ABOVE: After the Prayer of Consecration by the Bishop, my wife approaches, receives a stole and a dalmatic from the Bishop, and puts them on me. This is, of course, a practice peculiar to the ordination of married deacons.

ABOVE: The Bishop hands me the Book of the Gospels, saying, "Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are: believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practise what you teach."

ABOVE: The kiss of peace from the Bishop, who is the first to greet me in this manner immediately following the Rite of Ordination.

ABOVE: The kiss of peace from several other brother Deacons (they are Transitional Deacons, not Permanent Deacons). In the picture above is Deacon Lionel Thomas.

ABOVE: I take my seat at the altar on the right hand of the Bishop.

ABOVE: My parents bringing the offertory gifts to be prepared for the Eucharistic sacrifice.

ABOVE: Fr Paul Wong, Master of Ceremony, with the altar servers lined up behind him. As you can see, this MC has style!

ABOVE: Being now an ordinary minister of the Holy Communion, I give the Body of Christ to my parents.

ABOVE: I am delivering my thanksgiving speech. It was an emotional moment as I recollected my journey into the Catholic Church. Okay, maybe I'm just a crybaby. But last I checked, I was quite a stoic man.

ABOVE: The Bishop delivers a 10-second speech.

ABOVE: A short birthday celebration for me, as this ordination fell on the exact day of my 34th anniversary.

ABOVE: The Bishop and my family. From left, Phow Loong (my brother-in-law), Sheree (my sister), Emmy (my wife), myself, Bishop Paul Tan SJ, Eugene (my father), Angela (my mother), Christopher (my nephew) and Christina (my niece).

ABOVE: The Bishop and me, his new Deacon.

The concludes the series of pictures from my recent ordination I've wanted to post up on this blog. I wish to record my deep gratitude to all who were present at this occasion and to those who had assisted in the animation of this liturgy. This has been one of the most meaningful moments of my life.