Holy Orders: Sacrament of Service

Sisters and brothers, today we gather to reflect on the threefold ministry of the Church through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The threefold ministry of the Church: bishop, priest, and deacon. All three with different services to exercise within the Church. The bishop is our chief shepherd in an archdiocese or a diocese.

The shepherd who guides us, who makes sure that we understand and live out or have a proper interpretation of sacred Scripture. One who indeed is our catechist and teacher as a diocese.

The priest who represents the bishop in the local context, often as pastors, as shepherds of parishes. And then deacons who are not in the same level of priest or bishops in the ministry.

We say that the priest and bishop serve oftentimes in the manner of the Christ headship of the Church. The deacon is the image of Christ, his servant in the Church. The best image of Christ, his servant, is the one who is waiting at table or washing feet. The one who is exercising the care of the Church for others.

So bishops, priests, and deacons have different roles and different reasons for the things we do. Oftentimes, people think that bishops, priests, and deacons existed in the same way from the very beginning of the Church, but over the organic development of the Church after Christ's death, these three ministries emerged as reflective of the way Christ called us to be led as a Church.

Pope Benedict, when speaking about order in the Church, said one of the reasons why we have a hierarchy in the Church is to order the love of the Church. When there is no order, there's chaos. And so Holy Orders, in a way, might be thought of as a holy structure that helps us not to have chaotic love but to have an orderly, tender love that can be expressed in so many ways—from the leadership of the chief shepherd to the service of the priest throughout a large diocese like ours, to the servant ministry of deacons.

Each of us exercises munera or gifts. The deacon, for example, because I’m closest to that ministry, exercises the ministry of service at the altar, the service of the word in preaching and teaching, and also services of charity. Oftentimes, within charity is the work of administering the Church's goods as well. It is a wonderful treasure of the Church to have these sacraments.

The matter of this sacrament is the laying on of the hands of the bishop and a consecratory prayer. That, indeed, is the substance of the ordination of a bishop, the ordination of a priest, or the ordination of a deacon.

In the Church, we see that priest seminarians who are being formed to be priests are ordained first as deacons, then as priests. Some are ordained later to be bishops as well. Identifying the three ranks, there is unity, but there is also a distinction requiring three different sacramental moments in the life of that person—who today is a bishop, who was also a deacon, and who has been ordained as a priest as well.

For those of us who are permanent deacons, we are ordained and stay in this state for our entire life. Our call is simply to be Christ, the servant, and to help organize and live out the service ministry of the Church.

So, sisters and brothers, this treasure is for the Church. Again, a happy blessing that we have, through Christ’s power, this great gift of bishops, priests, and deacons to make sure that the Church, in its largest and smallest forms, is cared for with tenderness and love.

Reflection Questions:

1. How do the roles of bishops, priests, and deacons reflect Christ’s leadership and service in the Church?

2. In what ways does the hierarchy of the Church contribute to order and unity within the Faith community?

3. How can we, as laypeople, support and collaborate with ordained ministers in their mission?