Deacon's Bench

A possibly controversial assertion appears in a new book on Deacons and the Mass¹. The author states “As minister of the Word, the deacon has a special responsibility for bearing the Gospel into the assembly and proclaiming the Gospel to all. In this ministry he acts ‘in persona Christi’, since it is Christ’s own Gospel, and ultimately Christ himself who proclaims that Gospel.”² I question the applicability of this term to deacons. 

To my knowledge, the first application of the specific term “in persona Christi” to deacons in an official Church document occurs in the Code of Canon Law of 1983³ (emphasis mine):  

Canon 1008: By divine institution some among the Christian faithful are constituted sacred ministers through the sacrament of orders by means of the indelible character with which they are marked; accordingly they are consecrated and deputed to shepherd the people of God, each in accord with his own grade of orders, by fulfilling in the person of Christ the head [Latin: in persona Christi Capitis] the functions of teaching, sanctifying and governing.  

Canon 1009: 1. The orders are the episcopacy, the presbyterate, and the diaconate. 2. They are conferred by an imposition of hands and by the consecratory prayer which the liturgical books prescribe for the individual grades.  

The first edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church⁴ seems to follow Canon 1008:  

875: … No one can bestow grace on himself; it must be given and offered. This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ. From him, they receive the mission and faculty (‘the sacred power’) to act in persona Christi Capitis. The ministry in which Christ’s emissaries do and give by God’s grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a “sacrament” by the Church’s tradition. Indeed, the ministry of the Church is conferred by a special sacrament.  

However the second edition of the Catechism⁵ reads:  

875: … No one can bestow grace on himself; it must be given and offered. This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ. From him, bishops and priests receive the mission and faculty (“the sacred power”) to act in persona Christi Capitis; deacons receive the strength to serve the people of God in the diaconia of liturgy, word, and charity, in communion with the bishop and his presbyterate. The ministry in which Christ’s emissaries do and give by God’s grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a “sacrament” by the Church’s tradition. Indeed, the ministry of the Church is conferred by a special sacrament.”  

The latter expression (in the second edition of the Catechism) is more consistent with what was written by the Fathers at Vatican Council II⁶ than the former (in the first edition):  

28. … Priests, although they do not possess the highest degree of the priesthood, and although they are dependent on the bishops in the exercise of their power, nevertheless they are united with the bishops in sacerdotal dignity. By the power of the sacrament of Orders, in the image of Christ the eternal high Priest, they are consecrated to preach the Gospel and shepherd be faithful and to celebrate divine worship, so that they are true priests of the New Testament. Partakers of the function of Christ the sole Mediator, on their level of ministry, they announce the divine word to all. They exercise their sacred function especially in the eucharistic worship or the celebration of the Mass by which acting in the person of Christ…  

29. At a lower level of the hierarchy are deacons, upon whom hands are imposed “not unto the priesthood, but unto a ministry of service”.  

If we examine the sources for Vatican Council II and of the Catechism, plus the teachings of the recent popes, before and since the Council, we find that the term “in persona Christi” finds application to the priesthood only, especially in relationship to the peak moment of the Liturgy, the words of institution within the Eucharistic Prayer:  

Pius XII⁷:  

40. Only to the apostles, and thenceforth to those on whom their successors have imposed hands, is granted the power of the priesthood, in virtue of which they represent the person of Jesus Christ before their people, acting at the same time as representatives of their people before God….  

68. The august sacrifice of the altar, then, is no mere empty commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, but a true and proper act of sacrifice, whereby the High Priest by an unbloody immolation offers Himself a most acceptable victim to the Eternal Father, as He did upon the cross. “It is one and the same victim; the same person now offers it by the ministry of His priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner of offering alone being different.”  

69. The priest is the same, Jesus Christ, whose sacred Person His minister represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is made like to the High Priest and possesses the power of performing actions in virtue of Christ’s very person.  

Paul VI⁸:  

29. … acting in the person of Christ, the priest unites himself most intimately with the offering, and places on the altar his entire life, which bears the marks of the holocaust.  

John Paul II⁹:  

8. The priest offers the holy Sacrifice in persona Christi… Awareness of this reality throws a certain light on the character and significance of the priest celebrant who, by confecting the holy Sacrifice and acting “in persona Christi,” is sacramentally (and ineffably) brought into that most profound sacredness, and made part of it, spiritually linking with it in turn all those participating in the eucharistic assembly.  

