Deacon candidate nourished by the Word of God

Intermountain Catholic

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Honorio and Maria Moreno, shown in their Layton home, feel that their marriage has been strengthened because of Honorio's call to the diaconate. The most important part, Maria Moreno said, is telling God ?We are here to do Your will.?IC photo by Marie Mischel

LAYTON – For 15 years, Honorio Moreno felt his life was lacking. He worked two jobs, supported his family, and regularly attended Mass, but "I still felt an emptiness," he said. "I didn’t know what it was because I had my family, but I still felt empty. I felt like I was missing something in my life."

Little by little, he felt that God was calling him. He became a lector and a Eucharistic minister, but although he felt more comfortable, the hole in his life didn’t fill completely.

"We hear the Word of God every Sunday, but if we’re not open to listen, we walk out empty," he said. "That happened to me. I felt thirsty for the Word of God."

He started taking religious classes that helped answer some of his questions, but still he wasn’t content with "my family and my beautiful wife." What he was missing, he came to realize, "was God in my life."

Finally, his instructor suggested he apply for the diaconate program through the Diocese of Salt Lake City, but Moreno said he didn’t have the knowledge to become a deacon. Nevertheless, at the urging of friends and family, he filled out the application and turned it in. "I never, never expected that they would say ‘OK,’" he said.

He cried when the letter came from the diocese saying he’d been accepted.

"It wasn’t my decision, it was God’s decision," he added. "He has led me little by little through my life."

In the four years since receiving the letter, Moreno and 20 others have spent every other Saturday studying a plethora of material ranging from Church history to homiletics. In January, he and his fellow candidates will be ordained as deacons by Bishop John C. Wester.

Moreno’s extended family lives in Mexico, and his dream, he said, is for his parents to be able to obtain visas to attend his ordination so his mother can "give me to God" by placing the deacon’s stole on him at the ceremony.

Completing the diaconate program hasn’t been easy; with working two jobs and family responsibilities, sometimes he has fallen asleep while studying. But his calling made him persevere, he said. "I want to learn something that I can share with the people. There are a lot of people who are waiting for somebody, some Word. If some day I can say something that can change their life, that would be good for me, saying I’m doing something good here."

Moreno "will make a fine deacon," said Holy Cross Sister Patricia Riley, the diocese’s director of deacon candidates, pointing to Moreno’s faith, his spirit of prayer and his love for the Church. In addition, she said, he’s very generous. For example, last summer, the diocese asked for volunteers to go to the mission churches, "and he was one of the first candidates to volunteer," she said, even though he had never performed the Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest, the service done by a deacon at the mission when a priest isn’t present. Nevertheless, Moreno "very willingly went," Sister Patricia said. "He has just this wonderful spirit about him."

Moreno’s wife, Maria Moreno, said she was very happy when he decided to become a deacon because it showed that he shared her feelings for God, and she believes God has called them as a couple to make the journey through the diaconate.

In the four years of the program, Honorio has completely changed, becoming "a new husband in all ways," she said, with more patience and more sentimental.

He agrees that he has more patience for his wife, children and grandchildren, but credits his wife for helping him through. "She has supported me a lot," he said. "She’s a wonderful person to be at my side."

Although he acknowledges that his assignment as a deacon is up to God and Bishop Wester, he hopes he’ll be sent to the missions "because that is where I see the need. The people hunger for the Word of God," he said, but "I’m open and just waiting to see where the bishop decides to send us."