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 1592.

While there is only One New Testament Priest, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1; 4:14-15; 8:1; 9:11), He allows a participation in His Priesthood in two ways, one by Baptism and the other by Holy Orders. The two are related in many ways: both come from Christ, both fulfil His will, both continue His saving work until He returns in glory at the end of time. They do differ however, according to the Lord’s will. The Royal or Common Priesthood of the Faithful is for all of the baptized. Some men who have been baptized receive the Ministerial Priesthood of the ordained.

There is an essential difference between the two sharings in Christ’s One Priesthood. When the word “essential” is used it is deliberate. The Second Vatican Council solemnly taught in continuity with nearly 2,000 years of previous Magisterial pronouncements and Sacred Tradition that the ‘difference’ was not only of degree but essence (LG, 10). In Holy Orders, like Baptism and Confirmation, a ‘character’ is given, marking the soul as it were, for all eternity. One may act as if these sacraments were never received but that does not change the fact. It is to our eternal glory in Heaven or our eternal shame elsewhere how we live out the grace of these three sacraments. The technical term for the ‘essential difference’ is ‘ontological change’, the soul being the formal cause of our being (ontology is the science of ‘being’), the change being the character received by ordination.

One of the consequences of the reception of the sacramental character in ordination is God’s gift of a three-fold ‘sacred power’ whereby the ordained teach, govern and sanctify by divine right. What is taught is: Christ, crucified and glorified, His Gospel, His pending return in glory, what good we should do and what evil we should avoid… Acts of governance include but are not limited to various temporal matters: where to have a Parish, a school, who will staff such institutions, hours of operation and the like… The sanctification occurs primarily through the administration of the Sacraments which are channels of God’s grace.

The laity and the clergy (Bishops, Priests and Deacons) all together make up that one People of God who make up the mystical body of Christ which is Holy Church. Let us pray that all together with the various graces God gives each of us we will all be pleasing in His sight and ready to meet Him when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr