Since Vatican II, with the renewal of the Deacon’s vocation, the Roman Latin Rite has made progress in understanding this vocation. To have one of the last/latest studies on the diaconate please read this work: “From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles” (2002) (International Theological Commission). This document has the major advantage of promoting the rooting and widening of the notion of service (diakonia) in Christ himself.
In this article, I would like to contribute to the reflections of the Church on the Deacon’s vocation with some insights from a deeper and wider perspective.
To understand my background it is necessary to read about and understand “spiritual ecclesiology”. Here is an important article (followed by two others – see at the bottom of it: “The Prophetic Creed” and “The Transfiguration of the Parish”)). One can also explore Integral Theology (see here) to examine a deeper way of understanding and learning Theology. Thus these articles will show an ecclesiology addressed from a Spiritual Theology perspective, from the reality of the Spiritual Journey. One can also see how any Pastoral work is linked to the needs of the faithful, depending on where he or she is on their journey toward the fullness of Love. As a consequence, one starts to see the Church a start will be made in visualising the Church in a more dynamic way. Leaning on the spiritual journey as the essential criterium of discernment in the work of theology is key to understanding many things in the Church, like the “Second Conversion”, the “Thirst for Deeper Spiritual Life”, etc and especially what follows, i.e. the Diaconate.
In addition, reading about Catechesis and Mystagogy is important to understand the pastoral implications of these two types of needs (see Video Playlist). Having in mind the Spiritual Journey and Spiritual Growth, then, one starts to see the Parish and the ministry in a Parish in a different way: Understanding spiritual demography/topography of a Parish. In fact “to place pastoral planning under the heading of holiness is a choice filled with consequences” (Pope John Paul II, “Novo Millennio Eneunte”).
The Richness of the Diaconate
Providing one has read and assimilated the above articles and videos, one will have a better grasp of some of the unexplored aspects of the Permanent Deacon’s Call.
First, I would like to consider a certain aspect of the vocation to the Priesthood and examine thereafter what light it can shed on the Diaconate.
As we have known and experienced for centuries, the vocation to the Priesthood takes at least two forms: one is what we call the “secular” one, where the priest is destined to serve in a Parish, and the other which is the “regular” one, the monk or the religious (or other forms of consecration: Secular Institutes, New Movements in the Church) who normally has a specific vocation initially led by a consecration to the Lord with religious vows. For the first form, the secular one, the individual trains in a Seminary, then is ordained and then in most cases is directed to serve in a Parish. The vocation of the religious priest, however, follows a different pattern: he first joins a monastery, or a religious order (or institute or movement), he studies Philosophy and Theology and could be ordained – some are not ordained and remain as monks or religious. As a Priest, he will often serve in his religious Order or Institute. It becomes obvious, then, that the commitment to religious life is often a stronger and more spiritual commitment. Often it is a consecration with the three vows under a common Rule and within the life of a Community.
Priesthood one thinks is the same, while in fact it will be lived in two different ways. For a start the style of life will be different, then the external commitment will be different, the type of ministry will be different, the type of people one will be ministering to will be different. One works in a Parish or in a Mission, the other in a Monastery or a Convent. Granted priesthood is the same at its core, but it can be lived in a completely different way. Often if one asks a Parish Priest and a Monk Priest if they would exchange their lives, the answer will emphatically be in the negative. This very difference in the way priesthood is lived bears an important light for the Permanent Diaconate.
Significantly it must be pointed out that this twofold aspect of how the vocation to the priesthood can unfold shows that a stronger call to spiritual life exists. This “difference” can be better perceived in some cases where the person initially replied to God’s call in the secular priesthood, and then received a call within the call to follow the Lord in a deeper and more committed spiritual life. We might call this a call within a call, but it is also a deepening of one’s spiritual life.
In this particular case where we can observe the two calls, we can say that the vocation or call follows the spiritual journey of the candidate. But this can be also an invitation for a certain flexibility in understanding Priesthood, Ministry, and the Vocation to Priesthood in general. We might be led one day to see that the vocation to the Priesthood and the journey of a priest – any priest – is shaped, so to speak, by the form his spiritual life takes during his journey of spiritual growth. This way of seeing Priesthood has important implications, the most important one of them being to learn about spiritual growth to the point it becomes the guiding theological “measure” of understanding Priesthood and its ministry. In fact, ministry and apostolate, and their fecundity/fruitfulness depend greatly on the degree of union of the Priest to Jesus. Many recent documents of the Magisterium, significantly, point to this crucial fact. I really recommend reading the incredible analysis made by Blessed Marie Eugene of the Child Jesus OCD, where he studies and shows the relationship between growth in Love and Ministry (see here).
