Deaconate ordination of Br. Mulugeta Woldemeskel Kirato SDB

Our Lady, Help of Christians, Milford, Limerick 9.6.2024

Homily Notes of Bishop Brendan Leahy

It mightn’t be immediately obvious, but the readings today are putting before us a picture of why Jesus, the Son of God, came on earth. On the one hand, between the Genesis account and the Gospel, they remind us there is a world where people are divided by mutual distance and distrust, division and shame. It is a world in decay, where Satan thrives in tempting and causing households to be divided. But there is another world, and this is the one Jesus wanted to build up – a new world that is like a united family, one based on true relationships, being sisters and brothers to one another, each one living fully alive, people who are realised and fulfilled because they are doing the will of God. No one more than Mary exemplifies the new kind of life Jesus wanted us to have. But when Jesus’ natural family comes to him in the middle of his mission, he takes the opportunity to remind everyone that his project for a new world is not one simply based on  human bonds, but rather on relationships that are transformed by listening to our conscience where the Holy Spirit speaks (and that’s the most necessary thing in life for each of us), doing well what God asks of us, moment by moment, letting ourselves, our inner life, be renewed day by day, and so, we may, as St. Paul puts it, “carry the weight of eternal glory” in our words and thoughts and actions.

Today Br. Mulugeta, as you are about to be ordained a deacon, you are declaring before us that you want to serve this new family of God. You want to build up the new world that Jesus came to create. In your life you have come to know the Salesian charism which has formed you spirituality, teaching you the great educational art of love that don Bosco promoted, making you discover the measure of love in following the way of the Cross, encouraging you to serve your brothers and sisters joyfully.

Deaconate is about service. The word “deacon” means service. You are to be ordained to the ministry of service. But for you it’s a step on your way to priestly ordination. The Church requires that you be ordained a deacon some time before you are ordained a priest. In doing so, the Church wants to remind you that the deaconate, service, is the foundation on which the priesthood is built. Pope Francis has stated that all priests must maintain a ‘diaconal consciousness’ in living out their priestly ministry. That means remembering the primacy of love, the primacy of service, the soul of the new family Jesus wants you to build up with him.

Of course, when, through the Bishop's laying on of hands, you are ordained to the ministry of service, this does not mean that you become isolated or a loner. Deaconal service is exercised in synodal co-responsibility with others in the People of God. The deaconal ministry is enlightened and strengthened when deacons journey with others in the name of the risen Jesus, nourished by the two tables they serve, the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist.

There is one detail I would like to emphasise. The Second Vatican Council emphasised that deacons are above all ‘dedicated to the tasks of charity and administration’ (Lumen Gentium, 29). We know that in the early centuries of the Church, deacons looked after the needs of the faithful, especially the poor and the sick, in the name and on behalf of the bishop. In the great imperial city of Rome, for example, seven places were organised, distinct from the parishes and distributed throughout the regions of the city, where deacons carried out work for the benefit of the entire Christian community, especially the ‘least of these’, so that, as the Acts of the Apostles say, no one among them would be in need (cf. 4:34).

In last year's Synodal Assembly in Rome that I had the grace to participate in, the social aspect of the diaconate was emphasised several times. The Final Report states that instead of expressing their ministry primarily in the liturgy, deacons are called rather to express it more in service to the poor and needy in the community. There is, therefore, a specific invitation for you: with new determination, decide in your heart to focus on looking out for the various faces of pain in our world and turn your ear to the different cries of humanity so that you can offer many the tender closeness of Jesus who now as Risen is drawing together into one the family of the children of God on earth. As you look around you with the desire to serve, you’ll discover many sisters and brothers, as well as spiritual mothers and fathers. Yes, be a deacon who builds a family spirit by being the first to serve, serving everyone, serving Christ in your neighbour. Keep going when there are troubles, with the sure hope that God is with you, preparing “a house built by God for us, an everlasting home not made by human hands, in the heavens”. We assure you of our prayers that you will always be faithful so that, finally, on the last day, when you go to meet the Lord, you will hear him say “well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord”.