Growing up as an altar boy, and spending the last five years as a seminarian, it has become so natural and normal for me to put on a cassock and surplice when serving Mass. Yet I recently found myself doing something that felt a bit uncomfortable and abnormal; I put on an alb and a dalmatic, the vestments of a deacon, for the first time. This surreal and almost supernatural moment struck me with some force because, God willing, I will be ordained a deacon in just over six weeks. The occasion for this moment was assisting at a “practice Mass” for a friend who will soon be ordained a priest. I felt as though I might have been dreaming, but it really was happening.