On the Joys of Being a Deacon

As mentioned in my previous post, I had the pleasure of being present at the Ordination to the Diaconate of Paul Ybarra, C.S.C. this morning.  As an ordained deacon Paul is now able to do a couple of things he could not before, one of these is to officially bless things in the name of the Church, which led to the following episode this evening.

I was walking down the hallway with my laundry and Paul was walking towards me.  I said "hi" and then joked by asking "have you made holy water yet?"  Paul's answer was "no" but with the vocal expression that said he had forgotten that he could now make holy water, so now he had to give it a try.  The hallway was pretty empty because it is hot out tonight and most of the seminarians had gone to find air conditioned bliss, however Denis Strach, who was just a couple of doors away overheard us, so into Denis' room we went to make holy water.  This being a rather unplanned and off the cuff event, the usual implents for holy water making were not on hand, but we managed to scrounge up a suitable container and found the prayer from the missal on the internet and there on Denis' desk Paul made holy water for the first time. 

What was remarkable about this event was the absolute joy on Paul's face.  Sure there was a certain giddiness, like when you buy lotto tickets for the first time when you are 18, but there was also a joy much deeper than that as Paul realized the great gifts, but also responsibility that come with being a minister of the Church and a conveyor of God's blessings, in a very real way, to others.  It was a great reminder to me, that though there are indeed many challenges to this life, it is still at heart, a life of great joy.  Thanks Paul!