To Be a Surrendered Disciple
By Deacon Mike Lippman
When I was a teenager, all the vocation talks I heard from our catechism teachers seemed to tell young boys that if God was calling you, then you had to become a priest. If God didn’t call, then you get married and have kids and hopefully one of them will be a priest. Not wanting to miss God’s call, and disappoint God in any way, I enrolled in a Franciscan high school seminary. During my last year of high school seminary, one of the priest teachers, a very somber man, left the priesthood. He had coasted from Catholic grade school through to the priesthood without truly discerning his calling. (P.S. I met this ex-priest twenty-plus years later and he was an incredibly joyful husband and father of four!) I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me. So, I went to Miami University for college. There I met many faith-filled Catholic couples and learned that all people have a vocation; all are called to holiness. After much prayer, I discerned that I was called to married life. Later, in my senior year on a Newman Center retreat, I met Linda and we have been married for 42 years.
Years after college, I was actively involved in many ministries at a fairly new parish you may have heard of, St. Maximilian Kolbe. One Vocations Sunday, Fr. Bryan Rief, our parochial vicar at the time, put an extra chair next to him in the sanctuary. He preached that a parish this size should have lots of deacons and he challenged men to consider the call and for everyone to suggest to men they know to prayerfully consider the diaconate. I was approached by at least ten people that day. St. Max did not have any deacons at the time, but I had met a few who I thought were good men and good examples. I could see how busy our priests were and how deacons can help with some sacramental service as well as other ministries in parish life.
Entering the Lay Pastoral Ministry Program (LPMP) formation was a way to begin discernment. Over time through LPMP and diaconate formation, I felt more and more that I was already a deacon: one called to serve others in the church and community. Ordination would simply extend that service into sacramental areas. As a deacon, I derive great joy from sharing special sacramental moments with families: witnessing weddings, baptizing children, assisting with funerals and committals and especially assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God seems to speak in special ways to me when I am kneeling near the priest during the Eucharistic prayer.
All of us have a vocation, a calling from God. All of us are called to holiness, to be a surrendered disciple of Jesus and His Church. All of us are called to serve others either in marriage, holy orders, religious, or consecrated life. As a married permanent deacon, the vocation of marriage is first and foremost. I counsel any man who speaks to me about the diaconate that it is just as demanding on the wife as the husband. It is the couple together that apply to the diaconate.
Overall, I feel blessed to have been called by both God and the community to the diaconate. The diaconate has been quite fulfilling and brings me joy every day. While most of our priests will serve for 40 or 50 years, most permanent deacons are ordained later in life so have less time to serve. This is why I would ask the men of our parish and archdiocese to prayerfully consider if perhaps you too are also called to the vocation of permanent deacon. Feel free to ask me or any of my brother deacons about it!