Called to ministry as deacon

By David Lopez
Director of Diaconate Formation

At the foundation of every individual vocation is Baptism, in whose entombing waters we die with Christ, from which we also rise with Him. In Baptism, we are conformed to Christ as prophet, priest, and king. Each of Christ's little ones is also called to something more, some particular, individual role or task. This individual vocation, followed willingly, grows naturally from the universal baptismal call. Built on that foundation of holiness, the individual vocation sustains and fulfills each one's interior need for God. The path may be more of less difficult, but the choice to follow what God asks of us liberates us to love His will; and loving His will, we need not be trapped by the paucity of our own.

The vocation to the Permanent Diaconate is only one of the distinctive forms of individual vocation. In 1967, Pope Paul VI restored to the Church the practice of ordaining men specifically to the ministry of Her the Church's diakonia ("service"). These Permanent Deacons are "strengthened by the imposition of hands, a tradition going back to the Apostles, and [are] more closely joined to the altar so that they may more effectively carry out their ministry through the sacramental grace of the diaconate" (Lumen Gentium, 29).

Permanent deacons are called by God and the Church to serve the Church, for a precise task (diakonia but not also priestly sacrifice) and in a unique way (as Christ the Head in union with the members of His Body). This unique sacramental identity of deacons is labeled in the ordination rite itself as "the herald of Christ." Filled as Christ was filled with the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming as Christ proclaimed the coming and present Kingdom of God, deacons "prepare the way of the Lord." By undertaking their sacred ministries of Word, Sacrament, and Charity, deacons issue the call to conversion: conversion of heart for those already baptized, and conversion of faith for those not yet baptized.

Good and holy deacons help sustain and fulfill all the baptized in living Christ's life of perfect holiness. They point out and lead the way for others in connecting the Eucharist to service. They assist materially and spiritually in some of the duties of priests and bishop. They seek out the poor, especially the spiritually poor, to bring to them the love of God in Jesus Christ. The Church needs all those men whom God calls to this vocation, to serve with humility and zeal as Permanent Deacons.