Ordinations to the Sub-Diaconate in Zaitzkofen (April 6, 2019)

The sub-deacon commits himself definitively to the service of God, which is physically marked by the ceremony of “steps”: at the call of his name, the future sub-deacon takes a step forward to manifest his promise to observe perpetual chastity from this point forward, and to recite daily the prayers of the Divine Office, or breviary. He will now be mandated by the Church to continue the prayer that Christ has established on earth, uniting with His worship, praise, and intercession that He continues in Heaven. These commitments must protect him in his purity, and place him at the heart of the current preoccupations that the Church is painfully experiencing.

Three years ago, an inquiry into the German clergy revealed that about half of the priests no longer confess each year and half also no longer pray every day. It must be reaffirmed strongly that the renewal of the Church can only be achieved by the search for priestly holiness: a synodal approach and discussions on celibacy will not only not get the clergy out of the rut, but will push them in even deeper.

The new sub-deacons must entrust themselves to the Virgin Mary in a very special way, to pray to her to preserve them, to contemplate her in their hearts and to praise her perpetual virginity in order to beg for the salvation of humanity. And to ask the faithful Virgin that they may stay with her at the foot of the Cross, until the completion of the work of salvation.