Homily for the Ordination of Jason Allan, Thomas Jones, Samuel Maul, Brett Metzler, Joseph Moreno, and Linh Nguyen to the Transitional Diaconate

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Fort Worth, Texas
Solemnity of Saint Joseph
March 19, 2020

2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
Psalm 89
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Luke 2:41-51a

The candidates prostrate themselves before the altar. (Photo by Ben Torres)

Su ordenación diaconal ocurre en medio de un momento desafiante en la sociedad y la Iglesia con la pandemia de coronavirus y el miedo y la ansiedad que esto ha creado entre las personas. Sin embargo, debemos discernir la presencia de Dios que nos sostiene en todas las cosas. El diaconado es sobre el ministerio, y el ministerio es fundamentalmente sobre la esperanza. El ministerio y la esperanza son dos lados de la misma moneda que señala a San José, cuyo día de fiesta celebramos hoy.

Era el esposo de la Santa Virgen María y el padre adoptivo de Jesús. La suya fue una expresión de esperanza sin palabras — los evangelios nunca relatan una sola palabra que pronunció alguna vez — al dedicarse al ministerio que Dios le dio (le ordenó) que hiciera: ser el guardián y protector de María y Jesús. La suya no era simplemente una paternidad espiritual para Jesús, sino una paternidad intrépida — una paternidad pastoral — basada en la realidad de la carne y la vida. Debía guardar, proteger y pastorear a María y a Jesús. Puede que Jesús no haya venido de su carne, pero José no fue menos un padre para Él.

Y así es con ustedes seis hombres que serán ordenados diáconos transicionales hoy. Su base en el ministerio es una expresión de esperanza, así como su esperanza está orientada al sacerdocio ministerial...no a una paternidad espiritual, sin cuerpo o gnóstica, sino una paternidad real, valiente y pastoral como la que ejerció San José para esas dos personas — María y Jesús — puesto a su cargo, cuidado y protección. Su ordenación eventual al sacerdocio, enraizada en el diaconado del ministerio y la esperanza, será la misma: cuidar, proteger y guardar al pueblo santo de Dios en los buenos y malos momentos, en la pandemia y en la paz, dando testimonio al mundo de su fe en Jesucristo.

God in His Providence has designed that this great event of hope, the ordination of six transitional deacons for the Diocese of Fort Worth—the largest class in our history, should be celebrated in the midst of a pandemic that is causing a contagion of panic and despair just as it threatens the health (especially) of our more vulnerable members of the population of the world: the elderly and the immune-compromised. He has also designed that this should take place on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Joseph is the patron and protector of the Universal Church. He is the foster father of Jesus. He is the Patron Saint of a Happy Death for tradition tells us that he died in the presence of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary whom he loved with a most pure love. Tonight, it is hope in the power of God, who loves us so much that He sent His Son to save us from our sins at the cost of His own blood. Saint Joseph is our guardian of hope and the diaconate is the ordained ministry of hope in our world and in the life of the Church.

Hope and service are two sides of the same coin in the currency of nature and grace. They are integral and fused together by fortitude born of a confidence in the loving trust of God. Hope and ministry unite us together in places where our sinful human condition would have us separate and divide out of presumption or despair. The Apostles recognized this as we read in the Acts of the Apostles of how the Greek-speaking widows and orphans were fast coming to be considered as only problems to be solved and avoided. Thus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles ordained deacons to minister to the needs of these widows and orphans and to thereby unite them in love.

These men are to be ordained tonight to the diaconate as a transition towards ordination to the priesthood. The diaconate prepares them for priesthood in such a way that their priestly identity will be anchored in service and pure and chaste celibate love and not become entitled and selfish, separating themselves from the People of God whom they have been called to serve by Christ who came to serve and not be served.

