only teaching they get all week, it should be preached well and with clarity, presenting the truth of Church teaching, hopefully in a way that the People of God can understand and take home with them.

The notion that we should not present controversial topics in a homily seems rather silly when we consider the reality that we are conformed to Christ both as believers and (for those of us who are ordained) in ordained Ministry, and Jesus hardly avoided controversy. The Gospel, when properly preached and understood, is going to be controversial, especially in today's culture. There are going to be some people who do not like it when the truth of the message is fully presented. Does this mean we should aim for controversy every time? No, but we should also not avoid dealing with difficult texts of Scripture and the difficult issues those texts often present.

As St. Paul said to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:1-4):

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.


The primary purpose for the Church in this world is the salvation of souls. It is critical, then, that the Gospel be preached with love and charity, but also with clarity, and without fear.

Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Genesis 18:20-32
Colossians 2:12-14
Luke 11:1-13



Today the Lord gives us in these readings examples of the ultimate prayers of petition, and the Church is also showing us that God is both perfectly merciful and perfectly just. In the first reading we see Abraham petitioning the Lord shortly before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham does not tell the Lord that what he is about to do is wrong or unjust. Abraham knows better, he's aware of the wickedness of the cities of the plain. Instead he asks the Lord repeatedly if he would spare the city if righteous people could be found there.


First this petition begins with 50 righteous, then 45, then 40, and then 30, and then 20, and eventually Abraham whittles it down to 10 and the Lord agrees to spare the whole place for the sake of ten righteous people. We may get the impression here that Abraham had to somehow convince God to spare Sodom if he could find these righteous people, but the truth of the matter is that God is God, if he would spare the place for 50 righteous and agree to spare the place for 10, he would spare the place for 10 all along. As it was, he could only find the family of Lot to be righteous, and we know from Sacred Scripture that that wasn't quite good enough to save the cities of the plain.


I have always believed that if the Lord could find one righteous person within Sodom and Gomorrah other than the family of Lot, he may very well have spared the place for the sake of just one. The reality of this passage is that Abraham was willing to plead for the life of these evil places and the people within them, and God was listening. He was willing to spare the life of the cities of the plain. We don't often speak enough in our present culture of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and what led up to it. There is so much wickedness in the sight of God in Western society today-evils that are not only tolerated but praised-that it is easy to look at our culture and say that we deserve the same fate...


However, it's also easy to forget that before God put Sodom and Gomorrah literally upon the ash heap of history, he was willing to spare the whole place for the sake of ten righteous people. It gives me much hope for our country that this was the case. Will we be like Abraham was in pleading for the life of Sodom, and plead with God for the life of our country and our culture?


In the second reading from Colossians Saint Paul reminds us that we do not deserve God's mercy or his forgiveness but in baptism he freely gives it to us. St John the Apostle and Evangelist reminds us that when we do sin we have an advocate with the Father (cf. 1 John 2:1-3) and that is exactly why the Sacrament of Reconciliation is so important. God said to Abraham that he would spare Sodom for the sake of ten righteous people, he didn't say that he would spare Sodom for the sake of ten sinless people, that is impossible. One of the things that truly marks someone who is righteous before God is not that they are without sin, it's that they recognize sin when they commit it for what it is, and they sincerely beg God for forgiveness and promise to amend their life. There's no such thing as private sin, there's no such thing as sin that does not affect others in some way. The mark of the righteous person is the one who acknowledges that reality and who is willing to go and seek the forgiveness of God and the Church. (May the Lord give us all that Grace!) The very Grace of our baptism guarantees that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.


In the Gospel Jesus is reminding us not so much that our prayers will be answered if we annoy God, but really that he values and hears our prayers. He understands whether or not our prayers are truly sincere. As Jesus said, if the wicked are willing to give their children good things that they ask for, how much more is God willing to give to us, to his children who ask in sincerity and in truth. Jesus is reminding us of something that Scripture tells us in many different ways repeatedly, that "the effectual and fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much." (cf. James 5:16) Scripture gives us many examples of this, but if we look hard enough most of us can see it in our own lives. God has not left us without, he does hear our prayers. He does answer them, perhaps not always in the way that we would want, but he understands the desires of our heart, and those desires which are holy and good, and he knows how best to achieve them.


