Good shepherds to good deacons

Acts 6:1-7

Our first reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter is what the Church, at least since Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, has taken to be the scriptural account of the institution of the diaconate (See Against the Heretics, Book III, Chapter 10). Hence, as a deacon, it seems appropriate to reflect on this today. Following, as it does, Good Shepherd Sunday, which is usually employed, and rightly so, to talk about priestly ministry, it seem fortuitous to reflect on the diaconate.

If we take Acts 6:1-7 seriously as the inspired account of the institution of the diaconate (exegetically, there are a few issues with doing so unreservedly), we see that there are three fundamental criterion: men of good reputation, who are "filled with the Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3). At least in part, being a man of good reputation means being a just man.

The diakonia in which Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, were set apart to engage in was ensuring that within the primitive Christian community, which held all things in common, that Greek-speaking widows received their fair share of the daily distribution of food. Since this diakonia was table service, we can stretch this to perhaps entail both the ministries of charity and of liturgy a little anachronistically.

What about the diakonia of the word? Well, there is a reason that Stephen, followed by Philip, is the first of the seven men named. As a reading of the rest of Acts 6 and then Acts 7 shows, it wasn't long before at least Stephen joined with the apostles in proclaiming the kerygma. It was for this that he was made the Church's first martyr.

Not long after that, when the primitive Church fell under heavy persecution in Jerusalem, causing many to flee, including Philip along with his daughters, that the second of the seven named preached the Gospel and baptized in Samaria. His most famous convert being the Ethiopian eunuch. It was Philip who went and brought Peter and John from Jerusalem to Samaria to impart the Holy Spirit on those whom he had baptized (see Acts 8).

As the ones who proclaim the Gospel in the liturgy, is important for the deacon to always keep in mind the exhortation received from his bishop during ordination as the bishop placed the evangelary in his hands: "Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach." Selflessness is at the heart of all Christian ministry, especially ordained ministry.

Saint Peter consecrating the Seven Deacons (Saint Stephen is shown kneeling), by Fra Angelico, in Niccoline Chapel, 1447

Through ordination one receives the sacramental grace necessary to serve like Christ. Just as there are uncommitted, half-hearted, and even bad priests, there are those kinds of deacons as well. Jesus Christ is the model deacon. When He told the twelve, "I am among you as the one who serves," what He said, when translated more literally, is, "I am among you as the deacon" (see Luke 22:27).

I think the best way to end this is with what might be called the magna carta of the renewed diaconate, the restoration of which as a permanent office was called for by the Second Vatican Council and realized a few years later. It is the section twenty-nine of the Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium. I am going to italicize and embolden parts that I feel need to be much better grasped by everyone, including deacons:

At a lower level of the hierarchy are deacons, upon whom hands are imposed "not unto the priesthood, but unto a ministry of service." For strengthened by sacramental grace, in communion with the bishop and his group of priests they serve in the diaconate of the liturgy, of the word, and of charity to the people of God. It is the duty of the deacon, according as it shall have been assigned to him by competent authority, to administer baptism solemnly, to be custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist [an ordinary minister of Holy Communion], to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to the dying, to read the Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort the people, to preside over the worship and prayer of the faithful, to administer sacramentals, to officiate at funeral and burial services. Dedicated to duties of charity and of administration, let deacons be mindful of the admonition of Blessed Polycarp: "Be merciful, diligent, walking according to the truth of the Lord, who became the servant of all."

Since these duties, so very necessary to the life of the Church, can be fulfilled only with difficulty in many regions in accordance with the discipline of the Latin Church as it exists today, the diaconate can in the future be restored as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy. It pertains to the competent territorial bodies of bishops, of one kind or another, with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff, to decide whether and where it is opportune for such deacons to be established for the care of souls. With the consent of the Roman Pontiff, this diaconate can, in the future, be conferred upon men of more mature age, even upon those living in the married state. It may also be conferred upon suitable young men, for whom the law of celibacy must remain intact.

Belated Short Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday

Each year, the Fourth Sunday of Easter is observed as Good Shepherd Sunday. Understandably, this Sunday often used to encourage young men to consider whether God might be calling them to be priests. All priests, but especially those who serve parishes as pastors, are shepherds. "Pastor" is more or less synonymous with "shepherd."

While all pastors and all priests (and all bishops) should strive to be good shepherds, there is only one Good Shepherd: Jesus Christ. This realization is vital, critical, essential for God's people as a whole and for each of us individually, including those who serve as shepherds. One of the beauties of being Catholic is that a parish is not built on the charisma of single priest, thus running the risk of collapsing when he is transferred, retires, or leaves for some other reason. Don't get me wrong there are some wonderfully charismatic priests. There are also some manipulatively charismatic priests.

