ORDINATION TO PERMANENT DIACONATE OF TONY LIVESEY

Tony, my dear brothers and sisters, God is always with his people! We must surely be people of Hope!

As I spent these days among you I see signs of God’s continuing presence and activity in your parish: Confirmations yesterday and the Diaconate tonight (a vocation never begins in a vacuum but family and community) – first time the Sacrament of Holy Orders has been celebrated on the Isle of Sky since at least the Reformation 1560. God is ever with us – let us be filled with hope!

Tony, as I ordain you this evening as a deacon for service in our Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, I make two requests of you. Firstly, please, please be a man of prayer. Secondly, trust in Divine Providence, God’s plan for you, have faith that he is active in your life.

1 Be a man of prayer, not just someone who says prayers, but be a man of prayer.

In our Gospel Jesus identifies the need for good spiritual leaders. The best shepherds are men of prayer.

In our Second Reading we heard about the Ordination in Jerusalem of the first seven deacons. The Apostles insisted that the deacons must be men close to Jesus and so filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom; that is the wisdom of God that only comes from a close union with the Lord. They then prayed for the deacons and, as they laid hands on their heads, called the Holy Spirit to fall upon them.

Frequently the emphasis is placed on deacons as being men of practical service. This is true and authentic spirituality demands genuine service of others. However, prayer is central to everything. After this evening’s passage only two of the seven deacons are ever mentioned again: Stephen and Philip and both demonstrated the fruits of their personal relationship with God in the wisdom and insight of their preaching and the quality of their witness.

Tony, through your Ordination to the diaconate you will share in Holy Orders and be invited to conform yourself to Jesus Christ. To deepen your bond with God and his people you must be a man of prayer. Among your other devotions please develop your love of the Eucharist and daily prayerfully read the Scriptures. Only by increasingly opening yourself to God will you know what God wants of you and receive the grace to faithfully and lovingly carry it out.

2 Trust Divine Providence and use your gifts and life experiences to enrich your ministry.

In the First Reading Jeremiah looks back over his life and sees a pattern of divine involvement: God has always called me to be his prophet. In fact, he is so convinced he states that this was God’s plan even before Jeremiah had been conceived.

The same was true for the Apostles. We heard tonight that Jesus recognised how deeply people needed the Good News – Jesus was full of compassion for the people in both their spiritual and physical ailments. After asking for prayers for labourers he will then select the Twelve Apostles. Did this happen by chance or was it part of the Divine Plan? Was it by chance by John the Baptist had told Andrew to follow Jesus and that he did so? Was it by chance that Jesus called Peter to be a fisher of men immediately after the miraculous catch of fish? Was not Matthew already becoming aware that his life was empty despite his great wealth when Jesus called him? God had always been in their lives guiding them towards heir vocation. They did not become apostles by chance!

Each one of us is offered a unique invitation from God to work with God in his beautiful and mysterious plan for the good of humanity.

Likewise Tony, Divine Providence has been guiding you throughout your entire life.  You were born in Lancashire in 1953 to Joe and Dorothy and you also had a younger sister, Ann, now sadly deceased. Through your friend you and Pola met at the Blackburn Polish Club. You moved to Dundee in 1972 to study at the Medical School and then worked there for a year before returning to England and specialising in Child and Adolescent psychiatry in Sheffield and supported troubled young people for the rest of your career. Meanwhile, Pola also had a caring career as a therapist for those with learning and developmental difficulties. In 1974 you and Pola married and had two sons and now have four grandchildren. After retirement you and Pola settled here on Skye, you both became involved in the parish and you felt drawn by God towards the Permanent Diaconate. Pola wholeheartedly supported you, and I thank Pola for this.

Was all of this by chance or was God present and inviting you? In your primary vocation of marriage, in your family life, working life caring for young people, then coming to Skye, and even in the seemingly tiny, meaningless daily incidents God has been ever present, touching your heart, accompanying and drawing you in his mysterious ways. Nothing was accidental or pointless. Tony, trust in Divine Providence.

Being a deacon and conforming more fully to Christ will enrich your family life. Similarly, all of your experiences of married and family life, your ability to relate and support the youth, your personality etc are graced experiences, blest experiences and now, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the Lord will use you, to the extent you allow him, to continue his ministry of compassion here on the Isle of Skye and throughout our diocese.

This is why I ask you to trust God’s Providence, to truly have confidence that God guides and uses all things; but also to be a man of prayer because only then will you more fully sense the direction the loving Lord is guiding you in your ministry and family life and also be strengthened to embrace it.

Welcome Tony, and thank you for offering yourself as a Permanent Deacon to our Diocese. I warmly welcome your wife Pola and thank her for her generous encouragement of your Vocation to the Diaconate and the sacrifices you have made. I congratulate you both as you celebrate your 46^th wedding anniversary today! I also welcome your family who has travelled from Sheffield: sons - Joseph and David, Amanda and Ruth and grandchildren Owen, Ava, Daniel and Emmeline.

Welcome priests of the diocese and Deacons who have been involved in your journey. Welcome fellow parishioners who are so proud and delighted. I welcome your friends and those who have journeyed with you in the diaconate programme.

Thanks to you all for your support of Tony.