Perhaps the holiest kind of prayer to God is the kind of prayer where we are pleading for the sake of others, not merely ourselves. It's why the prayer of the mother or the father who are praying for their children to come back to the faith is particularly precious to God. It's why the prayer of the brother or sister or husband or wife for their lost sibling or spouse who needs to come home to the Church is particularly precious to God. This is the reason that the sincere prayer, made in Love, by a sincere believer, for a lost world and for a nation gone astray is especially precious to God. Yes, God hears these prayers, and he answers them with compassion.


Abraham's pleading with God in the first reading is the classic example of that. God listened to Abraham, God heard him with compassion, and God was ready to grant his request. There is a very serious lesson here, however. God's answer to Abraham's prayer is not what Abraham wanted. Abraham wanted God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, but God did not. God did not find the righteous people there that he told Abraham that he would look for. In the end, the cities of the plain were destroyed because of their sin.


Yet God was willing to spare this place in his Mercy, and he hears our prayers for our loved ones who have strayed from the practice of the faith, or perhaps haven't come to it yet. Almighty God is perfectly just, but he is perfectly merciful as well. We may not always get the answers we want, but if we ask God in sincerity and listen for His will, and not our own, the Lord will give us an answer to our prayers.

Disability and the Life of the Church

A recent discussion of which I was a part on a closed social media forum centered around the difficulty that one young person had when attempting to attend one of Franciscan University of Steubenville's "Steubenville Conferences" aimed at Catholic youth. Until this discussion, I had never heard anything but good about these Steubenville Conferences. The reports that I have seen and heard are those of young people who come away with a reinvigorated faith, one about which they are very excited.

The social media discussion centered around a blog entry about a recent Steubenville Conference in St. Louis. At that event, a person with a disability who was confined to a wheelchair was apparently segregated from her peers, overnight accommodations were simply not accessible to her, and the local staff were unprepared for dealing with the basic needs of a person with a disability who might wish to attend the conference.

I am always inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt in a situation where it is the first time they might have had a person with a disability attend a given event. It is not a scenario that many are familiar with if they don't have to deal with it every day. I understand that because I live with a disability every day, it's very easy for me to grow impatient, and sometimes intolerant, of a world that doesn't know what that is like. I often find that I need to become more patient and a lot more understanding, as this is what Christ himself would do.

My understanding tends to run out, however, when people have had repeated experiences and chances dealing with those who have disabilities, yet they continue to fail in taking the needs of the person with disability into account. Such was the case with the young lady described in the blog entry, which had been written by her mother. She had been to a Steubenville Conference the year before, and had a serious problem with accessibility and inclusion at the conference. The conference organizers apparently failed to make the necessary changes, not only to include this young lady in an appropriate way, but to accommodate any others with disabilities who might wish to attend. The situation left the girl so demoralized that she told her mother that when she grew up she did not think that she would be Catholic anymore. "I believe what the Church teaches," she said "but I don't think they want me."

It needs to be made clear here that the problem described above was not the fault of Franciscan University of Steubenville but of the local organizers of the conference described. Even so, it points to the great difficulty in the life of the Church of including those who have disabilities as fully as possible within the ecclesiastical community. Here was a young lady who is interested in the things of God, believes in what the Church teaches, and she wants to be a part of it, but she has felt that nothing but obstacles have been put in her way. Her mother, who wrote the blog entry, expressed frustration that their family had spent years attempting to make accessibility and inclusion a priority in their parish and their local diocesan Church, and they apparently didn't meet with much success.

When one soul is threatening to leave the Church not because they have lost faith, or because they no longer trust our leaders, or because they no longer believe what the Church teaches, but because the Church that they are ready to embrace does not, they believe, wish to have them be a part of the body of Christ, that is a failure of epic proportions. During the social media discussion I was disheartened that some were attempting to defend what was described to have happened. There is no defending causing a young person to be so disheartened in their faith that they feel that their Church, whose teachings they firmly believe in, does not welcome them.

