Are You a Priest?

I consider myself blessed to have witnessed 19 adult baptisms and 120 Catholics being confirmed in April of 2015. And these awe inspiring and meaningful events made me nostalgic as I remembered the kind of priesthood we all share in Jesus Christ.

There is a certain passage on priesthood that says: “One is Priest, Some are Priest, and All are Priests”. At a first glance this passage makes no sense, but if you are going to analyze it, in the light of our faith as Catholics, this grammatically incorrect statement makes sense.

One is Priest. This means that there can only be one priest, a high priest according to the Letter to the Hebrews 7:2627:

“For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.”

Jesus is the One Priest, the only priest who offers permanently a sacrifice pleasing to the Father, and that is Jesus offering himself to the Father for the salvation of us all.

Some are Priests. There are those among us through the grace of God who was ordained to the MINISTERIAL PRIESTHOOD. They were ordained not for themselves but for the sake of service and ministry for the people of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church number 1547 beautifully said:

“The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders.”

All are Priests. By virtue of our baptism when the priest anoints the child with chrism he receives the kingly, prophetic and priestly function of Jesus, thus making us sharers of Jesus’ COMMON PRIESTHOOD. That is why in when danger of death you can baptize; you can give communion if you are delegated by the priest.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church number 1547 also states:

“The common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace a life of faith, hope, and charity, a life according to the Spirit”

Having reminded that all of us share the priesthood of Jesus, we therefore should fulfill our priestly role as baptized Catholics. We should preach the Gospel not only by preaching through talking, but by preaching through a life of holiness. Let us be agents of peace, unity, forgiveness, love and mercy to the entire world, so that the Kingdom of God will truly be spread far and wide.