Priest must offer sacrifice of himself as well

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 October 2009
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center
Year for Priests

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We are in the middle of a Church year dedicated to the interior renewal of priests, through the intercession of the universal patron of priests, St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars. This year we are invited by our Holy Father to reflect on the meaning of the priesthood, and the role the priesthood plays in the mission of the Church and in the overall drama of the redemption of the world. What is more, we are invited to pray for the interior renewal of priests, that the Church may have not just enough priests, but good priests.

What makes a good priest? Well, we could start by seeing how each priest celebrates Mass. This is how we usually start in our priest evaluations. Some say Mass more piously, some with greater attention to detail. Some with very little personality, some with great personality. Some people evaluate whether a priest is good by how he preaches and how he celebrates Mass, and indeed, these can be small windows through which we may see the interior life of a priest, whether he is good and prayerful and loving and holy. But ordinarily, when we pray for our priests to be good, we are thinking about more than how priests celebrate Mass. We are usually praying that a priest is on fire interiorly. That he knows the love of Jesus Christ, and is able to reflect and to give that love unselfishly in imitation of Christ who has called him and set him free not to be served, but to serve. When we think about good priests, we think about priests who are faithful to their promises, and who consistently love their people and look after them, enlivened by the virtue of pastoral charity.

In reflecting on today's readings, we can see how Jesus Christ himself joins in his person the cultic and the servant dimensions of priesthood. A priest is one set apart, one called and designated to focus his life not on earth, but on heaven, and one charged to offer sacrifice to God on behalf of his people. As St. Paul tells us, Jesus is such a cultic priest. He is one set apart from among men so that He may focus his life on heaven, but Jesus himself is a great high priest because he has actually passed through the heavens. But this is not the only dimension of the priesthood of Jesus, the cultic dimension. Because Jesus is not only the priest, but as we have come to know him, also the altar and the lamb of sacrifice, Jesus is a priest who is set apart to precisely offer the sacrifice of himself. And so St. Paul says that this great high priest is able to sympathize with the weakness of his people, because he has come to bear their guilt and to give his life as an offering for sin.

So too any priest called by Jesus Christ today shares in the fullness of the priesthood as Jesus handed it on to us. A Catholic priest today is a man set apart to offer the sacrifice of Jesus. A priest is special in this way. People really do a double-take when they see a priest in a restaurant or at a football game. A priest is an ordinary guy, but also different. Within the Catholic tradition, a priest is ordained to act in persona Christi capitis, in the person of Christ as head of the Church. In offering the sacrifice of Jesus at Mass, a priest makes present the eternally acceptable sacrifice of Jesus, and so shares in the great high priesthood of Jesus Christ. In saying Mass, a priest makes present all the divine love and grace that is sufficient for the salvation of man and the redemption of the world. There is nothing more important for a priest than to offer this sacrifice of Jesus.

Yet there is something more to the priesthood that Jesus instituted and handed on to those whom He loves. When we ask whether a priest is good and holy, we are asking more than if he has faithfully offered the sacrifice of Jesus at Mass. We are asking more than if the priest said the Mass perfectly, even though each priest should celebrate the Mass as well as we can. No, even though we know that a Mass said validly provides the grace that it signifies, when we ask whether a priest is good we are asking more than if he said Mass that day. No, we are asking whether the priest has offered not only the sacrifice of Jesus, but the sacrifice of Himself, in imitation of the one who has called him to be a priest.

And so we enter into the conversation between Jesus and James and John. James and John wish to pass through the heavens with Jesus, the great high priest, and to be set apart and distinguished from ordinary men. But Jesus reminds them, in advance of handing on his priesthood to them, that anyone who wishes to be a priest of the new covenant must not only offer the sacrifice of Jesus, but should also offer the sacrifice of himself. Jesus asks the two whether they can drink the cup that He drinks, and reminds them that this is the most important part of their mission and their sharing in His priesthood, that they come to serve and to give their lives as a ransom for many.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared this a year for priests not so much so we can pat our priests on the back and be more grateful for them, but so that we can all offer sacrifice so that the Church will have the holy priests She deserves and needs. So in praying for our priests during this year for priests, let us ask that our priests continue to hear this call from Jesus to not only offer His sacrifice through the faithful and prayerful celebration of the Mass, but accept his invitation to be a co-redeemer with Him by offering also the gift of themselves. Through the promises of celibacy, obedience and prayer, may our priests hold onto a strong priestly identity, and so be men who are truly different, set apart to truly lead their people toward the holy things of heaven. At the same time, may they have the humility and generosity to draw ever closer to their people, and in imitation of our great high priest who is also the altar and the lamb of sacrifice, may our priests always come not to be served, but to serve, and to give their own lives, as a ransom for many.