I have been extremely blessed in my brief time in formation and now in ordained ministry that I have never felt as though I was an afterthought. If anything, I can honestly say that many of my brothers have gone out of their way to encourage me and include me in ways that I never would have expected them-or anyone else-to do. I learned from the bishop shortly before I was ordained that he "never hesitated" in his decision to allow me to enter into diaconate formation.

I never presumed that I had the right to be ordained, as Sacred Ordination, although it is a Sacrament, is a privilege and not a right. Throughout the entire time of my formation, I remember taking the attitude that at any time I must be fully prepared to walk away and fully prepared to understand that this may not be what God was calling me to. However, I was given the complete freedom to discern the Lord's call on my life, and when I came to see that the Lord was calling me to the diaconate, I was assigned to a parish where I was wanted and a pastor who was determined that I should carry out all the parts of the Ministry of the Church which a deacon may validly and licitly carry out. I am eternally grateful to all of the people who have been determined that should be as able as anyone else to follow God's call. I am grateful to the Lord for a bishop who wanted me, and a pastor who encourages my Ministry.

This doesn't seem to be the case with everyone who has a disability in other places throughout the Church in our country, but it ought to be. Whatever the Lord's call on a person's life might be, whether that is to priesthood, diaconate, consecrated religious life, or the life of a vigorous and active member of the People of God in their local Church, I think that other people with disabilities should be afforded the same opportunities for faith enrichment, faith formation, and the discernment and living out of their vocations that has been afforded to me.

I am well aware that when I assist in the sanctuary during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, in all reality, I violate principle number one of how the clergy should conduct ourselves at the Mass. We should never draw attention to ourselves, but it is inevitable that I will draw attention to myself, as I stick out far worse than a sore thumb. Yet I always pray that in this capacity the Lord might use me as a blessing to other people. Perhaps one way a blessing might be for that young person with a disability who visits one day while I'm assisting at Mass might see me and think "maybe God is calling me to do that, or something like it, and if that bozo can do it, I can too."

More Deacons Could Be a Great Blessing

From time to time, those of us who are real "nerds" for ecclesiastical discussion will encounter someone, either in person or in an online discussion in one of the many Catholic forums available on the internet, who will make an argument similar to this. "There is a shortage of priests. Yet Bishop N. ordained 10 new deacons last week. The Church should not ordain as many deacons, it is undermining the priesthood."

I happen to believe that many of those who make this argument make it in very sincere good faith. They see that in many dioceses in our country and the developed world, the number of priests is in decline. Yet, by all appearances, the number of deacons appears to multiply. There are many people who believe that because deacons may be married before their ordination, and thus as married men while also receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders, that many of the men ordained to the diaconate might have chosen the priesthood if being a married Deacon had not been an option. Deacons are not necessary, some argue, because "everything that a deacon can do, a lay person can do."

While I understand these arguments, I think they fail to take into account some critical realities of the diaconate and of the formation and life of deacons. Furthermore, the last argument is false from a liturgical point of view.

We are blessed in the Diocese of Knoxville to have both a growing presbyterate and a growing diaconate. We currently serve 73,000 Catholics with 85 priests and 78 deacons, with more priests and deacons on the way. It cannot be said that we have a shortage of priests here, we do not, at least not in the sense that is usually meant. We have one of the highest priest-to-parishioner ratios in the country. However, I am not of the opinion that there is such a thing as too many priests, or too many deacons.

Many of those who make the argument that bishops might ordain 10 or 15 or 20 deacons in a given year, but they might only ordain one or two priests, therefore this must be some evidence that the diaconate is undermining the priesthood, often fail to understand the nature of the formation of "permanent" deacons. Most classes of deacons begin together, are all formed together for anywhere from 4-6 years (usually), and then are ordained together. On the other hand, seminary formation can be much more staggered, so all of the men in formation will not be ordained together. Furthermore, many dioceses do not have their own seminaries and must send their seminarians elsewhere, whereas most classes of deacons remain together and are formed together. When the time comes to ordain the deacons, there will be more of them ordained by default.

