APRIL 22, 2026 DEACON MIKE WALSH
I really get started to express my gratitude to everyone here in the Daily
TV Mass community.
We’ve been praying all week as a community for vocations, and I want
to thank you, the 100, 150,000 people that join each day, and in a special
way, thank those who took time to send us prayer intentions for those
that are discerning or living their vocation.
Our gospel today really is a tremendous reminder that at the centre of
everything we do is Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life, who really is
the one who came and showed us that this is the way.
When we talk about vocations, it really is about discerning the way in
which we want to be with Christ doing His work here on Earth.
And so, I’ve been asked to talk about two things. One is marriage and
the other is the diaconate, the permanent diaconate.
As I was reflecting on this, it occurred to me how amazing it is that, and
really, what a miracle it is to find someone to share your life with. Out of
the billions of people that are on Earth and circumstances, how come
this one person came into your life in a certain way.
I was thinking about that because I’ve dealt a lot with young people as
they’re preparing for marriage and those kinds of things, and I love to
hear their stories.
My own story is a little bit like that.
I met my wife really because I decided at one point to coach my
brother’s hockey team, and she was always there at the arena, whether it
was a practice or a game. And I thought, “Here’s one. She’s beautiful
and she loves hockey. How perfect could this be?”
So, I got the courage to ask her out on a date, and she said, “Yes.” That
date took place about 53 years ago, and we’re still together.
Now, during that period of time, I learned that she actually hates hockey,
but that’s okay, right?
We’re about to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, and it occurs to
me, and again, when I talk to young people, that many weddings take
place during what I heard once called a period of temporary insanity.
And that temporary insanity is romantic love, right? Where you think
everything is going to be perfect.
But when I would talk to these young people, I would say at the end of
our time together, I said, “I can guarantee you one thing. That your
marriage will be trouble-free.” And this big smile would come on their
face. And I would say, “Yeah, the trouble will be at no additional charge.
It will just come, right?”
Because life is full of these challenges. We were married very young. We
moved 2,000 miles away. We were all by ourselves. Marriage was a big
change, but it was nothing compared to that day we brought my son
home from the hospital. Just the two of us.
We put him down on the bed and we looked at him, and we said, “What
are we gonna do now?” Right?
It’s almost like you had to grow up in a very moment.
But it was the birth of my son when we decided to actually have him
baptized, which is why when I do baptism, I see these young people
come with this little child. This is a moment to get reconnected with
your faith, and that’s what happened with us.
So, our son was baptized, we finally moved back home, and at that
moment, we really started to reengage with the great gift our parents had
given us, which is our faith.
It was then that I really came to realize why marriage is a sacrament.
You see, it’s much more than just a commitment. It’s this idea that
you’re gonna put Jesus Christ in the centre of your life together.
If you can do that, it’s going to help when these troubles come.
And so, the young couples, what I give them at the end, I said, “If you
really want to be here 50 years from now,” say it’s their wedding, I was
doing their wedding, “here’s a card, and all you have to do, and I’ll
guarantee you, if you’re still living, right, both of you, 50 years from
now, you can be here celebrating your 50th wedding anniversary.”
And on that card was just 2 Corinthians, and many of them had selected
this as their reading anyway.
I said, “This is really what love is.” Right? St. Paul tells us this.
If you just read this every day, put it in your wallet, in your purse, up on
your mirror, read it and live it every day, 50 years from now you’ll still
be together.
Because it says that love is always patient, but what it doesn’t say, but
what it implies, what St. Paul implies, even when the other person
deserves no patience.
Love is kind even when the other person is not particularly kind to you.
And key, love is not jealous or boastful. Why? Because this kind of love
is based on trust.
It’s not arrogant or rude, and it does not insist on its own way. Why?
Because it’s centred on the other person, not on you. And it bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
So, live that.
Then your marriage will actually have Christ at the centre. And then so
we, our journey continued.
We got involved with Marriage Encounter, then the RCIA, and out of the
RCIA, I decided, and with my wife’s help, to look at the diaconate.
And the diaconate, you see, the permanent diaconate, if the man is
married, is never an individual calling. It’s a true partnership between
the husband and the wife.
And on Sunday, we had the story of the Road to Emmaus. It’s my
favourite story, actually. In our the mass, you will see the icon that
comes up that’s actually a depiction of the Road to Emmaus story, the
breaking of the bread. Because you see the two disciples walking with
Christ in the centre. And that is how you actually move forward, and
that’s what the diaconate was about for us.
It was the two of us.
Because it’s a sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice just like we see in the first reading
that we’ve been hearing this week about St. Stephen, the Acts of the
Apostles, that he then dedicated his life to the service to the poor in the
community, and he ultimately paid with his life.
And then, after four years of formation, an unexpected twist as the Holy
Spirit led me to go and meet with Reverend Harry, who was the
community chaplain for Corrections Canada.
And I didn’t think this is what I wanted to do, but then I spent 20 years,
my wife and I, in ministry with ex-convicts trying to reestablish their
lives, and with this big group of volunteers that we became very blessed
to be involved with.
And so, it’s just an openness, because you see, vocations are not always
predictable, are they?
They unfold step by step if we are open to listening to the voice of God
in our lives.
Whether it’s marriage, the permanent diaconate, or any of the other
callings that we have been exploring this week, it’s all about walking
together with Christ. You see, at the end of every mass when the deacon
is present, when I am here, he has this privilege of proclaiming the
dismissal.
One of the options is, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”
It’s the only one I’ve ever used. Every homily that I gave actually has, as
its ending, this particular line in one way or another.
Because you see, the reality of the vocation of every Christian, isn’t it to
leave this place right here where we have celebrated and been fed by the
Eucharist, to go back to our families, our work, our communities,
serving others.
That’s how we glorify the Lord by the way we live. And sometimes, if it
is God’s will, we do this journey together with a partner.
God bless.
