The invitation by Christ to the Apostles through the bishop, to share in His “cup of suffering” is extended to the priest at his ordination;
The “cup of suffering” is an invitation to share in Christ’s suffering in a unique way to the Apostles and those who succeed them in their ministry;
It is regrettable that so many think of the priesthood as the sole or ultimate expression of all the various ministries, rather than a particular vocation, a particular ministry;
The first duty of the priest is to pray; to walk with God, to become holy;
The ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant is like to but replaces the Old Covenant ministerial priesthood and Christ’s atoning Sacrifice on the Cross replaces the high priesthood;
The fruit of Christ’s redemption is eternal life, we are promised eternal life through the Eucharist;
God works through His creation like “Emmanuel” to effect salvation, the ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant is necessary to effect our salvation manifesting in our reality the high priesthood of Christ to confect the Eucharist;
St John Vianney’s teaching conveys the incarnational aspect of the ministerial priesthood;
We need to understand our true humanity to know how the ministerial priesthood can cooperate in Christ’s high priesthood;
We are “body, soul and spirit”… St John Vianney’s spiritual direction demonstrates this in pastoral application;
Confusion is prevalent in the Church today concerning the difference between “body, soul and spirit” considering the last two to be interchangeable or one and the same thing;
Vocations are compromised both priestly and otherwise due to this confusion of “soul” for “spirit”.
Today is a very special feast day for me as it is the Patronal Feast of the Oratory of St John Vianney, the priestly fraternity that I belong to. It seems wholly appropriate then to continue reflecting on the priesthood as we have these past few days.
I ended yesterday by remarking how St John Vianney was an “exemplar” of the priestly vocation. Reading the life of the Curé d’Ars (as he is also known) we notice immediately his dedication to God, like Enoch he “walked with God” on a daily basis. Like Enoch he was surrounded by sinful people, yet he obeyed and trusted in God, “… he kept clear of sin, when sinful ways were easy…” [cf Sirach 31:8-11] and he achieved great things thereby, the salvation of those he served. The teachings of St John Vianney also beautifully convey the incarnational aspect of the ministerial priesthood, “If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place.” By that he means that the priest – made in the image and likeness of God unlike the angel, is also the mediator between God and Man and again unlike the angel, has the ability to present God incarnate in the holy Eucharist. “See the power of the priest; out of a piece of bread the word of a priest makes a God. It is more than creating the world.” For those thinking this is “blasphemous” understand that a more humble man you could not have met than the Curé and allow me to explain further what he means…
I remarked to someone once expressing this incarnational teaching of the Curé another way, “If you had the choice, if the Curé himself were to appear here and I were here to hear your confession, who would you go to?” The reply, “The Curé!” “Ah,” I replied, “but the Curé would not be able to give you absolution.” Back came the stunned response, “Why not?” “Because he is dead. I am alive!” Despite all the holiness of the Curé, despite the fact that he is a Saint, he would be unable to impart God’s absolution because he is not alive! Only in this physical existence can the promise of God’s absolution promised through the Apostolic ministry [cf John 20:19-23] be realised. This simple truth is the same even for us to receive the ultimate benefit of our salvation eternal life, i.e. the Eucharist, for only “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” [cf John 6:53-54] St John Vianney again, “When the priest remits sins, he does not say, “God pardons you”; he says, “I absolve you.” At the Consecration, he does not say, “This is the Body of Our Lord;” he says, “This is My Body.”
As we noted yesterday, God works through His creation to restore it, hence why God became Man in Christ. In like fashion then, the high priesthood of Christ works through the ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant, just as under the Old Covenant the means of atonement worked through the ministerial priesthood of the Sons of Levi. The difference is, that whereas before the priesthood was patrilineal i.e. descended from a particular tribe of the chosen people of Israel, the sons of Aaron in the tribe of Levi [cf Exodus 28:1-4; Numbers 25:13], now the priesthood is called out of those who have been freed from sin, who have become by adoption “children of God” [John 1:12, 13] and have been “chosen” [John 15:16].
Obviously, as before, the stewards of God’s mysteries must themselves strive after holiness, hence the first obligation to pray – to achieve personal sanctity by walking with God, by living out a relationship with Him, by discerning His will and by offering intercession for those He loves. But how is this possible for mere men? Here we must understand our own place in the created order. Remember that we are made in the “image and likeness of God” [cf Genesis 1:26, 27], what does this mean?
