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St. Paul at the Areopagus (Raphael, c. 1515) |
[Homily preached at St. Andrew's Catholic Church on May 24, 2017, at a Mass in honor of the transitional deacon candidates of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.]
“Almighty God …
You grant that the Church, his body,
adorned with manifold heavenly graces,
drawn together in the diversity of its members,
and united by a wondrous bond through the Holy
Spirit, should grow and spread forth
to build up a new temple
and, as once you chose the sons of Levi
to minister in the former tabernacle,
so now you establish three ranks of ministers
in their sacred offices to serve in your name.”
This is from the Prayer of Consecration of the Rite
of Ordination of a Deacon, which Archbishop Gregory will be praying over y’all,
brothers, in just a few days.
The triple rank of Holy Orders in the New Covenant
is foreshadowed by the choosing of the sons of Levi to minister in the
tabernacle of the old Covenant. Deacons are often referred to as Levites in the
liturgical books … for instance in the Easter proclamation, the Exsultet, which
perhaps some of you might be chanting next year, he calls himself an unworthy
member of the tribe of Levi.
So this got me thinking – what is it about the tribe
of Levi that it received this particular honor and blessing? There was already
a priesthood, from Aaron … why the Levites? In Deuteronomy, when Moses is
blessing the twelve tribes, of Levi he says, "Give to Levi thy
Thummim, and thy Urim to thy godly one, whom thou didst test at Massah, with
whom thou didst strive at the waters of Mer'ibah; who said of his father
and mother, 'I regard them not'; he disowned his brothers, and ignored his
children. For they observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.” (Deut. 33:8)
Levi, who regarded not
his father and his mother, and disowned his brothers and ignored his children.