July 17, 2006
Understanding the Priesthood
To many in the world today the idea of the Catholic priesthood is foreign. Many mistakenly believe that the priesthood is some elite society within the Catholic Church that rules the Church in a tyrannical way or for personal gain. Yet this is farther from the truth than most realize. Sure, we all have witnessed scandalous behavior by priests. Certainly there are some who use their priesthood to obtain comfort and a life of prestige. Absolutely there are priests who preach and teach things contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Yet these are the exception not the rule. It is important for us to remember that priests are men and being men are just as susceptible to sin as we are; even Jesus Christ had Judas. Yet the true priest is another Christ to the world. He lays down his life out of love for God and for his fellow brothers and sisters. In this article I would like to contemplate the priesthood in both the Old and New Covenants. What purpose does it serve? Why even have "priesthood" to begin with?
The priesthood from the beginning has been shrouded in mystery. In Genesis 14:18-19 we read:
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
Prior to this passage we find no reference to Melchizedek or to a priesthood of God Most High. Yet clearly it was preexistent to Abraham and, in a certain sense, greater than Abraham for Melchizedek blesses him and in return is given a tenth of everything Abraham owns. The Navarre Bible commentary has this to say about Melchizedek and his priesthood:
Melchizedek is regarded as having a priesthood earlier and greater than that of Aaron; cf. when the King Messiah is praised: “You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). In the New Testament, the mysterious priestly figure of Melchizedek is portrayed as a type of the priesthood of Christ, for Christ is truly the eternal priest even though he (like Melchizedek) does not belong to the priesthood of Aaron. “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever” (Heb 7:1-3).In the light of all this, Christian liturgy has seen a prefiguring of the Eucharist in the bread and wine offered by Melchizedek (cf. Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer I); tradition sees him as a figure of priests of the New Law.
- The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch, Texts and Commentaries, p. 94.
Yet while the priesthood of Melchizedek was earlier and greater than that of Aaron, Aaron’s priesthood was necessitated by God and, like the priesthood of Melchizedek, a prefiguring of the priesthood of the New Covenant (cf. CCC, 1541). This understanding of the priesthood of the Old Covenant is brilliantly laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1539 The chosen people was constituted by God as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."6 But within the people of Israel, God chose one of the twelve tribes, that of Levi, and set it apart for liturgical service; God himself is its inheritance.7 A special rite consecrated the beginnings of the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The priests are "appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."8
1540 Instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifices and prayer,9 this priesthood nevertheless remains powerless to bring about salvation, needing to repeat its sacrifices ceaselessly and being unable to achieve a definitive sanctification, which only the sacrifice of Christ would accomplish.10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 Heb 5:1; cf. Ex 29:1-30; Lev 8.
9 Cf. Mal 2:7-9.
10 Cf. Heb 5:3; 7:27; 101-4.
The blood sacrifices, as well as all the priestly actions of the Levite priesthood were, as the Catechism states, “powerless to bring about salvation” but the perfect Sacrifice of Jesus Christ did. So the question is did the priesthood become unnecessary once Jesus had offered Himself, “once and for all”? First we must consider Psalms 110:4:
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”
So "the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind" that Christ is a "priest for ever". Yet Christ's priesthood belongs to an order and that order is of Melchizedek. As "the" priest of this order, Jesus understood that the sign, or, better yet, the offering of Melchizedek is likewise eternal. What was the offering of this eternal priesthood? Bread and wine (cf Gen 14:18).
Yet Christ also understood that the sacrifice was necessary. The sacrifice promised by Abraham to Isaac when he said:
“God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Gen 22:8
Later it was made manifest to the Chosen People through Moses and Aaron in the Passover. And it at this point in salvation history that we find what we are to do with the sacrifice in order to be freed from bondage.
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover…In one house shall it be eaten… Exodus 12:43,46
Thus the Old Covenant priesthood of Aaron served the Chosen People through the offering of the sacrifice of the lamb. We know that Christ is the perfect sacrifice. He is the Lamb that God Himself provides. We also know that He is a priest for ever. Therefore both His priesthood and His sacrifice take on eternal nature, i.e. they will last for ever.
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain…And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb…and they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.” Rev 5:6, 8-10
In heaven the Lamb, for eternity, maintains His sacrificial identity. We must ask then, does Christ, as both Sacrifice and Priest, mandate the partaking in His sacrifice? Yes. First, He makes of us a “priestly” people to our God. So we, in some fashion, must share in His perfect Sacrifice. Secondly, He, as High Priest, continues to make the offering of Melchizedek. How does He do this?
