Prayer life

56. The deacon shall always remain faithful to the Lord's command: “But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man” (Lk 21:36 cf. Phil 4:6-7).

Prayer, which is a personal dialogue with God, confers the strength needed to follow Christ and serve the brethren. In the light of this certainty, deacons should form themselves according to the various types of prayer: the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, as prescribed by the various Episcopal Conferences, (²⁰⁹) should inform their whole prayer life since deacons, as ministers, intercede for the entire Church. Such prayer is carried over into the lectio divina, arduous mental prayer and the spiritual retreat prescribed by particular law. (²¹⁰)

The habit of penance should also be taken to heart together with other means of sanctification which foster personal encounter with God. (²¹¹)

57. Participation in the mystery of Christ the Servant necessarily directs the deacon's heart to the Church and her most holy Mother. Christ indeed cannot be separated from the Church which is his Body. True union with Christ the Head cannot but foster true love for His body which is the Church. This love will commit the deacon to work diligently to build up the Church by faithful discharge of his ministerial duties, through fraternity and hierarchical communion with his own bishop and with the presbyterate. The deacon should be concerned for the entire Church: the universal Church, the principle and perpetually visible foundation of whose unity is the Roman Pontiff, the Successor of St Peter, (²¹²) as well as the particular Church which “adhering to its pastor and united by him in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel and the Eucharist.... in which the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is present. (²¹³)

Love for Christ and for His Church is profoundly linked to love of the Blessed Virgin Mary, handmaid of the Lord. With her unique title of Mother, she was the selfless helper of her divine Son's diaconia (cf. John 19:25-27). Love of the Mother of God, based on faith and expressed in daily recitation of the Rosary, imitation of her virtues and trust in her, are indeed signs of authentic filial devotion. (²¹⁴)

With deep veneration and affection Mary looks on every deacon. Indeed, “the creature who more than any other who has lived the full truth of vocation is Mary the Virgin Mother, and she did so in intimate communion with Christ: no one has responded with a love greater than hers to the immense love of God”. (²¹⁵) This love of the Virgin Mary, handmaid of the Lord, which is born and rooted in the word, will cause deacons to imitate her life. In this way a Marian dimension is introduced into the Church which is very close to the vocation of the deacon. (²¹⁶)

58. Regular spiritual direction is truly of the greatest assistance to deacons. Experience clearly shows how much can be gained in sincere and humble dialogue with a wise spiritual director, not only in the resolution of doubts and problems which inevitably arise throughout life, but also in employing the necessary discernment to arrive at better self-knowledge and to grow in faithful fellowship of Christ.