Bishop Olson lays hands on the head Linh Nguyen.
(Photo by Ben Torres)

The temptation to separate and divide where Truth calls us to integrate and unite can affect also our understanding of Saint Joseph. This tendency can wrongly prompt us to make Saint Joseph simply a bystander in the domestic life of the home in Nazareth---that somehow because Jesus was uniquely conceived in the womb of Mary and knew God to be His Father, Joseph simply becomes a figure of utility and not in any real relation with Jesus and Mary. Likewise, to reduce priesthood only to a type of spiritual fatherhood by comparing it to biological fatherhood, wrongly leads us to diminish the real role and relationship that the Church requires of her priests. When in God’s Providence, you are ordained priests, remember that your fatherhood is a pastoral fatherhood or guardianship that cares for both soul and body of the faithful church and not simply the relationship of a periodically useful bystander.

Your ordination tonight on this Solemnity offers you an example and an intercessor for integrity of life, selfless service, and pure love. Scripture and tradition reveal to us that Saint Joseph was a righteous man. His righteousness was not born of ideal perfection and autonomy. His righteousness was born of his fidelity to and knowledge of the Word of God---both the Law and the Prophets—that enabled him to understand the dream that he experienced to be what it truly was---the annunciation by the angel of his vocation to be the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the guardian of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. His hesitancy to accept Mary into his home was because of his awareness of his own unworthiness not because of a suspicion of Mary’s worthiness. Likewise, your own doubts and fears about worthiness have been brought to God throughout your years of formation and education and your confidence is a grace from God not a fruit of your own initiative and will power.

Saint Joseph responds to the call of God not with words but with actions. They are courageous actions and they are hopeful. His response is born of silent meditation and obedience. Saint Joseph was confident because he was obedient. He sought only God’s will and not his own. That is the path to fidelity and fidelity is the path to peace and the path to joy. Saint Joseph is proof that there is joy to be found in sacrifice; there is joy to be found in service; there is joy to be found in surrender and that is the place where we receive hope. As you leave the Cathedral tonight as heralds of the Gospel and as ministers of charity, be sure that what you have to offer is good and needed. Be sure that our heavenly Father will sustain you as he sustained Saint Joseph in his vocation.

Homily for the Ordination of Pedro Martinez to the Transitional Diaconate

Photo by Juan Guajardo/NTC

Diocese of Fort Worth
St. Matthew Catholic Church
Arlington, Texas
May 18, 2019

Acts 6:1-7b
Psalm 34
1 Peter 4:7b-11
John 12:24-26

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” These words spoken by Jesus in today’s Gospel reading taken from John are striking because at first hearing they seem to be so unreasonable. How can one hate one’s life if life is a gift from God? How can one hate one’s life if life in itself is such a great and necessary good to enjoy other good blessings given to us by God? Without life, there are no other gifts worth cherishing.

Perhaps there can be a sense of reason introduced to this phrase if we accept a Scripture scholar’s insight that “to hate” is a figure of speech common in the Semitic languages of Jesus’ time to indicate that what Jesus really means is that one must love one’s own need for survival less than the call to follow, to serve and to be with Jesus. Yet, does this commentary on the language of Scripture really suffice for the radical message conveyed and revealed fully by Jesus Christ? It’s a reasonable explanation but in itself it is only a commentary that falls short in conveying the full message of the Good News of Salvation that unreasonably involves dying.

The radical and life-changing message of Jesus Christ is that like a grain of wheat, a person extends oneself beyond the limits of survival or simple human existence in this world only by willing to not live from the vantage point of self-preservation. One’s reference point is no longer the survival of oneself, but rather the person of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. The reference is not simply a perspective or a positive way of looking at things. It’s not simply making lemonade when life gives you lemons. That is too trite and reasonable.

The truth that is revealed is more clearly manifested in the call of the first deacons about which we have heard in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles have called these Greek-speaking men to address the particular needs of the Greek-speaking widows and orphans — people most prone to exclusion and annihilation. Without attention to these needs, these widows and orphans will die in abandonment and isolation. The Apostles have called and appointed these deacons not so that the Apostles might remain aloof from the needs of the poor but rather that they might be more intentionally reminded of their presence and needs. While there are seven names given in this reading from Acts, only two of them have their deeds further revealed in Sacred Scripture: Philip and Stephen.

