For married Permanent Deacons, service sacramentalized came 1st in Holy Matrimony

I was thinking about service sacramentalized the other night.  What does this mean?  In formation while preparing for the possibility that one day I would be ordained a Permanent Deacon, one of our mentor/instructors gave a beautiful talk about service sacramentalized.  In short, since Deacons, whether Permanent or Transitional are ordained for service, sometimes called charity, ordination, in effect was a sacramentalization of service.  I guess this is a good time to remind readers, including Catholics, that yes, Deacons, even the married Permanent kind, indeed receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  Yes, the Bishop lays hands on each candidate, yes the Bishop says the right words of the rite, and yes, Deacons are ordained; they receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

It is important to remember that every Priest, every Bishop and even the Pope, the Holy Father himself, 1st receives the Sacrament of Holy Orders the day he becomes a Deacon!

Let's talk about the Permanent Deacon.  Statistics tell us that in this country, at least 90% of Permanent Deacons are married and that number would be higher except some are widowers and a few, an extreme few, may experience the pain of divorce.  And it is good to point out that Permanent Deacons, once they are no longer in the married state, can not remarry. 

So since almost all Permanent Deacons are married, they first experience service sacramentalized in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.  In a Catholic marriage the couple, the man and the woman, are the ministers of this Sacrament.  Their giving of consent and the recitation of the vows gives witness to service.  Throughout life, the husband and wife, by living their Christian love let others see service sacramentalized.  The Permanent Deacon does this most often when he assists at Mass, proclaiming the Gospel, assisting at the altar and ministering the Cup.  This is where most Catholics experience the Permanent Deacon and not at his first call of service, as he minsters at hospitals, hospice care, food banks, soup kitchens, jail and more.

A married Permanent Deacon needs to be aware, as he ministers and avails himself to request after request and need after need, that even after ordination, he must be of service to his bride, and family.  So their should be little distinction between husband and Permanent Deacon when he attends to his wife's needs, be they physical or spiritual, and responds to the needs of his children, grandchildren, aging parents, brothers & sisters and the larger needs of the people of God through various ministries.

Tonight, as I get ready for bed as my bride is recovering in the local hospital, I am so aware of this.  Tonight would be my normal prison ministry night, a ministry I love.  But I was where my first Sacrament of Service informed me I must be, and where my heart informed me I want to be.  Now I knew this before ordination to the Permanent Diaconate but I guess I never thought about how it is service in the bonds of Holy Matrimony where service first became sacramentalized in my life.  And I must admit, it is such a special gift that through the Church, I have been able to receive both Sacraments of Service, Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.

May I always remember, especially as a Permanent Deacon, my first ministry of service is to my wife and my family.

Thanking God tonight for Wendy's recovery, the gift of our Sacramental Marriage, the gift of Holy Orders and the gift of service sacramentalized!