In a colorful ceremony held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Nairobi on March 1, the 24 candidates from Hekima Jesuit School of Theology, including 16 Jesuit scholastics, five CMI brothers, two Quebec Missionaries (SME), and one Yarumal Missionary (MXY)brother, were ordained deacons. In addition to the 24, two deacons from the Yarumal Missionaries were ordained priests.
Rt. Rev. Bishop Rodrigo Mejía Saldarriaga, SJ, the ordaining minister, in his homily expressed joy, saying that it was a day to rejoice and be glad because each of the vocations, to deacon and priesthood, was a calling from God. “It was not a deliberate option for any of them to enter into an NGO; it was more than that; it was a call to life as we read today in the first reading, the calling of Isaiah,” the bishop explained.
Reflecting on the meaning of this unique Sacrament of Holy Orders to priests and deacons, Bishop Rodrigo explained that it is the only Sacrament of the Church with diverse degrees of participation: deacons whereby the person officially enters the clergy, the priesthood, and the bishop. He explained that all three are different ceremonies and rituals but essentially the same Sacrament, with the difference being in the ministries and the concrete responsibilities.
Bishop Rodrigo observed that people often look at the Sacrament of Holy Orders with the eyes of the world. “In his apostolic exhortation, the Joy of the Gospel, our beloved Pope Francis speaks about a wrong way of spirituality: worldly spirituality. It seems like a contradiction because if it is worldly, it is no spirituality.” He explained that he had a personal encounter with the Pope during an informal meeting with the Bishops, a small group in Santa Martha, and he took the opportunity to ask him what this worldly spirituality is.
The Holy Father told them that worldly spirituality means dealing with the spiritual reality while applying the categories of the world. Thus, he gave precisely the Sacrament of Holy Orders: deacons, priests, bishops, and later, archbishops and cardinals. All these may be seen with the eyes of promotion, power, degrees, and rank in the church, just like in the army.
“In the army, you are a sergeant, lieutenant, brigadier, a corporal, a captain, or general or commander; you have ranks, which is very important. Once you have passed one rank and moved to the next higher rank, the previous rank is ignored. If you are a corporal, you have to serve the captain; if you are a captain, another makes your shoes; these are degrees of power. But in the church, this is wrong; the sacraments are not degrees of power and are not to empower as the world does to rule over the people.”
Bishop Rodrigo explained that Sacraments are different levels of participation in the church’s life. The diaconate, he explained, is sometimes seen as a provisional status for the priesthood because they do not remain deacons for their whole lives; they only remain deacons for a while and are ordained priests after some experience. “The diaconate itself imprints a character for life, and one degree does not cancel the previous one; even Bishops keep being a deacon. The deacon is a servant because the essential characteristic of diaconate is servanthood.”
Bishop Rodrigo outlined the three missions of the servanthood of the deacons in the church, which he said are the same for the three levels of the Holy Orders (deacons, priests, and bishops) albeit ministered at different levels and degrees, which exhibits the great variety and richness of the Sacrament of Holy Order. The triple responsibility consists of teaching, governing or ruling, or leadership in the community, and the responsibility of being instruments of God’s grace to the people- sanctifying the people. In Latin, munusdocente, munus gragete, munus sanctificante.
Teaching is the prophetic responsibility of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and proclaiming the Gospel to the world. Bishop Rodrigo explained that the deacons receive a specific ministry of proclaiming the Gospel during the celebration of the Eucharist, preparing to preach the homily, and presenting the Gospel to the people. In so doing, they are exercising their responsibility of teaching. In addition, deacons teach catechesis, which is part of their ministry: formation of the faithful, preparation for the sacraments of baptism and confirmation; all these enter into this ministry of teaching.
In the leadership ministry, the Bishop clarified that it does not refer to being heads of a community but being guides and companions, counsellors and helpers of the people of God, and pastors; it is the leadership of pastors. This diaconate’s pastoral dimension is to accompany the people of God and counsel the Christians. Bishop Rodrigo explained that the ministry of spiritual accompaniment is included here.” It is not a leadership of power, political leadership, and pastoral leadership of taking care of the community, being community leaders, and assisting the community in reconciliation and peace.”
The third dimension of diaconate is to be instruments of the grace of God for people, mainly manifested in the liturgy, which is why deacons are publicly associated with the celebration with the priest at the altar. “Many people think that this is the only work of the deaconate. He has the right to put on a special dalmatic vest and be close to the priest as a privilege, an honor, as a promotion. Far from that, because deacons are ministers, not only ministers of the Eucharist participating with the priest but also distributing the Eucharist, bringing the Eucharist to the sick, being instruments of grace, baptizing, taking responsibilities as extraordinary ministers of marriage, and helping in this liturgical sacramental service of the Church.
The ordained deacons expressed immense gratitude to all who contributed to their journey. Deacon Josky Odhiambo Okumu, MXY, described that their journey began with planting seeds for the vocation of Holy orders. “In the letters to the Romans 10:14, St. Paul questions, How can they believe in the one they have not heard, and how can they hear if someone does not preach to them? Today, we sit here privileged to have someone who preached, and we believed. Maybe it was our parents, grandparents, siblings, or godparents; whoever it was, thank you because of that seed you planted, we are here today.”
He explained that after these seeds were planted, the society took over to nurture that seed through the catechists, teachers, lecturers, and professors who have journeyed and continue to journey with them, their formators, and friends and even colleagues who have been pillars of support through the journey. He gave credit to them and thanked them wherever they were.
Deacon Josky thanked the ceremony organizers and the Bishop who ordained them. To his fellow students at Hekima Jesuit School of Theology who are coming after them, he told them that they are not lost and should keep following their footprints.
The ordained deacons will continue with their Bachelor of Theology until May, when they will sit for their comprehensive exams before leaving Hekima for further missions.
By Pamela Adinda, HUC Communications Coordinator