Institution of Acolytes, Permanent Diaconate
Saint Mary’s Seminary, Roland Park
December 6, 2025
Christ’s “Intermediate” Coming
A few days ago, in the Office of Readings, there was a wonderful Advent homily by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and I quote: “We know that there are three comings of the Lord, the third lies between the other two…In his first coming, our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming, he comes in spirit and power; in the final coming, he will come in glory and majesty.” St. Bernard goes on to say that this middle coming of the Lord “is like a road we travel from the [the Lord’s] first coming to the last.”
It is this “intermediate” coming of Christ that we experience in the Church’s sacramental life, when the Lord comes to us in the power of the Holy Spirit. This “hidden” coming of Christ occurs most efficaciously in the Church’s liturgical and sacramental life. In the sacred liturgy, Christ is present among us in various ways: in the word proclaimed, in the person of the minister, in the assembly – and above all, in the sacred species, the bread and wine changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.
St. Paul speaks of this mystery in today’s second reading: the bread we break [he says] is a sharing in the Body of Christ, and the cup we drink is a sharing in the Blood of Christ. As acolytes, you are ministers of the Holy Eucharist: you will distribute Christ’s Body and Blood to the faithful, your will bring the Eucharist to the sick and homebound, and in extraordinary circumstances, you will expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration.
Worthiness
You are thus to be ministers of the Lord’s “intermediate” presence among us. You have prepared for this day with prayerful discernment and hard work. Even so, the question of worthiness arises, the same question that arises in any soul who does not take the immensity of this mystery for granted. For who of us, myself included, is worthy to handle so great a mystery?
Like Isaiah, who had a vision of God Thrice holy, so too we who contemplate the holiness of Eucharistic Lord. Like Isaiah, we call out, “Woe to me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” Just as the Lord, in his mercy, purged Isaiah’s unworthiness with a hot coal, so too before we receive and distribute Holy Communion we pray, “Lord I am not worthy . . . say but the word and my soul shall be healed.” Who of us can doubt the power of his infinite mercies? Encouraged by the Lord’s mercy, you have heard him ask, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Strengthened by his grace, you will respond today, “Here I am, send me!”
Sheep Without a Shepherd
. . . All of which brings us to the Gospel where the Lord takes pity on the multitudes he encountered. They were, he said, like sheep without a shepherd. Gazing upon these people and the immensity of their need, Jesus observed that “the harvest is rich but the laborers are few”, and added, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to gather his harvest.” Only the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, would dare to call his heavenly Father by a new name, “Lord of the Harvest”, for no one knew the Father as intimately as Jesus.
In taking this step towards the diaconate, you seek to answer Jesus’ prayer for laborers for the harvest. An acolyte, “akalouthos”, is a follower of Jesus Christ, a disciple, and a co-worker with him in the vineyard. In a newfound way you are becoming laborers who will help gather into the Messianic banquet the lost, the lapsed, the poor, and the vulnerable –all so precious in the eyes of the Lord. May the Lord of the harvest bless you in every step you take towards the sacred diaconate for which you are preparing. And may your hearts be filled with joy as we celebrate Christ’s first coming as we await in joyful hope his second coming in glory.