What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

Holy Orders: The One Priesthood of Christ

Holy Orders: The One Priesthood of Christ

                If you were to ask most non-Catholics to define the priesthood, they would describe what the Catholic Church refers to as the ministerial priesthood.  However, the one priesthood of Christ is made up of more than just the ministerial priesthood.  There is also the common priesthood.  “But you are a ‘chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises’ of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2: 9 NABRE) 

This letter wasn’t written just to the local bishops of St. Peter’s day.  It was written to the Christian churches in Asia Minor.  It was written to be read to the people, because it is the people who make up the common priesthood.  The ministerial priesthood “is at the service of the common priesthood.  It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians.” (CCC 1547)

Before we start looking at the ministerial priesthood next week, first let’s look at the common priesthood.  It’s safe to say that most Christians don’t know what the common priesthood is or even how one becomes a part of it.  One becomes part of the common priesthood through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation.  Once we have received those sacraments we are fully incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ.  We become part of the “royal priesthood” that St. Peter wrote about.

                Everyone knows that being part of the ministerial priesthood comes with certain responsibilities.  Being part of the common priesthood does as well.  We are all called to grow in faith.  We are called to live out our baptismal priesthood within the vocation of our life, which means we must know what that vocation is.  Having a “vocation” doesn’t just mean being called to religious life or the ministerial priesthood.  Your vocation is whatever you have been called to do, whether it’s being a priest or a police officer, or a banker, or a chef, or a whatever.  It also refers to the state you find yourself in, married or single.  All single people are called to the vocation of being single until such time as they marry.  All married people are called to the vocation of marriage.  Both states, just like with the ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood, come with certain responsibilities.  Not everyone is going to be called to be married.  Just like not everyone is going to be called to the ministerial priesthood.  That doesn’t mean they have somehow “missed out”, it just means God has a different path for them.

                This is a common misunderstanding even for some within the Catholic Church.  Not all are going to be called to the ministerial priesthood, and some can never be called to the ministerial priesthood.  Let me explain.  When God first told me to “go be Catholic”, it was something I had never planned to do because I had studied to be a pastor.  I knew if I became a Catholic, I would never be able to fulfill what I thought was my vocation: being a pastor.  You see, while it is true that under certain circumstances a married Protestant pastor can become a priest, I knew it was impossible for me.  By virtue of my birth, I missed the most basic requirement for being a priest.  I was born a girl.  After struggling with the whole, “I thought you called me to be a pastor” thing and the whole, “but what will I do” thing, I came to realize that while I was called to the common priesthood, I was not called to the ministerial priesthood.  Clearly if God had wanted me to be a priest, I would have been born a boy, just for a start.  We’ll look at the reasons for that later, but for right now, the point is that I had to stop focusing on the vocation I didn’t have, stop focusing on what I couldn’t do, and focus on what I could do, and the vocation God had actually created me to have.  Once I did that, deciding to become Catholic was easy.

                That’s what the common priesthood is all about.  It’s about each of us lay people growing in our baptismal graces and using those gifts God has given us to impact our little worlds.  The ministerial priesthood exists to teach us how to do that, and to administer the sacraments that give us the strength and courage to do that.  That’s their job.  Their job is to get into our lives and give us the tools to become Saints.  Our job is to take those tools, use them, apply them, and become Saints.  And together we make up the one priesthood of Christ here on earth.  If we all do our jobs well, we will change the world.  One person at a time.