Benedict XVI¹⁰:  

Celebrating the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday with the priests of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI said that priests should prepare themselves thoroughly to celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments, remembering that they act in the person of Christ. 

In light of consistent Tradition, from well before Pius XII through Vatican Council II, the definitive edition of the Catechism, and Benedict XVI, the term “in persona Christi” is intrinsically identified with the priesthood (and “in persona Christi Capitis” with the episcopacy and priesthood), not the diaconate. The Code of Canon Law, which is not a theological treatise, is an outlier in this regard. Perhaps we might anticipate a future update of the Code to more definitively articulate this understanding, with changes analogous to those made in the second edition of the Catechism.  

1. Ditewig, W. T., The Deacon at Mass, Paulist Press, 2007.
2. Ditewig, , p. 90-91.
3. Holy See, Code of Canon Law, 1983.
4. Holy See, Catechism of the Catholic Church (First Edition), 1994.
5. Holy See, Catechism of the Catholic Church (Second, “Definitive” Edition), 1997.
6. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, 1964.
7. Pius XII, Mediator Dei, Encyclical, 1947.
8. Paul VI, Sacredotal Caelibatus, Encyclical, 1967.
9. John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae, Apostolic Exhoration, 1980.
10. CWNews: Benedict XVI, “At Chrism Mass, Pope reflects on priest’s vestments” Apr. 5, 2007, http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=50344

 

My comment on an OpinionJournal piece: link.

At my wife’s urging, and based on the results of my annual checkup, it’s time to work on my weight. So, I’m trying a couple of approaches: South Beach and SlimBody Coach. We’ll see what progress can be made (as ArvadaDad).

The call to intimacy with God is also the call to healing and wholeness. For many Christians, the initial contact with Jesus, the first experience of his person, and the beginning of an intimate relationship with him comes through healing. The healing may be physical, psychological, or spiritual, but the recipient of the healing suddenly knows that he or she has been touched by the divine person. The witness of the Church in Scripture and Tradition affirms that Jesus came to bring wholeness to humanity: 

"The spirit of the LORD is upon me; therefore he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, Recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the Lord" (Lk 4:18-19, quoting from Is 61:1-2).  

And, in that wholeness, Jesus brings the individual and the whole Church into reconciliation and relationship with God the Father. Sign after sign, miracle after miracle, Jesus brought healing to the Jews and even a few gentiles. We can confidently assert, then, that Jesus wants his people healed, whole, and holy. In order to receive the healing and wholeness, we need to consider the ways in which we need healing and the ways in which we are broken. Even if we are physically well, we still need to be healed.

Why are we broken, hurtling, sick, and crippled? First, there is the existence of original sin, the sin of the first man and woman. We have responded to the sins of others in a sinful way ourselves, even before the age of reason. We allowed sin to take root in our soul even before birth, from conception on: 

"Indeed, in guilt was I born, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Ps 51:7). 

The Church recognizes that we are not responsible for sinful actions and attitudes before age seven or eight, but those attitudes have, nevertheless, taken root — perhaps this is the psychological component of original sin. Prayerful reflection often shows that we hold our parents responsible for their hurtful actions against us while we were still young children. Some argue that even the child in the womb responds to the negative emotions of the mother, particularly in the case of a surprise pregnancy, sickness, or emotional

stress. This emotional pain is often carried into adulthood, hidden deep within the recesses of the "heart". Jesus can heal these hurts and pains, unpleasant and hidden memories.

 

Parts of the adult person still behave in an infantile way, because of the unhealed hurt. How often do we overreact to some outward stimulus because it opens an unhealed wound, something we haven’t dealt with? Indeed, we often react, rather than act. Jesus can restore our abilities to act as free persons, no longer imprisoned by the pain of the past.

 

We have often inherited generational attitudes and genetic flaws, the former in subtle ways, involving prejudice, compulsions, "right manners", and ignorance. However, the "sins of the fathers" no longer need be visited on the sons and daughters; Jesus’ cross can come between and sever the link.

 

If God wants me healed, will he heal me? Can we find any instance in the Gospels in which Jesus said no to a request for healing? Only in Nazareth, his home, did he refuse to perform such miracles, so distressed was he at the lack of faith there. The witness of Scripture demonstrates that he did heal the physically, mentally, and spiritually ill; he freed the oppressed from the grip of the evil one, and restored the dead to life.

