Bishop Silva preaches Jan. 30 in the Co- Cathedral of St. Theresa. (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
In four very different ordination homilies for four separate ordination liturgies, Bishop Larry Silva illuminated the diaconate themes of service and sacrifice using strong images and metaphors.
On Kauai, for the ordination of David Kane, Jan. 17 at Immaculate Conception Church in Lihue, the bishop used the image of a sword, “two-edged,” to describe the Word of God, which is the deacon’s role to proclaim, as an instrument that “penetrates,” “opens hearts,” is applied “gently” or with “a mighty thrust.”
He instructed the new deacon to bring the Word, “entrusted to you in a special way … to the prisons … to the homeless … to the lonely.”
Like Jesus, the bishop said, “you need to go wherever the sinful and the sorrowing dine, to sit at table with them, no matter whether you are criticized for doing so, and to let the Word of God, whose herald you will be, nourish them.”
For the ordination of Joseph Aglia, Jan. 24 at St. Joseph Church in Hilo, the bishop used the images of “flesh” and “blood” to expound on the deacon’s function at Mass.
“It is the role of the deacon to take up that chalice of salvation during our Eucharist … to raise it up as we give glory and honor to the name of the Lord,” the bishop said, and to “raise it up to the lips of the faithful, so that they can taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”
Ordination makes the deacon the “preferred minister of the chalice,” Bishop Silva said.
Because of that, “he has ‘skin in the game,’” he said. “He is not simply a volunteer who can come and go as it suits him, but one who gives of his flesh and blood to wash the feet of the weary in his humble and loving service.”
At the ordination of Jose Ancheta, William Friese, Romeo Ganibe, Eric Kim and Raul Perez on Jan. 30 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu, the bishop used “fire” as his metaphor of choice.
He used it primarily to describe the new deacons’ “zeal for Jesus Christ,” the same zeal that possessed the church’s early deacons, Stephen and Lawrence, who died for their faith.
“We pray that these brothers of ours will burn with the same fire of zeal,” the bishop said. “We hope, of course, that there will be no shedding of blood, but these days one cannot be too sure.”
The bishop said there is a “fire” in the “little things” deacons do, like visiting a prison, giving a Bible to a mariner, preparing a couple for marriage, pouring life-giving water on the head of an infant and giving a homily.
“We pray that our brothers will not only be on fire with the love of Christ, but will set others on fire as well,” the bishop said, “sowing these tiny sparks here and there so that together they can blaze up for the glory of God.”
In his homily for the ordination of Jose Almuena, Keith Cabiles, Stephen Kula, Joseph Soon, John Tolentino and Michael Weaver, Jan. 31, at the Co-Cathedral, the bishop used images from the Gospel reading about the Apostles’ boat in the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Repeating the refrain “What if?,” Bishop Silva posed scenarios of “storms” of religious persecution, and the panic of a man drowning in the “tempests” of overwhelming demands.
If the deacons found themselves in a “storm” of defamation because their faith puts them “out of step” with the “prevailing culture,” the bishop asked, would they still get in the boat “to make this crossing.”
If the “winds” of “frustration, sorrow, seeming lack of results and criticism … should try to knock you off your feet or sink you into oblivion,” would they still want to be ordained, the bishop asked.
He answered the negative circumstances with a positive picture of the deacons’ “faith and service” bringing strength and calm to others, eliminating the “winds of selfishness and the waves of hatred.”
