Brothers,

As we prepare to gather for Deacon Day, this Sunday's Gospel and one of my favorite psalms have been on my heart together.

"O God, you are my God, for you I long... My body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water." (Psalm 63)

Those words seem especially fitting this summer in Colorado. We have all seen the signs of drought: dry fields, shrinking reservoirs, riverbeds running low, and forests longing for rain, and yes, our lawns dry and dying. It doesn't take much imagination to understand what David meant when he compared his soul to thirsty ground.

The same can happen spiritually.

We can become so busy serving others that we forget to let the Lord replenish us. Ministry, family, work, aging parents, health concerns, parish life, none of these are burdens we regret carrying, but together they can quietly drain us. Before we know it, we're running on commitment more than communion.

That is what strikes me about this Gospel. Before Jesus calmed the storm, He had first gone up the mountain to pray. His relationship with the Father preceded everything else. Peter, too, did well while his eyes remained fixed on Christ. Only when his attention shifted to the wind did he begin to sink.

Perhaps the drought around us is a gentle reminder. Reservoirs don't fill themselves. Neither do deacons.

Psalm 63 reminds us that the deepest thirst in our lives isn't for success in ministry or even calmer waters, it is for God Himself. When that thirst is met, everything else begins to find its proper place. Our vocation isn't about balancing competing priorities, but integrating every part of our lives around Christ, the One who alone satisfies the thirsty heart.

As we gather with Archbishop Golka, priests, and your wives on Deacon Day; fittingly on the Optional Memorial of St. Euplius of Catania, the deacon who faithfully proclaimed the Gospel to his martyrdom, I pray we simply take time to drink deeply again. May our fraternity renew us, our prayer sustain us, and our eyes remain fixed on the One who still says, "Take courage... it is I."

The Blue River through Breckenridge, CO.
(on Friday, 7 August, 2026)

In Christ the Servant + Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Receive + Believe + Teach + Practice