By Kimberley Heatherington

(OSV News) — As an anticipated 50,000 Catholics descend upon Indianapolis July 17-21 for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, among them will be a multitude of permanent deacons — men whom Pope Francis has called “the guardians of service.”

Given their essential role in the life of the church, the National Eucharistic Congress will provide deacons with their own experience “tracks” — two-hour luncheon sessions designed to immerse them in the Eucharistic dimension of their ministry.

On July 18, Deacon Dominic Cerrato presents “The Eucharist as the Source of Our Life and Ministry: The Paschal Mystery and Origins of the Diaconate.” He is director of the Office of the Diaconate in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, and editor of The Deacon magazine, published by OSV, which is also the parent company of OSV News.

“I’m going to be talking about how the origins of the diaconate emerge out of the Paschal Mystery that is the passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Our Lord,” Deacon Cerrato told OSV News.

Two of Jesus Christ’s commands at the Last Supper, Deacon Cerrato said, are essential to consider: “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19) and “For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (Jn 13:15).

“You have out of the Paschal Mystery the institution of the Eucharist, but also the priesthood and the diaconate at the same time,” explained Deacon Cerrato.

“As Christ gave himself — and that gift of self is expressed not only in the passion, death and resurrection, but every time we receive the Eucharist — so we are then called to give ourselves, each according to their own way, so that Christ is made known,” he said. “Because Christ didn’t leave a single written word. But he left the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles and their successors into the fullness of truth.”

The Eucharist must “be the source of the deacon’s diaconate,” Deacon Cerrato said, “because Christ the servant is the source of the diaconate, and service is most fully realized in sacrifice — which is the cross.”

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) reestablished the permanent diaconate, and in 1968, the bishops of the United States received approval to introduce it in this country. Given that relatively short era of restoration, a theology of the diaconate is, Deacon Cerrato said, still emerging.

Nonetheless, the framework of basic diaconal spirituality is clearly recognized.

“The deacon’s primary responsibility — above everything else — is to incarnate Christ the Servant,” emphasized Deacon Cerrato, “to whom he was ontologically configured on the day of his ordination.”

On July 19, Deacon James Keating — a professor of spiritual theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology — speaks about “The Eucharist as the Source of Our Life and Ministry: The Deacon as Man of Prayer and Interiority.”

Deacon Keating said he is focusing on “the importance of deacons maturing in contemplative prayer and the securing and use of a qualified spiritual director to assist in this task.”

“In the last 50 years or so since the reintroduction of the diaconate as a permanent clerical state, the prayer life of the deacon has not been so central in many formation programs,” Deacon Keating explained. “This is changing.”

The vocation of the diaconate requires continuous spiritual development, he noted.

“Early on in the diaconate’s renewed history, formators wanted to assure the church that the men chosen for this vocation were active members of the diocese, usually committed to some lay fraternity or engaged in charitable works,” said Deacon Keating.

“With these past 50 years being a source of reflection for future formation needs, it is clear that deacons cannot simply act out of natural gifts and talents, moral virtues, or leadership skills to fulfill the liturgical and charitable duties intrinsic to the vocation,” he said.

“More and more, the men called to this vocation must be fascinated with God as their foundational love, and lead others into this love as well. Such leadership,” Deacon Keating added, “is born only in a man becoming contemplative himself.”

That task is not without its spiritual challenges.

“It takes real courage and stamina to stay with prayer for a lifetime, to simply desire conversation with God as the normal stream of dialogue within our hearts,” observed Deacon Keating.

A deep love of the Eucharist and scriptural study are anchors in the quest.

“Praying with Scripture each day before the Blessed Sacrament,” Deacon Keating said, “should be the goal of all deacons.”

The congress’s deacon track concludes July 20 with a presentation on “The Deacon as Mystic, Servant in Liturgy, and Eucharistic Bridge” by Deacon Omar Gutiérrez and Deacon Joseph Michalak.

Deacon Michalak — who served 23 years as director of diaconate formation for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and teaches at St. Paul Seminary — admitted that “people tend to ask the question, ‘What does a deacon do in liturgy?’ He always proclaims the Gospel; he’s the one who prepares the altar; he leads the congregation in the general intercessions,” he answered. “That’s what people see exteriorly.”

“But I want to come at it from the other direction,” emphasized Deacon Michalak. “I want to come at it from the interior — the mystical — dimension of the liturgy.”

That is, he admitted, sometimes difficult to visualize.

“There was a priest who once asked me — as a deacon — ‘Look, as a priest, I understand really well — it’s kind of obvious to me — how I, as priest, am ‘in persona Christi capitis,’ as the victim and the high priest, Christ the head, offering himself to the Father. That’s just the essence of the Mass. That makes sense. But how,’ the priest asked, ‘do you as a deacon, mystically experience the liturgy?'”

“That’s a really, really good question — an insightful question,” Deacon Michalak reflected. “And it can’t be just practical things that I do — as sort of a glorified altar boy, so to speak.”

Instead, he is inspired by figures from Scripture.

“I see the deacon as sort of being mystically represented in Simon of Cyrene, and in Mary and John the Apostle at the foot of the cross.”

Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross to Golgotha, while Mary and John held vigil with Christ until his death — all forms of physical and spiritual accompaniment of the Word; the exterior and the interior.

The iconography of the Eastern Church also provides a type, said Deacon Michalak. In the sacred imagery of icons, a deacon often holds a thurible in one hand, and an alms box in the other.

“In one hand, he has the censer, the thurible, for the worship. And in the other hand, he has the alms — which are precious — which represent the divine charity; the love becomes concrete, flowing from the liturgy,” Deacon Michalak said. “So in the two hands of the deacon, he’s the bridge between the worship of God and the service of the people.”