“The service of the deacon is the Church’s service sacramentalized.  Your is not just one ministry among others, but it is truly meant to be, as Paul VI described it, a ‘driving force’ for the Churches diakonia.  By ordination, you are configured to Christ in his servant role.  You are also meant to be living signs of the servant-hood of his Church.”

Pope John Paul II, address to Deacons in Detroit 1987