Your Eminence, thank you very much for conferring ordination on these new deacons of the Prelature of Opus Dei.

Dear new deacons, relatives and friends, I want to congratulate you and join in the joy of the whole Church for this ordination to the diaconate. I thank God because he continues to send “laborers into his harvest,” in particular to this small family among God's people that is the Work.

You deacons are called to a special pastoral charity. The service proper to your ministry — administering the Eucharist, participating in liturgical ceremonies in a new way, preaching the word of God — will lead you to give yourselves joyfully to others. In this way, you will contribute to the care of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church.

As the Pope says, you deacons remind us that in the Church "no one can elevate himself above others (...) We are all called to lower ourselves because Jesus stooped to us, He made himself the servant of all” (cf. Discourse, June 19, 2011). Learning to serve people, in big and small ways, is a good preparation for the priesthood.

I thank the parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends of the ordinands. With your closeness and prayer you have been part of God's providence in making these new deacons’ response to the Lord's call possible. Do not cease to pray for them and to accompany them with your affection.

On this day we also especially remember St. Josemaría, Blessed Alvaro and Blessed Guadalupe, and we ask their intercession for all those present and for those who in one way or another accompany us. May God grant these 25 new deacons great hearts, open to the needs of all.