Many of those who make the argument that the ordination of more deacons somehow undermines the presbyterate hold to the notion that men would deliberately forgo a called vocation to the priesthood in order so that they could marry, and then later become deacons. I've actually heard that argument from some people, and I have to ask how familiar they are with the screening process in their diocese for potential candidates to the diaconate. I know that both myself and my wife had to undergo a psychological evaluation,  and that was after an initial recommendation from one of the two priests in my parish at the time. It also followed a pretty extensive application process. I'm pretty certain that a man who was simply seeming to have ditched the seminary would likely not be accepted into formation in our diocese.

It is true that there were a couple of former seminarians in my class... That's two out of a class of 24, and by the time these men were ordained, they were many years removed from seminary life, they had raised families and had grown children and established careers, and I have to say that I got the distinct impression that this wasn't exactly something they thought about doing years ago. It seems to me that like many of us, the call to the diaconate came as something of a surprise that they didn't expect to happen.

So how could ordaining many more deacons be a great blessing to the Church? I think that it must be understood that a deacon's roll is to be a servant, as deacons are ontologically conformed to Christ the Servant. This also means that deacons are members of the clergy and should be treated as such. I'm very blessed to have a pastor who respects his deacons and invites us to work closely with him. A large part of the way in which more deacons could be a great blessing is that more deacons could lead to the elimination of a common liturgical abuse in the Ordinary Form...

Many parishes utilize Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion not only to bring Holy Communion to the homebound (an extremely vital and important Ministry even in parishes with plenty of deacons), but increasingly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I have been in many parishes where I have seen 6, 8, 10 or more Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion distributing Holy Communion at Mass. It is rarely necessary to have as many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion during Mass as some parishes utilize. Extraordinary Ministers are supposed to be just what the name implies-extraordinary. Only to be utilized when needed, and not to be preferred over an Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion, a priest or a deacon. In fact, when there are enough deacons in the sanctuary, there should not be as many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. 

This is not to denigrate or disparage the ministry of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Before I was ordained, I was an EMHC, but I understood that in the context of the Holy Mass, I was to be used in cases of real necessity, not mere convenience. 

Having more deacons in a parish should diminish the need for the use of many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion during Masses, and restore the proper role of the clergy as the primary Ministers and administerers of the Sacraments. To those who would say that this is somehow clericalism, I would answer that it is not clericalism to say that the clergy should be doing the job of the clergy! The laity should be answering the exalted call of being the People of God in the Church and the world. For some, this does mean that being Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion is part of their apostolate. That's awesome, but they're still Extraordinary, and not Ordinary. The Ordinary Ministry of Holy Communion involves the laying on of hands from the bishop.

I am very blessed to serve in a small parish that enjoys a priest pastor, another in residence, and four deacons. Three of us deacons have children or grandchildren in our home. It is wonderful knowing that there are four of us plus the priests, because many hands make for light work. It is also a tremendous help knowing that your brother deacons are there to help when you need to be away for whatever reason. It also means that more Ordinary Ministers are doing their ordinary liturgical jobs.

For more deacons to be a blessing, however, three things need to happen, and two of those are entirely the responsibility of the deacon or potential deacon.

1. Don't be ashamed to be corrected or afraid to learn. The formation of deacons and the emphasis of that formation varies wildly from diocese to diocese. There is little uniformity in the formation of deacons because the canonical requirements that are specific about the formation of deacons are very minimal. The only thing that canon law says about the formation of deacons is that there must be a program of formation (CIC 1031 §3) and that no deacon is to be ordained without undergoing an appropriate program of formation. What that constitutes is not canonically defined.

I went through five and a half years of formation and I think that our formation was very well done, yet even before it officially ended, I knew that there were going to be some things that I had to learn once I was actually ordained. When I began real service in a parish is when I began to learn the things I didn't know. I was only able to do that by willingly taking correction, and being willing to be chided on occasion.

