DIACONAL ORDINATION OF BRO. ANTONIO LOPEZ, CSS

Brother Antonio Lopez, CSS, along with six others, was ordained a transitional deacon on Friday, June 8, 2019, by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, in a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in Boston, MA.

The newly ordained [left to right]: Deacons Erick Gonzalez, Daniel Zinger, Matthew Norwood, Antonio B. Lopez, Joseph Hubbard, Paul Kallal, and Fernando J. Vivas are pictured with Cardinal O’Malley following the Mass. Pilot photo/ Gregory L. Tracy

In his homily, Cardinal O’Malley talked about the concept of servanthood and its importance in the role of the deacon. He pointed to the description in the liturgy’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, in which the apostles selected seven men “of good repute, filled with the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and faith” to be the first deacons.

He said the seven being ordained that day were joining the line of the original seven deacons ordained by the apostles.

“The diaconate is an extraordinary expression of Christ’s servanthood. Its origins are in apostolic times, and the first duties of the deacons were to wait on tables, to care for widows, orphans, and the sick. Theirs was a humble task-directed first at the basic physical needs of the people, but very soon we see the role of the deacon expanded to preaching and baptizing, caring for people’s spiritual as well as their physical needs,” Cardinal O’Malley said.

He said that they must do their work “out of love for Jesus and love for his people.”

“If we love Jesus, we will love the Church and the people that he died for,” Cardinal O’Malley said.

After the homily, the candidates for the diaconate each promised respect and obedience to their bishop and, in the case of the men being ordained for religious communities, to their superiors. To show humility and submission to God, the men lay prostrate before the altar while the assembly sang the Litany of Saints.

Each ordinand received a stole and dalmatic, the vestments that signify the office of the diaconate and the deacon’s role in celebrating the Eucharist. They also received the Book of the Gospels, with the instruction to “Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”

Source:

The Pilot, American oldest Catholic newspaper, on Friday 14th of June 2019, Boston, MA. By Jacqueline Tetrault, Pilot Staff. Local.

http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.php?ID=185265