Location: St. Matthew Catholic Church
Brothers and sisters in Christ, dear deacons and beloved deacons’ wives; today we gather to reflect on the beauty and mystery of the diaconate, an ancient and sacred calling that continues to evolve. Our understanding of this vocation is always limited, but that very limitation allows us to see the greatness of God’s wisdom. Like Job, whose story of trust and surrender is both humbling and inspiring, we are called to embrace the mysteries of life and ministry, even when they seem beyond our comprehension.
Job, as we know, endured great suffering, without fully understanding why. His friends tried to explain it, but their human wisdom fell short. In the end, Job encountered God personally, and that encounter transformed everything: “I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.”
He experienced a new kind of knowledge regarding God. It was no longer objective knowledge, but subjective, because the object of this knowledge was experience of God as a Subject, a Person. God was no longer a “what”, but a “Who.” Now Job had a personal relationship with God, which brought him to a deeper faith, a faith that grew in the soil of suffering and trust.
As deacons, your ministry calls for this kind of knowledge of God, leading to deep trust. You are called to serve at the altar, to minister to the poor and marginalized, to proclaim the Gospel. But like Job, you may often find yourselves in situations where you cannot fully understand the “why” of the moment. It is precisely here that God’s wisdom shines forth. Our task is not to have all the answers, but to trust in the One who does. This trust in God is not passive. It requires an active openness to being loved by God. As Jesus’ disciples, we must live in the constant effort to allow ourselves to be transformed by His love. In this love, we learn and unlearn, as His demands and His mercy are always greater than we imagine.
The ministry of deacons, which began in the early Church to meet certain needs in a particular context, now finds itself in a very different world. What is the new paradigm for the diaconate today? It is one rooted in relationship — relationship with Christ and with His people. You are called to be both ministers of mercy and witnesses to God’s presence in a world that often feels distant from Him.
Pope Francis has explained that “Our relationship with God, our relationship with Jesus is not a relationship of ‘doing things’: ‘I do this and You give me that’. … No! It is free, just like the relationship between Jesus and the disciples. ‘You are my friends’ (Jn 15:14). ‘I do not call you slaves, I call you friends’ (see v. 15). ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’ (v. 16). This is gratuitousness.”
In this ever-changing world, may Our Lady of Guadalupe guide you to continually encounter God face-to-face, trusting that He is with you, guiding your path, and giving you the wisdom to serve with love and humility.