Philip witnesses to Christ’s love in his ministry in such a manner that he serves as an instrument in the conversion of Simon Magus and of the Ethiopian eunuch, both of who are brought into the Church through the generative waters of baptism. Philip loves the widows and orphans to whom he has been sent to serve. He cares for them and this love attracts the hearts of Simon Magus and the Ethiopian eunuch to the truth much more than any detailed argument or syllogism.

Stephen witnesses to Christ in his ministry in such a way that he dies a martyr’s death that is richly configured to the Crucifixion of Jesus. Stephen’s death is not simply like Jesus’ death in that both of them are violent murders; Stephen’s death is not like Jesus’ death in that similar words are spoken; Stephen’s death is configured to Jesus’ death because of love. Jesus enables Stephen to love sacrificially as Jesus’ loves sacrificially. It is a love that is so selfless as to surpass the strong emotional affection of friendship. It is a love that is so selfless as to surpass the cohesive and natural bonds of family life. It is a love that lays down one’s life for one’s friends as Jesus does. It is the love that does not calculate the cost. It is the love of the Cross that offers authentic and lasting freedom. It is this love’s sacrificial and liberating character that brings about the conversion of Paul who witnesses Stephen’s martyrdom and turns Paul from hatred and fear to love. Paul will himself heroically witness to Jesus with his own sacrificial martyr’s love that bears much fruit in the conversion of the gentiles. The reference point that makes one hate this life is love — love is greater than life because without love, life merely becomes a struggle to forestall death. Without the selflessness of love, what is reasonable is simply what involves calculation and tactics of survival that only delay the inevitable fate.

It is important to note that the instrument of Paul’s conversion was the sacrificial witness and love of the deacon Stephen — whose own martyrdom was prepared by his daily ministry of charity to those most wounded by sin and its effects — the widows and orphans who did not belong to the dominant language group or culture but whom Stephen loved and cared for. Stephen’s faithful love for Jesus present in the widows and orphans fostered in him a desire to give of himself even more to the point of laying down his life in martyrdom for the truth. When Paul was knocked off his horse and blinded, he heard the voice of Christ speak to him and Paul was able to recognize this voice because he had previously heard the voice speaking through Stephen.

Your ordination today to the diaconate is not simply transitional in the sense that it is only a step to priesthood. It is transitional in the life of the Church because it fosters in you, and in those to whom you witness, a conversion to the same love possessed by Philip, Stephen, and the other deacons to love Christ in the excluded and dispossessed people of the world. It fosters in you this love that prepares you to make the transition for an ever more demanding gift of yourself in laying down your life for your friends, as Christ continues to do through each of our lives and ministries. Through the ordered life provided to you and to the Church in your promises of chaste celibacy and obedience to me and to my successors the love of Christ will grow in you and through your sacramental witness in others. “Unless a grain of wheat should fall upon the ground and die, it remains but a single grain.”

To die in order to live? It seems so unreasonable and extreme. Dear brother priests and seminarians, how many times have we had our sanity called into question even at times by those who want to love us and to protect us. "Celibacy? Today? Be reasonable. Obedience to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church? Don’t you read the papers? Have you lost your mind? Yes, serve God, admire Jesus, do what He teaches, but within reason." Where have we heard such counsel before?

Pontius Pilate comes to mind. On Good Friday — the day of sacrificial love, the day when the Grain of Wheat dies and gives the eternal and universal fruit of love itself — Pilate places before the people two figures for them to choose between: Jesus and Barabbas. From a bystander’s casual perspective Jesus and Barabbas are very similar, each challenged the status quo. The name Barabbas means “son of the father” — Bar Abba. Jesus addressed God as “Abba,” “Father.” In a sense, Pilate places Barabbas next to Jesus as an option for the type of Messiah that the people can reasonably choose for themselves.

