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Perhaps that is how we should think of tonight’s feast of the Immaculate Conception: the dawning of salvation amid the night of sin and death.

The newly renovated church is a metaphor of our Advent journey. Like our reading from Isaiah, it is a link to times past, indeed, to the original church built on land that once belonged to Charles Carroll.

May you enter into candidacy with hearts filled with expectant hope and jubilant praise, for the Lord who comes into our midst every day of our lives ready to accomplish in us and through us more than we could ever ask or imagine.

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.

When we are doers, not talkers, when we build on solid rock, we experience over time a growth in intimacy with the Lord, a greater sense of communion with his Church, and a greater affinity with the poor with whom Jesus identifies.