I thank the Lord for the many steady, stable, well-adjusted, emotionally mature priests who take their calling seriously by engaging in their ministry diligently. I know one of the struggles of many such priests after they retire is how quickly and completely they seem to be forgotten by those they served so wholeheartedly. Yet, their consolation, too, the spiritually mature ones know, comes from the Good Shepherd. Whether we want to face it or not, contemporary U.S. culture, when it comes to relationships of virtually any kind, is very transactional.

One of the oldest representations of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, made around 300 AD., original painted in Crypt of Lucina, Rome

When a priest isn't a good shepherd, perhaps a half-hearted, not fully committed, or even negligent one, this shouldn't cause you to lose faith. Go ahead and be disappointed, discouraged, even a bit dismayed. Also, deeply appropriate the first verse of Psalm 23: "The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack." Now, for a time, you may lack a good shepherd. But you always have the Good Shepherd. Lean into Him. Draw close to Him. Let Him draw you close. In terms of faith, this is a matter of life and death!

Despite everything that's happened over the past quarter century, there still remain wolves disguised, not as sheep, but as shepherds. Maybe the better term, being a lifelong Westerner, is there are rustlers, or, to quote Jesus, "thieves." Moreover, there are no few hirelings seeking to fleece the flock.

It is the Good Shepherd who pursues you with goodness and mercy your whole life through. He sets the banquet of the Eucharist before you. He can even do this through the ministry of a not so good shepherd. It is the Good Shepherd who brings you to lush, verdant pastures, sets you beside still waters, and who restores your soul.

Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker

Readings: Genesis 1:26-2:3; Psalm 90:3-4.12-14.16; Matthew 13:54-58

In 1955, Pope Pius XII made 1 May the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. He did this so it would fall on the same day as International Workers Day, usually called “May Day.” In the eighteenth century, May Day became a secular celebration of workers’ rights. In short, May Day was a major celebration for the communists in Communist countries and for Communist parties outside the Soviet sphere, especially in Western Europe.

By inaugurating the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, the Holy Father wanted to emphasize the Christian understanding of the necessity, importance, and dignity of work. Addressing the Catholic Association of Italian Workers on 1 May 1955, Pius XII, speaking about Saint Joseph, insisted:

There could not be a better protector to help you penetrate the spirit of the Gospel into your life…From the Heart of the Man-God, Savior of the world, this spirit flows into you and into all men; but it is certain that no worker has ever been as perfectly and deeply penetrated by it as the putative Father of Jesus, who lived with Him in the closest intimacy and commonality of family and work¹

Adding, “So, if you want to be close to Christ, We also today repeat to you ‘Ite Ioseph‘: Go to Joseph!”² The antiphon for the Invitatory for today’s Memorial is: “Come let us worship Christ the Lord who was honored to be known as the son of a carpenter.”³

The Church’s understanding of the integrating nature of human work is grounded in the command given in Genesis to be stewards of God’s good earth and to engage in productive labor.

In his encyclical on the dignity of work, Laborem Exercens, Pope Saint John Paul II, a man, like our pastor, all too familiar with the oppressive nature of communism, observed:

the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society⁴

Saint Joseph the Worker, by Ade Bethune

Let’s not forget that in Poland, it was the labor union Solidarity, named after one of the fundamental elements of the Church’s social teaching, that was instrumental in bringing about the freedom necessary for workers to enjoy the fruit of honest labor. Labor unions, which the Church continues to support, are great examples of living out the Church’s social teaching. Unions seek to safeguard human dignity by pursuing the common good, building solidarity, and being self-governing organizations, they also exemplify subsidiarity.

Since Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which kicked off the Church’s modern social teaching, the Church has sought to advocate for worker's rights, especially against often greedy wealthy interests. Rerum Novarum marked the Church’s somewhat delayed response to the Industrial Revolution.

With the digital revolution now culminating with the development of artificial intelligence, which poses as many or more threats than it does human benefits, it is no accident that our current pope took the papal name Leo. Since shortly after becoming Roman Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV has been at work on an encyclical addressing technology and artificial intelligence.

The encyclical is meant to serve the same purpose as Rerum Novarum for our time; it is projected to be entitled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity).⁵ Pope Leo XIV deems it necessary for the Church to contribute to the pressing discussion about technological development by evaluating AI through the lens of integral human development, and to assess its current and future impact on human society.

By tirelessly working to protect and provide for his family while striving to listen to and obey God, Saint Joseph serves as a role model. Saint Joseph the Worker. Pray for us.

