5th Sunday of Easter, A May 10, 2020
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyh42WHY1k&
What does it mean to be a priest? It’s a question, most people don’t often think to ask; one of those things everyone kind of already knows but no one really knows how to explain. If you do ask someone, you’ll hear answers like this: “a person who minsters to others.” “A professional religious person.” “A preacher or pastor.” “A person who prays for people and leads services.”
These aren’t completely wrong, but they miss the point. A priest often does these things, but what is the essential part, what is the priestly essence? A priest is someone who offers sacrifice. That’s it, that’s the heart of it. If you do not offer a sacrifice of some kind, you are not a priest.
Yet, who doesn’t make sacrifices? Everyone suffers. It’s one of the most universal experiences of being a human being: suffering. If we’re wise, some of that suffering is from the sacrifices we make for good reason. And it is why all of you are priests. Or at least, you should be. Don’t believe me? Ask St. Peter, the first Pope. In his first letter, right here, he says “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.” That’s not a letter to the presbyters and bishops, it’s a letter to every Catholic.
And the Catechism makes this clear. Every baptized Christian shares in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king. If that’s true, why am I up here and the rest of you down there? Is there no real difference? Well, I am still a baptized Catholic like the rest of you, but I am also spiritually – or as we say, ontologically – different. Still human but set apart for a specific role. We’ll come back to that.
What’s important now is that you understand your priesthood. Jesus tells us “whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.” This is why you are a priest; Jesus is a priest and you believe in him. Think about it, though. When did Jesus stand at an altar and offer animal sacrifices? Or perform religious rituals? Never. Yet he was a priest that entire time and priests offer sacrifice. What does this mean?
It means that his sacrifice was not some external thing like animals, bread, or God forbid, other people. It was himself. His very life. From the first moments of his life on earth to his last, Jesus was making a sacrifice, an offering, an oblation of his whole life. He does everything for and with the Father, offering it to him as a sacrifice. His prayers, his carpentry work, his resting, his teaching, his miracles… all of it.
So it must be with you. Your life is not your own. This is the secret of success, of happiness. To live your life knowing it does not belong to you… or rather that it was given to you only so that you could give it back. When you eat, drink, sleep, play, work, rest, rejoice, cry or pray, do it for God. You’ve heard this so many times, you’re probably numb to it. But it’s true. Everything you do should be an offering, a sacrifice to God. Why? Because you are a priest, priests offer sacrifice, and the best sacrifice you’ve got is yourself, your life and everything in it.
And I want you to grasp this especially as we begin to return to more normal ways of celebrating Mass and being together. I want you to understand this because it is also the reason that your weeks and months away from Mass are not wasted. Your holiness – your vocation – is not completely summed up in and dependent upon how often you go to Mass. If you go to Mass daily, but do not live your life as an offering to God in love, what do you accomplish? If you cannot go to Mass through no fault your own, but offer your entire being and activity to God in love, what have you lost?
What am I saying? That Mass is not important? Of course not! I am trying to round out the full picture. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic Faith. But, as I’ve said before, it is not everything in between. And this difference is seen in the first reading, when the Apostles ordain the first seven deacons.
It’s quite apparent that feeding the hungry and caring for the poor is a big deal in the early Church, as it is today. Jesus himself emphasized that our works of charity to those in need are a central part of what we’ll be judged for. And yet, surprisingly, when the Greek-speaking Christians complain that their widows aren’t getting enough food and money, the Apostles distance themselves from it: “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.”
This is where the typical understanding of “priest” comes in. You are very much priests in offering your lives to God and in doing charitable works for neighbors in need. But when we say “priest,” we usually mean the guy standing by the altar performing a ritual. This is the “prayer” that cannot be neglected by the Apostles – the first Bishops – and their helpers, the presbyters – today called priests.
Yet, the demand for charitable works is so important that they actually create a whole new order of people to take care of it. The deacons. And it’s not like the deacons are the only ones serving the poor, they are specially charged with directing this work, work done by and for lay people who are “priests” in the more general sense.
This reveals something central to the meaning of the Catholic Church: Complementarity. Different parts working together in different ways to accomplish the larger goal. And what is that larger goal? The glory of God. Offering a perfect sacrifice to him by offering all of our lives together to him. Yet, there is only one sacrifice pleasing to God, the loving offering of his Son Jesus Christ on the Cross.
And that is why coming to Mass is so important. It is where the two priesthoods – mine and yours – meet to bring everything full circle. One day at a time, you are offering your life to God, but at Mass, you are coming to unite that sacrifice to the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, made present in the Eucharist. That is what it means to be a priest.
Wherever you are right now, whatever your dealing with, good, bad, and ugly, offer it to God. Sin is the only thing that you cannot offer. If you can come to Mass, do so. If you cannot, continue to make your offering moment to moment, day to day and spiritually turn your mind and heart to this sacrifice offered for and with you.
To offer your daily life and then unite that to the sacrifice of the Cross – these are the works Jesus Christ did and if we believe, we will do them too.