Day 211: The One Priesthood of Christ (1539-1545)

• It’s Day 211!!

• THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION

• THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE OLD COVENANT

• We have been initiated into the Body of Christ, the family of God

• We have been transformed into God’s sons and daughters through Baptism, strengthened by Confirmation, and fed by the Eucharist

• We are trying to live this out

• Today we are looking at how the priesthood was realized in the Old Covenant and how it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ

• There are prayers here today that we are going to look at

• Prayer from the Ordination of Bishops

• Prayer from the Ordination of Priests

• Prayer from the Ordination of Deacons

• Everything goes back to the Old Testament because that is how God called His people in the priesthood of the Levites from the Tribe of Levi

• Everything gets fulfilled in Jesus and in the establishment of His Church

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you and give you praise. We ask that you please send your Holy Spirit to bless us. Send your Holy Spirit to bless our local bishop. Send your Holy Spirit to bless our universal bishop, the Pope. We ask you to send your Holy Spirit to bless the priest who baptized us, every priest who’s ever heard our confession and fed us with the Eucharist, every priest who has ever given us counsel, every deacon who has ever served in our parishes and served our families and served us individually. We ask you to please, in this moment, bless all those priests who have died, who have gone before us. Bring them into your presence. Purify them with your love so that they may dwell in your presence for all eternity. And we ask you to please bless us, Father. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, by the Power of your Holy Spirit, help us to be holy. Help us to be yours. Help us to love the way you love. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”\

• So there we have it!!

• If you are familiar with The Bible in a Year, where were the priests?

• In the very very beginning we have Cain and Abel in Genesis

• What are they doing?

• They are offering sacrifices

• Cain offers a sacrifice

• Abel offers a sacrifice

• Cain’s sacrifice is not accepted

• Abel’s sacrifice is accepted

• The people themselves are offering sacrifice

• They don’t have a priesthood

• BUT…

• Really quickly we see Abram coming back from the defeat of the kings

• He meets Melchizedek

• He is the King of Salem and a priest of God, Most High

• Melchizedek is on Mount Moriah and offers a sacrifice of bread and wine

• Abram gives him a tenth of everything

• Melchizedek blesses Abram

• Melchizedek is also mentioned in the Book of Psalms

• Melchizedek is also mentioned in the Letter to the Hebrews

• He is a unique kind of priest 

• His priesthood id eternal in some ways

• It’s not necessarily rooted in the genealogy like the Jewish priesthood is rooted in genealogy

• Originally, the fathers of each family would be like the priest of the family

• At the Passover, the father of the family would be the one who offered the sacrifice of the lamb

• AND YET…

• What happens after the Passover?

• The Jewish people are released from slavery in Egypt

• They go through the Red Sea

• God saves them again and again

• They get to Mount Sinai and Moses goes up to receive the Ten Commandments from the Lord Himself

• He comes down from the mountain and the people are worshiping the golden calf in false worship

• Because of this and because ONLY the Tribe of Levi fought against the people doing false worship, then it was that priests would ONLY come from the Tribe of Levi

• So it was rooted in genealogy

• That one family of Levi where the priests would now come from

• Even if you were of a different tribe and you really really wanted to be a priest, it did not matter because you were not a member of the Tribe of Levi

• That became the new distinction

• The father being the priest of the family got lost once the golden calf worship happened

• Now it is the Levitical priesthood and it only comes from the Tribe of Levi

• Both these things are important to understand

• What happens in the New Covenant?

• In the New Covenant, priests are once again established as the fathers

• That’s one of the reasons we call them “Father” and one of the reasons why ONLY MEN CAN BE PRIESTS

• More to come on that

• The priesthood is rooted in fatherhood

• Because of sin, priesthood is not just rooted in father hood

• Priesthood is rooted in the Levitical priesthood

• What were the priests appointed to do?

• They were appointed to act on behalf of men, in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins, which could never be enough

• Paragraph 1540 says, “Instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifice and prayer, 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.”

