Mbongiseni Dlamini and Siyabonga Ndwandwe were ordained to the diaconate on Valentine's day (14 February 2026) at St Peregrine's parish. Below is part of my homily.
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You are being ordained today just before we begin the Lenten Season. Every single year the first Sunday of the Lenten Season calls us to reflect on the temptations Jesus experienced in the desert. They are a model for the ones every Christian experiences in his or her life.
In your case one of them would be to forget that, the One who called you, should also lead you; that day by day you need to be one with Jesus in order to identify yourselves with Him.
As you have shared with me: you want your ministry to be built on the Word, a Word addressed to you before it is addressed to others.
Like it happened in Jesus' life, Satan will be at work to make sure that this does not happen, that the Word will not really lead you and that Jesus - the Word made flesh - will not be the one you follow.
There will be signs that you have fallen to it:
- you will see it when you look like those Pharisees Jesus spoke about (Matthew 23:4), ready to put heavy burdens on people's shoulders but would not dare to touch them themselves. You will call the people "to convert" but never see the need to convert yourselves;
- you will start to be attracted by the way pastors from other churches behave, the number of people that follow them and the money they make. Your identity will become the type of vehicle the bishop entrusts to you, big or small, old or new...;
- Jesus' life will no longer be your point of reference to follow. We see him in today's Gospel passage and all through the Gospel, reaching out to others, healing, preaching, teaching the apostles, making time for prayer, having no time to eat and rest. You, instead, might find yourselves looking for a more comfortable life. Jesus' suffering and death on the cross will have no impact in the way you live;
- you will forget that you are being called out of love and love is what we celebrate today - Valentine's day - and every time we celebrate Mass. More than serving others out of love, you will see your ministry as a job you do "from 08.30 to 16.00"... You will underline the importance of resting, taking days off, having holidays... Important as these things are, you could suddenly discover that instead of leading others in service, you are being led by the people entrusted to you (I always wonder when it is that parents have a day off);
- you will no longer be thirsty for God - as you beautifully chose to underline in today's Responsorial Psalm ("I thirst for God, the living God" Psalm 42:2). You will be thirsty for other type of drinks...
You have been called out of God's love to witness to that love, in such a way that every day, people meeting you might feel you are telling them "happy Valentine's day" with your own lives.
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