Well, just days after I took him to task for not having information about deacons on his website, the fellow behind this blog has posted something lovely on this particular vocation.

Here’s part of what he posted: a letter from The Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, on the August 10 feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr:

Dear Permanent Deacons, It is indeed a great joy for me to be able to turn my thoughts to you on the feast of St Lawrence deacon and martyr, in this my first year as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

You have always occupied a privileged place in my heart. I admire you and wish to say that I see a precious grace of the Lord to His people in the restoration of Permanent Diaconate following Vatican Council II. This ordained ministry has great potential value and is highly topical in the context of the mission of the Church.I thank God for the calling you have received and for your generous response. For the majority of you, who are married, this response has also been made possible by the love, support and cooperation of your wives and children.

Concerning deacons, Vatican Council II stated that ‘sustained by the sacramental grace in the ministry of the liturgy, preaching and charity, they are at the service of the people of God’ (LG 29). Your ministry is ‘ministry of the Church in the local Christian community, sign and sacrament of Christ the Lord Himself, who did not come to be served but to serve’ (Paul Ad Pascendum, Introduction). Quite rightly Ignatius of Antioch says that deacons are ‘ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ…ministers of the Church of God’ (S. Ignatii Antiocheni, Ad Trallianos, II,3).

Vatican Council II also explains that the sacramental grace conferred through the imposition of hands enables you to exercise your service of the word, of the altar and charity with special effectiveness (cf. Ad Gentes, 16).Therefore you have been ordained for the service of the Word of God. This means that all that concerns the preaching of the Gospel, catechesis, spreading of the Bible and explanation to the people is ordinarily entrusted to you, though naturally under the authority of your Bishop. Nowadays the Church calls all Her members, especially ordained ministers, to missionary activity, i.e. to rise and move in an organic way firstly towards our baptised who have drifted away from the practice of their Catholic faith, but also towards those who know little or nothing of Jesus Christ and His message, in order to proclaim the Christian message, the kerygma, for the first time and through this to take them to a real and concrete encounter with the Lord. In this encounter faith is renewed and personal acceptance of Jesus Christ and His message is strengthened. This is the foundation of true faith and faithful witness in the world. We can no longer limit ourselves to waiting for our baptised in our churches. We need to find them where they live and work, through a permanent missionary activity, with special attention towards the poor in the suburbs of our cities.

This ministry of the Word requires that you, dear Deacons, develop a constant closeness with the Holy Scriptures, and in particular with the Gospels. May listening, meditating, studying and practising the Word of God become your everyday tasks. In this way you will become more disciples of the Lord and you will feel called and enlightened by the Holy Spirit for your mission…

Amen, and thank you, Cardinal. And thank you, too, to this lady in the veil, for bringing this to my attention.

Image: Alabaster icon of St. Lawrence being martyred, from Nottingham, England, 15th century