In Genesis 2:7 “Jehovah God formed man with the dust of the ground.” With this act, God created man’s body. The verse continues, “And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” “Breath” is derived from the Hebrew word neshamah which, significantly, is translated “spirit” in Proverbs 20:27: “The spirit [neshamah] of man is the lamp of Jehovah.” We can thus infer, that God’s breathing into man the breath of life produced man’s spirit. Zechariah 12:1 corroborates the creation of man’s spirit by telling us that just as Jehovah stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth, He also formed the spirit of man within him. Genesis 2:7 concludes “And man became a living soul.” The soul (man’s intrinsic person) was the issue of the breath of God entering into the nostrils of the body of dust. The biblical record of the three-step creation of man clearly reveals him to be tripartite. Hebrews 4:12 “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow.”
Paul similarly describes that which makes us human, “I pray to God that your whole spirit and soul and body may be made blameless until the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1 Thess 5:23] Here The “spirit” is the highest part of man, that which assimilates him to God; renders him capable of religion, and susceptible of being acted upon by the Spirit of God. The “soul” is the inferior part of his mental nature, the seat of the passions and desires, of the natural propensities. The “body” is the corporeal frame. In other words, we are made up of our physical bodies, our soul (psyche) is what interprets our sense sensations experienced by our bodies and our spirit is that which makes us alive and aware and enables us to rationalise above our senses; the spirit is what makes us of God who is Spirit. Essentially then we are “tripartite” beings i.e. spirit, soul, and body in order to enable us to contact and live within the spiritual, psychological and physical realms, respectively.
Firstly, with his human spirit, man can worship God, serve God, and know God intuitively. Second, the soul is that part which forms the personality of man and enables him to contact and function within the psychological realm. Finally, the physical body with its five senses enables man to relate to and communicate with the physical world. In our own time “soul” and “spirit” have become regarded as interchangeable, understandable in the sense that neither seem sense perceptible or rather physically experiential. But the fact that we are able to interpret what we experience through our senses betrays our soul, we might call it our “mind”, our “will”. But our spiritual intellect enables us to rationalise above our sense experience, our spiritual intuition has the capacity to know and discern apart from human reason or circumstantial experience.
With regard then to the possibility of men acting as mediators between God and men, between heaven and earth? Let us recall St John Vianney’s point above. Unlike the angels who are only spiritual beings, and animals who are only physical beings, the unique tripartite nature of man enables him to experience both spiritual and material things. Not only that, but man can effectand affect both spiritual and material things, he is imago mundi a microcosm of the universe itself, a mini-model of creation and god-like; the only other being in the universe able to manipulate the spiritual and the material world is, God. Man can spiritualise the material and materialise the spiritual. He is in every way a mediator.
If we recall the observation that St John Vianney could “read into men’s souls” we might understand that he could intuitively understand another person’s passions and lusts, he recognised the predilections that were preventing them from developing their spiritual intellect and he became famous for accurate diagnosis betrayed by the penances and spiritual direction that he gave those who sought him out (20’000 pilgrims per annum by the time of his death). Here the Curé demonstrates what can be achieved by a man completely self-aware to all that he is as God created him. Who pursues holiness of life by walking daily with God, a man of prayer uniting his will with God’s in the discernment of God’s will and purpose for his life. A man who can be truly a mediator between God and men, communicating with both and enabling the latter to realise for themselves all that God desires them to be. “The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you.” Curé d’Ars
I remarked before how the priesthood is in danger from the process of emasculation that is currently prevalent in all areas of the Church. Through the contemporary mindset that confuses soul and spirit as one and interchangeable, humanity is losing sight and realisation of itself. “Me, myself and I” the motto of the ego is left to interpret everything subjectively, employing only the bodily senses to make sense of the world, regarding only physical empirical evidence as “proof”. The spirit is still visible though, the realisation of spiritual intellect is still discernible in forms of art, music, painting and even in science and technology, in the materialisation of ideas onto paper into buildings and physical structures… but no more is this recognised as “of the spirit” but simply of the “soul” driven by passions and lusts and sensuality. Even higher aspirations such as “equality” are driven by the selfish desire of souls wanting to give freedom to the expression of their passions, which is why objective reason and debate are no more and subjective reasoning and impassioned belligerency are the modus operandi of campaigners.
