The Priesthood of Jesus

Separation from God disturbs the psyche of the human person. We call it sin. But even those who don’t wish to call it that are always trying to be absolved of it. The desire for the Infinite remains in us, but smothering it always like a pall is our inability to obtain it ourselves. So we offer sacrifices to the gods, sacrifices that require a priesthood, trying desperately to go beyond the veil, to transcend our fallen condition.

All formal religions have some form of priesthood. Eastern religions have their shamans. Adherents of New Age religions have their gurus. All of them looking for ways to be absolved of sin. Even some Protestant denominations who claim to have no need for a priesthood have really only interrupted apostolic succession by imposing their own priests into it through a kind of usurpation of Catholic Holy Orders. Among these are the worst forms of insufficient priesthood. They put on the vestments of Christ and often preach licentiousness and disorder.

The worldly who claim no religion have their priests as well. Celebrities are the priests of pop culture promising us fulfillment by replacing our desire to be loved by God with being known by strangers. Traders are the clergy of the financial world with investors acting as intermediaries of values. Inventors are the visionaries constructing paradigms of technology designed to transform the elements of the natural world. And yet, none of them can deliver on the promise of perfect.

Thank God for the priesthood of Jesus. Only His priesthood can take away sins. Man may have solved many of his problems, but only Christ can restore us to God. So while there are many priesthoods in the world, only one accomplishes the forgiveness of sins. Only Christ, the Lamb of God, by offering Himself as a sacrifice to God on the altar of the cross has taken away the sins of the world.

Even the Old Testament, which is the story of God’s revelation to His people Israel, is the story of the development of imperfect priesthoods leading up to the priesthood of Christ. Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and the Levitical priests offering sacrifice in the Temple, were all blessed by God. But only the Son of God Himself has pierced the veil and entered into the sanctuary not made by human hands. He alone sits at the right hand of the Father where He lives to make intercession for us always. And it is His prayer alone that accomplishes the forgiveness of sins.

Our participation in the prayer of Christ at Mass is a participation in Christ’s priesthood. That’s who we are. We are people who draw very near to the only perfect priesthood the world has ever known. Catholic priests are the successors of the Apostles to whom Jesus said “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” and they incorporate the Faithful into Christ’s one sacrifice. Let us be perfect then, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. +