My dear Parishioners,
Peace! During these last weeks of the “Year for Priests” I thought it would be timely to go over the various In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding Holy Orders. There are eleven (11) of these passages which will help us to appreciate this sign of grace entrusted to the Church by Christ Himself, the Great High Priest. The following is a reflection on article 1591.
What is the role of a priest? To pray, to worship, to adore and serve God this is the priestly task. Christians are a priestly people (1 Peter 2:9) and as such all the Baptized are called to pray, to worship and to adore and serve almighty God. Sociologically there have been priest (and priestesses) for millennia. When God formed for Himself a people, Israel, among the tribes were those of Levi, the priestly tribe. All of Israel was to pray, to adore, to worship God, but the Levites played a special part in all of this. So too the Priests of Jesus Christ. All the Baptized are called to pray even though the Ordained have a special role to play in our lives of worship.
There are two sharing in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:5, 10; 6:20; 9:11): that by Baptism and that by Orders. During the of the Year for Priests (2009-2010) the Church is focusing on the hierarchical participation of the ordained in Jesus’ priesthood.
Whenever the Church maintains a phrase in Latin it is a reminder that it is a key phrase. In persona Christi Capitis is one such phrase. Used in reference to the ordained, the phrase means that a priest acts ‘in the person of Christ the Head’ of His body the Church. The Catechism reminds us that not only does the priest do what he does in the name of Christ (which is no small thing) but in His very person. The voice of this or that priest is heard, the eyes of this or that priest are seen but it is Christ who consecrates and Christ who absolves in the Sacraments: I absolve you… This is My body… spoken in the first person singular. In the celebration of the Sacraments the priest does not say: “In the Name of Jesus be absolved” nor does the priest say: “in the Name of Jesus be consecrated and changed into His body and blood”
When the police place us “under arrest” or a judge tells us we are “free to go” these are called ‘effective utterances.’ What is said happens by the saying when those with the authority to say them do so. The ‘effective utterances’ made by the priest are effective because of the grace of Holy Orders and the power of God given in ordination that we all, head and members, might be absolved and receive Holy Communion.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr