my own calling<\/a>, I’ve prayed that the Lord let me graciously accept if I am called and graciously accept if I am not.<\/p>\nAlthough I’m not really given to automobile metaphors, it sounds like it’s time to give Him the keys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deacon Greg Kandra, whom I’ve mentioned before, gave a great interview to America Magazine. He talks about his blog, his life, his vocation, and his thoughts on the Church. I was particularly struck by his advice for those discerning the diaconate: When I began formation, after a very brief period of discernment, just a few weeks, I essentially said to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditations","category-vocation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-meU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/we-are-all-beggars-before-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":85492,"position":0},"title":"We are all Beggars Before the Lord","author":"Thom","date":"03 April 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I was deeply moved today by a homily posted by Deacon Greg Kandra today. Several years ago, a priest from the Archdiocese of New York was visiting Rome. As he was walking into a church to pray, he noticed a beggar at the door. Something looked vaguely familiar about him.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/beggar-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":85184,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/called-to-serve\/","url_meta":{"origin":85492,"position":1},"title":"Called to Serve?","author":"Thom","date":"04 May 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When I began this blog, years ago now, I was trying to discern whether God was calling me to the Diaconate. I talked a little bit about that, and of vocation more generally, a little over a year ago in a post called The Vocation of Living. The upshot was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archbishop J. Peter Sartain"","block_context":{"text":"Archbishop J. Peter Sartain","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/archbishop-sartain\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\u201cKeeper of the Treasures\u201d by Deacon Lawrence Klimecki","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/GothicLawrenceWeb2-300x488.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108003,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons-day-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":85492,"position":2},"title":"Novena to the Holy Deacons, Day 4: Saint Benjamin the Deacon","author":"Thom","date":"05 August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"glorious Saint Benjamin, constant preacher and Martyr for the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection. Vouchsafe to recommend it to our Lord Jesus. Cease not to intercede for me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Novena to the Holy Deacons"","block_context":{"text":"Novena to the Holy Deacons","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/pray\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Benjamin the Deacon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/St-benjamin-240x340.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108017,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons-day-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":85492,"position":3},"title":"Novena to the Holy Deacons, Day 6: Saint Philip the Deacon","author":"Thom","date":"07 August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"glorious Saint Philip, tireless preacher of the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection, that they may serve faithfully in your love to all. Vouchsafe to recommend it to our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Novena to the Holy Deacons"","block_context":{"text":"Novena to the Holy Deacons","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/pray\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Philip the Deacon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/St-philip-240x427.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86165,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons-day-4-saint-benjamin-the-deacon\/","url_meta":{"origin":85492,"position":4},"title":"Novena to the Holy Deacons, Day 4: Saint Benjamin the Deacon","author":"Thom","date":"02 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"O glorious Saint Benjamin, constant preacher and Martyr for the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection. Vouchsafe to recommend it to our Lord Jesus. Cease not to intercede for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Novena to the Holy Deacons"","block_context":{"text":"Novena to the Holy Deacons","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/pray\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Benjamin the Deacon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/St-benjamin-240x340.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86171,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons-day-6-saint-philip-the-deacon\/","url_meta":{"origin":85492,"position":5},"title":"Novena to the Holy Deacons, Day 6: Saint Philip the Deacon","author":"Thom","date":"04 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"O glorious Saint Philip, tireless preacher of the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection, that they may serve faithfully in your love to all. Vouchsafe to recommend it to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Novena to the Holy Deacons"","block_context":{"text":"Novena to the Holy Deacons","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/pray\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Philip the Deacon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/St-philip-240x427.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85492"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87426,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85492\/revisions\/87426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Deacon](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Deacon-Greg-Kandra.jpg?resize=128%2C192\")
<\/a>