It felt a little strange at first…my lying down on the cathedral floor in front of everyone. If I recall, the only thought in my head was “gosh, what am I doing?” It then seemed for me to be perhaps just a brief moment of rest in an otherwise very grace-filled, exhilarating, yet very exhausting day. Prostration, lying face-down before the altar, is a part of the Rite of Ordination. Last weekend, three men were ordained as Permanent Deacons for the Archdiocese and this weekend has seen eight men ordained as Priests – the largest number in twenty-three years. All experienced that moment of prostration. It is meant to symbolize and concretize the surrendering of one’s life. It is the position of a slave or servant before His Master. The Act of Prostration has become more meaningful for me well beyond the actual day of my priestly ordination. That
initial Act of Prostration has continued. It is the Good Friday prostration, done in complete silence that really stands out for me today. There is no singing, no chanting, and no invocation of the saints. There is only a deafening silence as one lies on the floor of the church in front of everyone once again. The meaning is still the same: surrender. It is in imitation of Jesus, Himself, Who surrendered to the Cross – and the mob of mankind that threw Him upon it. Of course, the story didn’t end there, nor does the story of ordination end with the Act of Prostration. Jesus would rise and everything – EVERYTHING – would forever change. The whole world and Life Itself would be transformed. It was not the Act of Prostration that stood out for me on my day of ordination. It was the Act of Rising afterwards. A change had been reflected. Quite the miracle had taken place. I went down upon that cathedral floor of surrender as a person already ordained a deacon, but now I arose as Priest. As much as I continue to carry that Act of Surrender in Prostration around with me as Priest, even more so I carry with me that Act of Rising Anew as Priest each and every day especially in the Masses I celebrate. Pray for all those ordained in these last days. Pray for priests and deacons. Pray that in surrendering anew each and every day that they might even more so arise each and every day experiencing a whole New Life transformed with and in Our Risen Lord!
Peace!
Fr. Wilson