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Jn 6:51
This is the offering that, like the offering of the priests of Aaron, free us from bondage and strengthens us for on our journey to the Promised Land. Yet the carrying out of this offering was not given to all. The act of offering was specifically given to the Apostles (Mt 26:26:29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:17-19). The Early Church fathers understood the need for this continual sacrifice, St. Augustine wrote:
Open your eyes at last, then, any time, and see, from the rising of the sun to its setting, the Sacrifice of Christians is offered, not in one place only, as was established with you Jews, but everywhere; and not to just any god at all, but to Him who foretold it, the God of Israel…Not in one place, as was prescribed for you in the earthly Jerusalem, but in every place, even in Jerusalem herself. Not according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchizedek. - Sermon Against the Jews, 9,13
It is this Sacrifice, this offering that, above all else, necessitates the priesthood of the New Covenant. The priest of the New Covenant doesn’t repeatedly sacrifice Christ, rather as demonstrated by the book of Revelation, it makes present Christ’s eternal sacrifice.
Yet are we not all called to be priests of God? Yes, but there are two distinct aspects of the New Covenant priesthood:
1546 Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom, priests for his God and Father."20 The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's mission as priest, prophet, and king. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are "consecrated to be . . . a holy priesthood."211547 The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of all the faithful participate, "each in its own proper way, in the one priesthood of Christ." While being "ordered one to another," they differ essentially.22 In what sense? While the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace --a life of faith, hope, and charity, a life according to the Spirit--, the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Rev 1:6; cf. Rev 5:9-10; 1 Pet 2:5,9.
21 LG 10 § 1.
22 LG 10 § 2.
The sacramental aspect of the ministerial priesthood is testified to by different Church Fathers. Two specifically stand out:
The bread again is at first common bread; but when the mystery sanctifies it, it is called and actually becomes the Body of Christ. So too the mystical oil, so too the wine; if they are things of little worth before the blessing, after their sanctification by the Spirit each of them has its own superior operation. This same power of the word also makes the priest venerable and honorable, separated from the generality of men by the new blessing bestowed upon him. Yesterday he was but one of the multitude, one of the people, suddenly he is made a guide, a president, a teacher of piety, an instructor in hidden mysteries. – St. Gregory of Nyssa, Sermon on the Days of Lights or On the Baptism of Christ , Jaeger: Vol. 9, pp. 225-226Both of these, Baptism and Orders, are Sacraments, and each is given to a man by a certain sacred rite, the one, when he is baptized, and the other, when he is ordained.
- St. Augustine, Against the Letter of Parmenian, 2, 13, 28
The ministerial priesthood makes Christ present to the faithful through the sacraments. Down through the ages, the Church has consistently maintained that the priest acts in the person of Christ.
1548 In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis:23
“It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is truly made like to the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself (virtute ac persona ipsius Christi)”.24
“Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ”.251549 Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the community of believers.26 In the beautiful expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is typos tou Patros: he is like the living image of God the Father.27
1550 This presence of Christ in the minister is not to be understood as if the latter were preserved from all human weaknesses, the spirit of domination, error, even sin. The power of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee all acts of ministers in the same way. While this guarantee extends to the sacraments, so that even the minister's sin cannot impede the fruit of grace, in many other acts the minister leaves human traces that are not always signs of fidelity to the Gospel and consequently can harm the apostolic fruitfulness of the Church.1551 This priesthood is ministerial. "That office . . . which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people, is in the strict sense of the term a service."28 It is entirely related to Christ and to men. It depends entirely on Christ and on his unique priesthood; it has been instituted for the good of men and the communion of the Church. The sacrament of Holy Orders communicates a "sacred power" which is none other than that of Christ. The exercise of this authority must therefore be measured against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least and the servant of all.29 "The Lord said clearly that concern for his flock was proof of love for him."30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 Cf. LG 10; 28; SC 33; CD 11; PO 2; 6.
24 Pius XII, encyclical, Mediator Dei: AAS, 39 (1947) 548.
25 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,22,4c.
26 Cf. LG 21.
27 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1:SCh 10,96; cf. Ad Magn. 6,1:SCh 10,82-84.
28 LG 24.
29 Cf. Mk 10:43-45; 1 Pet 5:3.
30 St. John Chrysostom, De sac. 2, 4:PG 48, 636; cf. Jn 21:15-17.
In our modern age, when much scandal has surrounded the priesthood, we must remember this reality. We must pray for our priests. We must encourage them to live as Christ. Yet there are still many good, holy priests in the world who faithfully follow Christ.
Many people in the world today view the priesthood as just another job, but it is so much more....it is a vocation. Just as married people fall in love and enter into a covenant with each other and God, so too does the priest. He binds himself for all eternity to Christ through a sacrament. Thus, through the grace of the sacrament, the priest is called to become Christ to the world.
For a more detailed explanation of the priesthood and the Sacrament of Holy Orders please see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS.
In Christ,
Joe
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
