It's nice to ease into the hustle and bustle of another hectic seminary semester. Monday being Labor Day, us seminarians have the weekend free. A few of my classmates and I drove about an hour southwest of St. Louis to tour the Meramec Caverns and to do some hiking in the Meramec State Park, which itself contains something like 40 caves.

Earlier this week, word got around the seminary that a group of us were going "spelunking" during the free weekend. While the definition of "spelunk" is to "explore natural caves," I guess it's true that we did go spelunking. But when I think of spelunking, Meramec Caverns don't come to mind... the caves are at least mostly natural. But the artificial lighting, entrance fee, concrete walkways, and gift shop make it seem less than worthy of the adventurous word "spelunk."

But anyhow, our underground excursion was quite interesting. The place is truly a cheesy roadside tourist trap, but behind all the goofy gimmicks, the caves really are spectacular.

And the nearby State Park offers a lot of hiking, "spelunking," and camping opportunities. It was a beautiful day, and a great day trip.

Oh, by the way, our group consisted of myself and the following deacons: Johnson Lopez, Marco DeLoera, Kevin Vogel, and James Weeder.

-Jason

A double rainbow after a storm at the Cottonwoods Campground in the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The receding thunderstorm.

Beautiful scenery near the campground.

Wild horses in the National Park.

One of many bison that wander freely in the park, often near the roads in the morning.

Coneflower atop Sentinel Butte.

A view toward the south from atop Sentinel Butte.

-Jason

The ordination was powerful, grace-filled, and beautiful. I was very moved by the bishop's homily, and after the Mass was over I was filled with an incredible peace. My family and friends came from far and near. People were present from Missouri, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and of course North Dakota. The people of Christ the King served up some amazing food at the pre-ordination dinner and the reception that followed the ordination.

The photos above were taken by Deacon Joseph Krupinski.

-Deacon Jason

Now that the ordination is just five days away, it seems fitting to reflect a bit on the ordination ceremony. By the way, those pictured above are my classmates from Kenrick Seminary that were ordained a few months ago at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, MO (photo credit goes to Jeff Geerling). In this blog post I’ll try to explain as briefly as I can, for your benefit, what will be taking place. If you’re attending, you’ll be given a program so you can follow along. But you might not understand why various things are happening. So I hope this helps make it more prayerful for you.

If you’ve been to a Catholic Mass or a Lutheran worship service, and I think most of you have, the overall order of things will be somewhat familiar. The ordination rite takes place in the middle of a Catholic Mass. In general, there are these five major parts to the ceremony:

1. Introductory Rites
2. Liturgy of the Word
3. Election of the candidate & Homily
4. Ordination
5. Liturgy of the Eucharist

Introductory Rites

The Mass begins with the Sign of the Cross and what is called the “Penitential Rite.” The Penitential Rite is when we pause to call to mind our sins and ask God to forgive them. This doesn’t have the same effect as going to confession, but in the penitential right venial (less serious) sins are forgiven. Lutherans, if I recall correctly, have a Penitential Rite in which they ask God to forgive sins, so this is the same basic idea. It is good to ask for forgiveness from sins before approaching the altar in Mass. Jesus told us as much in Matthew 5:23-24, which says “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

After the Penitential Rite, the Gloria will be sung. It is a “very ancient and venerable hymn in which the Church, gathered together in the Holy Spirit, glorifies and entreats God the Father and the Lamb” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal 53). It begins “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on Earth” and is sung on most Sundays.

Finally, the Opening Prayer is said.

Liturgy of the Word

This should be familiar to pretty much all of you. There is a first reading, followed by a Psalm with a response, followed by a second reading. The first reading is from the Old Testament, the second is from the New Testament.