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1 Pope Pius XII. Speech to Catholic Association of Italian Workers. 1 May 1955..^↩
2 Ibid.^↩
3 Liturgy of the Hours. Proper of Saints, 1 May, Invitatory Antiphon for the Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker.^↩
4 Pope John Paul II. Encyclical Letter On Human Work (Laborem Exercens), sec. 1.^↩
5 Daniel Esparza. “'Magnifica Humanitas’: Pope Leo XIV’s Rerum Novarum moment” on Aleteia. 2 January 2026.^↩

Year 2 Friday of the Third Week of Easter

This is longer than my homily. In this format, there are a few things I wanted to expand on.

Readings: Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 117:1bc-2; John 6:52-59

It’s funny how so many people who take the entire Bible quite literally, thus reading many of its books in a flat, two-dimensional way, refuse to take the text literally in some instances when it is, in fact, meant to be taken more or less literally. Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse, found in the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel, is one such instance.

It’s clear from the Greek, the language in which the entire New Testament was originally written, that when the Lord spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He was speaking in what we might call real terms. His words, as the reaction of those who heard them clearly shows, are shocking. This is why some of them ask, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”¹

Consider, too, that the setting is the synagogue in Capernaum. What Jesus says in this passage is not just mind-blowing but, at least to Jewish ears, maybe even downright blasphemous. Even if He were not talking about His own flesh and blood, or what sounded like human flesh and blood, Jews do not drink or even eat blood. It is strictly forbidden. So, let's not be too harsh on those who heard these words and were, well, disburbed by them.

Jesus says this before He institutes the Eucharist at the Last Supper. It also bears noting that, unlike the institution narratives in the Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the inspired author of Saint John’s Gospel writes about the Lord washing the feet of His closest disciples.² What is important to note is that, despite the literal nature of these words, at the words of consecration, the dead body of Jesus does not plop down on the altar to be divvied up.

Theologically, the two most difficult matters to address are the Blessed Trinity and the Holy Eucharist, perhaps followed by the hypostatic union. The reason why is that these are deep, fundamental, and unfathomable mysteries of Christian faith.

First off, it's important to start with the reality that the Lord is not dead but resurrected and alive. Being truly human and resurrected, He has a body. Second, if we understand the consecrated bread and wine to be transformed into Christ’s body and blood in a capharnaitic way, considering His resurrection, there would be only a very limited amount of Him to consume. In the context of the Eucharist, “capharnaitic” is often referred to as “physicalism.”

In this context, "physicalism" means that, rather than understanding the mode of Christ’s Eucharistic presence in a sacramental and substantial way, it is understood in what can be be described as a gross and primitive way. In fact, physicalist understandings of the Eucharist, reported miracles notwithstanding, are condemned by the Church. Rather, transubstantiation refers to a change in substance while the accidents remain.

A substantial change, which, in the Eucharist, is effected by the Holy Spirit, is a real change. This substantial change is not a physical change. In metaphysical terms, one might say in this way the Holy Spirit makes Christ's presence more real.

Believing in Christ's real presence in the Eucharist is what Aquinas would call a truth of faith. It is of faith because it is something we know only because God revealed it, this is also makes it, theologically speaking, a mystery. But even truths of faith need to be explored by human reason. After all, faith seeks understanding. It's important these things makes sense without deviating from divine revelation. This is one reason why we need the Church.

One of the reasons the Church is so clear on this is because during her earliest centuries, Christians were often accused of engaging in cannibalism. No doubt, this is what the people gathered in the Capernaum synagogue thought Jesus was suggesting.

Let’s not forget that Christ is really present in the Eucharistic celebration (with no celebration, there is no Eucharist- divorcing the Blessed Sacrament from the Mass is a huge mistake) in four ways: in the gathering of the baptized, in the person of the priest, in the proclamation of the scriptures, and in the transformed elements of bread and wine.³

Because the Holy Spirit is the mode of Christ’s resurrection presence, the Eucharist is the most real encounter with the Risen Lord one can have. It is through Holy Communion and all the sacraments that Christ gives Himself to us totally. Such an encounter, as Saint Paul’s encounter shows, is life-changing. It is notable that after he was baptized, Paul ate and regained his strength. Is there a detectable Eucharistic undertone in this? Maybe.

It is important to grasp that, at its core, to believe in the real, sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist is to believe in His Resurrection from the dead. By exercising His priestly ministry in the Mass, our Risen Lord makes present His triumph over death. This is why “whoever eats this bread will live forever.”⁴

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1 John 6:52.^↩
2 See John 13:1-17.^↩
3 Second Vatican Council. Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), sec. 7^↩
4 John 6:58.^↩

"Were not our hearts burning. . .?"

