0:01

We hear in the Gospel

0:01

of Luke, they were saying, The

0:05

Lord has risen indeed, and has

0:05

appeared to Simon, then they

0:10

told what had happened on the

0:10

road, and how he had been made

0:14

known to them in the breaking of

0:14

the bread. Come join us today,

0:20

on the way with DJ. Well, hello, everyone, and

0:24

welcome to Advent. It is the

0:28

middle of the first week of

0:28

Advent while I'm recording this,

0:33

and I'd like to welcome you to

0:33

advent and the new liturgical

0:37

year, this cycle being the year

0:37

of Mark. And today, what we're

0:43

going to be doing is talking

0:43

about Holy Orders and to kind of

0:47

finish and round out our series

0:47

on the seven sacraments. Now,

0:54

during the course of this

0:54

series, what I've done is I've

0:57

kind of talked about some of the

0:57

misconceptions about the

1:00

particular sacraments that we

1:00

were talking about and that we

1:05

went through. And these

1:05

misconceptions sometimes are

1:09

things that people don't fully

1:09

understand about the sacrament.

1:13

Maybe it's something that they've heard from their friends, or maybe they've read

1:15

somewhere in a secular

1:18

newspaper, or heard some

1:18

commentator somewhere, say

1:22

something about it. And they're

1:22

not getting the right

1:26

information, they're not getting

1:26

the information that they

1:28

should. And so hopefully, with

1:28

this series, what I've done, or

1:32

what I've tried to do, at least,

1:32

is kind of dispel some of those

1:36

myths, kind of dispel some of

1:36

those misconceptions, and holy

1:41

orders, the sacrament that we're

1:41

going to be talking about today

1:45

has its own set of

1:45

misconceptions.

1:48

A lot of times when people say

1:48

or hear the words, holy orders,

1:54

they basically feel that is

1:54

only when a man is ordained to

1:58

the priesthood. But it is in

1:58

fact a three rank sacrament. So

2:04

there are three ranks to it,

2:04

there is the rank of Deacon,

2:08

there is the rank of Priest and

2:08

then there is the rank of

2:11

Bishop. Now, the sacrament

2:11

itself imposes what's called a

2:16

sacramental character, or, in

2:16

other words, another word for

2:20

this that a lot of people like

2:20

to use is indelible mark. And

2:24

the indelible mark is something

2:24

that is not only received in the

2:29

sacrament of holy orders, but

2:29

also in the sacrament of

2:33

baptism, and the Sacrament of

2:33

Confirmation. So if you look at

2:37

those sacraments, those

2:37

sacraments have a sacramental

2:40

character, where you can only

2:40

receive them once; you only are

2:45

baptized one time, you will only

2:45

receive confirmation one time,

2:50

you already received the

2:50

sacrament of Holy Orders, based

2:53

on these different these three

2:53

ranks, only one time. And if you

3:00

we examine the three ranks,

3:00

which we're going to do in this

3:04

podcast, there are stark

3:04

differences between those

3:08

orders, between those three

3:08

orders the order of Deacon, the

3:12

order of Priesthood, and the

3:12

order of Bishop.

3:16

Now, we have to realize that

3:16

people who feel called to these

3:23

ministries, men who feel called

3:23

to these ministries are called

3:27

to ministry in different ways.

3:27

And I like to share my story,

3:31

being a permanent Deacon myself,

3:31

there's a misconception that

3:35

people might have that deacons

3:35

are kind of low man , so to

3:40

speak, or low man on the on the,

3:40

you know, on the ranks. And so

3:47

they are kind of looked at as

3:47

kind of the lower or the lowest

3:53

of the rank, and so they

3:53

shouldn't be treated as within

3:56

the, with the same amount of

3:56

respect that a priest is, or a

4:00

bishop is and so on. And so I'd

4:00

like to just kind of share my

4:04

story a little bit. So when I

4:04

was ordained for the deaconate,

4:08

and that it was made very clear

4:08

to us that if our wives should

4:13

pre decease us, so if Nancy, my

4:13

wife should die, God forbid,

4:19

that, you know, that we would

4:19

not be able to remarry at that

4:24

point. And so I have a lot of

4:24

people that will ask me,

4:27

including my own children

4:27

sometime will come to me and

4:30

they'll say, Well, you know, I

4:30

know for a fact that if

4:34

something happened to mom, or if

4:34

something happened to Nancy,

4:38

that you would go ahead and you

4:38

would just continue on and

4:41

become a priest. And that's not

4:41

the case. And that's not the

4:46

case because priesthood is not

4:46

something that I feel called to,

4:53

I feel called to the diaconate

4:53

and I continue to feel called to

4:57

the diaconate so we are called

4:57

to ministry in different ways.

