Ordinary 23

The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

On the Occasion of the Ordination of Paul Cerosaletti to the Order of Deacons

How many of you have spent a good portion of your lives, setting tables, preparing and serving food and cleaning up the dishes afterwards? Then you know what a deacon is and does. A deacon is person who serves others. Many of you for years have been living out the diaconal way of life.

Watch what a deacon does during the Sacred Liturgy. He sets up the altar table with cloths, napkins, and place setting. The deacon will prepare the sacred meal of bread and wine mixed with water and serve it to us at the distribution of Holy Communion as the transformed food of the Body and Blood of Christ. After everyone has been dismissed, he will remain to clean up – to do the dishes. Ordinary actions found in the home are taken up and infused with divine and eternal meaning in the house and family of the Church.

A diakon, a deacon, a person who waits and serves tables in homes, restaurants, diners and bars is now a presence of Christ who serves us. Thus Jesus rebuked his disciples who were arguing about authority and position and taught them, “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Matthew 20:28]

So central to Jesus’ ministry was this teaching that in John’s Gospel at the supper the night of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, and trial, he relates, “Jesus rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel”. [John 13:4-5] Intriguingly John does not relate in his Gospel the blessing over the bread and wine so central to our thinking of the Eucharist, “This is my Body…my Blood”. What John relates is the source and summit of the Eucharist, that is, the duty and call for a follower of Jesus to serve other people in the most mundane of situations; setting tables, cooking meals, feeding people, washing dishes, and bathing.

Bathing an infant or an infirm parent or spouse. Quietly leaving off food in the entrance of the church for the Food Pantry. Building a home for a family through Habitat for Humanity. Cooking dinner each night for your family. Visiting and bringing Holy Communion to the homebound. Talking and listening to someone who is alone, friendless, or recently widowed.  And yes, washing dishes, folding laundry, and making beds for others. It is all, diakonia, service.

I expect that is why the Church has chosen John’s Gospel to proclaim the night of Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Sacred Triduum. Jesus was betrayed, arrested, tried and executed because of his life of service. Remember people did not like who Jesus hung around with or ate with. His death on the cross becomes a death “for us” serving up his Body and Blood for our salvation.

Ordained deacons in the Church are a sign and reminder of what all of us are called to live out because we have been baptized into Christ Jesus and confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We eat and drink at an altar table prepared by deacons so that we, laity and ordained, can be nourished and strengthened to live a diaconal life. The reception of Holy Communion is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end, a life of service for others in Christ Jesus.

Among the numerous other aspects of the liturgical, administrative and ministerial life within the Church that a deacon carries out, I want to also highlight the deacon’s role at the table of the Word. It is the deacon’s sole prerogative to proclaim not only the “good news” of the Gospel but the Universal Prayers. Why? Because to know who and what to announce for the community to pray for the deacon has to have his ear to the ground for what is going on in the community. Who is in need? Who is being oppressed? What are the needs of the greater community? What relationships need to be healed? What situations were not adequately being addressed by the Church? Does a collection, monetary, of clothing, food or medicine need to be taken up?  These are questions that all Christians should be asking.

Today we call it Catholic Charities, speaking up against and addressing social injustices, Catholic Relief Services, being a voice for the vulnerable to those in power.

Therefore to be the Church of Christ Jesus is to be a diaconal Church. The Order of Deacons is not an honour but a constant reminder in our midst of our humble roots; the story of an incarnate God kneeling on the floor so as to wash dirty feet.

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PLEASE NOTE: Homilies presented here are also being videotaped and put up on the Saint Mary, Oneonta website: http://www.SMCCOneonta.org.