Seminarian Hill received ministry of acolyte

Diocese of Bismarck Seminarian Josh Hill, who is studying for the priesthood at Pontifical North American College in Rome, was among 32 men who received to the Ministry of Acolyte on March 7.

As an Acolyte, Josh is now charged with assisting at the celebration of the Eucharist, purifying the sacred vessels and when needed to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion.

The principal celebrant for the Mass was Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patron Wong, Secretary for Seminaries at the Congregation for Clergy. The ceremony took place in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at the Pontifical North American College.

In his homily, Archbishop Wong addressed those to be instituted Acolytes, urging them to “learn all matters pertaining to divine worship and seek to grasp their significance.”

The Archbishop then exhorted them to live out a “three-fold zeal” patterned on the zeal for the Father’s house that consumed Jesus in the Gospel reading of the day. The first zeal is for Jesus himself, who, as the Archbishop pointed out, “is himself the temple.”

He continued saying, we must have a “personal relationship with the temple, because the temple is a person. Therefore, we can love the temple because we have intimacy with Jesus. We should become like the temple in every way: we conform ourselves to Christ so that we talk like Him, listen like Him, love like Him.”

Addressing all those assembled, Archbishop Patron Wong summarized the priestly vocation: “All of us are called to go forth from the temple…in order that our zeal for the temple become a missionary zeal. We are pastors of everyone—the poor, the sick, the elderly, the youth…By going forth from the temple, we will once again encounter the temple in our brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ became our temple, so that we can become temples of God. A follower of Jesus Christ sanctifies the whole world.”

As part of the Rite, the Archbishop placed the paten, which contains the hosts for the celebration of Mass, in the hands of each candidate. He then said, “take this vessel with bread for the celebration of the Eucharist. Make your life worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of his Church.”

Josh, currently in his second year of formation at the North American College, has two additional years of theological studies before he will be ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Bismarck.

—Information provided by the Pontifical North American College