5:03

And so I hope that that kind of

5:03

dispels that misconception. Now,

5:08

there are the three ranks. And I

5:08

would like to talk about each

5:12

one of those ranks. Now, so the

5:12

first rank that any man who

5:18

receives the sacrament of Holy

5:18

Orders receives is the rank of

5:22

deacons. So the ministry of

5:22

Deacon, and so deacons are

5:27

called to ministry, they're

5:27

called to ministry to other

5:30

people. In other words, they're

5:30

called to service. We are

5:35

configured to Christ Himself as

5:35

the servant. And so we are

5:39

called to serve and deacons are

5:39

specifically called to serve at

5:44

the altar, so called to serve

5:44

liturgy, called to serve the

5:48

word and called to serve

5:48

charity. Now, the deacon is

5:54

configured to Christ the

5:54

servant. And he is, you know,

5:59

you can tell a deacon or you can

5:59

tell that someone is a deacon by

6:04

what he wears up on the altar

6:04

for sure. So he wears the stole

6:08

over a sash over the right

6:08

shoulder. He also wears, in many

6:14

cases, and especially in our

6:14

parish here, a Dalmatic, which

6:19

looks like a Chasuble that a

6:19

priest wears, but it's

6:22

different. So you should always

6:22

maybe ask one of your priests

6:26

and ask one of your deacons to

6:26

kind of show you the difference.

6:29

And the major difference is that

6:29

the Dalmatic has sleeves, so it

6:33

is a sleeve. It has sleeves that

6:33

the deacon puts through and if

6:38

you can kind of look at it, if

6:38

you ask him to kind of lift up

6:41

his arms, he would be able to

6:41

show you those sleeves. And the

6:46

reason why we have those sleeves

6:46

is because again, we are

6:49

configured to servanthood. And

6:49

so as you serve, you need those

6:55

sleeves to kind of help you

6:55

along that way. The other thing

6:59

too, is that the deacon can also

6:59

be kind of looked at as somebody

7:04

that carries the book of the

7:04

Gospels in at Mass. And so that

7:08

can again goes to his ministry,

7:08

as the minister of the gospel.

7:13

So he reads the gospel at Mass,

7:13

he goes ahead and carries that

7:19

book of the Gospels in at Mass.

7:19

And so we again that goes to his

7:24

ministry to the word. Now, when we talk about the rank

7:27

of priest, we talk about someone

7:31

who is a co worker, or is

7:31

ordained. So when they receive

7:37

the Sacrament of Holy Orders, as

7:37

a priest, you are ordained to

7:42

Christ's the head so Christ, the

7:42

priest, Christ, the priest in

7:47

the church, and that is what

7:47

you're called to do. So you're

7:50

called to offer a sacrifice. And

7:50

the best way or the the most

7:55

wonderful way that a priest

7:55

offers sacrifice is through the

7:59

celebration of the Eucharist.

7:59

And so the priest can be

8:05

identified by wearing a

8:05

Chasuble, a garment over his

8:09

head that kind of looks almost

8:09

like a mini tent, and then a

8:13

stole that is worn over the

8:13

neck. So this priest can

8:20

obviously consecrate the bread

8:20

and the wine into the body and

8:25

blood of Christ. He can anoint,

8:25

he can baptize, he can witness

8:29

marriages, he can do all of

8:29

those things. And so it is, you

8:34

know, a wonderful, wonderful

8:34

thing to be called to the

8:37

priesthood. One of the little things and I

8:39

kind of was going to mention

8:42

this in the podcast is, when a

8:42

man is ordained a priest,

8:48

he is he has his hands that are

8:48

anointed with sacred Chrism. And

8:54

that sacred Chrism is then wiped

8:54

off using a cloth. And that is

8:59

called a manutergium. And then

8:59

manutergium is a cloth that the

9:06

priest that the bishop uses to

9:06

wipe the priests hands after

9:11

they have been anointed. And

9:11

this manutergium is given to the

9:16

priest's , priests mom. And the

9:16

mom then is given that and if

9:27

she should pre decease her son,

9:27

which most of the time the moms

9:32

do, that is put into her casket,

9:32

and when she goes in and given

9:39

to and given to her in her

9:39

casket, and so the beautiful

9:45

tradition is that when the

9:45

mother is going and meeting God

9:50

at the pearly gates or meeting

9:50

God in heaven, God will come up

9:54

to her and say, What have you

9:54

given to me? I have given you

9:58

life what have you given to me,

9:58

and the mother can then respond

10:03

by showing God this cloth. And

10:03

he, she can say, my son who

10:09

shared in your priesthood. Another wonderful thing that

10:12

priests can do is that they are

10:16

usually given a first stole for

10:16

the first sacrament of

10:21

reconciliation that they hear.

