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Deacons urged to know wounds of Christ

By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian

Deacon James Keating says he’ll never forget the words of another deacon who told him, “I want the day of my death to be the happiest day of my life.”

This joyful comment might sound odd to even believing Christians who, while they believe in heaven and eternal life, want to delay their death from their earthly existence.

Deacon Keating, director of Theological Formation with the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha, made his remarks Sept. 18 at the annual diocesan Deacons’ Convocation held at the Hospitality House in Williamsburg.

He began his address by acknowledging that all have a need for healing of some kind — even deacons.

“Wives, too, want our healing because they’ve got to live with us,” he added in a humorous vein.

Pointing out that he and his wife Marianne had been married for 25 years, he said often his wife has a sense of what’s on his mind even before he has had a chance to express it or think about it.

One who needs healing should not be afraid to seek it.

“Otherwise, we’re just blowhards, we’re just blowing hot air because we haven’t faced many of the issues that are part of our interior,” Deacon Keating said.

In seeking one’s own healing or that of others, the only way is to “go into the availability of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” he asserted.

Those who claim to be Christian would all say they want a deep relationship with Christ, Deacon Keating said. And while they want one day to be in heaven, he feels that heaven is not going to be so different from what we see and hear now in this life.

He proclaimed the words of St. Claude who said: “O Holy Heart of Jesus, dwell hidden in my heart, so that in the end I may live with you eternally in heaven.”

Deacon Keating also recalled the words of a priest-psychiatrist who says that when people die, “they go out either kicking and screaming or they go out like a candle being snuffed out.”

He suggested that many who live largely for financial or political success “go out kicking and screaming.”

Looking at Christ’s death and resurrection is important, Deacon Keating asserted, to experience healing.

He pointed out that many Catholics go to Sunday Mass out of duty because “as a Catholic, I’m supposed to do that.”

But some of these same people, he said, “can’t wait for Mass to end because they haven’t opened themselves up to vulnerability of sharing in Christ’s own death and resurrection.”

“Are we relating to His wounds?” Deacon Keating asked.

“We pass beyond the self by means of sharing in Christ’s own crucifixion and resurrection,” he said. “We will be healed of our ego by offering it in the self-offering of Christ upon the cross.

“Press it (our ego) into His wounds and let Him carry it away,” he urged.

Deacon Keating suggested that pressing one’s addictions into Christ’s wounds can help men who are into sexual pornography or same-sex attraction. He cited the healing found in the group known as Courage which promotes chastity for men who are attracted to other men.

He urged the deacons “to stay in the presence of Christ,” something that contemplatives do. Some married men, he said, keep a photo of their wife on their desk at work or phone them during the work day ‘to stay in the presence’ of the wife.”

Deacons must always remember that their service or ministry to others is based on their love of Christ, Deacon Keating said.

“We are called to serve the needs of others in faith,” he said. “The deacon is a man who serves only because he loves Christ. Otherwise, he’s just a ‘do-gooder.’”

Regarding the liturgical role of the deacon at Mass, Deacon Keating suggested that the deacon “presides at the liturgy of charity” while the bishop and priest preside at the liturgy of the Eucharist.

At the dismissal rite, the deacon charges all to “go in the peace of Christ to love and serve the Lord,” he said, adding that these words are meant to exhort “that the Mass continues.”

“The Mass is impotent unless the laity takes it outside the door,” Deacon Keating said.

Deacons, he asserted, must support the laity who need to transform the culture in which they live.

But he said there is also “a tension” in which the deacon is considered clergy yet is considered by others to live a lay life. This creative tension is good, he said, adding, “If you relax it, there goes the power and the fruit of the diaconate.”

“We need a deacon to be a contrast to the culture of the laity, not ‘just one of the boys,’” Deacon Keating said. In concluding remarks, he said that formation programs to the diaconate should be discriminating and not feel they “need to take anyone who applies for the diaconate.”

“There is no dearth of vocations to the diaconate,” he said. “We should settle only for the best.”

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, in an informal dialogue with the deacons and their wives, told them that they serve as role models to the new deacon candidates and aspirants, the latter of whom have just begun formation. He suggested that it was similar to an older child having a new baby brother or sister.

He pointed out that Anne Edwards, his own adviser and assistant who is the mother of five adult children, said her youngest son looks to his older brothers as examples of how to follow in their footsteps.

The Bishop encouraged the deacons to support their priest by learning what areas “in which he can use support and strengthening.”

In some parishes it might be helping with the administration of the parish, he suggested.

“I think you can delicately look at what areas of the priest’s life need strengthening without boundary crossing,” Bishop DiLorenzo said.

Msgr. Mark Richard Lane, Vicar for Clergy, said the deacons were important to the Church’s ministry and the witness they gave.

“We cannot be satisfied with the status quo,” he said. “We are called to grow in where we find Jesus.”

Msgr. Lane said he encouraged himself “to be restless in my growth.”

He also encouraged them to “come up with new ministries.”

“If you’re not creative and energized, you can get depressed,” Msgr. Lane said. “Ministry needs to be always newly created because that’s what keeps us energized.”

Deacon John Arkestyn of St. Bridget Parish, Richmond, related an example of how he responded to an urgent request from a man whose wife had called the parish office asking that a priest or deacon come to see him.

Deacon Arkestyn, who had recently been ordained at that time, felt that he would not be effective in helping the distressed man. He tried to find one of the priests and the parish’s pastoral care minister to visit the man. None of them were available.

“I went to see the man and told him that I had no experience in this, but I’m willing to listen to you, hear your concerns and pray with you and your family,” he said.

The man replied, “Well, I’ve had no experience in this either.”

“We all held hands and prayed out loud together,” Deacon Arkestyn said.

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