​Archbishop Gustavo invites new deacons to live present moved by Holy Spirit

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Catholic News Agency

Archbishop Gustavo invites new deacons to live present moved by Holy Spirit

Missionaries of the Holy Spirit Jorge Haro and Rodolfo Martinez were ordained to the order of deacon by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS, on May 29 at St. Vincent de Paul Church in front of a congregation filled with priests, superiors, formators, parents, relatives, religious sisters, and seminarians.

A few days prior, on the solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis, recalled three “suggestions that are typical” of the Holy Spirit. The First: “Live in the present.” The second: “Look to the whole,” not the part. “The Paraclete affirms the primacy of the whole. … Say no to ideologies, yes to the whole,” to the community as a whole, to “us.” The third: “Put God before yourself. … humble openness to God. … Only by emptying ourselves, do we leave room for the Lord … only by becoming poor in spirit, do we become rich in the Holy Spirit.”

The three suggestions complement each other, but Archbishop Gustavo focused on the first one: living in the present. The nature of a calling implies a path, from where we are to where God wants us to be. He asked, “What does this suggestion, to live in the present, mean?”

The sacrament of holy orders illustrates this suggestion very well, the archbishop explained.

“Although your path of preparation for the priesthood continues and your diaconate may be called transitional, however, you must live the gift of the diaconate not as an incomplete reality, but as a present mission. The gift turns you into a gift by the act of ordination. Live it intensely, bearing witness that Jesus is alive today, as yesterday and forever,” he told the two men. “In the proclamation of the Word, service of the altar and the ministry of charity, proper to deacons; helping priests and bishops, being servants of all. You yourselves will be witnesses of the love of God, of the Holy Spirit that is already present among us. The reward has been given to us through the merits of Christ, so that fulfillment of his word is its own reward.”

Archbishop Gustavo continued, “Ask the Holy Spirit to give you his comfort, making you feel the joy of the presence of Christ through your diaconal ministry, for which you have been prepared by him since he formed you in your mother’s womb. Proclaim Christ with your deeds and attitudes at every moment, following the voice of the Son to the Father, praying with the psalm: Your ‘mercy is established forever;’ your ‘faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.’ Thus, your present will be transformed, by the work and grace of the Holy Spirit, into ‘forever’ integrating itself into the eternal present of God.”

Like the first deacons, Haro and Martinez come from among the community. “You are the good fruit of your families, of society and of the Church, and you are taken from them to serve them in the name of the Church herself and of Christ,” the San Antonio prelate said, while he also urged the new deacons to not forget the fate of Stephen. Saint Augustine says that although Stephen was ordained by the apostles, he was crowned before them. And while he was being stoned and Saul approved of the murder, Stephen prayed for them.

The Missionary of the Holy Spirit concluded his homily prior to the rite of ordination by praying that Our Lady of Guadalupe would bless her children who are being ordained deacons, so that they may enjoy the consolation of knowing that they are His ambassadors.