After the New Testament reading, we will stand and sing “Alleluia.” Why stand and sing? Because we’re about to hear the Gospel read to us. If you don’t recall, the Gospels are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which contain the narratives of Jesus’ life. All of Scripture is the Word of God and worthy of respect, but the Gospels hold a special place among all the other books because their focus is most explicitly on the life of Jesus. So we stand, sing “Alleluia,” and one of the deacons will pick up a book that just contains the four Gospels (not the entire Bible) and carry it over to the ambo (podium/pulpit) where he will read from it.

As he begins to read from the Gospel, he will say something like “The Lord be with you,” and we answer “And also with you.” The deacon will continue, saying, “A reading from the holy gospel according to John.” At that point, the Catholics in the crowd will make small signs of the cross on their foreheads, lips, and chest. Don’t freak out, it’s not some strange superstitious thing. The point behind it is to prepare us to hear the words of the Gospel. Making those physical movements reminds us that the Gospel should be on our minds, on our lips (we should share it) and in our hearts. So those three signs of the cross are motions that go along with a silent prayer, said to oneself.

Election of the Candidate & Homily

This part of the ceremony is where the one to be ordained is “chosen” by the Church to serve as a deacon. This is clear when you hear the bishop say “Relying on the help of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose this man, our brother, for the Order of the Diaconate.” Sorry, you don’t get to vote during this election. But the seminary faculty, the bishop, and my fellow seminarians all helped the bishop to make the decision about whether or not to choose me.

Next, we will all be seated for Bishop Zipfel’s homily. He will likely draw his message from the readings we heard earlier. But in this case, Bishop Zipfel may focus less on the readings and more on the ordination and what takes place.

Ordination

Next, I make some serious promises to the bishop. First, I declare my intention to become a deacon “by the laying on” of the bishop’s hands and the gift of the Holy Spirit. This “laying on of hands” during ordination is a tradition handed on to us from the Apostles:

Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them" (Acts 6:3-6).

I will promise to humbly serve Christian people, to proclaim the Catholic faith in word and deed, to remain celibate as a sign of my dedication to Christ the Lord and for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, to maintain and seek to deepen my prayer life, including the daily praying of the Liturgy of the Hours (which includes praying for all of you, ever day), and to conform my life to Christ and to serve at the altar.

Finally, Bishop Zipfel will ask me “Do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?” I will answer “I do,” signifying that when he retires (likely very soon) I will obey the new bishop, whoever that might be. And it also means that I will always be under the authority of the Bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck, which covers the western half of North Dakota. I will not be assigned elsewhere, unless some extraordinary circumstances arise.

Next, I will lay face down on the floor in front of the altar and the tabernacle, like my classmates in this picture:

Don’t worry. I haven’t passed out. This is a sign of submission to God, who is represented in the symbol of the altar and who is truly present in the tabernacle. This is often, so I am told, the most powerful time for the one being ordained. In his very posture is a sign of his giving his life over to God.

While I am laying prostrate on the floor, everyone will sing the “Litany of Supplication.” This is when everyone alternates with the cantor/choir with “Saint Michael … Pray for us,” through a long list of saints. Here we are asking all the saints in heaven to join us as we pray to God for the man being ordained. Why? Because the promises he has just made can only be kept, and the life of an ordained minister will only be fruitful and happy, with God’s help. The one being ordained needs your prayers. He’s offering everything to God, and taking on a huge new responsibility. How dangerous for his soul, for example, is giving spiritual advice? If he is weak and is not praying himself, he might cave and tell people what they want to hear but not what they need to hear. We need to pray for the one being ordained, for the sake of his soul and the souls of all those whom he will serve in his life.

After the Litany of Supplication, the bishop will lay hands on me, as described above and as we see in this picture of Archbishop Robert Carlson and my classmate Rev. Mr. Johnson Lopez:

This is an essential part of the ordination. Then, with me kneeling before him, he will say the “Prayer of Ordination,” which is somewhat long at about two full pages in the book. It begins “Draw near, we pray, almighty God…” But the most important part, it seems, is this passage:

Send forth upon him, Lord, we pray, the Holy Spirit, that he may be strengthened by the gift of your sevenfold grace for the faithful carrying out of the work of the ministry.