There is Barabbas, a Messiah who is a violent and dynamic revolutionary who conspires and wages war against the authority of an oppressive regime and thereby brings about anarchy and excitement. Barabbas promises them the intoxicating freedom to do whatever one would want to do. Barabbas offers them an earthly kingdom of one’s own prosperity and survival. Barabbas is a most reasonable choice. Next to Barabbas, Pilate places Jesus.

In Jesus they have a Messiah who proclaims unreasonably that losing oneself is the way to life. It is Jesus who is the Messiah who hides nothing and is the Light of the World. It is Jesus who is the Messiah who calls them to obedience to the will of the Father and who first lives that obedience. It is Jesus who is the Messiah of the Cross. It is Jesus who is love itself.

The prince of this world is a liar. He knows the truth well enough to hate it. He is cunning and not so blatant as to advertise openly that we should worship the devil. He only suggests that we should decide on what is reasonable; opt for the advantages of a planned and thoroughly organized world with impeccable communication. Calculate a world in which there is room for God in an individual’s life as a private concern but not a place for God to interfere in one’s essential and primary purposes. Offer God a place in your life, but do not discern where you fit in His plan. It is much more reasonable not to be inconvenienced by the Son of Mary, the Nazarene known as a carpenter, who asks so much of us in offering His life fully in sacrificial love. Any false religion subtly attempts to hide the Cross from view, or at least to make it reasonable only as a form of decoration but to remove its sacrificial character as the entrance of the Divine love into the world of humanity.

Your diaconal ministry is therefore a ministry of charity. It is a ministry of selflessness and sacrifice. It is unreasonable that you should waste your life on people who account for nothing and who can offer you no influence nor success. It is unreasonable to live in such a way because life is short, and our demise is inevitable. It is as unreasonable as the love of Philip and Stephen; it is as unreasonable as the love of Peter and Paul; it is as unreasonable as the loving obedience of Jesus to the will of His Father who ransoms a slave by sacrificing His Son.

Homily for the Ordination of Maurice Moon and Jonathan Demma to the Transitional Diaconate

Bishop Olson with newly ordained Transitional Deacons
Jonathan Demma (left) and Maurice Moon (right).
Photo by Susan Moses.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church
Keller, Texas
April 29, 2017

Numbers 3:5-11
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5,18-19
Acts 6:1-7
John 6:16-21

In the Gospel just proclaimed, we see Jesus walking towards the disciples on the water. The water is a primordial symbol of chaos. Christ’s walking upon it makes known that He, and He alone, is the Master of creation and the only Provider of what is needed to overcome the chaos caused by sin. The chaos caused by sin, is subservient to Him and can only be conquered by Him. Notice that the disciples at first don't recognize Jesus, because they left the shore without Him. The Gospel reading mentions also that it is evening and that it is dark. They are attempting to navigate the waters of chaos alone and in the dark. Jesus appears and utters the divine phrase in Greek "Ego eimi"—“I am”—translated as "It is I." In so doing Jesus articulates that He will never leave the Church alone and unprotected against the forces of chaos and darkness.

Jesus Walks On Water, by Ivan Aivazovsky,
1888, Public Domain

The boat represents the Church. The apostles are attempting to lead the church in the dark without recognizing Jesus’ presence. They struggle to row and to navigate by their own will power and the darkness frightens them. It is only after they recognize Jesus and invite Him into the boat that their fear leaves them and they arrive at the ultimate end of their journey. The Church arrives at the ultimate end of her journey—the Kingdom of God when the Church treasures Jesus’ presence and follows His direction and example. Without Christ as the Church’s focal point, the Church can soon become misunderstood as only the product of our human and organizational designs straining against forces of fear and darkness. Jesus will be with the Church always—even when the Church’s members fail to understand that truth. When members of the Church set out without Him, Jesus will come to them to be with them, assuring them that they have nothing to fear from the chaotic when they are with Him.

