Remembering with fondness and sadness the passing of my diaconal brother, Tom Semlak. Tom and his wife, Marge, served the Archdiocese as a deacon from the time of our ordination on September 24, 1994 to his death on December 8, 2015. Marge later died on February 1, 2018. Because Tom died on December 8 (feast of the Immaculate Conception), I usually celebrate his feast day on the day of his funeral, December 14.
Tom and Marge at a later gathering of our ordination class.
This is the prayer for a
deacon at a funeral Mass.
God of mercy, You gave us Tom to proclaim the riches of Christ through the Word of God and in service to all of God’s children, particularly to the poor, the despised, and the hopeless. By the help of his prayers may we grow in knowledge of you, be eager to do good, and learn to walk before you by living the truth of the gospel. Grant this through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and brother, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Ordination day, September 24, 1994.
As an ordination present for Tom and Marge, the day of our ordination, I composed this music for them. Think of the music as an aural prayer for Tom and for Marge.
For Tom and Marge Semlak, Psalm Offering 4 Opus 5, (c) 1994 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.
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Deacon Bob
I am a composer, performer, poet, educator, spiritual director, and permanent deacon of the Catholic Church. I just recently retired after 42 years of full-time ministry in the Catholic Church. I continue to serve in the Church part-time. I have been blessed to be united in marriage to my bride, Ruth, since 1974. I am father to four wonderful adult children, and grandfather to five equally wonderful grandchildren. In my lifetime, I have received a B.A. in Music (UST), M.A. in Pastoral Studies (St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, UST), Certified Spiritual Director. Ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in 1991. Composer, musician, author, poet, educator. The Gospels drive my political choices, hence, leading me toward a more liberal, other-centered politics rather than conservative politics. The great commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us, as well as the criteria he gives in Matthew 25 by which we are to be judged at the end of time directs my actions and thoughts.
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