Deacon Ordination Homily – November 14, 2026: Acts 2:26-40; Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13; John 15: 9-17
Richard, Fred and Evan, it is good that we are here today for your ordination to the deaconate. I am grateful for each of you and your faithful preparation over the years. I am also grateful to each of your families and the formation teams who have helped you to embrace this moment and your vocations with hope and confidence.
As we gather in this cathedral, I am mindful that yesterday was the feast day for a saint who visited this place of prayer many years ago – Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. Her love and care for the poor is a great example for deacons, as their primary ministry is one of Gospel charity.
I recall the story of how Mother Cabrini after her death appeared to Sr. Delfina Grazioli, a member of her own community, who was dying from a terminal cancer. In that appearance, Mother Cabrini said to Sr. Delfina: “Get up and get back to work.” From that moment on Sr. Delfina’s cancer miraculously disappeared and she lived and worked many more years.
“Get up and head south.” Are the first words Philip hears from the angel of the Lord in our first reading. They are remarkably appropriate words for an ordination. “Get up. Go. I am sending you.”
There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about both of these commands. And there is something deeply diaconal about them.
Brothers, today the Lord says something similar to you: “Get up. I have work for you to do.”
But notice what happens to Philip. He is not given the whole plan. He is simply told to go. And once he goes, the Spirit shows him the person he is being sent to: “Go and join up with that chariot.” That is ordained ministry. We get up. We go where the Lord sends us; where the Spirit leads each day. We pay attention to the people along the way.
Philip draws near. He listens. He asks the Ethiopian, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And then, beginning with the Scripture passage, he proclaims Jesus Christ.
This is the work for which you are ordained: to be led by the Spirit; to draw near to God’s people; to listen to their questions; to help them understand the story of their lives in the light of the Gospel; and above all, to proclaim Jesus Christ.
Both St. Paul and St. John further strengthen our understanding of the work of ministry:
Paul says, “Live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” And what is the work? “To equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ.”
And Jesus takes us even deeper: “Remain in my love.”
There is a paradox in ordained ministry. Christ tells us to get up and go, but he also tells us to remain.
My brothers, Go where the Spirit leads you. Remain in the love of Christ. If you do not remain in him, all the going eventually becomes empty activity. But if you remain in his love, your ministry becomes an expression of his love.
As I told a group of pastors gathered last week: the cross is what love looks like when it costs us something. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
The laying down of your life usually does not happen all at once. It will happen little by little: when service interrupts your plans; when obedience asks something you would not have chosen; when someone needs more time than you wanted to give; when building unity requires patience; when accompanying someone means walking farther down the road than you expected.
So …
Get up because Christ has called you.
Go where the Spirit sends you.
Remain in the love of Christ.
Give that love away, especially when it costs you something.
When I was ordained, I chose a few ‘protector saints’ to accompany me throughout my life. Perhaps Mother Cabrini can be one of those saints for you… Her words are not a bad charge for newly ordained deacons: “Get up and get to work.”
But do the work as Philip did, attentive to the Spirit. Do it as Paul teaches, building up the Body of Christ. And do it as Jesus commands, remaining always in his love.
Get up. Go where the Lord sends you. Stay close to Jesus. And spend your life giving his love away.
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