The right order promised by Christ’s Gospel and the authentic teaching of the Church requires more than positive thinking. It requires a real relationship of love. The relationship of love is forged by the Church’s sacramental life—chiefly the celebration of the Eucharist—the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, whereby we experience the real presence of Christ and not simply his historical memory or his values and ideals—that are really more truly our own values and ideals. As Saint Augustine says, “The Eucharist makes the Church.” Yes, and the Church that the Eucharist makes is one of order and hierarchical structure complete with purpose and direction; it is not simply a chaotic mob of individuals seeking their own will at the expense of others and of the common good. When chaos reigns, the weakest among us are most in danger of being harmed. Right order provides us with just relationships among real people with clarity of purpose for Christ’s redeeming mission. As Pope Francis writes in Evangelii Gaudium, “We achieve fulfillment when we break down walls and our heart is filled with faces and names!”

Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents the call of the first deacons by the Apostles. We hear of how the Church is confronted by the forces of chaos in that the Greek-speaking widows are sinfully being excluded from participation in the life of the community and are threatened by effects of poverty. The problem is compounded by a language barrier between them and those Jewish Christians who speak the dominant language of Aramaic. We are reminded that the confusion of Babel was a sinful force for chaos that destroyed the fabric of human society.

Yet, in the life of the early Church, chaos does not have the final say. Just as in the life of the Church today, chaos does not have the final say. God’s Grace enters mercifully once again into the life of the Church. We read that the Apostles declare, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

This is an important point that must not be misunderstood. The Apostles are not delegating the problem of the poor away from themselves so that they can be free of their responsibilities to the poor and focus on the more attractive and glamorous activities like prayer and preaching. It is not a decision of exclusion. The Apostles are not abandoning their ministry that has been entrusted to them by Christ in the great commissioning. They are instead ordaining the men of good reputation as discerned by the Church to be deacons, so that these deacons might more closely and intentionally unite the ministry to the poor and marginalized with the Apostles’ mission of prayer and preaching. The deacons bring the poor into closer proximity of the ministry of the Apostles. For this relationship between the Apostles and deacons to happen, there must be a clear order and trust established in love between the Apostles and the deacons.

This relationship of trust and love is defined today by the promise of obedience that you make to me and to my successors as your bishop. The obedience owed to a bishop by a deacon is not simply a protocol whereby the deacon passively does whatever the bishop tells him to do. The obedience of a deacon to his bishop (and that of a priest to his bishop) is rather a decisive relationship strong with justice and replete in love whereby each the bishop and the deacon has the heart and mind of Christ present to each other within the life and ministry of the Church. It is this relationship of obedience which gives vitality and muscle to the body of the Church in order to overcome the power of chaos and fear that threatens the Church. Without this relationship of obedience between deacon and bishop the Church can become anemic and sick. If the Church becomes anemic and sick, the weakest among her members are most in jeopardy of abandonment.

Christ will never remove His presence and love from the Church; yet the Church’s members and servants can ignore and deny Him through the abandonment of prayer, the neglect of preaching of the Truth, and the refusal of service to the poor—unless we decide to trust Him. How you live your obedience is essential to the quality and character of your ministry as a deacon and affects the health and life of the Church. How I, as your bishop and as a successor of the Apostles, call and receive your obedience is essential to the health and life of the Church. Each of us will be judged by Christ accordingly. Therefore, we must each consciously and intentionally maintain the centrality of Jesus Christ as the anchor of our respective vocations in His love and mission through our relationship that is given backbone by your promise of obedience to me and my successors. Arbitrariness on the part of the bishop is as destructive to the health of the Church as apathy is on the part of the deacon or priest.