The Rite of Ordination states that this passage is also an essential part of ordination. It seems to me that when Bishop Zipfel finishes uttering that part of the Prayer of Ordination, I will be a deacon. This is made especially clear when Fr. Phillips will come forward and place a stole and a dalmatic on me. The stole goes over the left shoulder and hangs down the right side, which is different from a priest’s stole, which hangs around the neck, down in front of the priest. Again, my classmates (as brand new deacons) show how it's done:

A dalmatic looks like the vestment the priest wears, but has sleeves (though usually so big it’s sometimes hard to tell). A priest, thus, wears a vestment that is more simple than that of the deacon, symbolizing his identity as a lowly, poor servant of God.

Next, the bishop will hand me the book of the Gospels:

As he does so, he will say the following:

Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.

Here, the bishop to whom I will have just promised obedience is commanding me to spread the Gospel. The duty to do so will at that point be a part of my life.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

The remainder of the Mass will be like a normal Sunday Mass (except that there will be a bishop, several deacons, four servers, and at least three priests present). The one thing that will be new is that I will take the place of one of the deacons who was serving the earlier parts of the Mass. So when you see me, probably helping to set things up on the altar, that’s the work of a deacon.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail or phone. Hopefully, I’ll see you on Sunday!

-Almost Rev. Mr. Jason R. Signalness

My poor motorcycle typically sits in a garage in Mandan for almost the entire year. It's tough to get it out for a ride when I'm 1,000 miles away in St. Louis or even 160 miles away in Beach, ND, where I'm working this summer.

When I'm working somewhere I need my pickup and I was always unsure if the motorcycle would fit in the back. And I was nervous about wrecking the bike or pickup trying to load the thing. But I finally got some ramps and some help to shove the bike up in the pickup box. It worked great! So, in case you were wondering, a 2001 Suzuki SV650S does fit nicely in the back of a 2005 Chevy Colorado.

After the Masses here in Beach today the sun finally came out after days of wind and rain. To take advantage of the beautiful weather I cruised on over to Medora and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South Unit). While there I drove around the 36-mile park loop road. It's beautiful out there. I saw deer, rabbits, prairie dogs, and three or four bison. Along the way I did a little hiking around Buck Hill and in Wind Canyon. Check out the photos here:

Back in Medora after the ride I had some dinner, an ice cream cone, and did a bit of shopping (I picked up a biography of Theodore Roosevelt) before racing (yet another) thunderstorm. It's been stormy this summer. But at least I got out for a little while.

-Jason

P.S.: In one week, I will be a deacon. Wow.

In less than two weeks, I will receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It seems appropriate to post a short explanation of what the “Sacrament of Holy Orders” is, and what a deacon is, and what it means that I am about to be ordained. I had all kinds of hopes of explaining this in a series of short posts, but I just couldn’t figure out how to do it. So I’m just going to ramble for a bit and see what comes out.

The Catholic Church has seven “sacraments,” which are the means given to us by Jesus during his earthly life so that his work of salvation would be made present for the rest of time, in this world. Christ does this through the ordained men of the Church, who celebrate the sacraments by virtue of their own reception of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, passing on baptism, priesthood, etc., on through time. For example, bishops have something like family trees. Bishop Zipfel was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop May, who was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal John Cody who was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Ritter, and on and on back to St. Peter himself being consecrated a bishop by Jesus Christ himself.

Of the seven sacraments, the sacraments of matrimony and holy orders, especially, are aimed at the salvation of others. In other words, when you get married, the grace of the sacrament is not largely to your benefit, but to the benefit of your spouse and the Church as a whole. Likewise, when a man is ordained, he is not ordained for himself. He is ordained to serve others, as Christ did.

