Jesuit Scholastics Ordained Deacons at the Church of Saint Ignace in Paris
Mgr Philippe Marsset, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Paris (France) ordained 10 deacons in the Church of Saint Ignace in Paris on June 20, 2020.
The liturgical celebration presided over by Mgr Philippe Marsset notably saw the participation of several priests including Father François Boëdec SJ, Provincial of the Jesuits of French-speaking Western Europe . Father François who welcomed and presented the candidates, thanked the bishop for his availability, especially at this time of the pandemic. He also acknowledged the gift of the families of the Jesuits in communion during the online ordination ceremony, from Africa and Madagascar, the United States, Europe, India and the Near East.
Archbishop Philippe Marsset, in his homily based on the readings of the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, did not hesitate to remind the ordinary people that these texts must remain the memory of their diaconal ordination. Saying, “there is a way of living your diaconate life or your Christian life …. to this, the vocation of remaining very small". Looking at the biblical history and the history of the universal holiness of the Church, he noted, it is often among or by the little ones that God does great things. The diaconate, therefore, is a kenosis, it is a lowering of our human life given to the Lord, but not simply because we want to remain very small, but because of our vocation, to have access to God goes through the fact that God reveals Himself to the little ones ”.
Despite the limited number of those present at the ordination and the faces under masks, the celebration was prayerful and was marked by moments of joy with songs in several languages. Some innovations were made in the ordination rite; this to help keep the distance between the bishop and the ordinands.
The new deacons, Bertrand, Benoît, Raphaël, Joseph, Jack, Subodh, Shailen, Mokonzi, Sebastian, Eugène, and Pradeep who come from different regions of the world finished their theological studies at the Center Sèvres, Jesuit Faculties of Paris and testify of the universality of the Society of Jesus.
Article originally published in French {Here}
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