My sisters and brothers, tonight, during these solemn vespers, we gather to pray our evening prayer in concert with the entire Church community of believers who have been charged to pray always. In doing so, we sanctify our day with praise to Almighty God and invoke His aid on the path of our Christian journey.

A warm welcome to one and all tonight, as we, the Church of Birmingham, surround our brothers in faith, Deacons John Gardiner, John Paul Stepnowski, and Andrew Vickery, with the prayers of the Church as they prepare to take the next step in their vocation by their ordination to the priesthood.

You have stayed the course through the formation process. The call you hear is one that has brought you to this day. Today is the vigil of the event - the event that identifies in your life a new reality of configuration with the very heart and life of Christ.

Interestingly, vigils have dotted the landscape of our liturgical calendar.  The Vigil of Christmas, the Vigil of Pentecost, the vigils before funerals, and vigils before Sunday and Holy day celebrations. We often refer to them as “anticipations.” We are on the cusp - on tiptoes, as it were - looking out for the day to come. A moment that will change everything and fulfill what we are hoping for deep down.  

Oh, yes, you will be the same. You will still be John, John Paul, and Andrew, but you will belong to Christ in a more intense sacramental way. You will also be ontologically changed. You will be His priest. You will be deputed for priestly ministry right here in the Diocese of Birmingham. Your hands will be anointed with Sacred Chrism – the oil used at your Baptism and Confirmation. Now, you will be His hands, His minister acting in persona Christi – in the very person of Christ as a collaborator in ministry with your bishop. You will be for the other a visible presence of the One you are giving your life for. You will be sent to places where there are moments of great joy, great need, great hunger, great sorrow to accompany fellow Christians learning about how Christ is already present in central and northern Alabama to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all.  

So, tonight, on this vigil, we pray the Vespers of Pentecost imploring the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth through the faithfulness, zeal, and resilience of these your servants. Beg the Holy Spirit to generate new lives for Christ, new disciples who follow Him more closely, and new missionaries who share the greatness of God and what God can do for you. Through it all, may you always be ready and willing to joyfully take on the tasks of ministry even in the most remote and challenging of situations. Tonight, this community, representing the entire Diocese of Birmingham, surrounds you in prayer so that you may be as thoughtful and insightful as St. John the Evangelist, who reminded us that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it”; intrepid and fearless as St. John Paul II, who charged Christians, “Do not be afraid”; and amazed as Andrew, who goes to his brother Peter announcing, “We have found the Messiah!” 

Stay close to the One Who gave you this vocation and allow our Blessed Mother, Mary, to accompany you and encourage you to be faithful to her Son, Jesus our Lord and Savior.