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April
9, 2007 • VOL. 45, ISSUE 7 • Oakland, CA
In
His Light
Eastertime: A reflection on the priesthood of the faithful
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
As we continue to celebrate the great mystery of Christ’s resurrection
in these first days of the Eastertime, I want to return to a theme that
I touched on in my homily for the Mass of the Sacred Chrism on the Thursday
before Palm Sunday.
The principal focus of my reflection was the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Obviously, this is a mystery which was very much in our hearts and minds
during the last days of Lent. However, the priesthood of Christ does not
only concern his Passion; Christ’s priesthood continues in his presence
in glory before the Father in heaven. The Letter to the Hebrews makes
that clear.
So it is very appropriate in these Easter days for us to return once again
to considering the priesthood of Christ.
In order to understand Christ’s priesthood, we have to be clear
about the covenants which God entered into with his people in the course
of salvation history. In all the kinds of religious experiences of the
human race, there are many forms of priesthood.
But what is specific to the priesthood in salvation history is determined
by the specific character of the covenants God established with his chosen
people.
Sacred Scripture, God’s own Word, invites us to consider that the
reality which is the closest parallel to the covenant is marriage. The
prophets make that clear, especially Hosea, and Ezekiel.
And in the New Testament we find Saint Paul speaking eloquently on this
matter in the Letter to the Ephesians. A covenant is a communion of life
which free persons enter into by mutually giving themselves to one another
and each party accepting that gift from the other.
The scriptural saying that underscores this point is that in marriage,
“two become one flesh.”
So, in the covenants of salvation history, both the Old Covenant and the
New, two become one flesh: God and his chosen people become one.
A covenant is always established by a sacrifice, and that sacrifice represents,
symbolizes, makes present the reciprocal gift of self that is involved
in the covenant.
In fact, the sacrifice shows that a covenant is not simply a legal reality--a
sort of contract, but it is a relationship of love. In the covenant, the
one who makes the offering and that which is offered are one and the same.
In the Old Covenant, this mutual gift of self was represented by the animal
sacrifices of cattle and sheep, but in the New Covenant, the sacrifice
is more than a representation. The sacrifice is the very gift of the parties
of the covenant. The sacrifice is Christ.
In this sacrifice, the Father, through his Son, gives himself to his people;
and the people, through Christ, their Head, give themselves to the Father.
So Christ is the priest. He is the one who institutes this new and everlasting
Covenant.
Of course, the moment of consummation of his priesthood is Calvary, when
his sacrifice is consummated, but his role as High Priest achieves its
perfect fulfillment in his resurrection and his ascension as he returns
in glory to the right hand of his Father.
The Letter to the Hebrews says that he stands before his Father, in the
triumph of his risen flesh as our priest; there he makes intercession
for us. He is always, for all eternity, the means by which the Father’s
love is poured out into the world and the means whereby we return our
love to the Father in thanksgiving that he has first loved us.
“Christ entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the
blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption” (Heb. 9:12).
This priesthood of Christ, which remains forever, has two ways of being
shared in. The one that perhaps first comes to mind is the priesthood
of the ordained: the priesthood shared in by bishops and priests and supported
by our deacons.
Those of us who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood are consecrated
to making sacramently present in the Church the headship of Christ, who
is our shepherd and the bridegroom of the Church.
There is also a more foundational priesthood in the Church, what is called
the priesthood of the faithful, the common priesthood, not common because
it is pedestrian, but common because it is common to us all, is shared
in by all the baptized.
This means that through our Baptism and Confirmation, all of us received
a share in the priestly work of Christ. Christ, our priest, has the ministry
of consecrating the whole world to the Father.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, set about trying to seize the world from
God’s grasp and live in it and guide it on their own terms. So when
Christ comes into the world, he heals this rupture, he carries the world
back into the Father’s embrace.
By Baptism and Confirmation, all of us have the task of being instruments
for Christ to continue this work of bringing the world back to the Father.
Our first offering to the Father is our very selves, spiritually and physically:
our hearts, our minds, our emotions, our flesh. Saint Paul says that we
must make of our very bodies a spiritual sacrifice (See Rom. 12:1).
Some people wonder why there is such a strong emphasis on and rigorous
ideal for sexual morality among Christians. It is precisely because our
bodies are not our own.
Our bodies are members of the very flesh of Christ, and so our bodies
are part of the offering he makes even now as he stands in his flesh before
his Father in glory. We express this truth every time we are one with
Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
It is not only our personal selves which we are called to offer to the
Father; we also make a gift to the Father of everything that is touched
by our hearts and minds and flesh and blood.
For most of us that means our first offering, the first sphere in which
we exercise our priestly share in the work of Christ, is our families,
because there is no sphere more intimately tied up with ourselves than
our families. Our homes--as we strive to make them places of peace, community,
love and service-- our homes are sacrifices we make to Christ.
It is not only our homes that we offer to God, our families that we make
part of our sacrifice along with Christ, our Head, to the Father. Everything
we as Christian citizens do to build up the civic community is part of
our priestly work.
As we work to guarantee the right to life from conception until natural
death, as we try to end violence in our midst, as we work to build up
the common good by building up our schools; all of these are ways to fulfill
our share in Christ’s priestly service.
In our region, in particular, as we seek to build a community that respects
people of different ethnic backgrounds, different cultures, we make a
sacrifice of our world to the Father.
As we deal with very difficult political problems, try to find solutions
to such challenges as how we will treat the stranger among us, arrive
at an immigration policy and immigration laws that do justice and respect
the dignity of the individual while preserving the good order of our country,
we are exercising the priesthood of the faithful.
All the ways of being responsible citizens are ways to be priests of the
New Covenant, making sure that our corner of the world, and every part
of the world that we touch, is carried back to the Father as an offering.
Easter, the day of Christ’s resurrection, is a great victory. Christ
rising from the dead is his triumph over sin and rebellion, hatred and
death. It is in the resurrection that the Father opens his arms to accept
the world back into his embrace. There can be no doubt for us who believe
that the world will always belong to God the Father.
As we go about our daily tasks, as we fulfill our duties and responsibilities,
we do this as extensions of Christ our priest, sharing in his victory
over evil and sin and all that divides, so that we can be his instruments
to carry the world back to God the Father as a sacrifice in which he takes
great delight.
May these days of Easter be filled with great joy and peace, not only
in your homes but in all the places you live and work.
Previous "In His Light" Columns by Bishop Allen H. Vigneron
