One of the ways to grown in faith and understanding of the mysteries of Jesus Christ is to meditate on the Divine Offices that he fulfills by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. These offices are understood within the framework of the covenant God established through the People of God in the Old Testament. The offices of priest, prophet, and king were figures of Christ to come because they were forms of mediation God used through human beings in the Old Covenant. Some examples of these offices would be Melchizedek in his priestly offering of bread and wine, Isaiah as a prophet, and David as king. All of the offices reach their fulfillment and transcendence in the life of Jesus Christ in that he became the ultimate mediator while also dwelling as God with us. The theology behind these offices of Christ is complex, so I only want to focus on one major aspect of the Priesthood of Christ and our participation.
What exactly do we mean by priest in this context? In a most basic sense and one that would conform to a Levitical understanding, a priest offers sacrifice. This is clearly seen and understood by Catholics in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that is offered by the ordained priesthood with the participation of the laity. Jesus Christ himself was the ultimate sacrifice in offering up himself on the Cross for our sake. Christ’s sacrifice was two-fold. First, he paid the ultimate price for our sin through his acceptance and conquering of death by virtue of His own death. This is very important, but his deeper sacrifice was an offering of obedience to the Father’s will internally. In doing so he ushered in a new era of internal obedience to the Father that allowed the reception of the Holy Spirit among his people.
That means Christ’s ultimate sacrifice in obedience to the Father’s will is the very same sacrifice that you and I are called to by virtue of our Baptism. In our Baptism, we agree (or our parents agree) to enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we may be conformed (to be like) to the life of the Blessed Trinity. In entering into the mysteries of Christ, we agree to become living sacrifices to the Father. This is one of the ways that we baptized members of the Church participate in the common priesthood of Christ. This is not to be confused with the ordained priesthood of Christ which helps form the hierarchical, sacramental, and sacrificial structure of the Church in which the laity are members. We participate in the common priesthood because we offer sacrifices in love to others in our daily lives as Christians.
Christ’s entire life was a sacrifice to the will of the Father. You and I are called to do the same in our actions of self-emptying love that we perform daily. We are called to be a living-sacrifice within our own vocations whether it is serving our children, spouses, neighbors, or co-workers. In doing so we are sharing the common priesthood of Christ with the world. All of our actions and sacrifices point ultimately to the High Priest of Jesus Christ, not ourselves. Throughout Scripture, Christ constantly pointed to the Father and in our own lives, we must point to the Blessed Trinity as the loving God who guides us through grace and the communion of His Mystical Body.
In John 37-38 Jesus says: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” And so it is the very same call that you and I have by virtue of our Baptism. We are not only members of Christ’s Church, we also share in his mission and priesthood. Every time we choose to sacrifice in love, we are offering as Christ has called us to do through the mysteries of his life and glorious resurrection. We offer ourselves to our glorified Lord who is High Priest of Heaven and earth.
The purpose of our lives as Christians is holiness. It is for us to become saints. When someone asks us what the meaning of life is, we can reply with: “To be a saint”. It is as simple and as difficult as that. One of the ways we grow in holiness, besides frequent reception of the Sacraments and prayer, is to offer sacrifice in our lives to God and others. Our example is the love of the Blessed Trinity. It is within the Blessed Trinity that the Father gave over His Son in love, the Son obediently accepted death, and the Holy Spirit is poured out on the Church for the sanctification of the world. All of these actions are self-emptying and in obedience to love who is God. As we go about our days, let us keep the common priesthood and our High Priest in mind that we may live our lives in self-emptying, sacrificial love to the Trinity and our neighbor.
Swimming the Depths 