Luke 24:13-35

After quite a bit of planning and some fanagaling, I have a Sunday off. Yesterday evening, after a long day of teaching, I was able to quietly attend a Vigil Mass at another parish. Today is my first day off since the week before Holy Week.

I was sorely tempted to just let it go today. But I felt impelled (not compelled, had that been the case, I would've resisted), to share a concentrated take on today's Gospel reading: The Road to Emmaus. I never really fully grasped the centrality of the Emmaus pericope until I read Louis-Marie Chauvet's The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body.

Saint Luke's pericope in which the inspired author conveys the story of what happened to Cleopas and companion (perhaps his wife?) as they made their way back home to their village after Jesus' passion and death is simply amazing. Cleopas and companion ("companion" is literally someone with whom you share bread) had even heard news of some women, fellow disciples of Jesus, seeing angels who they said told them that Jesus rose from the dead.

But all these two disappointed disciples saw after hearing these reports was an empty tomb. What does an empty tomb prove? Did those women really encounter angels?

Saint Luke's telling of what happened on the way to and then in Emmaus contains an inspired and comprehensive Eucharistic theology as well as a fairly well sketched out liturgical theology, which even includes a dismissal. The dismissal occurs when, having recognized the Risen Lord in the breaking of bread, which happened after a very extended liturgy of word (like the one at the Paschal Vigil), they rush the seven miles back to Jerusalem, despite it now being nightime, to tell the others what they had seen and heard and how their hearts were burning.

The story of the road to Emmaus tells the story of the Word becoming flesh and how the Word still becomes flesh. Through the Eucharist, the flesh the Word now takes is your flesh, my flesh. When we say the Church is the Body of Christ, we are not using an analogy. We are describing reality.

The mystery of life in Christ is that Christ can live in you (Colossians 1:27). Moreover, Christ desires not only to live in but through you and through me. You and I, along with everyone who else who partakes of Christ's Body and Blood, are united in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit by partaking of the one bread and the one cup (okay, chalice). Given to us by the Lord Himself, the Church makes the Eucharist and the Eucharist, in turn, makes the Church the Body of Christ.

Let's be honest, the only convincing evidence that the bread and wine are transformed (transubstantiated) into Christ's Body and Blood are the lives of those of us who eat and drink. Conversely, the best argument against this reality are the lives of those of us who partake. In the Eucharist, something really profound is happening, ex opere operato (i.e., whether you experience it or not).

While it is imporant and even necessary, don't remain content with minimalism, with hanging your hat on the peg of ex opere operato. Your participation, my participation, should be intentional. In the most important sense, this is what it means to actively participate.

For some reason, this Easter season, I feel impelled to emphasize that Jesus didn't just rise from the tomb. He is risen, denoting the on-going nature of His resurrection. Resurrection isn't merely something to be believed but something/Someone to be experienced in the way Cleopas and his companion did. Resurrection is not just a way of life, a manner of living, but a mode of being.

What should happen during the Eucharist should also resound beyond Mass and outside the walls of the Church. Quite simply, worship that doesn't lead to self-giving service isn't Christian worship. And so, "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord. Alleluia." "Go in peace, glorfying the Lord by your life. Alleluia" (we won't use the double "Alleluia" again until the dismissal at Pentecost).

Year 2 Friday of the Second Week of Easter

Readings: Acts 5:34-42; Psalm 27:1.4.13-14; John 6:1-15

“And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus” (Acts 5:42). Indeed, Jesus is the Christ, the Christos, the Messiah, Meshiach. Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God, true God from true God. He didn’t just rise from the dead. He is is risen and alive!

That’s a lot of words! Isn’t that the risk we run, letting what passes for faith, which we often reduce to mere belief, become mostly or even exclusively words? Words found in Sacred Scripture are given to inspire us, to encourage, to challenge, and to provoke us. This is why faith is a verb, not a noun. Faith is action, not description.

While we should appreciate Gamaliel's balanced approach, it should also be noted that he seemed to raise no objection to the flogging of the apostles. Maybe he thought that would dampen their zeal in proclaiming the itinerant from Nazareth as some kind of savior or as the Messiah. Rather than cool apostolic fervor, the trial, rebuke, and flogging only inflamed the twelve more. But, according to Gamaliel’s criterion, their message must have come from God.

While it’s true that prudence governs all the virtues, prudence should never be used as an excuse not to proclaim Christ. Saint Francis of Assisi, the deacon and great evangelist, who certainly preached Christ in both word and deed, never said, “Preach the Gospel and if necessary, use words.” Francis was ordained as a deacon to gain faculties to preach. Preach he did, as well as engage in selfless works of charity.

