When Ellie Hidalgo served as a pastoral associate at Dolores Mission Church in East Los Angeles, the priest asked her to lead Liturgy of the Word and Communion services on Thursdays to give him a day off. “I would often use stories of people acting with courage, loving their neighbor, serving as good Samaritans and living out Gospel values,” she says, reflecting on the homiletic approach she developed over 12 years. “Storytelling builds community. It builds identity.”
Inspired by St. Phoebe—a pioneering woman deacon esteemed and commended by St. Paul to serve the early Christian community in Greece and Rome, and whose feast day is Sept. 3—Ellie joins “Preach” host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., to discuss St. Phoebe’s ministry and its impact on contemporary debates within the Catholic Church regarding women’s ordination to the diaconate, a live topic in the ongoing Synod on Synodality.
As co-director of Discerning Deacons, Ellie offers practical strategies for expanding lay preaching opportunities. She encourages clergy to invite women to preside at Liturgy of the Word and Communion services, share testimonies during homilies and participate in parish faith-sharing groups to bring diverse perspectives from the pews—especially those of women—into their homilies.
Scripture Readings for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
First reading: Wis 2:12, 17-20
Responsorial psalm: Ps 54:3-4, 5, 6, 8
Second reading: James 3:16—4:3
Gospel reading: Mk 9:30-37
You can find the full text of the readings here.
Homily for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, by Ellie Hidalgo
Last year, during several weeks of heavy, unexpected rains in East Los Angeles (and we in Miami know something about heavy rains) a mom who lived in a rental apartment had to put out several buckets to catch multiple leaks. She kept calling the landlord to make repairs, but he would not respond. One day, while her father was in the kitchen, her brother was resting on the sofa and her kids were playing, they heard a loud roar, and half of the living room ceiling caved onto the sofa. Thankfully, her brother was awakened by the roar, and he jumped out of the way as the ceiling came crashing down.
So what did this mom do?
She called her church.
She called the female pastoral assistant - crying and scared. The pastoral assistant said, “Ya voy.” / “I’ll be right over.” And as she was leaving her office, she told the pastor what had happened and he said, “I’ll go with you.” And so the two of them visited this family’s home. And they gathered this family together to say a prayer of gratitude that no one had died. And this helped to calm everyone’s nerves; to see that they were not alone and that others cared about them. And then the pastoral assistant helped to connect this mom to city resources that would pressure the landlord about his obligation to fix the roof.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is telling his disciples:
If you want to be first in something, be the first to serve!
Be the first to respond to someone in need!
And we know that our service is multiplied by the power of the Risen Christ when we act together (en conjunto), working side by side in a co-responsible way, much like this pastoral assistant and pastor did.
Soon after Jesus talks about service he uses the word “receive” four times in one sentence.
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”
Who does Jesus ask that we receive in our times?
Many of us have the desire in our hearts to be attentive and to respond to the needs in our community. We receive children, who need a lot of thoughtful love and care; the elderly also need love and patient care; immigrants who need help to reconstruct their lives and opportunities to contribute their gifts and talents; people without homes, who need a pathway to healing, work and an affordable place to live; people who live in poverty, who need access to education and jobs with fair wages and humane working conditions
And what about women? Do women need to be intentionally received?
During the month of September, parishes, schools and universities around the country and the world are celebrating St. Phoebe’s feast day. We’re commemorating St. Phoebe and St. Paul, who together (en conjunto), helped to grow the early Christian community in Greece and brought good news to Rome.
Biblical scholars consider Paul’s letter to the Romans to be his most important letter. He hoped to visit the Christian community in Rome someday, and this letter prepares the way. He entrusts his letter to Phoebe, and she makes the courageous journey crossing the Aegean Sea from Greece to Italy and then into Rome. In my prayer, I imagine her having a sister who makes a special satchel or shoulder bag in which she can carry Paul’s most important letter close to her body while on this long journey.
Who was this woman on mission to bring good news to a small, minority group of Christians in Rome that is risking suspicion for their faith in Jesus? And why are we seeking to recover St. Phoebe’s memory which has largely been lost to us in the Western Churches, although she has remained widely recognized in the Eastern Church?
In his letter, Paul encourages the Roman community to receive Phoebe as a ministerial leader. Here’s what he says:
“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deacon of the Church at Cenchreae, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the holy ones and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a benefactor to many to me as well.” (Romans 16:1-2)
Paul names Phoebe’s leadership, “diakonos” in Greek, which we translate into English as “deacon.” She is recognized by the community for her commitment to service. We know that early Christian communities gathered in people’s homes. The community in Cenchreae was likely gathering in Phoebe’s home.
Recently, I was telling a group of young adults from Cuba and the Dominican Republic, who now live in Miami, about Phoebe leading a house church in Greece. And a young adult Cuban man said: Oh, we know all about house Churches in Cuba. They’re called “casas de oración.” And it’s the mothers and the grandmothers who have a very important role to pass on the faith and gather a community to pray. A priest visits and says Mass when he is able to.
Now if we take a moment to contemplate deacon Phoebe’s arrival in Rome, she would likely have been the person to read and proclaim his letter to the Romans. After all, she knows him from his time in Corinth, and she knows his handwriting. And if the community had any questions about the meaning of the letter, it’s logical that Phoebe would be the one they would turn to—to help them interpret and understand the letter. In other words, Phoebe goes to bring Good News and to be of service to this Roman community.
This month we celebrate “diakonia,” the call God has put in our hearts to be of service; to hear the cries in our communities, to name injustice and to animate loving, compassionate, service that builds the reign of God in our times.
To do this in a co-responsible way means that we welcome the charisms, gifts, the talents that the Holy Spirit pours out on each of us for the common good.
St. Paul intentionally asks the Roman community to receive Phoebe in the Lord. He believes that it is God’s will that she be his envoy to Rome. Today we commemorate St. Paul’s enduring message to “receive her in the Lord.” And given the long human history of women being thought of as less than, St. Paul’s enduring message continues to be relevant today.
Our Church is in a time of global synod, a special time of listening. Rethinking the participation of women has been named by churches across the world as critical and urgent.
Among some of the more concrete requests from the people of God, is for the church to discern opening the door to more women in governance, formation for women to preach and even to discern the diaconate as a permanent order.
In October, hundreds of cardinals, bishops, theologians, priests, a deacon, lay men, and even 54 women voting delegates known as “las madres sinodales” (the synod mothers) are meeting in Rome for a month to discern the will of the Holy Spirit for our times. They need our prayers. I invite you to ask for St. Phoebe’s intercession as the synod members prepare to do their work.
The essential question this assembly will take up is:
How are we to be a synodal Church on mission?
Imagine what’s possible if we truly receive the giftedness which each of us has received from God, and which we celebrate through our baptism. Can our global church receive this offering of women’s diakonia as the good news it is meant to be?
This will require bravery. We will need to keep learning how to grow in co-responsibility in order to be living signs of God walking alongside God’s people in their struggles for abundant life. We will need to keep praying when times are tough and asking ourselves: Why do we serve? And why are we “diakonia” for one another?
I like to say because that’s where the joy is.
That's the secret sauce of “diakonia”—that, to be of service and to do this together, —unleashes God’s joy and our joy.
But bring an umbrella—there’s a lot of rain in God’s kingdom.
