At each ordination, after those being ordained promised obedience to the bishop and are ordained by the Laying of Hands on each of their heads by the bishop, the bishop would hand each deacon the Book of the Gospels and tells each one individually, "Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you preach." These words are very profound and mean a lot to me, even after 13 years. It's a great responsibility. We become heralds of the Gospel of Christ; we are called to believe in the Gospel. we are called to teach others about what is in the Gospel, and, most importantly we are called to practice what we preach. In other words, if we "talk the talk" we got to "walk the walk." We have to be examples of what it means to be followers of Christ. Sometimes that is not always easy, and sometimes we may fail in being that example the Lord expects of us. For myself, it is times like this that I turn back to God with repentance and renew my commitment to "practice what I preach." It is through the Sacrament of Confession that I'm able to turn back to Christ and renew my ordination promises.
Being a deacon is that of service. Like the original deacons found in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6, vs 1-7, we are called to be of assistance to the priests and bishops and to serve those people that God has placed into our lives. May God bless these 11 new deacons, and all men who have answered the call to be deacons to be able to live a life worthy our call. And God bless the wives and families that are willing to share their husbands in their service of God.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteHappy 13th Anniversary of Ordination, Deacon Tom Tortorella! Congratulations to all the newly ordained deacons! GOD bless you & all deacons & their wives & families.
I just spent the weekend at Mount Alvernia in Wappinger Falls with members of our Secular Franciscan fraternity & guests. Our Local Minister is Deacon Tom Page. Deacon Tom Page OFS & Mary Anne Page OFS (his wife) are wonderful hard-working servants to the people & parish of St. Adalbert's & our Secular Franciscan fraternity at St. Adalbert's & they also serve our diocese of Brooklyn/Queens. I am privileged to serve on the Council of our fraternity as Formation Director & to serve as a member of our Council.
Although I do not have the privilege of serving as a homilist & do not preach from the pulpit as priests & deacons do, as a Secular Franciscan I take seriously our motto to "go from Gospel to life & life to Gospel". I am grateful for the opportunity to share my reflections on your blog post. I trust that I am doing my best to live the Gospel in my various Church ministries, in my fraternity, in my work as an itinerart speech/language therapist & among my friends & various people the LORD has placed in my life & that my example serves to "preach the GOSPEL always, using words when necessary.
Pax et Bonum,