Some great insight into the vocation from Denver Catholic via OSV News:
Deacons are ordained to be like Jesus Christ, the servant, said Deacon Ernie Martinez, the Archdiocese of Denver’s director of deacons.
“Christ called ordinary men … to serve in an extraordinary way. Men with jobs, men with families, men who are grandfathers, men who are celibate. Men who have discovered what God is asking them, not to abandon their lives but to offer them a deeper encounter. That … is the heart of the diaconate,” he said.
Deacon Martinez made the comments in introducing three deacons from the Archdiocese of Denver who addressed a packed breakout session during the recent SEEK26 conference.
The speakers — Deacons Luke Oestman, Raul Martinez and Derrick Johnson — shared their journeys from their call to the diaconate to their ordination to their daily living the heart of the servant.
The gathering was part of the archdiocesan Office of the Diaconate’s efforts to raise awareness of the diaconal vocation and the beginning of a new partnership with FOCUS.
“I always tell the deacons, I hope you are aware of what a wonderful reality you are for the Church,” Denver Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez said in his remarks opening the Jan. 3 session. He told those considering formation that they should have a “heart and a soul for those who need to hear Jesus’ consoling words,” especially the poor and suffering.
Deacon Oestman, who serves at St. John the Evangelist Church in Yuma and St. Andrew Parish in Wray, became a FOCUS missionary in 2009 before being ordained a deacon in 2023, the youngest deacon in the archdiocese.
Attending what was his 17th or 18th SEEK conference, Deacon Oestman told the audience he was called to a heart of service in 2000 when his youth group traveled to Rome for World Youth Day and made a side trip to see St. Francis’ tomb in Assisi, Italy. As he prayed at the tomb, he said, the Holy Spirit asked him what he wanted to do with his life, and he said, “I want double whatever this guy had. I want double the portion of what St. Francis had.”
Deacon Oestman said he learned in college that his parents only wanted two children; he was the third. He said that reality hit him.
“I wouldn’t be here on this Earth if it were up to my parents’ will,” he said. “Lord, you created me for something. … There’s no human reason that I’m here … what do you want me to do in this world?”
He said his heart for service grew, leading him to become a FOCUS missionary. He grew in faith and mission, and he entered formation in 2015.
After he began his duties two years ago, Deacon Oestman said, a young couple conceived a child after five years of prayer. At 20 weeks, he said, he learned the mother had been rushed to the hospital, and he could not get there. However, he made himself as available as possible to the family by phone, even explaining emergency baptism to the father. The child lived just 45 minutes.
“That’s what I was made for. That’s why I was called to serve them,” he said.