The case of the Priesthood is very illuminating and sheds an incredible light on the Diaconate. In my humble view, we have the same outlook and need. Consider, for example, St. Ephrem the Syrian who was a deacon. What form did his diaconate take? He was a monk, a spiritual theologian and a spiritual poet. St. Francis of Assisi was a deacon too! How did his diaconate unfold and how did he live it? What was it to be a deacon for him? What is he saying to us regarding the diaconate? What light is he shedding on it? He is a radical follower of Jesus, and his religious Rule is the Gospel. He was called by Jesus to rebuild his Church. He became the Founder of a new order in the Church. All his life he sought martyrdom – like St. Stephen and other martyred deacons – because martyrdom is the supreme proof of love for Jesus: “Greater love has no one than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). He received the stigmata of the Lord as the deepest answer to his yearning for martyrdom – the first deacon to receive them! The first man to receive them before any priest! His life is a role model for all of us because he wanted to abide by the Gospel and his rule was the Gospel. He is a great reformer of the Church. No doubt about this.
We can clearly see in these two cases, namely that of St. Ephrem and St. Francis, how the vocation to the Diaconate unfolds and how spiritual life was the main driving force, fulfilling Jesus’ Call to the fullness of Love. This does not mean that other forms of diaconate are not possible. But still, it is important to understand that to be ordained as a Permanent Deacon today does not embrace only one form of life: i.e. serving in a Parish! It would be hugely restricting the vocation of Deacon and would almost abort the renewal triggered by the Vatican II Council. It is true that for the present that this is not what the Church is saying about the Diaconate, but in the mind of many to be a Permanent Deacon means to be attached to a Parish and serve in a Parish, finding his vocation and its meaning in the Parish. This is not totally true! There are plenty of dwelling places in the Lord’s Diaconate house.
What these two great above-mentioned deacon saints show us is, that the desire for a spiritual life can in some vocations to the diaconate come first, or at least develop quite soon in the journey of discernment. It is a norm for all vocations to say that intimacy with Christ comes first. True! But one thing is to say it or to read about it and another is to have it enacted in time in a real person. A general important rule though is that “one can only give to others what one has”, that the fruitfulness of ministry comes from the degree of intimacy with the Lord. The more our own spiritual life is developed the more we can give, the better we can serve. Plus, it is important to notice that vocation wise and ministry wise, for the deacon, there is ample space and means in the Church to deepen his spiritual life.
It is worth noticing, too, regarding the regular priests (religious ones) – and it sheds a light on the deacon’s vocation – that when John of the Cross talked about the vocation of the Carmelite students (before ordination), he said: “religious and student, but religious first”. This fundamental discernment on “what is more important” and “what shapes what” in the vocation can be applied to the priesthood in religious life and can also be applied to the diaconate: in the sense that one needs to avoid ministry taking precedence over spiritual life or an imbalance might result. One needs to see how the nurturing of “spiritual life” is our first duty as Deacons. It is Jesus the Servant who shapes the Vocation of the Servant.
It cannot be emphasised enough that the fruitfulness of the Deacon’s life and ministry depends intimately on the quality and progress of his spiritual life. (Please read this masterpiece)
Prophetic Diaconate
If we follow the above reasoning and if a deacon is spiritual, i.e. if he received the Call to follow Jesus closely, as a consequence, he is called for a more extensive formation in spiritual life, a deeper practice, a different discernment and a spiritual ministry. In this sense he does not really “belong” to a Parish as we see it today, to its mission and ministry! Many may think that the obvious way then for him is to live his diaconate in one of the modern movements of the Church. In fact some do accept consecrated persons and families. But this is a special vocation with conditions that does not necessarily suit all individuals and all families. How then can a deacon be spiritual without belonging to any of the Church’s recent movements? How can he fulfil his call to a deep spiritual life while being a deacon? This is one of the most important and challenging questions the Diaconate will have to face in the coming centuries.
Read also
– Understanding the Spiritual Life (important)
– The Epiphany of the Church of the Desert (very important)