Priestly Identity --- A Reflection

PRIESTLY IDENTITY By Bishop Anthony T. Lobo The Greek Fathers of the Church describe the life of the Trinity as PERICHORESIS (peri - around; choresis - dancing). Drawing from this profound insight, Bishop Lobo lays the foundation for a refreshing understanding of priestly identity based on the Trinitarian relationship. "Pastores Dabo Vobis", says that the source of the priesthood is the Blessed Trinity. The Greek Fathers of the Church describe the life of the Trinity as PERICHORESIS. So the three persons of the Trinity are "dancing around". Though seemingly irreverent at first, there is a profound biblical basis for understanding this. Jesus says in the gospel of John: "He will glorify me since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine" (Jn 16:14-15) Again, in his high priestly prayer, Jesus says to his Father: "All that I have is yours and all you have is mine"(Jn 17:10). So we have the divine dance where the Father goes out to the Son and gives all - all His wisdom, power, love and life. But the Son moves out towards the Father and in turn gives him back all his wisdom, power, love and life. This mutual self-giving is the Holy Spirit, the giving and receiving between Father and Son. These movements or "missions" within the Trinity is the intimate life of God or "perichoresis". We are made for self-giving. The first book of the bible tells us, "God created man in the image of Himself, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them" (Gen 1:27). This means that the nature of the human person is "perichoretic", because it is made in the image and likeness of God. So, in the very core and center of our being, we are made for self-giving. To live selfishly would be to go against our true nature. But the same first book of the Bible tells us that man sinned (Gen 3). His perichoretic nature was wounded. The divine image was distorted. But in his mercy, God promised a saviour, born of a woman, whose work would be to restore to human beings the divine image according to which they were originally created. Paschal Mystery Even before Creation, we catch a glimpse within the perichoretic life of the Trinity, of what we later would call the Paschal Mystery, the dying and rising to life again. When the Father gives all to the Son (His wisdom, power, love and even life) then He, so to say, "dies". When the Son returns all to the Father (His wisdom. power, love and even life), the Father, so to say, comes back to life again. So we have the roots of the Paschal Mystery in the perichoretic life of the Trinity. When the promised Saviour came as man to redeem man, his saving action expressed itself in the death and resurrection of the Son of God, the Word made flesh. The perichoretic paschal mystery in the Trinity, revealed in the sacrifice of the cross, was in the context of a sinful and redeemed humanity. Thus the last command of the Redeemer was to "teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:20). Salvation therefore means to be plunged back into the perichoictic life of the Blessed Trinity, to share once again in the very life of God, whose inmost being is mutual self-giving. Those that become disciples are members of the Church and they share in the universal priesthood of all believers. Their duty is to live the perichoretic life of the Trinity in whose image and likeness they were originally made. Now, thanks to the sacrifice of the cross, that image and likeness, damaged by sin, is restored. Ministerial priesthood at the service of the common priesthood The question remains: how do the believers who share the common priesthood, relate with that sacrifice offered once and for all by the one and only High Priest? The answer is through the ministerial priesthood, instituted at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, "Do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:19). The ministerial priesthood was thus instituted by Jesus to be at the service of the common priesthood of the believers. Like Christ the High Priest, the ministerial priest stands between God and the people of God as, "minister of the sanctuary" (Hebrews 8:2) and "mediator of the New Covenant" (Hebrew 9:15). The ministerial priesthood has a two-fold task towards God and towards man: "To stand in my presence to minister" (God-ward) and then "to go out and bless in my name"(man-ward). In the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus is intercessor ("He liveth to pray unceasingly" Hebrews 7:25). He is there to give us access to God's presence, to bring us close to God. Spousal Love For The Church As Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus offers his blood to cleanse our conscience from all dead works, to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). The ministerial priesthood, according to Pastores Dabo Vobis, continues on earth this twofold task of our High Priest in Heaven. His role is described as sharing in the priesthood of Christ the Head and Shepherd. As Head of the Church, His Body, we recall that she was born from his pierced heart at the foot of the cross, just as the first Eve was born from the side of the first Adam. There is a spousal love between Christ and his church which is expressed in priestly celibacy. The bond between head and body is not a legal, man-made one but one forged with divine love. As Head, he communicates all God's blessings to his spouse, and carries into heaven all her prayers and gifts. As Shepherd, he feeds his flock on the Bread of Life, the Bread of Heaven, and even lays down his life in sacrifice. The soul of his sacrifice is perichoresis, the absolute surrender, the total self-gift, which is the very life of God and the core and center of the inner being of all human persons, male and female, created in his image and likeness. Purpose Of The Ministerial Priesthood The purpose of the ministerial priesthood is to help the faithful to live according to the restored image and likeness, to offer themselves according to their common priesthood so that they can live once again, according to their true nature, the trinitarian life of mutual self-giving. The ministerial priest feeds his flock with the eucharistic bread and, following the command of Christ, makes present the memorial of the sacrifice of Calvary. One with the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep, the ministerial priest also makes his own self-offering, his daily surrender, his absolute self-gift, by living a life of complete dedication, utterly unselfish. In union with Christ in his total self-offering, the priest becomes one with the Head, becoming the channel of mediation between God and man, carrying up our prayers and gifts to God and bringing down God's graces and blessings to us. Like Jesus the High Priest, who " lives to make unceasing intercession for us" (Hebrews 7:25), the priest is a man of prayer, faithful to his Divine Office and leader of the praying Christian Community. The ministerial priest is minister of reconciliation, applying "the blood of Christ which cleanses our conscience from all dead works to serve the living God", (Hebrews 9:14). May all who work for the formation of ministerial priests, and all who are candidates preparing to answer the call of God to this great vocation, grow more and more in appreciating its dignity and strive to be more worthy of this priceless gift of God to the world.

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