Within the Church itself, this confusion has resulted in a situation where few are properly catechised and have been left to the “whims and fancies” of new doctrines derived from secular ideologies and principles that are in fact fundamentally at odds with the very nature of the created order itself. As Paul prophesied, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” [2 Tim 4:3-4] Through the general propensity of contemporary theologians jettisoning the wisdom of past ages to replace it with their own subjective hypothesises attempting to blend the Gospel with the fast-paced Zeitgeist of the secular world, Christianity itself is losing sight of the true reality of the created order. Ironically, in an attempt to appeal to the souls of men, they have compromised the awareness of spiritual intellect! As a result the same is true of spiritual directors, theology schools and most of the institutions responsible for the formation of priests.
To concludes today’s reflection, a sage quote from the Curé, “When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.” Sadly, in part deliberately, in part through ignorance, the contemporary Church is realising this end as people forget what their own true nature is about, so vocations of all kinds are impoverished and the priesthood affected… (more soon…)
Continuing my reflections from my retreat… Yesterday I reflected on how the invitation by Christ to the Apostles, “…Are you able to drink the cup that I drink…?” [Mark 10:35-40; Matthew 20:20-23] is shared by bishops in the continuation of that same Apostolic ministry, and in turn is asked by them of those about to be ordained priests. Then I remarked how the true nature of priesthood is masked today by a lack of understanding generally about its character and purpose, such that many are in fact emasculating it and in so doing distorting God’s will and purpose for many in the realisation of other vocations.
The first question I ask most candidates for priesthood is, “What is the first duty of the priest?” By which I mean, what is his purpose, what is his first obligation? The answer is always “to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass” often accompanied with a smile or sometimes a quizzical look as if the question is odd! “No,” I always reply, “the first duty of the priest is to pray. It is the same for any Christian.” For a priest is a “mediator” between God and human beings, he is one who offers sacrifices and intercedes for the people. The first of the Ten Commandments is “You shall have no other gods before me” [Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7] and of the Summary of the Law, Our Lord says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” [Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27] So it is then that the priest in fulfilment of the Law needs must express obedience to this command if he is to be an effective mediator with God, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” [Heb 11:6] The priest must offer in true charity first that worship of almighty God that is the chief expression of recognising God as the source and summit of all our being, a sacrifice of prayer and praise to the Divine, to Him “from whom all good things come.” [cf James 1:17]
Now notice the statement “must believe that He is” it means of a stronger faith than the mere assent to God’s existence. This statement in verse 6 follows on the heels of an illustration in Genesis regarding Enoch. Only a short sentence, “Enoch walked faithfully with God,” in Genesis 5:22 and repeated in Genesis 5:24 reveals why he was so special to his God. For God was an every day reality to him. It is the kind of faith that those who have it will seek God out. That is the kind of faith that Enoch had. People who really believe that “God is”, they seek Him out. They search Him out. That has to include talking to Him. The priest has to truly believe in and walk with, God.
So “seeking God” means that one approaches nearer to God, seeks Him, or he walks with Him. It signifies fellowship with Him. The Bible shows three stages of coming to God. The first is at God’s calling when one begins to draw near. It results in justification and the imputing of Christ’s righteousness. It occurs when one discerns and answers both the general call of God i.e. to humanity to have a relationship with Him, and the particular calling of God i.e. the fulfilment of His will and purpose and the raison d’être of the specific individual. The second is more continuous, occurring during sanctification, as a person seeks to be like God, conform to His image, and have His laws written, engraved, into his character. This is expressed by the committing of oneself to the ongoing discernment of His will and purpose. The third stage occurs at the general resurrection of the dead when the individual is glorified. The whole point of the preceding process, i.e. to become holy, to become transfigured, to become worthy of eternal life with God.
It is for this reason that the Church binds upon all her Sacred Ministers in major Orders the obligation to recite the Divine Office or “Prayer of the Church” to sanctify the day and all human activity. Why? From all eternity the Godhead was praised with ineffable praise by the Trinity itself, the three divine Persons as an expression of true and Divine Charity. From the first moment of creation the choirs of angels sang God’s praises, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” [Isaias 6: 3]. Adam and Eve had “created in them the knowledge of the Spirit of God that they might praise the name which He has sanctified and glory in His wondrous acts” [Ecclesiasticus 17: 6-8] So then, a priest who loves God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength will be first and foremost a man of prayer, he will walk daily with God, he will offer prayer not only for himself as an expression of his own faith but also on behalf of those he is called to serve in emulation of Christ Himself.
