ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
to God who is, who was, and who is to come.

Bishop Burbidge,
Brother priests and deacons,
Dear candidates for the Diaconate,
Dear wives and children of these chosen men,
Dear friends in Jesus Christ,

            Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our responsorial psalm exclaims: O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! How wonderful the name of God, the name of the Most Blessed Trinity, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

            There are many reasons for the existence of the Permanent Diaconate in the Church, but all of them presume the praise of the Most Blessed Trinity. The deacon s sacred ministry is at the service of God s revelation of Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The deacon s work must serve to lead the people to know, love and serve the One and Triune God.

            Today, under the sign of the Most Blessed Trinity the Church calls and ordains fifteen of our brothers to the Order of the Diaconate. These chosen men are: Charles R. Amen, Harry D. Antrim, William Timothy Baxter, John M. Betzal, James J. Fowkes, John J. Gallagher, William F. Iacobellis, George W. Kletzel, Francis E. Langsdorf, Charles R. Lindsay, John P. Lozano, James J. Mahoney, Vincent J. Marco, James G. Murphy, and Frederick M. Ryan.

             These men take their place today among the successors of the first deacons, in a close and sacramental partnership with the priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, indeed with the priests of the world.

            This partnership is a partnership in the Gospel of Christ. It is a vocation of special service to the people of God, special service closely associated with the priests.

The words of Saint Paul, proclaimed in our second reading, can be applied especially to these brothers of ours: ... the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. In their ordination to the Diaconate, our brothers will indeed receive the Holy Spirit who will enable them to serve for the glory of the Most Blessed Trinity.

            The service we are speaking about is above all a service of charity; it is an outreach in the name of Jesus Christ and the Church. The service of the diaconate is a dynamic part of the spiritual structure of the Church, as willed by God.

            The service of each deacon is more than a personal contribution of an individual. It is part of the life of the Church and the mystery of Christ. But in each individual, this service begins at the altar, with the power that comes forth from the Eucharistic sacrifice; it is consolidated and intensified in personal prayer; it presupposes the witness of an upright life.

            This service strives to respond to so many needs to needs wherever they are found among God s people. As a special sacramental service, the Diaconate further extends and fulfills the service required by Baptism.

            My dear brothers, your training has helped you to understand the challenge you now embrace as part of the Church s life. Your wives and children are here to pledge collaboration and support, and we are so happy for this.

            Your call to service is sacramentally inspired and sustained, and it clearly challenges you to be like Christ, who says to each one of you: This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

            Jesus further explains the type of love that He is talking about, saying: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one s life for one s friends.

            You are being asked to lay down your life in service. Never before have you aspired to the greatness that you now take on. Jesus says: Anyone who aspires to greatness must serve the rest&.

            In practice, your service will require zeal and the ingenuity to discover the needs of God s people and to help fulfill them: the needs of the poor, the sick and suffering, the homeless, those uninstructed in the faith, those in need of love, those languishing in despair, all those in need of Christ.

            And so you fulfill a basic role in communicating Christ by word and example. Your word must be inspired by God s word as proclaimed, interpreted and lived by the Church. Your example must be deeply rooted in prayer and charity. It must express a life of justice, honesty and truth. You will always be expected to speak and act in communion with John Paul our Pope and with his successors, with the presbyterate of Philadelphia, and in the communion of faith of the universal Church.

            In giving you a sacramental configuration to Christ, whom the Church proclaims as the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, the Son of Mary and the Servant of humanity, she is asking a great deal of you. The Church is counting on your perseverance and on the authenticity of your lives. To accomplish this you will absolutely need the energy and strength that flow from the death and resurrection of the Lord, which are renewed in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which you will often have the opportunity to share in at the side of the priest.

            The Church needs your efforts to model the relationships of Christian families in charity, prayer and openness to the needs of others.

            In all of this, what is needed for the success of your ministry is a team mentality of collaboration, and the team is the Church of Jesus Christ. And the rules of the game are the Gospel of Christ as proclaimed and interpreted and lived by the Church.

            Every individual gift of yours is needed and esteemed, but all of them must be coordinated by the action of the Holy Spirit in the communion of the Church.

            In the years to come, your words of faith must flow forth from a heart steeped in prayer. Everything that you teach and communicate will be in union with the teaching of the Church which is one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.

            Now, more than ever before, the Church needs your holiness and zeal. And this means that you personally need the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Penance, prayer, meditation on the word of God, an intimate relationship with Christ and a loving trust in His Mother Mary.

            An intimate relationship with Christ requires an openness to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, who can never contradict the guidance He offers us through His Church.

            Through your selfless giving and through your holiness of life, Christ s own ministry of service in the world will be perpetuated. His servant Church will be more effective, more authentic, more compassionate, more loving. The Most Blessed Trinity will be evermore known and loved.

            Yes, dear brothers, the love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father and this love is the Holy Spirit Himself passes through your ministry of service as deacons in the Church, just as it passes through the humanity of Christ and His Mother, and finds expression in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

            From now on, as deacons, you too will be special signs of God s love in the Church, because you will be dedicated to a service that can only be motivated and sustained by the love of the Most Blessed Trinity.

            Yes, dear brothers, deacons to be, and all of you, dear friends in Christ, there is a wonderful reason for the Church to exclaim today: Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come. Amen.