Admission to Candidacy
Permanent Diaconate Program
September 24, 2022
Saint Mary’s Seminary
Introduction
We have gathered in joy and hopefulness this morning to celebrate Holy Mass and to admit into candidacy a goodly number of you who are in formation for the permanent diaconate. I welcome you warmly, together with your wives and family members.
Candidacy is an important step along the path to diaconal ordination. It is a public recognition on the part of the Church that you are indeed pursuing a path of formation that, God willing, leads you to Holy Orders and the diaconal ministry. It is also a declaration on your part that you will engage in the formational process, in all its dimensions, with ever-greater dedication and vigor and the highest integrity – all made possible by the outpouring of God’s grace and the support of your families, your formation team, and the prayers of the Church.
The Significance of Candidacy
It has been observed that the Rite of Candidacy, while sparse in ceremony is rich in significance. The deeper significance of the step you are taking today is highlighted by the Scripture readings which the Church puts before us today. Let us open our hearts to what the Word of God is saying to us.
In the reading from Saint Luke’s Gospel, we meet the disciples in their period of formation and their formator is none other than the Lord himself. As we saw in yesterday’s Gospel reading, Jesus (like all good formators) probed the understanding of his disciples by asking them: “Who do people say that I am?” Students, learners, that they were, the disciples responded with a variety of answers. “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others one of the prophets.” Probing deeper, Jesus asked for a personal response from the disciples. “Who do you say that I am?”
It was Peter who stepped forward to answer: “You are the Messiah of God” – “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus does not respond with the words, “You got the right answer, come to the head of the class.” Instead, he intimates to Peter that it was his heavenly Father who revealed this truth to him – not flesh and blood – and then he takes the next step with his disciples-in-formation. In today’s Gospel, Jesus reiterates that he will suffer and die for the world’s salvation. In so doing, Jesus takes them to the very heart of his mission, the very reason why God the Father sent him into the world. It was more than a difficult lesson. It was a bitter pill. It began a process of radical re-thinking, re-imagining, that did not come easily or naturally to the disciples.
Formation in Christ and for Christ
Like the disciples, you are undergoing formation. Before all else, this means knowing, loving, and following Jesus as never before, all the way to Calvary, all the way to the foot of the Cross. This is an arduous process, replete with fits and starts, ups and downs. For your study of the faith, your prayer, your human formation, your formation in pastoral charity – all this and more is meant to lead to a deepening of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, discovering and re-discovering in the depth of your hearts the depth of his mercy, his truth, his love, his power to transform.
Formation is a time when, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus transforms your humanity, invades your imagination, fills your mind and heart with wonder, and enables you to soak up his presence, his graces, his attitudes, and the infinite horizon of his love. Thus, you prepare yourselves to become living signs of the One who came not to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for the many. Thus, you prepare to preach the Word of Christ in season and out of season, to assist reverently as his paschal mystery unfolds before our eyes of faith, and to administer a charity that opens the eyes of those who are served to the wonders of Christ’s truth and love. Indeed, you are seeking to follow the One who is the living embodiment of that divine charity of which you will be the ministers.
Life-long Process
“Getting there” is a life-long process but now with fixed points along the way: lector, acolyte, and God willing, diaconal ordination – and your ongoing formation as deacons, a formation that ceases only when you enter into heavenly glory.
Throughout these times and seasons of your life, allow Christ to accompany you. Through him, you must learn to grow in prayer and spiritual depth. With him, you must engage wholeheartedly spiritual direction. In him, you must do “theology on your knees” – “all lost in wonder” as the Book of Revelation puts it. Formation, after all, is not a head trip but life-long journey of faith that will mesh with you vocation of marriage and family life and your responsibilities in the workplace. Since ‘all things work together for the good of those who believe’, your vocations as deacons and as spouses and fathers will be mutually reinforcing.
Finally, I entrust you to the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose sinless heart was formed by the Holy Spirit in anticipation of her vocation as the Mother of God. Through her prayers, may you open your hearts to the Lord now and always, rejoicing in the greatness of his love. And may God bless you and keep you always in his love!