10:21

And then that is given to their

10:25

fathers. So that's given to

10:25

their dads, because the father

10:29

is someone who is who has taught

10:29

that priest the concept in the

10:35

first way, you know, in the

10:35

first first way of justice and

10:39

mercy, and then one of the other

10:39

things that a priest is given

10:43

during the course of the

10:43

ordination ceremony, or the

10:46

ordination mass is the chalice

10:46

and the paten. So it is a very

10:52

beautiful, beautiful traditions

10:52

that and all of these ordination

10:56

masses have different parts to

10:56

them, that kind of help and kind

11:02

of show that this is what those

11:02

those ranks of holy orders have

11:06

to do and who they symbolize and

11:06

who they what what are the some

11:10

of the things that they use. Then, when we talk about the

11:13

bishop, the bishop is someone

11:18

who is a priest, someone who has

11:18

been ordained a priest, and is

11:23

being called to what is called

11:23

the fullness of holy orders. And

11:28

so, this the bishop is

11:28

consecrated, ordained, but also

11:33

consecrated to the offices of

11:33

teaching sanctifying and ruling

11:39

and so they are called to be

11:39

successors to the apostles and

11:44

so they receive the fullness of

11:44

Holy Orders. Some of the things

11:49

that a bishop receives,

11:49

obviously it Holy Orders we've

11:52

all seen bishops before or

11:52

pictures of them is that when

11:57

they are ordained a bishop or

11:57

consecrated a bishop, they have

12:01

Chrism that is actually poured

12:01

on their heads. So they are

12:04

consecrated in a different way

12:04

than a priest would be

12:08

consecrated because they are

12:08

called to again teach sanctify

12:13

and rule. They are given a

12:13

miter, which is a lot of people

12:18

say that's the pointy hat. And

12:18

they are given a miter so again,

12:22

that kind of shows their office.

12:22

They are also given a Crozier,

12:26

the Crozier is another word for

12:26

staff. And so again, it kind of

12:30

shows that they are shepherds of

12:30

their people. And then finally,

12:36

they are given a ring, a ring to

12:36

show that they are married in a

12:40

very particular way to Christ,

12:40

and that they are married to his

12:45

church. Now, when a bishop is

12:45

consecrated or a bishop is

12:50

ordained, there are co

12:50

concentrators. So there are two

12:53

bishops that actually do the

12:53

consecration. And those those

12:59

two bishops are called

12:59

co-consecrators. And again, they

13:03

are shown to be the successors

13:03

of the apostles.

13:06

So that kind of gives you kind

13:06

of a an overview of what the

13:13

sacrament of Holy Orders is. And

13:13

it hopefully it kind of dispel

13:17

some of the misconceptions that

13:17

you might have, that it's not

13:20

just priests that are ordained

13:20

that it is truly, you know, a

13:24

men that have been called to

13:24

service service to ministry in

13:28

the terms of the deacon, service

13:28

to as co worker or ordained to

13:34

Christ, the head as far as the

13:34

priest, and service to the

13:38

teaching, sanctifying and ruling

13:38

part of the church, in the case

13:43

of a bishop. And so, hopefully,

13:43

this sacramental character,

13:49

this, this indelible mark, that

13:49

is put on these men, as they are

13:53

ordained for service to the

13:53

church, is something that is a

13:57

good thing. And it's and

13:57

hopefully, you have encountered

14:01

good priests and good bishops

14:01

and good deacons along the way.'

14:05

And I continue to ask you to add

14:05

pray for all of us that are

14:10

ordained as workers in the

14:10

vineyard of the Lord. But as we

14:15

will also will pray for you in a

14:15

very, very special way as well.

14:19

And thanks again for listening

14:19

to this series, this series on

14:24

the seven sacraments. And

14:24

hopefully in a couple of weeks,

14:28

we'll be able to get maybe an

14:28

advent podcast out and if not an

14:33

advent podcast definitely a

14:33

Christmas podcast. So may God

14:38

continue to bless you and hold

14:38

you in the palm of his hand.