ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Deacons and Wives,

Once again I have the joy of gathering with you on this annual Deacon Day. I am so pleased to be with you all here at St. William’s. Each year this is an important celebration and an opportunity for me as your bishop to proclaim the importance of the Permanent Diaconate. It is a celebration of our unity and shared ministry in the name of Jesus and for the good of His Church. But this is also an opportunity for me to express my gratitude to you for the service you give to the Church and to the People of God. The Permanent Diaconate brings great blessings to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia through the service you undertake in so many ways. As teachers and catechists, ministers in parishes, hospitals, nursing homes and prisons, ministering to children, engaged couples, new parents, the aged and the bereaved, you serve the Body of Christ as you yourselves embody Christ the servant of all. For all of this, I thank you!

This is also an opportunity to renew my particular gratitude to you wives, whose support is so important to the deacons’ ministry, and who yourselves contribute a great deal to the life of the Church. Your presence today bears testimony to the support you give to your husbands and their ministry as deacons.

A Journey with Jesus the Deacon in Holy Week

As we gather here today on the day before Passion Sunday, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the essential mysteries of our faith this coming week. Priests often meditate on how Jesus acted as Priest and Lamb of Sacrifice during Holy Week to gain a greater sense of their priesthood. So how might a deacon celebrate Holy Week?

When I was last with you, it was October and we were celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Permanent Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. At that time I mentioned in the homily that Jesus Himself was a deacon who came to serve rather than to be served. By meditating on Jesus the Deacon throughout Holy Week, you can come to a greater appreciation of your own ministry as His deacons.

Passion Sunday

Tomorrow, on Passion Sunday, we recall that Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus knew that He must come into Jerusalem even at great personal sacrifice. In a wild scene with the crowds shouting "Hosanna," it might have been seen as a moment of glory to those watching from the outside. But to Jesus it was simply a prelude to His week of service and suffering. It was the beginning of a week during which He emptied Himself, "taking on the form of a servant" as Saint Paul says in his letter to the Philippians.

Each of the four evangelists has his own perspective on Jesus’ Passion. Mark stresses the isolation of Christ crucified. He is abandoned by His disciples, tortured and taunted by those around Him, and, finally, dies on the Cross in agony.

Matthew emphasizes the royal dignity of Christ in fulfillment of all the promises of the Old Testament. Matthew tells us that if we know our Scriptures, we will see through the seemingly powerless crucified Jesus and recognize the Messiah in His glory. John also shows us a royal Christ on the Cross, but John’s vision of Jesus is of Christ the King completely in control of His "hour of glory" on the Cross.

This year we will read Luke’s version of the Passion which has particular significance for deacons. Luke shows Jesus as a compassionate servant even as He is giving up His own life. While it appears elsewhere in the other Gospels, in Luke’s Gospel Jesus tells His Apostles at the Last Supper that the greatest among them is the servant of all the others. The rest of Luke’s Passion narrative describes how Jesus became this Servant.

Just as Stephen the deacon is seen as the first martyr in Luke’s companion book, the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus’ Death on the Cross is presented as the final act of His diaconal service. Luke’s parallels between the Death of Jesus and the death of Stephen were intentional—showing the connection between Jesus and the Church modeled by Stephen. Jesus, as He is described by Luke, is one who heals the severed ear of the High Priest’s servant, who ministers in sympathy to the daughters of Jerusalem and the criminal who hung on the cross next to Him. Jesus performed diaconal service until His last breath.

Holy Thursday

Later this week we will again meet Jesus the Deacon. On Holy Thursday, we will read from Saint John’s version of the Last Supper. John is unique in his description of the Last Supper because he does not include the words of consecration or the breaking of the bread. Instead, he presents Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. No Gospel passage is more diaconal than the washing of the feet. Jesus’ admonition, "...as I have done for you, you should also do," echoes in the ears of every deacon everyday. May you always be deeply conscious that, while you are serving the people of God, you are not just ordained social workers. Rather you are Christ washing the feet of His disciples. Your service is more than just useful, it is holy.

Good Friday

On Good Friday we will continue our encounter with Jesus the Deacon in the first reading from Isaiah. Again as a suffering servant, Jesus bears our afflictions and our infirmities. As deacons, you too are asked to bear the afflictions and burdens of those you are called to serve.

This is not an abstraction! Compassionate suffering is part of the life of every Christian, but especially part of the life of a deacon. Part of my wanting to be here with you today is to acknowledge the good work you do and the suffering that it sometimes entails. But also as we gather here together in unity, we can remind ourselves that our suffering is not pain and sacrifice for the sake of pain and sacrifice. No, it is suffering united to the suffering of Christ the Suffering Servant, who leads us to salvation. On Good Friday Jesus the Deacon gives meaning to all Christian suffering. And deacons today, in their service in the name of Jesus and His Church, help make visible the redemptive work of Jesus on the Cross.

Easter

At the Easter Vigil we will hear Saint Paul tell the Romans that anyone who dies with Christ will rise with Him in the Resurrection. The life of every Christian, and certainly every deacon, is marked by a steady dying to sin and selfishness so as to take on the life offered by Jesus.

In a particular way deacons offer their lives in service, and in so doing can experience dying to themselves. Service certainly comes at a price for every deacon, and his family too. But you gladly pay that price because of the life you and your families receive in Christ.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He rose as Priest, Prophet and King. He rose as Savior and Messiah. He rose as the New Adam, the New Moses, and the New David. He rose as the Son of God and the Son of Man. He also rose as the Deacon of the new and eternal covenant!

The Easter season brings a steady unfolding of the mystery of the Resurrection. As we contemplate Jesus raised from the dead by His heavenly Father, who thus shows His loving acceptance of Jesus’ Sacrifice, I pray that you will rejoice in knowing that your ministry as deacons not only extends the service of Jesus the Deacon but also gives testimony to our faith: Jesus is alive! He lives for His Father; He lives for His Church! In this way your ministry of service becomes also a ministry of hope in the Church.

Gratitude and Hope

Dear friends: our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI mentioned deacons in his recent Post- Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, under the heading "Gratitude and Hope." I join him in giving thanks once again for the service that deacons give to the Church, and I pray that all of you may be renewed at Easter in your life and ministry, as Saint Peter says, through "a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). Amen.