Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord

I am sorry that I will miss seeing you this weekend. I will be leading a retreat in Faulkner, MD at the Loyola Retreat House for the ordained permanent Deacons of the Archdiocese of Washington and their wives.

As I was preparing my talks for the retreat, I have been thinking a lot about the intention of the bishops of the Second Vatican Council who reinstated the permanent diaconate (as opposed to the temporary diaconate, which men are ordained to before they become priests). Their motivation for doing so was not in response to a lack of priests. There were plenty of priests when they were considering reinstating the permanent diaconate. The reinstating of the diaconate was in response to a culture that had lost its Christian way.

In the wake of the French Revolution, the First and Second World War, and the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis and the Communists, the bishops felt that the Church and the culture had become horribly disconnected. Therefore, the bishops reinstated the order of the permanent diaconate to connect the Church with culture.

The permanent Deacons were created to imitate Christ the Servant - in their service to the world and the Church. Through their service, the Deacons lead the laity in the transformation of Earth to become as it is in Heaven. This is why Deacon Barnes has the last word at Mass when he dismisses the people of God into the world to transform it by saying: "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord."

God bless,

Fr. Scott