Jesus says that he has to return to the Father so that we can do greater works than he accomplished. How can this be? The answer is that he was getting ready to send the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit can be everywhere, with everyone. Two weeks ago in the gospel reading, two men walking to Emmaus experienced Jesus in the breaking of the bread; then Jesus disappeared. The human Jesus was limited by space and time. Perhaps he left the two men so that he could appear to others somewhere else.

While Jesus was limited to Palestine, the Holy Spirit works through all Christians so that we are can bring the Good News of Jesus throughout the entire world.

Since laity, priests, and deacons do this as a team, I want to tell you more about the service of deacons, like myself, who are ordained by bishops through the laying on of hands.

In today's first reading, the Apostles laid hands on seven men who were to serve neglected widows. Some consider these men to be the first deacons. Today the Order of Deacons is called the permanent diaconate, which comes from the Greek word diakonia, which means service -- that to which every baptized person is called.

During 60-some years, I've had various titles. The one of which I am most proud is one given to me by my family: Deacon Dad. It represents my two vocations of marriage and deacon. And the Church teaches that of these two vocations marriage comes first, because if I serve my family well, I will able to serve the Church even better.

The permanent diaconate flourished in the early Church, but died out before the end of the first millennium. Then in 1967, the Second Vatican Council reinstituted the permanent diaconate, and it quickly grew from 0 to over 13,000 men in the U.S. today.

Here in our archdiocese, our archbishop assigns a newly ordained deacon to serve in a parish after four years of formation. I was assigned to serve at both St. Monica and St. John the Baptist.

A deacon is neither a layman nor a priest -- he is a member of the clergy. He is ordained for the ministries of celebrating liturgy, proclaiming the word of God, and practicing love and social justice.

Deacons assist with the Eucharist, baptize, witness marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and preside over wakes, funerals and burials. Deacons can neither change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ nor forgive sins.

A deacon proclaims the Gospel at Mass, preaches, catechizes, teaches, counsels, gives retreats, and reaches out to alienated Catholics.

Following in the footsteps of the seven men from the first reading, a deacon seeks out the most forgotten in our world, such as prisoners and nursing home residents. This stretches our parish concerns into the larger community. The way we treat the poor tells us a great deal about ourselves and our own state of spiritual health.

A deacon's role can in no way diminish the role of lay people -- that's you -- who are called and willing to cooperate in serving the Church. On the contrary, a deacon's tasks include that of promoting and sustaining your activities to be servants.

A deacon serves the Church with no pay. Well, the pay is not of the material kind, but is spiritual in nature. As a deacon, I now receive back much more than I ever got from the salary associated with my secular jobs.

Priests, deacons, and laity, working as a team, can do greater works than Jesus did. Since the laity represents 99.8% of this team, you have the major role of bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ into every part of society where you work, play, and live.