 

The Church has always recognized the power of God to heal. Miracles at Lourdes are often accepted as worthy of private belief by the faithful, and miraculous cures often attest to the sanctity of Saints. The Church believes that Jesus heals. We can believe that the prayer of faith always results in healing, even if we cannot see it. Jesus knows what we need, as his Spirit makes intercession for us,

 

What must we do in order to be healed? In order to receive God’s gift of healing it is necessary, with God’s help, to overcome attitudes which hinder healing. In fact the very achievement of these steps is healing in itself.

 

It is essential that we recognize our own responsibility for our own individual sin. As. an adult, as a Christian growing towards maturity, it is not longer acceptable to  

"talk like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways aside" (1 Cor 13:11).  

As we begin to see ourselves as we really are; sinful, broken, fragmented, we recognize the need for healing, the need for more than we can do by ourselves. For,  

"There is no just man, not even one" (Rom 3:10).  

In the struggle to live the Christian life, the individual disciple eventually encounters the truth that Paul expressed: 

"I know that no good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; the desire to do right is there but- not the power. What happens is that I do, not the good I will to do, but the evil I do not intend" (Rom 7:18-19). 

We need to recognize both responsibility and powerlessness. Like the perpetual dieter who loses twenty pounds by exercise of willpower and the pounds soon return, so it is with attempts to be a "good person" solely under our own power; failures inevitably occur. In our humanness it is almost as if we need to fail before we can accept our inability to succeed; we do not seem to be able to see the truth about ourselves before we experience it.

 

In order to be healed we need to believe that we are ‘truly "good enough" in the eyes of God and his people to be healed. Perhaps, this is for many Christians even harder to accept than responsibility and powerlessness, particularly the poor, victims of child abuse, and the physically handicapped. Yet, Jesus, particularly as recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew, repeatedly emphasized the unique value of each person: The poor in spirit possess the kingdom; the sorrowing are to be consoled; the lowly will inherit the land; the persecuted can anticipate the great reward in heaven (Mat 5:3-6;12). The individual disciple and believer is the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Mat 5:13,14). The Father promises to feed and clothe his children, to dress them in splendor (Mat 6:26-34). Perhaps the greatest affirmation is hinted at in two short parables: 

"The reign of God is like a buried treasure which a man found in a field. He hid it again, and rejoicing at his find went and sold all he had and bought that field. Or again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search for fine pearls. When he found one really valuable pearl, he went back and put up for sale all that he had and bought it" (Mat 13:44-46). 

The conventional and certainly primary interpretation of the parables is for the individual to spiritually sell all he or she has, to put aside all for the kingdom of God; the reign of God is worth leaving all behind, letting the dead bury their dead, trusting in God to provide a place for the Son of Man and his disciples to lay their heads (to cite other of Jesus’ sayings). Yet, after all, Jesus, himself gave all he had, to the point of great suffering, crucifixion, and death for…for what? Jesus gave all, sold everything for the Church, for the individual believer, for us. Are we the treasure, the pearl? Are we worth so much that Jesus died for us? The God of the universe gave his only Son for each person, for us. We are worthy of salvation and worthy of his healing. We are worthy of intimate relationship with him. God the Father gave all he had – all his creation – to humanity; then, in the fullness of time he gave his Son. The believer is worthy of being healed and worthy of intimate relationship with God – Jesus made each believer worthy. Belief in worthiness is accompanied by belief in God’s love for the individual. All of the Gospel can be read as a romance, a book of the love of God for his people. In John’s Gospel, the Gospel of the beloved disciple, verse after verse proclaims the love of Christ and the Father for the church: 

"Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).  

In order to receive God’s love we are to love him as well: 

"He who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and reveal myself to him… Anyone who loves, me will be true to lay word and my Father will love him; we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him" ( Jn 14:21,23).

 

"See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God!" (1 Jn 3:1).

 

"Love, then, consists in this; not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and has sent his Son as an offering for our sins" (1 Jn 4:10). 

In order to be healed, we must be willing to face the truth about ourselves and the truth about God. Above all, we need to recognize our need for healing, to avoid the trap of the Pharisee: 

"If you were born blind there would be no sin in that. ‘But we see,’ you say, and your sin remains" (Jn 9:41).  

Perhaps the greatest manifestation of our blindness to our own sinfulness, weakness, brokenness is our unwillingness, or worse, seeming inability to forgive. Jesus warns us bluntly of the need to forgive. The "Our Father", the Lord’s Prayer, cannot be prayed honestly unless we forgive those who wrong us.  