As Fr E Quigley writes in his study of the Roman Breviary, “The Divine Office”: ‘In the New Law our Saviour is the model of prayer, the true adorer of His Father. He alone can truly worthily adore and praise because He alone has the necessary perfection. Night and day He set example to His followers. He warned them to watch and pray; He taught them how to pray; He gave them a form of prayer; He prayed in life and at death. His apostles, trained in the practices of the synagogue, were perfected by the example and the exhortations of Christ. This teaching and example are shown in effect when the assembled apostles were “at the third hour of the day” praying [Acts 2: 15]; when about the sixth hour Peter went to pray [Acts 10: 9]. In the Acts of Apostles we see how Peter and John went at the ninth hour to the temple to pray. St. Paul in prison sang God’s praises at midnight, and he insists on his converts singing in their assembly psalms and hymns [Eph 5: 19; Col. 3: 16; I Cor. 14: 26].’
Now most people appreciate that a priest therefore should be “a man of prayer” but key to understanding the particular role and purpose of the priesthood requires us to be familiar with the Old Covenant, for Our Lord says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” [Matt 5:17] Now remember that we lost our corporeal immortality which God had first intended for us when He made the world, through the disobedience of Adam and Eve and so sin necessitates our salvation and affects our reconciliation with God. When we say “the resurrection of the body” in the Creed we are expressing the desire for complete reconciliation with God, the restoration of creation with Him, so that we may regain that corporeal immortality originally intended for us.
In the Old Testament, God institutes both a general priesthood and a ministerial priesthood; God made his people “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” [Ex 19:6; cf. Isa 61:6] and within the twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of Levi was chosen to be set apart for the liturgical service of offering sacrifice as priests [cf. Num 1:48-53; Josh 13:33]. The ancient Jewish priesthood which functioned at the temple in Jerusalem offered animal sacrifices at various times throughout the year for a variety of reasons, but in every generation, one priest would be singled out to perform the functions of the high priest (Hebrew kohen gadol). His primary task was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) service, its central themes are atonement and repentance. The Other unique task of the high priest included the offering of a daily meal sacrifice.
God promised on the Day of Atonement to cleanse His people from all of their sins. It is this distinguishing feature that made this Day unique. “For on this Day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before the LORD” [Leviticus 16:30]. God had redeemed His people; He subsequently required them to be cleansed from their sin. Leviticus 16 describes the most complex yearly ritual for the purification and riddance of sin in all of Scripture. On this day referred to in Leviticus 16:30 God permitted Israel’s high priest to enter into the Holy of Holies. He allowed entrance into His holy presence only one day during the calendar year. If anyone other than the high priest entered, or if anyone attempted to enter His immediate presence at any other time, they were killed as in the case of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. [Leviticus 16:1 refers to the incident in Leviticus 10:1-7]
In the New Testament, we find Peter referring to a priesthood of all believers, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” [1 Peter 2:9] We also find Paul describes those enjoined in the Apostles’ ministry, “… as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.” [1 Cor 4:1] So here we see by comparison the fulfilment of the old Law of the Old Covenant in the New… So what of the high priest and the “Day of Atonement”? Here of course we come to the very crux of our faith, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is the Eternal High Priest who offered Himself on the Cross as the true Paschal Lamb and Unblemished Victim for our redemption in one atoning sacrifice of Himself upon the Cross; on “The” Day of Atonement. The New Testament depicts Jesus as the “great high priest” of the New Covenant who, instead of offering the ritual animal sacrifices prescribed by the Jewish Law, offers Himself on the cross as the true and perfect atoning sacrifice.
So then, the New Testament says that as high priest, Jesus has made the Church “a kingdom of priests for his God and Father.” [Rev 1:6; cf. Rev 5:9-10; 1 Pet 2:5,9] All who are baptised are given a share in the priesthood of Christ; that is, they are conformed to Christ and made capable of offering true worship and praise to God as Christians “to offer up spiritual sacrifices” [1 Peter 2:5]. “The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly.” [Catechism of the Catholic Church #1546] So then the ministerial priesthood is properly understood to be at the service of the ‘priesthood of all believers’. As St Gregory the Great might put it, speaking as he was of his own ministry as a bishop, to be a “servant of the servants of God”. To be “stewards of the mysteries” and ultimately to both represent Christ and re-present Him in His atoning sacrifice, the Eucharist.
