Receiving the Diakonia of Jesus

I. “Go into your storeroom…”: The Primacy of the Interior Life II. “He who receives me receives him who sent me…”: The Diakonia of Jesus III. “Give me a drink”: The Marvelous Exchange

I. “Go into your storeroom…”: The Primacy of the Interior Life

DIRECTORY FOR THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PERMANENT DEACONS 46. By a special sacramental gift, Holy Order confers on the deacon a particular participation in the consecration and mission of Him who became servant of the Father for the redemption of mankind, and inserts him in a new and specific way in the mystery of Christ, of his Church and the salvation of all mankind…

DIRECTORY FOR THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PERMANENT DEACONS 47. The primary and most fundamental relationship must be with Christ, who assumed the condition of a slave for love of the Father and mankind. In virtue of ordination the deacon is truly called to act in conformity with Christ the Servant.

DIRECTORY FOR THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PERMANENT DEACONS The eternal Son of the Father “emptied himself assuming the form of a slave” (Phil 2:7) and lived this condition in obedience to the Father (John 4:34) and in humble service to the brethren (John 13:4-15). As servant of the Father in the work of salvation Christ constitutes the way, the truth and the life for every deacon in the Church.

DIRECTORY FOR THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PERMANENT DEACONS All ministerial activity is meaningful when it leads to knowing, loving and following Christ in his diaconia. Thus deacons should strive to model their lives on Christ, who redeemed mankind by his obedience to the Father, an obedience “unto death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).

Participation… consecration…conformity…obedience… insertion into the diakonia of Jesus…

to the Father Participation… consecration…conformity…obedience… insertion into the diakonia of Jesus… to the Father

Description of Deacons & Diaconal Ministry? Pope Francis October 31, 2013 Description of Deacons & Diaconal Ministry?

Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily “I express to you my gratitude for your work of support of the charitable activities of the Church in favor of the neediest.... You feel sent to the poorest, fragile, and marginalized sisters and brothers. You do this not as an exceptional or occasional ministry, but an essential one, in which the Church is identified....Become ‘God’s caress’....Continue to be a visible sign of the charity of Christ, be it in a material sense or spiritual sense....” Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily Address 31 October, 2013

What Church is looking for: Not men to do good things...but good men whose goodness is a participation in the One Who Alone Is Good... ...and can be formed and sent to mediate that Goodness. Jesus & the Rich Young Man

The Church does not need to ordain men to do good things… A participated goodness… The ordination promises…

“No one can receive anything but what is given him from heaven… “No one can receive anything but what is given him from heaven….I am not the Christ.” John 3:27

Diaconal Spirituality Listening… Receiving in obedience… Being sent… …to embody / convey the Presence of the One who serves… ”Father!”

“What we propose should be profoundly rooted in contemplation and prayer. Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of ‘doing for the sake of doing.’ We must resist this temptation by trying ‘to be’ before trying ‘to do.” In this regard we should recall how Jesus reproved Martha: "You are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful" (Lk 10:41-42). St. John Paul II Novo Millennio Ineunte At the Dawn of the New Millennium 6 Jan 2001

DIRECTORY FOR THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PERMANENT DEACONS “Primacy of the spiritual life” “The deacon, mindful that the diaconia of Christ surpasses all natural capacities, should continually commit himself…to His invitation: ‘Remain in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit unless it remain in the vine, so also with you unless you remain in me.’”

“Encounter Jesus! Daily!” St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis: “Encounter Jesus! Daily!”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta Varanasi Letter, 1993 “I worry some of you still have not really met Jesus—one to one—you and Jesus alone.”

Martha Mary

Wise Deacon

St. John Paul II Novo Millennio Ineunte “We have toiled all night and caught nothing.” Luke 5:5

“Your Father knows your needs before you ask Him.” Truth: “Your Father knows your needs before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

Direction: “But when you pray, go into your storeroom and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6

Key to Diaconal Spirituality …& Ministry Silence

St. John Paul II Novo Millennio Ineunte “Duc in Altum!” Go into the deep of Christ, “contemplate the Face”… …so as to go out into the deep of others’ deepest needs.

Pope Francis Dec 20, 2013 “Silence is really the ‘cloud’ that covers the mystery of our relationship with the Lord, our holiness & our sins. We cannot explain this mystery, but where there is no silence in our lives, the mystery is lost, it goes away. Guard the mystery with silence!”

Benedict XVI to Carthusians Oct 11, 2011 Benedict’s series on prayer, 2011-2012 March 7, April 25, 2012, et al Benedict, Deus Caritas Est n. 37 Francis July 21, 2013; June 1 & 6, 2016

“But we’re not monks!”

“Apart from me you can do nothing.”

“Where did you get your degree?” vs. “What is the source of your wisdom?”

“The principal function of the deacon is to collaborate with the bishop & the priests in the exercise of a ministry which is not of their own wisdom but of the word of God, calling all to conversion & holiness” (DMLPD, 23) Participation…consecration…conformity …insertion into the diakonia of Jesus.

“Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become…”

“Only those who first place themselves in an attitude of listening to the Word can go on to become its heralds.” Verbum Domini (2010), n. 51

Gaudium et Spes, 22 “It is only in the mystery of the Word made Flesh that the mystery of Man becomes clear.” John Singer Sargent

Silence. Go into your storeroom…where your Father who sees in secret will reward you... By illuminating the mystery of YOU. And of HIM. Receive. “Father!”

“Do whatever he tells you.”

Truth: Deus Caritas Est! The “Diaconate Charter”: Deus Caritas Est (2005), n. 18, on the reciprocity between love of God and love of neighbor.

Simon of Cyrene

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful… …the good portion…”

“Come Lord, stir us up and call us back, kindle and seize us, be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love, let us run.” Augustine Deacon Joseph Michalak Director of Institute for Diaconate Formation St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis jtmichalak@stthomas.edu 651-238-2752