Once again Father Kirby gave a great homily at Our Lady of Grace on the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Scripture readings for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time included the following:
- Holiness: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
- Thanksgiving for God's Goodness: Psalm 103:1-13
- The Temple of the Holy Spirit: 1st Corinthians 3:16-23
- Retaliation and Love for Enemies: Matthew 5:38-48
Father began with a story about a great American warship and a lighthouse. This story is best related by the video below.
Father then explained that sometimes, no matter how great we become, it is not the light in the distance which must change course, but we ourselves. We see this in Sunday's Scripture readings . In Leviticus 19:2 we are enjoined to be holy as God is holy. The English word holy is a variant on the word whole. In Matthew 5:48 we are enjoined to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. the word perfect is from the Latin word perfectus which is the past participle of the verb perficio which means "I do thoroughly." Perfect then means, "Having been done thoroughly or completely." That is the same meaning as the word whole from which the word holy is derived. Unfortunately all too often we associate the word holy with the word divine. There is only One Who is divine, and that isn't we. Rather, we are to be complete as God has made us to be complete. And often that means we have to change the course of our lives when the lighthouse out in the midst warns us that collision is imminent. That common theme runs through Sunday's Scripture readings in Leviticus 19, 1st Corinthians 3 and Matthew 5.
A priest can often be that lighthouse warning the unwary to change course before it is too late. Thus did Father Kirby lead into the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
The understanding that Catholics have regarding priests is very different than the understanding that Protestants have regarding their ministers or pastors. A priest acts as Alter Christus. To him is granted the responsibility to consecrate the hosts of bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. To him is granted the responsibility to forgive or retain sins in Confession. To him is granted the responsibility to anoint the sick for healing of body and soul. With the priest there are no Sacraments and Protestants have no priests. Thus, Protestantism is sacramentally impotent. I remember feeling exactly that way about what I observed passed for "communion" at Calvary Church on a Sunday night as I described in the post Vesper Diei Solis aput Ecclesiam Calvariae (two family members attended and wanted me to accompany them). What a difference there is between a real priest of the living God wearing the liturgical raiment appropriate for the responsibility of that august role, and what I saw.
And that was something which Father Kirby emphasized: a Catholic pastor (which means shepherd in Latin) is the Sacerdos Dei Viventis. Yes, we in the laity are all called to the common priesthood of the faithful. 1st Peter 2:9 does state:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The Greek word used for priesthood is ἱεράτευμα which derives from the word ἱερεύς which was used to denote the Old Testament priest. It is different than the word used elsewhere in the New Testament to denote the ministerial priesthood. That word in Greek is πρεσβύτερος, and it is used in conjunction with the Sacraments (e.g., the laying on of hands for healing). An ἱερεύς has no power to dispense the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, etc. A πρεσβύτερος does, and no Protestant is a πρεσβύτερος because the line of Holy Orders from the Apostles to the present day was broken in the rebellion of Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII in the 16th century.
ASIDE 1: While separation still exists between Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, the mutual excommunications of the 11th century have been lifted by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoros I of Constantinople. See Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of 1965. Unlike Protestants, Eastern Orthodox (Greek, Antiochan, Russian, etc.) have preserved Apostolic Succession, have valid Holy Order, and have valid Sacraments. END ASIDE 1
ASIDE 2: For my Protestant readers, there are three Holy Orders: deacon (διάκονος) which means servant, priest (πρεσβύτερος) which means elder, and bishop (ἐπίσκοπος) which means overseer. All Bishops are Priests, and all Bishops and Priests are Deacons. But Deacons are not necessarily Priests and Priests are not necessarily Bishops. Our English word priest is a diminutive of πρεσβύτερος which is presbyteros when transliterated into English. The "BY" in the center was dropped as well as the "EROS" at the end to form the word "PREST" which eventually became "PRIEST." In like fashion ἐπίσκοπος when transliterated into English is episcopos. "EPI" means over or on top of and "SCOPOS" (going into the English word SCOPE) means eye or seer, hence the term overseer. Other titles such as Metropolitan, Patriarch, Archbishop and Cardinal are assigned by the Church, but they do not replace or override the three Holy Orders of Deacon, Priest and Bishop. Additionally, only a Priest or Bishop may dispense the Sacraments (except that a Deacon may Baptize and may witness a Marriage, in which the husband and wife are the ministers of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony). END ASIDE 2
Father Kirby went on to discuss the respect due a priest and the responsibility which a priest bears before God. He described how in today's society, especially in the Protestant south, a priest in his clerics is often regarded as a fish out of water. He also made an entreaty for young men to consider the priesthood, and to the rest of us to pray for our priests. I hope one day his sermons will be recorded into an audio file so that I can post a link to the file here and not have to rely on a faulty memory. All I can tell the reader is this: find a good, orthodox parish, frequent Mass and Confession, and really listen to your priest when he gives a homily (in fact, take notes which I failed to do this time because I rushed out of the house on Sunday morning, being late).
One other thing that I think is important before I close: tell your priest that you love him and are praying for him. Priests are human beings and need the same kind of positive reinforcement that we all want to receive.
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