Contemplating the Jump

And with one final step, I come to the edge.

This past Sunday, we celebrated another important step toward the priesthood.  I and 55 of my classmates were instituted as Acolytes.  Acolytes, who can be approximated to the subdeacons of old, are commissioned explicitly to aid the priests and deacons at the service of the altar.  In the ceremony we were handed a paten which holds the bread to be consecrated at mass, one of the scared vessel that hold the body of Christ, as a symbol of being entrusted to care for and serve the holy mysteries. 

While exteriorly it may seem that I have just become a glorified altar server, it takes on a much deeper significance in the place it has on the journey to the priesthood.  The path to becoming a priest is almost literally a movement closer to the altar.  Candidacy, the first step and how we started our blog, is the Church’s welcome and encouragement to take this process with more confidence and grace.  Then Fernando gave you his reflections on his installation as a Lector- the altar of the Word prepares us to approach the altar of Christ’s body and blood.  And now Acolyte. 

The next step is Deacon- the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  At that moment the promises of Chastity, Obedience, and Prayer are made, the commitment consummated.  And priesthood follows closely.

I am fond of the image of a child on a diving board.  I used it just recently in a practice homily I gave in one of our homiletic lessons.  It captures in a fascinating way the excitement and fear that we often get as we come to an edge, come to a final step.   My installation as an acolyte has brought this up anew.  Though my potential ordination to the diaconate is over a year and a half away, having reached the final ceremonial step before it, I find myself at a new edge and see all that is left is the jump.  And what a jump…

The jump is a giving up of control, giving myself completely over to Christ, and giving myself to the arms of the Church waiting to catch me.  Yet the idea of a jump, and the falling that comes after the jump is misleading.  All analogies brake down and this one does right here.  The jump does not bring about a fall, a being dragged down, bound and controlled by the precipitating consequences of one movement. 

No.  The jump brings about a surrender, surely; but the promise of Chastity, Obedience, and Prayer free.  The surrender is what breaks the bonds, bonds of selfishness and pride, that can hold me.  It is the jump that allows flight.

And the ascension of flight has no edge; no final step, save rest in the Father’s heart, in the arms of the Trinity.