I served as a deacon in La Purisima Mission in El Modena, California. We had a farewell party in the parish as I was returning to the seminary to prepare for priestly ordination. I thanked the people for accompanying me on my vocational journey. It takes many hands to make a priest, I said. The bishop’s hand are only the last ones. (The pastor added that beside the hands he also supplied — much needed — a big foot.) St. Paul reminds Timothy that he commissioned him in ministry by the laying on of hands. But my suspicion is the hands of Timothy’s grandmother, Lois, and mother, Eunice, were just as important in the apostolic vocation of Timothy. Let us use our hands to bless this day.
