Our first reading will always remain dear to our heart
because my classmates and I picked it for our ordination to the diaconate. While a man is ordained a deacon into
Christ’s service (this is what the Greek word diakonia means), two of his most important jobs are to baptize and
to preach.
Philip—one
of the original seven deacons—does both with the Ethiopian eunuch. “Then
Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage, he
proclaimed Jesus to him…the eunuch said, ‘Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being
baptized?’ Then
he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went
down into the water, and he baptized him.” To this day I cherish the gift of
preaching and baptizing.
Since
becoming a priest I have had the humbling gift each day of presiding at
Mass. This connects what Jesus
proclaimed—“I am the bread of life…and
the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”—with our
own spiritual lives today.
In
each role I serve I am humbly grateful.
Yet
this gratitude extends beyond my own priestly ministry. I thank God for the many ordained men
through which I was baptized, forgiven, fed, ordained and counseled. If it wasn’t for the priesthood we could
not have the sacraments, and for that we should all be thankful.
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