Editor’s Note: On June 15 (The Eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi), I attended the ordination of 4 deacons and 1 priest at the Cathedral in Winnipeg. 2 of the deacons and I were classmates at Trinity College, Toronto. I’ve included a photo of the three of us (see left.)
Fr. Chad McCharles was also present at this ordination, supporting another one of the deacons being ordained.
I wrote a reflection on the experience of attending ordinations from a priest’s perspective. I include it here in hopes that the members of the Diocese of Brandon will get something out of it.
One of the great joys of ordained ministry is being able to attend ordinations, especially if they’re people you know well. I was privileged to be at the recent ordinations in June at the Cathedral, where two classmates and friends from Trinity College, Toronto were ordained deacons.
At my own priestly ordination a few years ago, as the bishop presented the newly ordained priest and deacons to the congregation, he said: “the Church, as she renews herself…” I must admit that these words have stuck with me since. Whenever I attend ordinations, I feel renewed in my own vows as a baptized Christian, deacon, and priest (for when I became a priest, I did not renounce my baptismal and diaconal vows.)
As we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi that day, that very feast where we celebrate the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, it seemed fitting to me to think about our own place within the Body of Christ, whether as baptized members, deacons, priests or even as bishops. Each of us has our own place within the body, and no one person is more important than the other. We need baptized Christians following their vows to love God and to love one another as we have first been loved; deacons following their vows to serve the other, especially those on the fringes of the church and society; priests following their vows to sanctify the Body of Christ with the sacraments; and bishops following their vows to uphold and strengthen us all in our varied ministries.
I left the Cathedral that night renewed once more to do my best to uphold my vows as a baptized Christian, deacon and priest. As we all go about our varied ministries as the body of Christ, may we be strengthened in those ministries by the vast and deep treasures that we find in the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ here on earth.
