Brothers,
Today our wives gather on retreat, and I want to invite each of us to pause and pray for them with real gratitude.

I keep thinking about a memory from years before ordination, back in my law enforcement days. After a particularly tough shift, I sat in the driveway trying to pull myself together before walking inside. When I opened the door, she was already up. Light on. Coffee ready. No interrogation. Just presence, the quiet assurance: I’ve been praying. You’re home. You’re not alone.

At the time I thought I was the strong one. Later I learned better. Whatever courage I carried into the world had first been given to me at my own kitchen table. Men are ordained, yes. But wives make that ordination livable.

People see us at the ambo, at the font, in hospital rooms, and at gravesides. What they do not see are the prayers our wives whisper when we are overwhelmed, the flexibility when schedules change, the patience when ministry drains us, the love that steadies us.

Before the Church laid hands on us, our wives did. They said, we will walk this together. And without that yes, there is no deacon.

Jesus tells us that losing our life for His sake is how we find it. We watch our wives live that mystery every day. They give, and somehow their hearts grow larger. Grace fills ordinary moments. Sacrifice becomes love.

For our brothers whose wives are now in the Lord’s embrace; we remember them with you today. Their love continues to bear fruit in your ministry, and we remain grateful for the gift they are to this fraternity.

And for our celibate brothers, thank you for the generous offering of your lives for Christ and His Church. Your fatherhood and fraternity strengthen us more than you know.

Brothers, today is a day for the women who sustain us.

Let’s ask the Lord to refresh them, console them, and return to them a portion of the strength they pour into us. And maybe today, we make sure they come home to a light on.

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