the priest is the sacrifice

I would like to share with you my reflection this evening in connection with the year for priests and the feast of the presentation of Christ in the temple using this vespers’ reading from the letter to the Hebrews.
The letter to the Hebrews speaks of two priesthood, the Old Testament priesthood headed by the high priest, and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Though both are called priests they are not one and the same. The Old Testament priesthood is different from the priesthood of Jesus Christ or should I say the priesthood of Jesus is different from the priesthood of the order of Levites. This distinction is very important if we are to appraise our own priesthood, and the priesthood these young men are so eagerly desiring to become one day. This distinction between the two lie not on its object of reconciling men and women to God but in the differences of method in which this reconciliation is to take place.

When men or women deviate from the ways of God they commit sin. Sin separates and alienates them from God. It drives a wedge that breaks us apart from God. For this reason a sacrifice has to be offered so that sinful men and women may be purified once more and thus regain the right relationship with God. A sacrifice has to be made in order to regain our connection and our relationship with God.


In tomorrow’s gospel this process will be clearly seen. In Jewish law when a woman gives birth to a boy she becomes unclean for forty days, from December 25 to February 2 which is the fortieth day. Being unclean, the woman cannot enter the temple – the relationship with God so to say was broken because of the impurity, she was estranged by the birth of her child. On the fortieth day, February 2, Mary was required by law to restore that relationship, she was required to make her relationship with God aright and for this she must go to the temple to offer a sacrifice – two turtle doves, the offering of the poor, to be offered by priests, by levitical priests in her behalf. Only then can Mary be considered by the law and by her community as one who was reconciled and therefore one who has a right relationship with God again. The priests have to offer the sacrifice for her. And every time a woman gives birth the same process is made – every time, she has to make her relationship right with God through a sacrifice which a priest has to offer in her behalf.
In the letter to the Hebrews this was the former priesthood, the priesthood of the order of Levites, the priesthood of the Old Testament.
In the same letter it explains that this is unlike the priesthood of Jesus Christ. The difference lies in this. In the Old Testament priesthood the priest offers a sacrifice – a pair of turtle doves, or a lamb, or a bullock, whatever is prescribed by law. In the priesthood of Jesus Christ, however, he is the sacrifice. The priest is the sacrifice. That is the first difference.
Another difference lies in this. In the Old Testament priesthood the priest offers a sacrifice every time this relationship with God is broken. In the priesthood of Jesus Christ, however, he who is the sacrifice made that one sacrifice on the cross and from then on continually takes unto himself our sins so that we could be kept forever in unity with God.
As I said, if I wish to appraise my priesthood in this year of the priest in the day of the presentation of the Lord when the letter to the Hebrews is read, and if you seminarians want to know more deeply what you desire to become in the future, you have to understand it in the light of the understanding proposed by the letter to the Hebrews.
Our priesthood is not Jewish, it is not levitical, it is Christological. Our Priesthood is the priesthood of our High Priest Jesus Christ. The Jewish priesthood calls for the priest to make the sacrifice but unlike the Jewish priesthood the Christian priesthood is called to be the sacrifice. You are not jsut offering a sacrifice. No. You are the sacrifice. You are the one being offered, you are the turtle dove, you are the ram, the bullock, you are the lamb of sacrifice.
And so we ask: Is my life in the priesthood a sacrifice? Is my priesthood a sacrifice? Is my service to the people a sacrifice?
Trivia: Do you know that in the high middle ages when people go to confession they are not the only ones kneeling down for confession? Yes they knelt down before the priest. But do you know that the priest also knelt down with the penitent? The priest, the sacrifice, takes upon himself continually the sins of his people. Do you know that John Marie Vianney revealed one time to a fellow priest the secret why he was so effective in the confessional. He said, I just give them little penance and take most of this myself. I do most of their penance myself.
When I complain that I do not like my assignment, when I complain if the stipend is too small for my needs, when I even complain that the sautana is too hot to wear, when I complain that life in my parish is too hard, too demanding, has it dawned on me that I am the sacrifice?
When I could not get what I want, when I cannot agree most of the time with my parish priest or with my bishop, when I complain living with fellow priest too hard to live with, has it come upon me that I am the sacrifice?
When I crave for companionship, when loneliness settles in, when I find it too hard to obey much more to agree, when I long for money and security and find my income almost always wanting, has it occurred to me that these complaints, these deprivations, these denials, these burden is part of my priesthood, is the sacrifice?
When I have to deal with my selfishness, when I have to wrestle with my hunger for power, when I have to say no to what I want and humbly submit to what they want, when I swallow my pride, when I set aside my amor propio, when I am challenged to rise above my hatred and anger, do I take this as part of my being a priest, part of my offering in the priesthood?
When I am invited to go the extra mile and be more generous in my service especially to those who are so poor they could not repay me, do I accept this as a lamb would on the altar of sacrifice called to take away the selfishness of the world? When I am deprived of power, sidelined and ostracized, do I accept these as a bullock would on the altar of sacrifice to expiate for the sins of people who stoop so low and lie, who cheat, and maim and kill in their thirst for power? When I am disobeyed, when I am ignored, when the attention and the adulation of the people are diverted from me to my assistant priest, when I am called to swallow my pride, do I take this as a turtle dove would on the altar of sacrifice to redeem those obsessed with fame, those filled with pride, and those who in their arrogance go against the teachings of Christ?
You are the sacrifice. In our life, in our emotions, in our battered hearts and in our feeble bodies we continually take upon ourselves the sins of the world – do you take this as the very essence of our priesthood?
And you dear lay people, our parishioners in the parish of Jaro, didn’t we say that we desire to become a participatory church? To participate in what? In our priesthood. Not that you would want to usurp from us our power, not that you think you can run things better than us. A participatory church and a parish at that is first and foremost a participation in our priesthood, in my priesthood as a sacrifice. You are invited to carry part of the burden, you will be asked to endure part of the deprivation, you will suffer part of our obedience, you will bear part of our poverty, and you will be called to take part in our celibacy.
Let me propose therefore the image of the candle to end this reflection. A candle has to die out if it has to give light. A candle must slowly die and vanish if it is to brighten the darkness. This is the image of the Christian priesthood and your participation in that priesthood. In our participation in the life and mission of the church and of our priests we are called to become givers of light, givers of Christ and as we illuminate and beautify, as we restore the capacity of people to see what was left in the dark, as we give back to people the ability to see shining silver behind the muck and dust of ages past, we slowly vanish, we slowly fade away, for the candle diminishes as its light increases.