The Deacon's Bench
Beautiful. Heartbreaking. Inspiring.
Check this out, from the Diocese of Orlando website:
Bishop Noonan stood in front of the altar at Holy Cross Parish in Orlando and laid his hands over the head of Elias Coll. At that moment, a calling the 63-year-old Catholic had his entire life was finally fulfilled.
“From the time I was in my mother’s womb, I feel I was called to be a deacon,” said Deacon Coll.
Deacon Coll was originally scheduled to be ordained in June of 2017. But doctors are not sure he will live until then. He has stage four colon cancer and the cancer has spread to other organs. Bishop Noonan decided to move up the ordination date, which was celebrated on Nov. 26.
“Elias has always been a servant of Christ – visiting the sick, homeless and needy. He has lived the call of a deacon throughout his life. Even in the midst of his fight with cancer he has let the gift of the Holy Spirit shine through him – always with faith, courage and joy,” said Deacon David Gray, director of the Diocese of Orlando Permanent Diaconate, and secretary of the Leadership and Parish Life Secretariat. “All you have to do is meet Elias and you know immediately the light of Christ is shining through him. Ordaining him now to the life he has been living was a natural decision,” he added.
Deacon Coll arrived in Orlando from Venezuela in 2003 with his family. He left to pursue better educational and economic opportunities for his children, and to be in a country that offered security, safety and freedom to live one’s faith.
“We moved here so our children could have a better future, so they could study and develop spiritually, socially as children of God. We have been blessed. God is never outdone in generosity,” said Deacon Coll, who is a parishioner of Holy Cross Parish.
His wife Enri said her husband is an example to others. Many times when people visit him because of his illness they hope to brighten his day but they are the ones to be encouraged by his unshakeable faith and deep compassion for others.
“By the glory of God I have not suffered with pain. I have not complained. On the contrary, I thank God. Thanks be to God it was me and not my wife or my children,” said Deacon Coll.
Right before the ordination, Bishop Noonan told the congregation that Deacon Coll had been chosen by the Lord, the pastor and the people, similar to the readings from Acts Chapter 6, verse 1 when the community of disciples gathered to choose seven men to ordain as deacons.
“I trust the people of Holy Cross, because they have chosen you, I too have come to believe that the Lord has chosen you,” Bishop Noonan said.
Referring to the gift of faith and the gift of ordination, Bishop Noonan said, “On the day of your baptism you received a special gift. You were anointed with the oil of chrism, to symbolize that you are sacred. You were strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit and you were enriched by the Holy Spirit and his gifts. Today you are about to receive the book of the Gospels because you are about to become its herald.”
Explaining the role of the deacon, Bishop Noonan said,
“Pope Francis reminds us that we are a field hospital. We must go out to the world to encounter the captives, the forgotten, especially those who do not feel loved by God. Those who are divorced, drug addicts, alcoholics, the LGTB community, the non-Christian, the atheists – we are reminded over and over again, all are God’s children.”
Bishop Noonan also gave this mandate to Deacon Coll:
“Elias, you are a man of prayer. You have been called to live as prayer. Pray for yourself, your wife and the family that has been entrusted to you. Bring Christ to the sick and dying. When you preach and teach the Gospel, may the Lord always be in your heart. With God’s help, you are to always act in a way that you will be recognized by the words of Jesus who came ‘not to be served but to serve.’”
Read it all. And please keep this man and his family in your prayers.
Meantime, ad multos annos!
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