"If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you" (Mat 6:l4-15).  

Forgiveness does come with a price, for justice must be fulfilled. When a neighbor wrongs us, justice requires punishment. If I forgive by my own power, I am taking the

punishment on myself. This is what happened at the cross. By our sinfulness, we have wronged God and neighbor, but, above all, God.

 

Justice is the old covenant., the Law of Moses, demanded payment; "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Ex 21:24). Yet, Jesus, by going to the cross, accepted the judgment, of the Law; he, as God and man,  

"was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement, that makes us whole; by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all" (Is 53:6-7). 

In forgiving our neighbor, we take on the punishment ourselves, yet, sometimes, ‘though we know the need of forgiveness, it is more than seems humanly possible. However, the key to receiving the healing that comes by forgiving is recognition that by his sacrifice, Jesus gives each believer the power to forgive. After all, the sin of the neighbor against us is also a sin against God, and Jesus accepted all our offenses and our neighbor’s offense, Jesus takes, on our neighbor’s chastisement just as he takes on our own. So, when we forgive, in the name of Jesus, he bears the brunt of the judgment, not we: "By his stripes we were healed."

 

Summoning all the strength we have, we choose to forgive. We tell Jesus of our choice. Then we ask for his strength, his power to forgive; we allow ourselves to relive the pain, knowing that Jesus is there with us. Sometimes, for the deep hurt, the presence of Jesus, in our brothers and sisters in the faith is necessary – their love, Jesus’s love, through them, giving the strength to forgive.

 

Truly, one of the great gifts of the Spirit is the power to forgive another’s transgressions. This is part of the truth that sets us free. For when we fail to forgive, the sin against us remains and takes root. Bitterness grows, perhaps unconsciously, and imprisons us in our own sinfulness. The offender, by his or her hurtfulness and by our own unforgiveness, has us in his or her power, yet he or she may not even know it! We are not free; our bitterness entraps us into a slavery to unforgiveness, becoming sin. Indeed, 

"What a wretched man I am! Who can free me from this body under the power of death?" (Rom 7:24-25).  

Unforgiveness is death; it is slavery; it imprisons mind and body; it is the root of so much disease. When the believer forgives, in the name of Jesus, no person has power over his or her spirit. The forgiving and forgiven Christian is free.

 

In the need for forgiveness, one needs not only to include family and neighbor, one also needs to include self. Paul writes, 

"Husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself" (Eph 5:28).  

We are called to love ourselves, because God loves us – he created us, and he loves us in spite of all our sin, our weakness, our brokenness. And, the more we learn about ourselves, we may even discover that we need to forgive God, himself. Not for what he did, for we do believe in his omnipotence, that indeed  

"God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his decree" (Rom. 8:28), 

but for those things our childish self "thinks" he has done. Our sinfulness and ignorance can lead us to holding God responsible for our hurt, our pain, the life we live. As a

step towards taking responsibility for our own lives, we need to forgive God and ask his forgiveness as well.

 

For the Christian, unforgiveness is in itself sinful. So, in addition to forgiving "those who have hurt- us, we need to also ask God’s forgiveness for our own bitterness. In a superficial examination of the Gospels, we might conclude that Jesus healed only those who had an obvious need for healing. Yet, the experience of Christians, growing in mature love of God, commonly produces recognition of whole areas of their lives which have been scarred by hurts, particularly hurts of the heart. The encounter of the person with unloving attitudes hurts, at any age, not just in childhood. The pain in childhood, however, is probably all the more shattering, since the child lacks the power to defend or forgive. And the hurt child remains within the mature adult, waiting for the healing love for which he or she was left wanting. This need for healing manifests itself in so many ways; often it becomes more obvious the closer one draws to God. That which was in darkness is revealed in the light.

 

In what ways does the need for healing manifest itself? Many physical illnesses may be rooted in childhood hurts. Many others, though, may lack any connection between personal hurts and sinfulness, as with the man born blind: 

"It was no sin, either of this man or of his parents" (Jn 9:1). 

Psychological problems may in many cases be rooted in childhood hurts and in sinful attitudes. Other psychological problems may still be of genetic or physical origin.

Sinful patterns and attitudes are often rooted in brokenness and unforgiveness. The importance of the relationship of parent to child is difficult to underestimate. Inadequate love for a child can later lead to overeating, promiscuity, alcoholism, excessive pursuit of worldly success, and so on.

