May 9, 2015 Saturday of Fifth Week of Easter
Ordination to the Order of Deacon:
Jose de Jesus Haro Gomez Bruno Ebubechukwu Okoli
Andrew Paul Raczkowski Paul George Redmond
(Readings: Jer.1:4-9; 1Pet.4:7-11; Jn 10:11-16)
St. Augustine Cathedral 10:00 a.m. Diocese of Kalamazoo
INTRODUCTION:
· As we begin this solemn and joyful Mass of Ordination to the Order of Deacon, I welcome you to our Cathedral, the “Mother Church” of our Diocese----and I ask you to be seated for these brief, introductory greetings.
· While all of you here this morning are extremely welcome, I would like to offer a special welcome to a number of people here this morning. * First of all, I am so pleased to recognize Bishop James Murray, the Bishop Emeritus of our Diocese----we are so grateful to you for all that you have done, and continue to do, for our Diocese.
· I welcome all my brother priests and deacons of our Diocese who are here this morning in such great number. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to participate in an ordination and it’s great that we can be here together to rejoice and give thanks for these four Candidates for the Order of Deacon. I also welcome, in spirit, those of our clergy who are unable to be here due to illness or other limitations. In particular I’d like to mention Msgr. Bill Fitzgerald, the Vicar for Clergy for our Diocese, and one who has served as adjunct Spiritual Director at Sacred Heart Major Seminary for many years, and has been the Spiritual Director for each of our Candidates to be ordained this morning. Let us keep Msgr. Fitz, and all our absent brothers in our prayers.
· I also am pleased to welcome the priests, deacons, seminarians, classmates and friends of our four Ordinandi who have come here from near and far---Welcome to Kalamazoo!
· In a special way, I welcome four of the Formators/and members of the administration of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit who have overseen the formation and education of our four Candidates for the past four years: Msgr. Todd Lajiness, the Rector of Sacred Heart, along with Father Timothy Laboe, Academic Dean, Fr. John Vandenakker, Dir. Of Pastoral Formation, and Fr. Stephen Burr, College Seminary.
· I warmly welcome this morning all those living in Consecrated Religious Life, our own seminarians serving at the altar today, as well as friends and fellow parishioners of our Candidates. In a particular way, I recognize Michelle Smith who has been so helpful to our 4 Candidates over the years and who has been anxiously looking forward to being present for this special day for them.
· In a special way, I recognize the three “home Pastors” and fellow parishioners of our four Candidates: Fr. Larry Farrell, the pastor of St. Monica and the home parish of Andrew Raczkowski and Paul Redmond, is unfortunately not able to be present this morning because he’s celebrating the Parish First Communion Mass at this same time---we welcome Fr. Bob Consani; Msgr. Mike Hazard, the pastor of St. Joseph Parish here in Kalamazoo and home pastor of Jose Haro; and Fr. Ken Schmidt, the pastor of St. Thomas More Parish here in Kalamazoo and the home pastor of Bruno Okoli. It is quite remarkable, not only that we are blessed with 4 Candidates for the Order of Deacon to be ordained this year, but also that 3 of the 4 were born and raised right here in the City of Kalamazoo (while Bruno was born and raised in Ikenga in Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria, Diocese of Awka)), and the home parishes for all four of them are here in the See City. And we pray that many more young men from all over the Diocese will hear the Lord’s call to consider a vocation to priesthood or religious life.
· I am particularly happy to welcome the immediate family members of our four candidates, and of course, most of all, their grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings and parents. And let us also take a moment to remember in a special way during this Mass the deceased immediate family members of our Candidates, including the parents of Paul Redmond, and the father of Bruno Okoli, who, we pray, are rejoicing with us this morning from their heavenly vantage point.
· And finally---and most importantly---I am so pleased to welcome our four Candidates on this most important day in your lives----the day that the Church affirms with certainty that our Loving God has chosen you for ordained ministry through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
· All of us, united together through our Faith in the Risen Lord----Welcome. Let us stand……….and prepare ourselves to celebrate these Sacred Mysteries …..
HOMILY:
Praised be Jesus Christ!
That’s what we heard St. Peter urge us to do in this morning’s Second Reading. In all that we do---in our prayers, in our acts of charity, hospitality and service---we are to do everything “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory and dominion forever and ever.” That is what we do this morning---all that we do in this beautiful Ordination Mass, and all that we do in our lives, is “so that we can give praise and glory to Jesus Christ”!
We come together in this beautiful Spring time of the year---showers and all--- when new life is blooming all around us; and in the midst of this Easter Season, when the Joy of the Risen Lord fills all our hearts, renewing us in our Faith as we give praise and thanks to God as His holy People.
Jose, Bruno, Andrew and Paul----it is clear that in your lives thus far, you have made every effort to give “praise and glory” to Jesus Christ, and you have been responding to God’s call to serve Him and His Church.
Fr. Christopher Derda, our Director of Vocations, just told us that, after inquiry among the people and based on the recommendation of those responsible, you “have been found worthy”. And judging from the thunderous applause that arose in this Cathedral-full of people, everyone seems to agree that you are “worthy” to be ordained to the first rank in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
This is a truly joyful day for the whole Church here in the Diocese of Kalamazoo, and I am thrilled to choose you for the Order of Deacon and humbled to you, and thereby incardinate you into the Presebyterate for this Local Church. Your Families have nurtured and encouraged you, your Seminary Formators have educated and helped to spiritually prepare you, your Diocese has chosen you----But (as I reflected with you a bit yesterday afternoon at the Luncheon when the four of you made your Profession of Faith and took your Oath of Fidelity), let us never forget that it was God Who FIRST called you, and who has consistently called you forth up to this moment, and beyond.
