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Dear brothers, in this moment of intense grace and joy, I entrust you and your priestly ministry to Mary our Queen.

In preaching and in administering the sacraments, then, you will assist me in leading people to holiness, unlock in them their spiritual gifts, ensure that all work together in love, and thus build up the Body of Christ, the Church.

Over the years, as a priest and bishop, I have often visited those who are sick, only to return home amazed and edified at their strong and loving faith. When I was a recently ordained priest, I prayed with a young woman near death. She asked me to help her thank God for all the blessings she had received in her life. I came home from that visit and asked myself if I had one tenth of her faith.

As a deacon, you will proclaim the Gospel at Mass and at sacramental celebrations. You will preach homilies on Sundays, weekdays and special occasions. And give voice to the needs of God’s People and the world in the Prayer of the Faithful. You will share God’s Word with young people preparing to receive the sacraments, with couples preparing to be married, with parents whose children are to be baptized, and with those who are preparing to enter the Church through the Easter sacraments.

Our fellowship in Christ impels us to seek the other’s good, to help one another along the path of virtue, Christian manhood, and discipleship, to support one another in living the vocation of marriage and family life, to support brother priests in being true to their vocation.

Fraternity means resolving disagreements with Christian charity and reason. It means not jumping to conclusions about one another’s motives. It means a willingness to help a brother knight who is faltering. It means abstaining from the culture of denunciation, electronic or otherwise.

As Knights we should have a deep sense of responsibility for the Church. In a fractious time, we should model what true Christian fraternity is all about, but more than that, we should be catalysts of a fraternal spirit of holiness and virtue in our parishes, in our dioceses, and in the prevailing culture.