You can always count on New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan for an engaging, even eloquent homily. And at the recent diaconate ordination, he didn’t disappoint:

As he ordained 13 new deacons for the archdiocese, Archbishop Dolan said graces will flow through their hands as they carry out their ministries of service to the Church and its people.

He said that as bishops try to be the “head” of the Church, and as priests serve as the heart, deacons are “the hands of the Church.”

“Their hands, the hands of deacons, will be holding high the Gospel…giving out sandwiches in our food pantries…bringing Holy Communion to our elders, our sick and our shut-ins…reaching through prison bars with prayer books,” the archbishop said in a homily during the ordination rite June 19 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Describing the range of ministries they’ll undertake as deacons, he said their hands will pour water on babies in baptism, will bless the wedding rings at marriage ceremonies, will be “raised in prayer over a casket or a grave,” and will fold the chairs after parish socials.

With their ordination, he said, the Holy Spirit “will fill your head, your heart and your soul, and your hands.”

Check out the rest. If anybody unearths a complete text, I’d love to post it.