In his remarkable book,
Sacramental Theology, German theologian Herbert Vorgrimler writes: "In his person, the deacon makes it clear that the liturgy must have consequences in the world with all its needs, and that work in the world that is done in a spirit of charity has a spiritual dimension" (pg 270). This is a brilliant sentence on the order of deacons. As a deacon, I also find it a bit intimidating, at least until I remember what Vorgrimler goes on to state, namely that "ordination asks for and effects in deacons the grace to perform this service." Indeed,
diakonia means service and to be an icon of Christ the servant can only happen by grace.
Deacon Owen Cummings has wisely observed, "the permanent diaconate cannot make sense in the church until the entire church is diaconal in its life." Building on this observation, I wrote recently for another endeavor that "[b]ringing about this transformation is the task of deacons because we are ordained not only to put our own gifts at the service of the church and the world, but also to foster the Spirit’s many gifts poured out on the people of God. Being configured to Christ in a particular way through his ordination to service, the deacon leads by example, showing how service is integral to the baptismal vocation of every Christian." As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out in his first encyclical,
Deus Caritas Est, exercising the ministry of
diakonia, or charity, "is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others" (par. 25a). Rather, it is "an indispensable expression of" the church's very being (par. 25a).
