The Relations of Holy Order

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. Hence the spiritual life of the deacon should deepen this threefold relationship by developing a community spirituality which bears witness to that communion essential to the nature of the Church.

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. (¹⁸⁷) In virtue of ordination the deacon is truly called to act in conformity with Christ the Servant.

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.

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).

48. Indissolubly associated with this fundamental relationship with Christ is the Church (¹⁸⁸) which Christ loves, purifies, nourishes and cares for (cf. Eph 5, 25:29). The deacon cannot live his configuration to Christ faithfully without sharing His love for the Church “for which he cannot but have a deep attachment because of her mission and her divine institution”. (¹⁸⁹)

The Rite of Ordination illustrates the connection which comes about between the bishop and the deacon: the bishop alone imposes hands on the candidate and invokes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on him. Every deacon, therefore, finds the point of reference for his own ministry in hierarchical communion with the bishop. (¹⁹⁰)

Diaconal ordination also underlines another ecclesial aspect: it communicates a ministerial sharing in Christ's diaconia with which God's people, governed by the Successor of Peter and those Bishops in communion with him, and in co-operation with the presbyterate, continues to serve the work of redemption. Deacons, therefore, are called to nourish themselves and their ministry with an ardent love for the Church, and a sincere desire for communion with the Holy Father, their own bishops and the priests of their dioceses.

49. It must not be forgotten that the object of Christ's diaconia is mankind. (¹⁹¹) Every human being carries the traces of sin but is called to communion with God. “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that all who believe in Him might not die but have eternal life” (John 3:16). It was for this plan of love, that Christ became a slave and took human flesh. The Church continues to be the sign and instrument of that diaconia in history.

In virtue of the Sacrament of Orders deacons are at the service of their brothers and sisters needing of salvation. As mankind can see the fullness of the Father's love by which they are saved in the words and deeds of Christ the Servant, so too this same charity must be apparent in the life of the deacon. Growth in imitation of Christ's love for mankind — which surpasses all ideologies — is thus an essential component of the spiritual life of every deacon.

A “natural inclination of service to the sacred hierarchy and to the Christian community” (¹⁹²) is required of those who seek admission to the diaconate. This should not be understood “in the sense of a simple spontaneity of natural disposition...it is rather an inclination of nature inspired by grace, with a spirit of service that conforms human behaviour to Christ's. The sacrament of the diaconate develops this inclination: it makes the subject to share more closely in Christ's spirit of service and imbues the will with a special grace so that in all his actions he will be motivated by a new inclination to serve his brothers and sisters”. (¹⁹³)