In just a few moments, I will ask you if you are willing to make 7 Sacred Promises that are essential for you to be ordained a Deacon. These promises require of you: 1) humble charity in assisting me and the Priests for the good of the faithful; 2) being steadfast in conscience to the mystery of Faith and proclaiming it in word and deed according to the Gospel and the Church’s tradition; 3) commitment to a life of prayer on behalf of all of us---for all God’s people---for the needs of the whole world; 4) willingness to conform your lives to that of Christ Himself; and 5) a devotion to the ministry of the Holy Eucharist. And there are two more Promises of major significance---6) your promise of Celibacy as a sign of your total love for Christ and the complete gift of yourself to love ALL people in Christ; and 7) your promise of Obedience to me and my successors.
In response, you will not only indicate your willingness to embrace those Promises verbally, but you will also make a profound act of prostration on the floor of this Cathedral in humble submission to God, which dramatically expresses your intentions for how you intend to live the rest of your lives. Your prostration indicates your willingness to “die” to anything that stands in the way of giving yourselves completely, generously, and joyfully in submission to God’s call and in service to Jesus and His Church, and when you stand back up, you will in a true sense “rise to new life”.
And of course, through the Laying on of Hands, the very act of ordaining you, you will be set apart forever as God’s chosen one---set apart to be His representative to all God’s holy People---ready to be sent in Jesus’ Name to those who desperately need your ministry.
This is all very “weighty,” and as some of you described your emotional state yesterday---there are a variety of emotions, ranging from being excited and chomping at the bit to get started doing what you’ve been preparing for a very long time, all the way to that feeling of “being scared to death” (to be perfectly honest about it). If it’s any consolation to you, I’m sure that every deacon and priest here this morning will tell you that each of us felt the very same way.
That’s why the First Reading we heard this morning is so important and we can never forget what the Prophet Jeremiah told us----told you, my dear Sons: “The Lord God said: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” While there might be some of those same emotions that you might be feeling today as Jeremiah did---that you are “too young”, or “too inexperienced” or that you’re not worthy enough---God says to you, as He said to Jeremiah: “Do not be afraid---for I am with you.” Do not be afraid---Do not worry---Do not give in to any excuses or human limitations. Because there is no doubt that our God is with you---He has not only put His Word into your mouth, He has sent His Word made Flesh to be our Savior, our great High Priest and our Good, Loving Shepherd.
Today, through the Laying on of Hands and your generous gift of yourselves, you enter into a special relationship with Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who, as we heard in this morning’s Gospel passage, also gives you the reassurance of being known and being chosen. We heard Jesus remind you in particular this morning: “I know mine, and mine know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know my Father.”
Jesus told us that our Shepherd loves His Flock so unconditionally that He has laid down His Life for our salvation. That is our Easter Joy---that is the Good News of the Gospel---that is the Message that His priests and deacons are ordained to proclaim with our words and with our lives. And it is to that same degree of unconditional Love that He calls each of you to be willing to make as you stand ready to be ordained.
Your response to the 7 Sacred Promises, verbally and through your act of prostration, indicates that you accept Jesus’ challenge to also be “good shepherds” who know your sheep, love your sheep, and are willing to lay down your lives for the Flock.
Pope Francis reminds us that in these days when the New Evangelization is so essential to the Church’s mission, Jesus’ priests and deacons must go out to find the lost sheep. He insists that we can not be ordained for a ministry and expect people only to come to us, or to be satisfied with maintaining the status quo. We are called to be conformed to Christ the Servant who became “obedient unto death” (Phil. 2:8), and Who was committed “to serve rather than to be served” (Mt. 28:20). We are called to be shepherds, like Jesus, who have the “smell of the sheep” on our hands and on our clothes because we go out to the margins, to the fringes, to the places where the Church may not have gone in the past because we have the Good News which we are compelled to teach---to proclaim---to share; and we are willing to endure rejection, to put up with ridicule, and even to lay down our lives in the process of sharing the Good News as a Deacon of the Church in this Ministry of Word, Sacrament and Charity.
The gift of the Order of Deacon will certainly bring with it the joy of Christ-like loving service, as it will bring a greater share in the sufferings of Christ.
But always remember that you are not being “sent” on your own. The Holy Spirit of the Risen Jesus---the same Spirit Who came upon the Apostles on that first Pentecost 2,000 years ago, and which we look forward to celebrating in just two weeks---that same powerful and abiding Holy Spirit of God will give you what you need and help to keep your heart filled with the Joy of the Gospel.
Very shortly when I, as a Successor to the Apostles, pray the Prayer of Ordination and invoke the Holy Spirit to come upon each of you to “ordain” you----when I lay my hands upon your heads and you are ordained Deacons, -you will be forever changed. And yet, you will remain the same unique person you are. The Holy Spirit and the grace of Holy Orders makes the difference.
Let us think again about the 2nd Reading we heard this morning from the first of the Apostles, St. Peter. Keeping in mind that Peter had his share of deficiencies, failures and sins, it was his deep love for Jesus and the strength and transforming power of the Holy Spirit that changed Peter into the strong, convicted, leader---the first Pope---and one of the first martyrs for the Faith. In that Reading, St. Peter said that above anything else, we must “be serious and sober in our prayers”. Prayer has to be the foundation of your lives. Prayer has to take precedence before everyone and everything else. St. Peter urges us to be hospitable, to be effective preachers, and to be generous servants; BUT before doing any of that, he reminds us that we must “be serious and sober in our prayers”. Prayer is the absolutely vital link that we have to maintain with Jesus, Who is Love---Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life----Who is the Vine that gives our branches strength and nourishment.