Even more importantly, however, I take advantage of all kinds of opportunities for continuing education to learn more. Our diocese requires that we undergo some continuing education each year. We have mandated meetings for this purpose in our diocese once or twice a year, and sometimes more. However, I constantly seek out ways to expand my own formation, because formation never really ends. I utilize online lectures and courses from The Institute of Catholic Culture and the Augustine Institute, and I read publications online and in print which help me in my preaching and teaching in my ministry such as Homiletic and Pastoral Review or The Adoremus Bulletin. 

In addition, I am very blessed because my pastor has an extensive library of books, many on theological, ministerial, pastoral, or liturgical topics. He's always ready to lend me books whenever I might need them, or recommend a book or two to read that could help me along. I have found this to be invaluable to me. If other deacons read this and have a great relationship with their pastor, they might consider asking what their pastor recommends that they can do or what they can read in order to further their continuing formation so that they can best serve their parish and their people.

Father Patrick Resen and myself with our 2017 First Communicants

2. Make yourself present and available. A priest that I know who is not in our diocese once complained that he had a deacon who always seemed to have better things to do then to be at the parish on a weekend. He would ask him to do something and would learn that the deacon was going to be out of town, or had this obligation or that one. Obviously, I only heard about this story second hand, but I've heard similar tales from others, too.

It is absolutely true that for those of us who are married as well as ordained that we were married first. I think every one of us in that situation understand we have a duty to our wife and family that those who are unmarried do not have, and the Church understands this, and our pastors and parishioners must understand it as well. An older deacon that I highly respect once told me that if your family life is not in order and your situation is not right at home, it's going to be reflected in the way that you carry out your ministry, so we cannot dismiss or take lightly our duties to spouse or family, or our own need for refreshment and relaxation.

However, it is also true that when you are ordained, you agree to a lifelong commitment to the Church that is every bit as important as your commitment to your wife and your responsibilities as a Father and the head of your home. That means that you owe your pastor, your parishioners, and your ministry a good portion of your time, but that is especially true on Sunday. 

My pastor invites his deacons to assist in the sanctuary at whatever Mass they might like to or be available, not simply the ones which we are scheduled for. This is purposeful. He doesn't care if he has one deacon, or two deacons, or three, or all four of us at one Mass. Why? We are Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and this is a part of our ministry in the Church, a part of our ordained charism. As a result, I try to make myself available to assist at Masses more than merely when I am scheduled. Whenever I have done this, I have yet to feel as though I were unneeded or in the way.

I also have tried to make myself available to assist my brother deacons when they need a hand. "David, can you fill in for me on this date?" "David, can you preach for me this weekend?" Unless I am simply in a position where I cannot do it, I try very hard to agree to these kinds of requests. This is because it comes back to me when I have needed it. Last year I went through a time when I fell extremely ill for a prolonged period. I had to be away from the church for several weeks. Because I had made myself available when others needed me, they certainly didn't seem to have a problem when I needed them. Obviously, we don't help others because of what we will get in return, but when we lend assistance to our brothers, it will come back for the good of all in the end. 

It was so much easier to be able to ask for that assistance and still know that my own ministry and service were of value precisely because our parish has more than enough deacons, and I didn't feel like I was putting someone out to ask for a hand from them. That is one of the blessings of having many deacons in your parish, even if it is a small one.

3. Priests, be patient with your deacons and let them serve you. I've heard many priests say that they lose patience with deacons especially on liturgical matters. Whatever the problem might be, don't write your deacon off. If you feel he is deficient in some area, that he doesn't know what you need him to know, that he needs to learn something you don't think he knows, by all means teach him! Don't just tell him the way you want it done, explain the reasons why. He'll more than likely get it. Deacons are conformed to Christ the Servant, remember, the one who came not to be served, but to serve. If you're willing to be patient with us and show us how best to serve you, we will do it.

