5th Sunday of Easter 2020
Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
Over the years, I must have driven the people of Claughton daft by the number of times I reminded them of the prayer said over them when they were anointed with chrism during the rite of baptism. In the previous translation, the one which I (and by now, probably they) know by heart it runs: “As Christ was anointed priest, prophet, and king, so may you live always as a member of His body, sharing in everlasting life.” The current translation has altered the wording slightly, but the essence is the same.
That prayer is rooted largely in the words from the First Letter of St. Peter, which appear in today’s Second Reading: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart.”In his turn, the author of that letter, whether it be St. Peter himself, or one of his disciples invoking his authority, is drawing on words applied by God through Moses to the people of Israel in the Book of Exodus, and on certain sayings in the prophecies of Isaiah.
So both St. Peter and the Church’s present day liturgy tell you that, through Christ and in Christ, you are priests, prophets and kings. What does that mean? A priest is someone who offers sacrifice, and you and I, as the Church, are a priestly people, a people who offer sacrifice. Both you and I offer the sacrifice of our lives to God—and bear in mind that the root of “sacrifice” is sacra facere , “to make holy”. Potentially, because you are a priestly people, everything that you do is holy, everything is done in Christ and through Christ.
Then, you bring your holy lives to the altar, and I, the ordained priest, chosen from among this priestly people, present those lives, along with the Body and Blood of Jesus, as He makes His once-and-for-all-sacrifice present for us, uniting our sacrifice with His in His self-offering to the Father.
In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the ordained priest pronounces the words of absolution on behalf of the priestly people: in the Sacrament of the Sick, he brings healing and forgiveness on behalf of that same priestly people. These sacraments will have their full effect, will be lived out in the world, if the people of God are a forgiving and healing people. The priest’s words and actions bring about the effects of the sacraments, but something of the sign will be lost if the healed and forgiven person doesn’t experience that same healing and forgiveness among the whole people of God.
Furthermore, says St. Peter, you are a ROYAL priesthood—you are both priests and kings, as Jesus is both priest and king, “like Melchizedek of old” as Psalm 109 (110) expresses it. How did Jesus exercise His kingship? He did it by serving, and by giving His life “as a ransom for many”. As kings in Christ, as a royal priesthood, we too must be people who serve, who are prepared to suffer, who are willing to give our lives in love for Him and for the world.
As a prophetic people, our words, and more particularly, our actions, should be signs of the presence of Christ. It is the presence of Christ, dwelling in us through our baptism, which is all important.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” He said to Thomas. “No one can come to the Father except through me.” Only by uniting our lives to Christ can we live out our calling to be “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation.” Only by uniting his life to Christ can the ordained priest live out his particular vocation in and for the people of God.
Where does that union with Christ lead us? It leads us to the vision of, and union with, the Father, who is in Jesus, as Jesus is in Him. Thus is the purpose of our lives fulfilled. “The glory of God is human beings fully alive,” wrote St. Irenaeus in the second century, “and full life for human beings is the vision of God.” Through prayer rooted in God’s word, through the sacraments, and through service, we are led to that union with Christ and vision of God which makes us fully alive.
5th Sunday of Easter 2020
Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
Over the years, I must have driven the people of Claughton daft by the number of times I reminded them of the prayer said over them when they were anointed with chrism during the rite of baptism. In the previous translation, the one which I (and by now, probably they) know by heart it runs: “As Christ was anointed priest, prophet, and king, so may you live always as a member of His body, sharing in everlasting life.” The current translation has altered the wording slightly, but the essence is the same.
That prayer is rooted largely in the words from the First Letter of St. Peter, which appear in today’s Second Reading: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart.”In his turn, the author of that letter, whether it be St. Peter himself, or one of his disciples invoking his authority, is drawing on words applied by God through Moses to the people of Israel in the Book of Exodus, and on certain sayings in the prophecies of Isaiah.
So both St. Peter and the Church’s present day liturgy tell you that, through Christ and in Christ, you are priests, prophets and kings. What does that mean? A priest is someone who offers sacrifice, and you and I, as the Church, are a priestly people, a people who offer sacrifice. Both you and I offer the sacrifice of our lives to God—and bear in mind that the root of “sacrifice” is sacra facere , “to make holy”. Potentially, because you are a priestly people, everything that you do is holy, everything is done in Christ and through Christ.
Then, you bring your holy lives to the altar, and I, the ordained priest, chosen from among this priestly people, present those lives, along with the Body and Blood of Jesus, as He makes His once-and-for-all-sacrifice present for us, uniting our sacrifice with His in His self-offering to the Father.
In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the ordained priest pronounces the words of absolution on behalf of the priestly people: in the Sacrament of the Sick, he brings healing and forgiveness on behalf of that same priestly people. These sacraments will have their full effect, will be lived out in the world, if the people of God are a forgiving and healing people. The priest’s words and actions bring about the effects of the sacraments, but something of the sign will be lost if the healed and forgiven person doesn’t experience that same healing and forgiveness among the whole people of God.
Furthermore, says St. Peter, you are a ROYAL priesthood—you are both priests and kings, as Jesus is both priest and king, “like Melchizedek of old” as Psalm 109 (110) expresses it. How did Jesus exercise His kingship? He did it by serving, and by giving His life “as a ransom for many”. As kings in Christ, as a royal priesthood, we too must be people who serve, who are prepared to suffer, who are willing to give our lives in love for Him and for the world.
As a prophetic people, our words, and more particularly, our actions, should be signs of the presence of Christ. It is the presence of Christ, dwelling in us through our baptism, which is all important.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” He said to Thomas. “No one can come to the Father except through me.” Only by uniting our lives to Christ can we live out our calling to be “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation.” Only by uniting his life to Christ can the ordained priest live out his particular vocation in and for the people of God.
Where does that union with Christ lead us? It leads us to the vision of, and union with, the Father, who is in Jesus, as Jesus is in Him. Thus is the purpose of our lives fulfilled. “The glory of God is human beings fully alive,” wrote St. Irenaeus in the second century, “and full life for human beings is the vision of God.” Through prayer rooted in God’s word, through the sacraments, and through service, we are led to that union with Christ and vision of God which makes us fully alive.