Rabban Gamaliel, Medieval Miniature, courtesy of Wikipedia

The other day, driving down Orchard, I was behind a car that had on its back bumper a sticker that read: “If Jesus had owned a gun, he’d still be alive today.” Talk about an exercise not only in missing the point but in missing the most important point. Jesus, armed with power that made and sustains all there is, love, agape, is not dead but is alive!

There is a huge difference between thinking of Jesus as alive rather than someone who lived and died a long time ago, as merely a historical figure. It makes an even bigger difference to have a life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. This is possible because He ascended and sent the Holy Spirit, who is the mode of Christ’s resurrection presence. It is the Holy Spirit who effects the sacraments.

By gathering, listening to the scriptures, and receiving Holy Communion, you encounter the Risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. In each Mass, as the scriptures are proclaimed and Holy Communion is received, the Word becomes flesh in and through us. We are sent forth to constantly proclaim the Christ, Jesus, to be His presence, His hands, eyes, ears, feet, heart.

Make no mistake, Christ is king, but not one in the mold of King David, as the crowd and even His disciples imagined. He is king of a kingdom that, while it is not of this world, is both in and for the world. It is manifested in the world now as a mustard seed, as yeast, as a sign of contradiction to worldly powers, which often chafe at when it is presented.

The power of Christ is the power of self-giving love. There is no better sign, no better symbol, no more meaningful demonstration of this than the sacramentum caritatis, the mysterion agape, the sacrament of self-giving love, that is, the Eucharist.

Divine Mercy Chaplet w/ Exposition

By the mercy of God, we come before our Risen Lord, present in the Eucharist. His Eucharistic presence is a present, a gift flowing from Divine Mercy. In a few moments, praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, given mystically to Saint Faustina Kowalska, we implore the Father for the sake of His Son’s sorrowful passion, to have mercy on us and on the whole world.

By praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together, we intercede for the world before the Father, through the Son, in the power of their Holy Spirit. We ask God to have mercy on the world and on us. Yesterday, Pope Leo held a Rosary Vigil for peace Saint Peter’s Basilica. At same time locally, there was a Rosary procession in Salt Lake City, which began and ended at our cathedral. This gathering is an extension of the Holy Father’s vigil.

In a memorandum issued last Thursday, Bishop Solis directed that in all prayerful gatherings of the faithful in our diocese this Divine Mercy Sunday, we pray for peace throughout the world and for respect for the human dignity of migrants and for their safety. In obedience to our bishop, this Chaplet of Divine Mercy is offered for those two intentions. Of course, it is right and fitting to add your own intentions to these communal intentions, just as at Mass.

Evil is real. I am not sure I agree with the assertion that evil is merely a lack. Evil seems to me, at least at times, to have some substance. In a world full of chaos and uncertainty, where, as Pope Leo noted in his new year’s address to the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, war, with all its concomitant suffering, seems to once again be in vogue. This causes many to wonder if evil has any limit.

Toward the end of his life, Pope Saint John Paul II, who was instrumental in Saint Faustina’s canonization and who established the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, wrote about the limit God imposes on evil.

John Paul II insisted you can’t “think of the limit placed by God himself upon the various forms of evil without reference to the mystery of Redemption.” He then asked, “Could the mystery of Redemption be the response to that historical evil which, in different forms, continually recurs in human affairs?” Before jumping too quickly to give a facile answer to a complex question, he annunciated some of the evils. All too easily, he insisted, we can come to see

the evil of concentration camps, of gas chambers, of police cruelty, of total war, and of oppressive regimes - evil which, among other things, systematically contradicts the message of the Cross - it can seem...that such evil is more powerful than any good

He then urged us to pay close attention to history. Doing so, “we discover that this is precisely where the victorious presence of Christ's Cross is most clearly revealed.” Against a dark background the light shines forth more brightly. For “those subjected to systematic evil, there remains only Christ and his Cross as a source of spiritual self-defense, as a promise of victory.”

According to John Paul II, it is the Cross of Christ that “marks the divine limit placed upon evil, it is for this reason only: because thereby evil is radically overcome by good, hate by love, death by resurrection.”¹

It is only by bearing your cross daily and giving your life in loving service to others that you can experience resurrection, that is, in the words of Saint Augustine to the wealthy Roman widow Proba, life that is truly life!

Take courage, by His death and resurrection, Christ conquered evil and death. By His passion, death, and resurrection, Christ not only responds to all the evil in world, He vanquishes it. Christus resurrexit, quia Deus caritas est - Christ is resurrected because God is love.

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1 All citations from John Paul II. Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of the Millennium, 19-20. Random House: 2005.^↩