Good Churchkeeping 101

Chaput ordains 12 transitional deacons in Denver

Being called by God shouldn’t lead to pride, but to humble dependence on him, the archbishop said in his homily as he spoke on the passage from Matthew’s Gospel about the request of the apostles James and John for places of prominence in Christ’s kingdom.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you,” the archbishop emphasized as he read from the Scriptures. “Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.”

The servant nature of the diaconate is the foundational aspect of all three ranks of Holy Orders — deacons, priests and bishops — the archbishop said.

“It’s foundational in that without that transformation into servants and slaves ... the walls of the episcopacy would collapse,” he said. “This is, in some sense, the most important part of the sacrament of Holy Orders.”

Beautiful.

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