Remembering then that our faith is ultimately about the forgiveness of sin, so that we might have eternal life with God, let us recall how the fruits of Christ’s redemption are to be realised. How are we to receive the eternal life, won for us by Him? How, especially when our high priest has “passed into the heavens” Hebrews [4:14]? It is of course at this point that the need for a ministerial priesthood becomes evident. “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” [John 6:53-54] The ultimate benefit of our salvation in Christ is the restoration of creation with God – the regaining of our corporeal immortality as God had originally intended. We see how our faith is “incarnational” – God made Man in Christ restores the physical material creation to the Creator by atoning completely for sin which had prevented the realisation of God’s desire for us, to be with Him for eternity. How then are we to receive eternal life except by incarnational means!
So it is then that, that as before, God uses His creation to effect His supreme love for us and desire for us to be with Him forever. Here then is where the ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant comes in. In order for the words of Christ to be made true [cf John 6:53] we need to receive as physical persons that physical reality of the Eucharist, of the flesh and blood of the Son of Man. The Catholic priesthood then is a share in the priesthood of Christ and traces its historical origins to the Twelve Apostles appointed by Christ at the Last Supper who were commanded to “do this in memory of me.”
Tomorrow is the feast of St John Vianney, a more perfect example of priestly dedication and service by a man we would be hard pushed to find, one who understood intimately this incarnational need for the ministerial priesthood…
A.M.D.G. In Transfiguratione Domini Nostri Jesu Christi
Carissimi,
Continuing from yesterday, a sharing of my reflections whilst on retreat last month…
July, like all the months of the year, is traditionally dedicated to a particular devotion. July is dedicated to the “Precious Blood” recalling the blood spilt in sacrifice by Christ upon the Cross. These devotional titles are to encourage us to reflect on aspects of the Incarnation, particularly on how our redemption was affected thereby, through Christ’s, “Emmanuel’s” (God-made-man’s) own blood. For me this year, this month in my personal reflections recalled to mind the Sons of Zebedee [cf Mark 3:17], “… You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink…?” [Mark 10:35-40; Matthew 20:20-23]
I am ever conscious as a bishop that this “bitter cup” is also “my portion and my cup” [Psalm 16:5-11] for what and who am I but an apostle like those blessed Apostles sent by Christ who founded the Church and thus called to share like them in all things? St. Clement in the first century explicitly states that the Apostles appointed bishops as successors of their ministry and St. Irenaeus and Tertullian testify similarly in the second century what had become the tradition of the Church [St Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians 42:4–5, 44:1–3 A.D. 80; St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., III, 3, 1; cf. Tertullian, De Praescr., 20, 4-8: PL 2, 32] and the book of Acts itself describes too this sharing and handing on of responsibility in the appointment of overseers and presbyters for the Church [cf Acts 13:2-3; Acts 20:28] and Paul [cf 1 Tim 5:17; Gal 2:9] who of course adds to Timothy, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables. But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.” [2 Tim 4:1-5] Tradition tells us that James, son of Zebedee was the first of the Apostles to suffer martyrdom, as recorded in Acts 12:2; he tasted first, as would all the Apostles, that “bitter cup” [his brother, John the Evangelist, would be the last of the Twelve literally to “taste” it too, but be initially spared his life, to be imprisoned and later retire to Ephesus].
So what is this “bitter cup”? None other than the “chalice of our salvation” (Ps 116:13). This cup was so awful that Jesus prayed three times, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me” [Mat 26:39,42,44]. Even though the cup was bitter beyond description, and too dreadful to fully express, yet Jesus resolutely determined to drink it [Luke 22:42] in anguish sweating blood [Luke 22:44], knowing that it was the appointed prelude to glory. Therefore, when Peter sought to defend Him in the garden, Jesus said to him, “Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” [John 18:11]. The triumph of Jesus’ Resurrection was to be accomplished only by drinking “the cup of trembling,” or “cup of His wrath” [Isa 51:17,22; Zech 12:2]. In drinking from this cup, Jesus would absorb the shock of the curse of God [Gal 3:13] i.e that is the due penalty of sin. He would “taste death” [Heb 2:9] in a way impossible for any one of us.
