The deacon as ‘Suffering Servant’

Father Dwight Longenecker recently offered a reflection on the “cosmic mystery” of the chalice — and brought up this point about deacons:

The next mystery of the chalice is the mystery of ordination. Here Christ offers the way of the Warrior Priest and the Way of the Suffering Servant. Both are bundled into this one passage where Christ speaks of being priest and victim, but links this directly with being the suffering servant.

By the way, this is the profound reason why women may not only not become priests, but also may not become deacons. It is because the deacon is not simply a servant to the church. The deacon is an icon of the Suffering Servant–who is Christ. This is why, in God’s providence, the first martyr was also a deacon–Stephen’s martyrdom was the sacramental identification of his diaconal service and ordained status as being one with Christ.

The priest is in persona christi as Great High Priest. The Deacon is in persona Christi as the Suffering Servant. Now this is an interesting thing to observe when it comes to the hot button issue of women’s ordination to the diaconate. Some will say that a woman can serve as a deacon and do all the things a deacon can do. Maybe in a practical sense this is true, but when it comes to the iconic imagery of the Mass it is not so.

The deacon is also in persona Christi as not just the servant–but the Suffering Servant. Note how, in this gospel, the role of the servant is inextricably linked with the suffering and passion of Christ.

For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.

So then, the deacon’s servant role is not simply that of practical service to the church, but that practical service to the church fulfills an iconic function which is fused from, and is derived from, the passion of the Christ.

He has much more to say. Read it all.