St. Catherine of Siena, on whose feast you are ordained today, understood well the essential relationship between fidelity to one’s own vocation within the Church and to the Church’s health and vitality. She did so, in part, because she lived at a time of great chaos in the life of the Church—the time of the Western schism when there were three claimants to the Papacy. This schism came about in part because the previous pope had ignored his pastoral responsibility as the Bishop of Rome in favor of the life of a prince at court in Avignon. The weakness on the part of this pope, Gregory XI, in not deciding to live his vocation, prompted many to abandon their obedience to the Pope’s sacred office causing darkness, fear, and the chaos of disunity. St. Catherine called the Pope back to the integrity of his own vocation and ministry. She writes to him, “I beg you Holy Father, for love of the Lamb who was slain, consumed and abandoned on the cross, as His Vicar fulfill his holy will by doing what you can do, leave Avignon and return to Rome.” She writes to priests at the same time, “I long to see you enlightened with true, most perfect light, so that you may know the dignity in which God has placed you. For without light you would be unable to know this.”

Do not leave the shore in the darkness without the presence of Christ. “Do what you are able to do.” “Live in the light,”—just as Saint Catherine wrote these words to Pope, bishops, and priests at the time of her life, she speaks them to each of us today, bishop, priests, and deacons, to live our respective vocations faithfully in accord with the justice of obedience and the clarity of purpose provided by our promise of celibacy. Prayer maintains our awareness of the presence of Christ and prevents us from placing lesser goods like money, career, power, social status, and privilege, in the place that rightfully belongs to Christ alone. Prayer also enables us to live in the light in times of doubt and darkness; it is by prayer and confidence that we see that in our vocation Christ has gotten the man He called and we trust His decision joyfully to choose us.

Maurice and Jonathan, the Church depends upon your promise of celibacy to help to make clearly present the unconditional love that Christ has for the People of God. For this to happen, your celibate commitment depends upon your living as a friend of Jesus who selflessly loves His people for love of Him. Celibacy is not being an indecisive bachelor. As Pope Benedict XVI said, “The avoidance of marriage is based on a will to live only for oneself, and therefore a ‘no’ to the bond. Celibacy is a definitive ‘yes’ to give oneself into the hands of the Lord. It makes present the scandal of a faith that bases all existence upon God.” Our celibacy is a firm decision that makes us poor; our celibacy makes us to rely on God alone; it shows the generosity of the love of Christ to the people whom we serve. Without a friendship with Christ, our celibacy can quickly become embittered with fear, narcissistic, self-directed, isolating, sterile and chaotic.

In conclusion, your ministry as deacons can be expressed by the words of Pope Benedict XVI spoken in his inaugural homily as pope, “The purpose of our lives is to reveal God to human beings. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.” God breaks into the world and dispels the power of darkness and chaos.

Ordination of Stephen Hauck & John Martin to the Transitional Diaconate

Photo by Juan Guajardo / NTC

Homily for the Ordination of Stephen Hauck & John Martin to the Transitional Diaconate
St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, Arlington, Texas
April 9, 2016

View Ordination Pictures

Readings:
Jeremiah 1:4-9
Psalm 88
Acts 6:1-7
John 6:16-21

Jeremiah's life could be seen as embodying what will happen to Israel: rejection that leads to destruction that brings about the possibility of renewal and restoration. Jeremiah's vocation is very difficult, because it will involve mostly calling the people to be accountable in light of the looming exile. He'll have to speak some hard truths to them, something they won't want to hear, and he’ll have to speak these truths well and in fidelity to the Lord.

The part of today’s first reading left out of the lectionary passage is the next verse that follows; it is an ominous phrase that Jeremiah is sent to "pluck up” and to “pull down,” to “destroy” and to “overthrow,” to “build” and to “plant." There are six verbs. Four of these verbs point to dying (plucking up, pulling down, destroying, and overthrowing). Two of these verbs (building and planting) point to new life. All of these verbs point to Hope in God’s Mercy. It is only from the ash heap of Jeremiah that new life can spring forth: the rubble of Jerusalem that led to exile at the hand of the Babylonians will lead to return and rebuilding for God’s chosen people. Sometimes, structures have to be torn down so that they can return—not the same—but renewed. In my own spiritual life I find this to be a fruitful metaphor for seminary formation and priestly ministry. It is worthy of reflection for each and for all of us.

