Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A

Published: December 17, 2016

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor preached the following homily during the installation Mass of lector, acolyte and candidacy for Diocese of Little Rock seminarians at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Little Rock on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016.

Bishop Taylor

Today is a special day for the seminarians of the Diocese of Little Rock. This morning we ordained Nelson Rubio to the transitional diaconate — the first of the orders of the sacrament of holy orders, the others being the priesthood and the episcopacy — and the last step before his ordination to the priesthood.

And now in this Mass many of our other seminarians will receive ministries that mark their progress along the road to ordination. The first of these ministries is that of lector, in which the seminarian is formally entrusted with reading the Scriptures at Mass, with the exception of the Gospel.

The second ministry to be received is that of acolyte, whereby the seminarian is entrusted in a more formal way with service at the altar — and as such helps to prepare the altar and distribute the Eucharist to the faithful. He can also now expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration but cannot give benediction.

And the third step we will be marking today is that of candidacy. In this ceremony the seminarian publicly expresses his intention to receive holy orders and I, as his bishop, publicly accepts that intention — meaning that I believe he has the necessary qualifications and has achieved sufficient maturity.

About half of our seminarians will mark their progress to the priesthood in one of these three ways during this Mass. This is a source of great joy for me and I'm sure for all of us gathered here today.

And we do this on the fourth Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday in this great season of expectation and waiting. Our first reading proclaims God's promise that "the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call him Emmanuel" — which of course means "God is with us."

And then, in our Gospel the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream to describe how this will come about: It was by the Holy Spirit that Mary, though a virgin, was able to conceive, and moreover, he was to call him "Jesus" — a name which means "God saves."

In other words, God is with us to save us. "God is with us" points to Jesus' identity as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, while "God saves" points to the reason for Jesus' birth: God will save us through him. And so when Joseph awoke, he did what the Lord commanded him and took Mary into his home as his wife.

God's presence among us began with the virgin birth on Christmas and our redemption was accomplished in Jesus on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but our appropriation of this great work of salvation continues to unfold in a world in which the power of darkness and every kind of evil still continue to blind us.

Many people stumble through life lost and forsaken, living for nothing bigger than themselves. This last year we have heard more hateful things said by political leaders and common people than any time in recent memory.

And it is into that world that Jesus sends us to bring light and hope and courageous resistance to evil. That mission is for all of us, but all the more so for those whom the Lord is calling to serve him in ordained ministry.

And so we make the words of today's responsorial psalm our own: "Let the Lord enter; he is the King of Glory!"