• AND YET…

• There is a connection between the New Covenant priesthood and the Old Covenant priesthood with the priesthood of Jesus Christ

• This is all connected

• The Levitical priesthood was consecrated for a dedicated purpose

• Paragraph 1539 says, “The priests are ‘appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.’”

• There is also this priesthood of Melchizedek

• Jesus is, in some ways, the fulfillment of the fatherhood of the priesthood

• He is the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood

• He is the fulfillment of the priesthood of Melchizedek

• IN FACT…

• The Letter to the Hebrews says, “He is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is holy, blameless, unstained. And by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

• That single offering is His unique sacrifice on the Cross

• Jesus fulfills ALL OF THESE PREFIGUREMENTS of the Old Covenant

• Priesthood

• Fatherhood

• Levitical priesthood

• Priesthood of Melchizedek

• JESUS FULFILLS ALL OF IT!!

• Jesus is the ONE PRIEST

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s summer camp tale…

• How many priests are there in the world?

• ONE

• Paragraph 1545 says, “The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood: ‘Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.’”

• Every time we celebrate the Mass, we are not re-sacrificing Jesus

• We are merely re-presenting that one sacrifice once for all

• In the same way, there is ONE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

• THERE IS ONE PRIEST!!

• AND YET…

• That priesthood of Jesus is made present though the ministerial priesthood

• Every priest you meet, that is not another priest

• That is someone who is participating in and making present the ONE PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS CHRIST

• It does not diminish the UNIQUENESS of Christ’s priesthood

• St. Thomas Aquinas says in Paragraph 1545, “‘Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.’”

• So if someone asks you how many priests are there in the Catholic Church, what do you say?

• ONE!!

• If someone asks you how many priests there are in the world, what do you say?

• ONE!!

• ONE PRIEST!!

• JESUS IS THE ONE GREAT HIGH PRIEST!!

• There are many ministerial priests, the ones who participate in Christ’s priesthood

• There are many kingdom priests, everyone who is baptized is called to participate in Christ’s priesthood in a very unique way as well

• Not everyone gets to participate in Holy Orders

• Not everyone gets to participate in Holy Matrimony

• BUT…

• All of us who have been baptized are participating in the priesthood of Jesus  

• YOU get to participate in the priesthood of Jesus in a unique way

• The kingdom of priests

• A holy nation

• A royal people

• People set apart for the Lord God

• If you are a priest or bishop listening to this, you get to participate in this priesthood of Jesus in a unique way as well

• The more and more we exercise either our kingdom priesthood or ministerial priesthood of Jesus, the more and more we get to make present the great high priesthood of Jesus

• The more we say YES to Christ in this way, the more He is made present and the more He made known

• When we skip Mass, we don’t get the chance to exercise that priesthood

• When we show up, we exercise that priesthood, and God is that much more glorified

• The world is that much more sanctified

• When we are willing, as kingdom priests, to offer the pains of our day, to offer the joys of our day, to offer our loves and our losses, to offer our tears, to offer our suffering with the Lord, then we get to exercise that priesthood in union with the one unique priesthood of Jesus Christ

• This is not just a thing for the past

• This is a thing that is COMPLETELY PRESENT

• Right now, in this moment, you are a living embodiment, in some ways, of the priesthood of Jesus because of your Baptism

• If you are listening to this as a bishop, priest, or deacon, you are, in a unique way, the living extension of the unique priesthood of Jesus

• RIGHT NOW!!

• IN THIS MOMENT!!

• We can pray in this moment, “Ok, God. Use this moment. Let this moment be a moment of sacrifice. Let this moment be a moment of worship. Let this moment be a moment where you are glorified and the world is sanctified because we get to participate in the one, unique priesthood of Jesus.”

• Hope that makes sense!!

• IT IS AMAZING!!

• IT IS INCREDIBLE!!

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!