“This is the Church's treasure!” (Saint Lawrence).
A few weeks ago, a young seminarian who had spent some months working in my local parish, was ordained to the ministry of deaconate.
It was a beautiful ceremony celebrated by the Bishop, and attended by many many priests. And it was something very wonderful that I had not had the pleasure of witnessing before.
When a man becomes a deacon, he makes a vow of celibacy and promises his life to God in this – one of the final stages – of his journey in the vocation of priesthood…
This ceremony was beautiful because I – as a member of the parish in which this man serves – was invited to share this very important moment in his life. I was invited to witness his willing sacrifice of his sexuality to God… And there was something profoundly moving about that!
At the conclusion of his vows, this new deacon was welcomed into the Church very warmly and beautifully, when the Bishop said to him, “Welcome brother” and the twenty or thirty attending priests embraced him and repeated the same words, “Welcome brother”.
And I have been reflecting on that welcome of those priests for their “brother”… Because the office of deaconate is an office of service. In the weeks since his ceremony, this man has set the altar and read the Gospel and then he has cleared the altar. And in watching this man fulfil the duties of his office, I have been reminded of the importance of performing even the smallest of tasks for the love of God.
You see, this man is a deacon and not a priest. That means that his role is less than the role of a priest. He cannot – for example – celebrate Mass. He cannot consecrate the bread and wine to change them by transubstantiation into the Body and Blood of God. He cannot administer the sacraments – with the exception of the sacrament of Baptism – which anyone can administer in an emergency… In fact, all he can do is to set the altar for Mass, read the Gospel and clear the altar at the end of Mass…
And yet – this too is a special privilege…
Saint Lawrence was one of seven deacons who served Pope Sixtus II. Saint Lawrence is an ancient martyr of the Church.
After Emperor Valerian arrested the Pope and his deacons, he killed everyone except Lawrence. Lawrence was told to bring the treasures of the Church with him to the Prefect. So Saint Lawrence asked for three days to gather everything together, during which time he sold all the Church’s wealth and gave it to the poor. Then, accompanied by the poor, he went to the Prefect and said to him, “This is the Church's treasure!”
In retaliation, the Prefect grilled Saint Lawrence to death. It is said that while he was being burned alive, Saint Lawrence was cheerful, telling his torturers, “You can turn me over now; I'm done on this side.”
And as I watch this new deacon fulfil the duties of his lesser office in preparation for his greater vocation of priesthood, which is yet to come, I am filled with wonder and awe… For the Lord will do great things through him (and through me, and through you too) and He will do this, even through the lesser things…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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