Among some people I know, there seems to be some confusion about what an ordination is. That’s understandable. After all, not all of you are Catholic, so I don’t expect you to know. First of all, it is nothing like a graduation. It is more like a marriage. When a man is ordained, a permanent change takes place in his very soul. He makes lifelong promises before the bishop, the Church, and God Himself to live the rest of his life dedicated to ministry.

In just under two weeks, I will make these lifelong promises and I will be permanently changed when I am ordained a “transitional deacon.” That means I will receive the first of the three “degrees” of holy orders: the diaconate. The other two are presbyterate (priesthood) and episcopacy (bishop). Before someone can be ordained a priest, he must be ordained a deacon and must serve for a while as a deacon. Hence the qualifier of “transitional” deacon.

Even though I will only serve as a deacon for a year before I am ordained again, as a priest, it is a most important occasion. It is, after all, when I am truly committed to serving Christ’s Church for the rest of my life.

So what is a deacon?
A deacon is “configured to Christ the servant of all” and “is ordained for service to the Church” (Compendium of the CCC). Consider this quotation from the homily in the Rite of Ordination:

Brothers and sisters: since this our son, your relative and friend, is now to be advanced to the Order of Deacons, consider the rank in the Church to which he is about to be raised. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, he will help the Bishop and his priests in the ministry of the word, of the altar, and of charity, showing himself to be a servant to all. As a minister of the altar, he will proclaim the Gospel, prepare the sacrifice, and distribute the Lord's Body and Blood to the faithful. He will preside over public prayer, administer Baptism, bless Marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and conduct funeral rites. And in a year’s time, having served as a deacon he will, God willing, be ordained to the Order of Priesthood.

For more information, CLICK HERE to read sections 322-336 of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is an excellent quick reference for Catholic beliefs.

Next, I think I will write a post on what to expect at the ordination. Reading up on it will help you appreciate what’s going on.

Oh, and by the way, the picture above is one of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who happened to be a deacon and who is a patron saint of deacons.

If you have questions or if that wasn't clear, feel free to e-mail me or post a comment.

-Jason

Last Friday I headed west to this little town for my summer parish assignment at St. John the Baptist Church. Along the way, I pulled off at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park's Painted Canyon Scenic Overlook and rest area.

To my surprise, bison were grazing on the lawn of the visitor center/rest area. Some were even wandering around the parking lot.

This is the view from the scenic overlook.

Today I went out and walked around town. Here's a snapshot of the water tower.

This is St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, where I am living and working this summer.

One of the windows in the church.

A photo of the county's veterans memorial seems appropriate on this Memorial Day. The list of veterans seems long for such a small population.

Just east of Beach is the town of Sentinel Butte, pictured here beneath the towering butte from which it gets its name. I really wanted to get up to the top of the butte, but some traffic was blocking my way:

I'm not sure where these guys were going in their covered wagons, but they weren't moving very fast and they blocked the road. So I decided to try to get to the butte again some other time.

The towns around here and their church congregations have been extremely welcoming, and I think it's going to be a good summer out here.

-Jason

After years (literally) of agonizing over it, tonight I have completed a draft of my graduate thesis! It is pretty much the only thing I have worked on for the last two weeks. Everybody else left for their summer assignments two weeks ago, but I stayed behind. I did the same thing last year, hoping to make progress on my thesis after everybody left. I ended up completely wasting that time by riding bike and watching hours of the t.v. series "Corner Gas," on DVD. Don't ask me why, but our library has all six seasons. I found that series interesting because it was set in rural Saskatchewan, not too far from home, and because it's hilarious.

But not this year. This year, I buckled down and cranked away on the thesis, thanks be to God! It's actually quite nice around here when it's quiet and I don't have to rush to ten thousand different things each day. This scenario was perfect for thesis progress.

Tomorrow morning I will pray, attend Mass, and quickly pack up my things for the summer. Tomorrow night I'll be in Wisconsin visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and my new little nephew. After that, on to North Dakota.

Adios, Saint Louis. See you in the fall.

-Jason