Heralds of the Gospel

During an Ordination to the Diaconate, Cardinal Sean O'Malley presents the Book of the Gospels

This weekend Cardinal Sean O'Malley will ordain 27 to the permanent diaconate for service in the Archdiocese of Boston. One of those to be ordained is Gregory Burch of Holy Family Parish in Concord!

At the Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate, the Bishop speaks these words to the newly ordained as he hands them the Book of the Gospels:

Receive the Gospel of Christ,
whose herald you have become.
Believe what you read,
teach what you believe,
and practice what you teach.

Gregory will preach his first homily this Sunday at our 11:30 Eucharist.

Here's a reflection I wrote years ago on the ministry of preaching. I share it with Gregory and his classmates as they begin their preaching ministry and as a "refresher" for myself and all who have been preaching for many years.

The Ministry of Preaching

Yours is a share in the work of the Lord’s Spirit
who opens our hearts to the Good News of salvation.

Yours is the ministry of the table of God’s Word.

Yours is the work of breaking open the scriptures
that God’s people might be nourished
by the food of the Lord’s Word.

Yours is the ministry of Jesus
who came to announce that the reign of God is at hand.

Yours is the voice that opens for us
the challenge and the consolation of the gospel.

Yours is to tell a story that tells the story of God’s love for us.

Yours is the prophet’s ministry among the hometown folks.

Yours is the task of announcing:
promise, to those who have lost hope;
love, to those who cannot find it;
mercy, to those who have sinned;
joy, to those in tears;
justice to the oppressed and their oppressors;
and God, to a world sometimes less than human.

Come to your work from your personal prayer,
come filled with the Word that judges and saves your own life.

Come to your preaching mindful of your own need
to hear the gospel message, that your word be clear and true.



Bear the book of the gospels as the weight of God’s judgment and the breadth of God’s mercy.

Carry this book as the Ark of the Covenant: with reverence, awe and wonder.






Proclaim the gospel as if our lives depended on it: they do.

Proclaim the Good News as though we had never heard it:
we are slow to understand.

Prepare your proclamation of the gospel
as carefully as you prepare your homily:
the one will never fail;
the other may be forgotten.

Preach the scriptures: that is all we need to hear.

Pray for God’s Spirit
to illumine your mind and heart with the light of Christ.

Let your preaching speak to this age,
but not be conformed to it;
let your thoughts be transformed
by the renewal of your mind in Christ Jesus,
- then we shall be re-created.

Preach to us as people you have come to know;
we will come to know you well by what you preach.

Struggle as you must
when preaching the difficult text or the hard saying:
your honest struggle helps us in our own.

Spare us the used homily
when those scripture texts come ‘round again:
our lives have changed, as has your own,
and we hunger for fresh food from the gospel table.

When the Lord has been sparing of inspiration, be brief:
we will understand.

Let not even your own sin
hold back from us the gospels’ demands.

Preach the Word in season and out of season.

Do not shrink from naming what is sinful:
how else will we know our need for salvation?

Preach sin and grace
for this is what we know the best
- and need to hear again.

Preach the reign of God in our midst:
help us to know its signs and presence.

Tell us the story of God’s mercy:
no other story is more important.

Show us Jesus dying and rising among us:
this is what we have come here to see.

When your brothers and sisters
praise and thank you for your work,
take delight in the Word that has nourished them
and rejoice in the work
the Lord has accomplished through you.

Be faithful in the work you do,
for through it the Lord saves his people.

-Austin Fleming in Preparing for Liturgy: A Theology and Spirituality

For more on the diaconate and preaching in general, check out Catholic Sensibility where Todd just completed a series of posts on the order of deacons and is in the midst of a series on preaching: the former based on Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem (Paul VI's document reviving the order of deacons) and the latter on the USCCB document on preaching, Fulfilled In Your Hearing.

-ConcordPastor