PRAISE GOD!!!

I greet you today as Rev. Mr. Christopher J. Rossman!! By God's grace and the imposition of hands of Archbishop Joseph Naumann, I was ordained to the diaconate On Saturday, May 27th at about 11am. I will be posting photos of the ordination and even a short video clip of the imposition of hands in the next few days.

This week, I want to reflect on the ordination, my first homily, my first celebration of a sacrament (the baptism of my niece) and my thoughts on the ministry of deacon. Today, I want to relate the hours leading up to the ordination. I will save the blow-by-blow description of the ordination itself for the day I post the photos.

I thought it was rather odd that in the days before the ordination I felt somewhat disconnected and at times even dispassionate. I knew I was nervous about the ordination (I have epilepsy and had a seizure the Monday before the ordination - my seizures can be triggered by stress) but the disconnectedness confused me. Brandon Farrar, a diocesan brother and the deacon for the Mass, gave me some wonderful words of wisdom at the rehearsal that opened my eyes. In essence, he told me that Satan would be attacking me in subtle ways, especially as I drew ever-closer to my ordination. He assured me, however, that I should remember that God would protect me and to not let Satan distract me from my call.

When he spoke these words to me, I suddenly realized that the disconnectedness and dispassionate feelings I was having were not my own. I had been estatic about my upcoming ordination, as you - my readers - can attest to by my own blog entries. As soon as I realized that these feelings were not my own, I was able to call on God to come to my aid. Within minutes, these feelings had disappeared and I was again estatic and almost brimming over with excitement in anticipation of the ordination that next morning. I owe this to my diocesan brother, Brandon, who had obviously experienced similar trials on the eve of his diaconate ordination and blessedly sought to comfort and strengthen me as I was in the midst of these trials myself.

God bless Brandon!!! I will have the privledge of serving as the deacon for his priesthood ordination in just under 4 weeks. Pray for him and for all those who are preparing for ordination that God may protect them and that Satan's power be useless against them. I also ask you to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for my ordination. May God be blessed now and forever! Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 14:54 | link | comments |
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