 

Haunting memories of unpleasant events in one’s past indicate a need for healing. Even for the person with a "relatively happy" childhood, the pain of adolescence, in particular, often leaves many unhealed wounds. The inability to forgive, particularly one kind of hurt, usually is rooted in a deeper unpleasant memory. Often our seemingly "good" behavior is rooted in sinful compulsions. We act in a particular way out of fear, out of what others might think; we do not act out of love. Just because we appear "virtuous" in the eyes of the world does not mean a virtuous soul is present.

 

Undesirable, unhealthy habits often mask a need for healing. Overeating and smoking are obvious examples. Awareness of the need for healing and the need itself are two different things. So often, in our lives we identify something about ourselves or others we do not like. We want that something to change, as it causes us pain. We desire some form of healing. As we get closer and closer to God, responding to his call to intimacy, however, we become uncomfortably aware that our need for healing may be very different from what we originally thought. We become more aware of the truth about ourselves; we still see indistinctly, like a First Century mirror (1 Cor 13:12), but the mirror has been polished somewhat. What needs to be changed in us may be not so much an overweight body as it is the lack of trust in God which translates itself into gluttony, showing forth itself in rotund revelation. We need to go on a diet, yes, but what kind of diet?

 

How much of our misery is attributable to others? To what extent is that man, this woman, that employer, this parish, responsible for our pain? We are not appreciated, loved, or nourished by our community; a pox on them all! Lord, heal THEM, change THEM, get rid of THEM!

 

In order for change to occur, in order for us to overcome our pain and anxiety, we must acknowledge that we have lost the way. We must be willing to come face to face with the truth. We need to admit that our lives have not truly been the lives we were created to live. Before we can expect to be healed, we must acknowledge Jesus, for he is the way, the truth, and the life.

 

Heal us, Lord Jesus, for we acknowledge your Lordship. We want you to be Lord of our lives. We acknowledge that you are one with the Father, the creator of all. We believe that by your passion and your death on the cross you took our place, that you paid the total price for our disobedience, our sinfulness, our disregard for the laws of creation, our lack of love for you, the Father, and our brothers and sisters. By your glorious resurrection, we believe you also raised us up to new life, eternal life, intimate life, with you and the Father. Hear us, Lord Jesus; heal us, Lord

 

Jesus, Send anew your Spirit, upon us, enliven the Spirit within us which we received at. Baptism and Confirmation. Thank you, Jesus, for the opportunity to call upon you, and use your name. Amen, Alleluia.

 

The commitment to Jesus, God and man, opens the door to healing and intimate relationship, for commitment involves trust, in him, that, in responding to his call, we can let, go of the pain, the unforgiveness, the shame, the bitterness within – anything blocking the flow of his Spirit. In prayer, through meditation on Scripture, we come into his presence, to hear his word. In the sacraments, he nourishes and heals us, bringing us ever more deeply into his mystical body, the Church. We can trust him and be honest with him.

 

In his body we can find other Christians, brothers and sisters with whom we can find trust and honesty. We can find people who will love us just the way we are, who allow him to love us through them. For they, too, acknowledge their sinfulness; they know where we are and where we, are coming from. We can hear their witness, share their sorrows, rejoice in their healings, and their triumphs. We can be healed in just listening to them; healing is contagious. We can make the healing real; it can be claimed, in spite of doubts. The power of the Spirit will not only heal, it will give us the power to claim the healing. The power of forgiveness will flow; we may not be able to forgive, but the Jesus within us will give us the power to forgive.

 

We make the healing real. We write about it, draw it, proclaim it. Let the crutches of our inferiority, the braces of our bitterness hang over the mantle, signs of lack of dependence on human power and symbols of the love we experience in Jesus.

 

We seal the new gift of healing with the sacraments. We celebrate forgiveness by confessing our sinfulness and brokenness; we glory in thanksgiving to our God, in union with all his people in Eucharist. We claim our freedom as royalty, as sons and daughters of the Father, as a sisters and brothers of the King; the fruit of the promises made at baptism. We validate the commitment made at confirmation.

 

We are healed people, becoming more healed every day. We are whole people, becoming more whole with each passing hour. We are holy people, set apart by God, called even before we were born, to be unique, one out of many, child of God, made in his image and likeness, called to intimate relationship with him.

 

CHAPTER 15

 

Introduction