Likewise, in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of how the Church faces a problem of the Greek-speaking widows whose loved ones are complaining of injustice. The problem is that these poor women and their children are isolated from the rest of the community because of their poverty and of a language barrier between them and those Christians who speak the dominant language of Aramaic. Some might suggest that this cultural and social barrier presents a problem that could be resolved by building a wall—a HUGE wall—to isolate the problem from the rest of the community who are annoyed by the problem. However, this problem becomes an opportunity for God’s Grace to enter mercifully once again into the life of the Church. The problem, approached by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, soon gives way not to a systematic solution; it gives way not to a larger wall and barrier; it gives way to a deeper revelation of Christ disguised in the mystery of the human person. It is especially the human person who is in need; it is the human person who is not a universal abstraction, but is a real person with a name, a family, and naturally part of the community.

Stephen and John, your vocation to serve as deacons now, and later as to what will be an essential part of the character of your priestly ministry, is a difficult and frightening call to answer. Like Jeremiah, you might be afraid of the difficulty and offer good reasons not to answer. Jeremiah gives good reasons not to say “yes.” It is true that he is too young. Yet, the Lord calms your fears and is present to you within them, just as He calmed those of Jeremiah with His Divine presence.

Stephen and John, the Church needs your diaconal ministry now just as the Church required that of Saint Stephen, of Saint Philip, and of the other deacons in the early days of the Church as we read in the Acts of the Apostles. The diaconal ministry of Saint Stephen and his martyrdom helped to prevent the exclusion of the poor widows and their children. It was an exclusion that was taking place on the basis of differences in culture and language in society reminiscent of the chaos that ensued as the bitter fruit of the sin of Babel. It was an exclusion that harmed the life of the Church through unawareness and insensitivity on the part of its human membership. It was an exclusion that was a serious sin of omission. The Greek speaking widows spoken of in today’s reading had begun to be treated more as a “serious corporate problem” than as particular persons, members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and who have serious problems hurting them.

In the Gospel just proclaimed, we see Jesus coming towards the disciples on the water. The water is a primordial symbol of chaos. Christ’s walking upon it makes known that He, and He alone, is the Master of creation and the only Provider of what is needed to overcome the chaos caused by sin and its bitter fruits. Chaos, especially the chaos caused by sin, is subservient to Him and can only be conquered by Him.

Jesus Walks On Water
Ivan Aivazovsky, 1888
Public Domain

Notice that the disciples at first don't recognize Jesus, because they left the shore without Him. The Gospel reading mentions also that it is dark. They are “in the dark" about who Christ truly is. They are attempting to navigate the waters of chaos alone and in the dark. Jesus utters the divine phrase in Greek "Ego eimi"—“I am”—translated as "It is I." It's more of a promise, like the promise of God speaking to Jeremiah in the first reading. Jesus will be with the disciples always—even when they fail to understand. When they set out without Him, Jesus will come to them to be with them, assuring them that they have nothing to fear from the chaotic when they are with Him. Both the call of Jeremiah and our Gospel reading have the Divine imperative not to be afraid. Jesus makes the same promise and gives the same command to you, Stephen and John, today as you make your promises and are ordained. He also keeps this promise to you each and every day of your life. Listen to Jesus. Pray. Take the time to be with Him. Do not set out on your day without Him especially when you are afraid.

Today, we are faced with the same challenges and the same need for diaconal ministry where the chaos of our society often propels us towards a basic insensitivity and unawareness; this too often leads to our own adoption of a passive and lazy attitude whereby people become simply problems that are insoluble on their own terms so we wall them off. The grace of diaconal ministry, including the diaconal ministry of bishops and priests, prevents us from facing the people in the margins of society simplistically as a corporate problem. Christ uses diaconal ministry to save us from abandoning people because they might be misunderstood by us as problems that are too difficult for us to resolve on our own terms. Stephen and John, your diaconal vocation must be a means by which Christ calls us back from such evil complacency and spares us from sinning by omission in failing to love our neighbor.

+ Most Rev. Michael F. Olson
Bishop of Fort Worth