The Deacon. Thomas Fargnoli
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Название: The Deacon
Автор: Thomas Fargnoli
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Словари
isbn: 9781952320880
isbn:
As Rick was still writing, he asked me, “So this peace you first experienced in your childhood now had meaning based on the various ‘rays of truth’ you found through the writings and influences you’ve mentioned?”
“Yes! And there were many more—I just gave you a taste of the main ones, particularly Thomas Merton, who brought them all together for me in Catholicism. In addition to this exploration through books, I was dating my high school sweetheart, Maryellen Baxter. When I met Maryellen, I was a senior in high school and she was a junior. As I mentioned, I never had to go to church, but Maryellen, one of nine in an Irish Catholic family—she absolutely had to go to Mass. And of course, I had no intension of getting on the wrong side with her parents, so I gladly took her to Mass every week. As it turned out, during that time, a young priest at her parish, Father John, made such an impression on me. His homilies seemed to be aimed directly at me. As time went on, I asked him if he would meet with me. He agreed and that began a friendship that still exists today. In those early days, I shared with him my readings and interests and he shared with me a fresh and unique perception of spirituality and Christianity. Holy Scripture continued to have new meaning for me. I started to see some of the underlying meaning behind the stories of the Old Testament and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament and in particular, through the words and actions of Jesus.
“I think that if I hadn’t fallen in love with Maryellen, I may have considered the priesthood. But as our love grew, so did an excitement about our future together—a future involving a home and a family. I choose that path because that was who I was. Again, Thomas Merton’s words come to my assistance during that time. He said, ‘Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone—we find it with another.’
“We were married by Father John, of course, and the emphasis in my life became God, family, and job. We raised two beautiful children and attended Mass on most Sundays. The idea of becoming a deacon crossed my mind, but the kids were young and we thoroughly enjoyed all the activities they were involved in—baseball, football, cheerleading and so many more. In addition, we simply and thoroughly enjoyed being parents and all that came with it—the Christmas decorations, the dyeing of eggs on Easter Saturday, the rides and hikes through the woods, enjoying our golden retriever, Katie, remodeling the house, sitting by the fire, lighting candles, going to Disneyworld and Italy as a family, and on and on. We were truly blessed and we thanked God every day for our life together as a family. I always saw the diaconate in my peripheral vision and I knew it would be there when I was ready. More importantly, our love for God never stopped—we were quite aware that all our joy and beauty that we shared was because of him.
“My son graduated college and started his career in civil engineering. When my daughter was close to her college graduation, I started to consider the diaconate once more. That ‘whisper’ kept coming. Maryellen and I had several conversations about it, as well as attended a session describing the deacon, his ministry, his wife, and the formation process. The diaconate required both the husband and wife to be actively involved, so it had been on our minds and we continued to pray about it. I also met with a few deacons to get their take on the diaconate. I was amazed to see how much a deacon really does. Most people just see the deacon at Mass assisting the priest.”
“Yes, that was one of the reasons I wanted to write about your hospital ministry. I am sure most people are not aware of the various ministries that deacons are involved in.”
“Yes, hopefully, you will talk to some of the deacons involved in prison ministry. It’s amazing to see how effective they are in the prison setting.”
“I definitely will. Besides reaching a time in your life in which all the conditions were right for pursuing the diaconate, were there any other events that contributed to your decision?”
“I remember one particular Sunday at Mass when I was in the middle of discerning whether or not to finally pursue the diaconate. And just to be clear, I mentioned discernment a few times now. Perhaps I should define that for your readers. Discernment, or more precisely termed, spiritual discernment, is taking time to hear and understand the Holy Spirit. In addition to a normal decision-making process, a man must go through in making such a decision, weighing the pros and cons of the life of a deacon and its impact on him and his family, there is a discernment process to assess the source of the motivation that is driving him to pursue the life of a deacon. On that particular Sunday, I was questioning that motivation. Was my calling saying ‘Now is the time?’ During that Mass, the deacon proclaimed the Gospel. It was as if he was speaking to me directly when he repeated Jesus’ words, ‘Follow me.’ Later during that same week, I attended the funeral of a relative. As I listened to the priest during the Mass, again, it seemed as if I was all alone in the church and he was speaking directly to me. He said, ‘Thomas who asked the Lord, ‘Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’
“It was the next day that I started the process—yes, I was called. Was I called ten years earlier? Was I called to be a priest twenty years earlier? Perhaps, but keep in mind, God is calling us all the time. Not our will but his and if we maintain an ongoing relationship with him, we will know what path to take and when to take it. As Blaise Pascal puts it, when we are called to make a decision, ‘Choose the path with the heart.’ In other words, choose based on love. Blaise continues, ‘We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.’”
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