Archbishop calls on consecrated to wear religious dress as a ‘revolutionary’ gesture

Denver Newsroom, Sep 27, 2022 / 14:00 pm

The archbishop of Valladolid, Spain, Luis Argüello, called it “revolutionary” in our times to make the supernatural present in the streets by wearing in public the clothing proper to consecrated religious or ordained men.

The prelate gave this reflection in his homily for a diaconal ordination, noting that the deacons will wear specific vestments.

“You are going to wear clothing proper to you. A diaconal stole and a dalmatic will be placed on your alb. And you can also wear clerical dress, you can wear a symbol so that it can be seen in the public square that you are men consecrated to the Lord,” the archbishop explained.

“There was a time when the novelty appeared that had to do with our taking off the cassock and the Roman collar. Today there is a time in which surely what is revolutionary, novel, the presence of the supernatural in the streets and squares, is friars wearing a habit, nuns being recognizable, and those of us who have been ordained also being recognizable,” he added.

The archbishop also considered the promises made by deacons at their ordination to be “revolutionary.” 

“Brothers, what these friends are going to promise today is a revolutionary novelty that our world needs,” the prelate said referring to the commitment to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, to be celibate, and to obey.

Argüello explained that praying of the Liturgy of the Hours ensures that “in the Church from morning to night, from sunrise to sunset, the name of the Lord is praised” and warned that “without praise the heart shrinks and without praise the hands close.”

Living the spousal dimension of every human being

Regarding the new deacons’ promise of celibacy, the prelate stressed that it’s a matter of living the “spousal dimension that every man and woman has.”

“How countercultural!” he exclaimed. “At a time of extraordinary trivialization of sexuality, at a time when the spousal dimension seems to have lost its place, you promise to live in celibate love!”

It’s also “a promise to love that wants to open itself up to fruitfulness,” he said, stressing that “the greatest test for your celibacy in this time of the mission of the Church may be the sterility of apostolic works.”

The freedom to love unconditionally

The archbishop of Valladolid also highlighted the promise of obedience to the bishop and his successors in an era dominated by “self-referentiality, of ‘I decide,’ of the right to decide, of the proclamation of rights, without the flip side of rights that is, inevitably, duties.”

With the promise of obedience, deacons place their freedom “in the hands of the Church, so that communion may shine forth and so that freely given freedom may shine forth. The freely given freedom of not seeking ourselves, the freely given freedom of loving without reciprocation, without conditions.”

“It’s a revolutionary proposal to live in God from morning to night, to live in celibate love, to live in obedience,” the archbishop summarized.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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