One thing I have come to believe from my own experience is that the ordination of more deacons is not a bad thing, if anything more parishes should have more deacons. More deacons can be a greater help to the pastor in so many areas, and the more deacons there are, the more they can help one another, and lift one another up in Ministry for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

Vesting as an Act of Prayer

It goes without saying that some deacons  take their responsibilities to Christ in the Sacred Liturgy more importantly than others do. In some cases, (and I am basing this on conversations I have had with other deacons, many of them outside of our diocese) this may be because of their formation, wherein they have been formed to believe that the liturgy is not the most important thing that they do. The ministry of every deacon is going to look different than those of his brothers, no two are going to look exactly alike. I think that most people understand that different people have different gifts.

However, for the average person in the pew, they're more likely to see their deacons in the Liturgy than anywhere else, and the liturgical ministry of the deacon is, in that sense, one of the most important things that he does. Therefore, it's very important to know the Liturgy and try to do the things that we are called upon to do as well as we possibly can. We are doing them for Jesus, after all. I know that for me, at this stage in my life and my ministry, the Sacred Liturgy is one of the most important things that I am engaged in. It is extremely important to me, on a spiritual level, to approach this work of God with the solemnity and prayer that it deserves.

Shortly after serving at Mass
Photo: Jason Davis

Nevertheless, there are times when my life can get in the way of a more prayerful attitude when I come to the church to assist at the altar. The responsibilities, and the cares, and the worries, and the concerns, that come with daily ordinary life do not end because I have just walked into the Sacristy. There have been times that I have showed up to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and my heart was there, but my mind was on a million other things. How can you just switch that off? How can you begin to focus in such a way as to really give Jesus an hour of your time when everybody is watching you?

The Church provides assistance for us to begin to focus our minds on the Mass through the Vesting Prayers, prayers which are said as we put on the vesture of service at the altar. I have found that these precious prayers have been particularly helpful to me, especially at those times when I have showed up for Mass with just a few minutes to spare, and I really have to try to focus to ready my heart and mind for assistance with the Sacred Mysteries.

When we put our vestments on, we should remember that each of the articles has both a practical use and a symbolic meaning. When we understand this, it helps us to treat our vestments as both the sacramental holy reminder they are to us as well as the sacramental that they are to the People of God. Praying as I put my vestments on helps me to focus on what it is that I am about to do, and to leave my other concerns to prayer-or even better, to take them with me to the altar and put them before the Lord.

If you are a deacon and you are not familiar with the vesting prayers, here they are with some simple instructions on how to pray them when vesting.

The process of prayerful vesting should begin with the washing of hands. Remember that we are going to be distributing the Holy Eucharist to the People of God, so it is important that we should wash hands at some point beforehand, as we shall hold Christ in our very hands. This is both a practical as well as a ritual act. We begin vesting prayers with a prayer at the washing of the hands:

Give virtue to my hands, O Lord, that, being cleansed from all stain, I might serve You with purity of mind and body.


The amice is great for preventing "ring around the collar" on your alb. It also represents the "helmet of salvation." (cf. Ephesians 6:17)  If the amice is worn, as we put it on we pray:


Place, O Lord, upon my head the helmet of salvation, that I may repel the assaults of the Devil.


The alb represents the purity of our baptism, and as we vest in it we pray for the Lord to restore in us purity of heart:


Cleanse me, O Lord, and purify my heart, that, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, I may attain unto everlasting joys.


The cincture represents chastity, and we pray for chastity as the cincture is fastened:


Lord, fasten the cincture of purity around me and extinguish my earthly desires, that the virtue of continence and chastity may dwell within me.


The stole is the symbol of our office as ordained men and deacons in the Church. It also represents God's promise to restore immortality to us in Jesus Christ:


 Lord, restore the stole of immortality, which I lost through the actions of our first parents, and although I am unworthy to approach your sacred mysteries, may I gain eternal joy.


When we put on our dalmatic, the garment of charity, we pray:


Lord, vest me in the garment of salvation, the vestment of joy. May I always be surrounded by the dalmatic of justice.

By beginning our service at the altar with prayer, we bring our vocation into focus.