The Ministry of Fire

My l’il brother, Thom, himself studying for ’07 ordination to the deaconate, points me toward this terrific post by Whispers in the Loggia:

Marking the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph ordained a transitional deacon and gave a solid homily in the process.

Speaking on a clear, crisp December day when the heavy Kansas City snow of two days earlier had begun to melt, Bishop Finn said that the deacon is called “to transform human hearts by introducing to them the burning furnace, the white hot transforming power of the heart of the savior aflame in love.”

[The] diaconate ordination was also appropriately celebrated in the middle of the season of Advent, Bishop Finn noted.

Week by week, advent candles are lit one by one, their light increasing as the birth of the savior approaches, Bishop Finn said.

“His light floods the world,” he said. “His love ignites human hearts to burn with a joyous and hope-filled love, a share in his grace and life,” Bishop Finn said.

“We know we must contribute to the work by which the Body of Christ will be, not dead, but pulsing and beating, warm and alive, with the fire of Jesus Christ,” he said.

I likeeee.