St. Vianney spent upwards of 12 to 13 hours a day in the confessional. I once mentioned that in a lecture in a large parish and one young man immediately raised his hand and said, “Why, what did he do?”
This is “living bread,” a nourishing word that leads one to cherish all life, to choose life and, ultimately, to relinquish one’s own life for the life of the world, believing that this is the way to life eternal.
Just as the permanent diaconate is not only for celibates, neither is it a “married ministry,” though currently most deacons are married. Rather, the permanent diaconate is a major order of ecclesial ministry open to married and to unmarried men.