It was a cup from which all of the wicked were originally destined to drink, and was described by the Psalmist, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.” [Ps 75:8]. Thus the cup Jesus was to drink was associated with Divine wrath, with the judgement of sin and the cursing of sinners, Jeremiah referred to such a cup as “this cup of the wine of wrath” [Jer 25:15]. Jesus asks James and John (the Sons of Zebedee) if they are able to drink “of the cup” that He will drink of. He does not ask them if they will be able to drink of a cup like His cup, but from His cup.
Thus Our Lord is referring to the portion of sufferings that He will leave behind that the Apostles in their turn must endure, as Paul says “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” [Col 1:24] Though unlike the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, these sufferings are not redemptive of themselves, but they will be difficult to bear for His followers and nonetheless may be counted towards salvation, if not directly of the world but in conjunction with His suffering for the world, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” [Matt 10:22] For “Whoever listens to you listens to me…” [Lk 10:16] Thus those whom He had called to be His Apostles and who in their turn have chosen successors in their apostolic charge, share in this same invitation to participate with Christ in the salvation of the world, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…” [cf John 15:16]
“The cup” is presented by the bishop to the new priest during his ordination…
So my personal reflections have dwelt much upon the significance of this invitation, this sharing in the Apostolic ministry which includes the “bitter cup” to which I am enjoined by my episcopal consecration and into which I will bring those to be ordained to share-in, with me, as co-workers (presbyters, deacons) after the manner of the Apostles. Most especially those whom I will ordain as priests who will offer the Sacrifice of the Mass wherein they especially will taste, after a manner, this “cup of salvation”, this “cup of trembling” and this “cup of wrath” for as St Paul says “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” [I Cor 11:26]. While many Christians may be called to suffering, not all are called and chosen to share in this particular way.
Here we begin to touch upon the very real nature of priesthood, an element I am afraid is not much thought about any more in our contemporary rationalist world and of which I am sorry to say (for those who may find it disagreeable) the modern Rite(s) of the Mass fail miserably to convey; the true incarnational character of the priesthood. Reflecting today personally on the feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord brought home to me again the very real import and unique character of the priesthood. By this (and what follows in my sharing of thoughts) I do not mean to assert a form of “clericalism” about the Sacred Ministry, there are many complimentary ministries as St Paul says [cf I Corinthians 12. 2-11] that contribute invaluably to the whole process of theosis, i.e. divinisation through the Church of our humanity; but each of them has a peculiarly unique character.
It is, I feel, a great pity in our time that the Sacred Ministry has come to be perceived as the sole or ultimate expression of all the various ministries, rather than a particular vocation, a particular ministry. I can’t help but wonder if that is why so many have failed to prove themselves as priests, who perhaps may actually have been called to another form of ministry altogether? I also think its why so many inappropriate “ministries” have been invented that emasculate the priesthood in an attempt to fashion from it, in an attempt to reclaim by extension some kind of ministry? For example, “Eucharistic Ministers” – surely only consecrated hands that can consecrate, should handle the consecrated species? Surely, if there is a priest there to say Mass, shouldn’t he distribute the Communion? All too often, that which was permitted to be used “in extremis” i.e. in grave or extreme circumstances, has come to be “the norm” and with it has brought demands that have enabled or clamour for further malpractice. It is a shame that time has aggregated to the priesthood additional ministries that properly belong separately from it, or may be exercised by others in cooperation with it, which have clouded its true nature and purpose.
This clouding of the true nature, character and purpose of the priesthood has brought about a very real danger to the Church as a whole. Potentially there are priestly vocations being missed! Potentially there are vocations to other ministries being missed! Potentially the Church (as institution) is not realising fully all the benefits of God’s Grace as His chosen one’s are failing to realise their true, unique, individual vocations! As I often say in my homilies, we are each uniquely called by God and endowed by Him with gifts, talents, abilities for a specific purpose of His. We were all willed by Him into existence for some purpose known only to Him [cf Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:16] and shared sparingly with us, that in discerning His purpose for ourselves and in the process humbling our will to His, we may realise both in this life and for eternity that true “peace” for the soul “which the world cannot give” [cf Philippians 4:7] but which we are invited to receive in following Jesus [John 14:27] who tells us, like He did to Peter, James and John on Mount Tabor, “noli timere” – be not afraid… words that those preparing for ordination should continually hold in their hearts as they begin to realise the uniqueness of their particular vocation… Of which more tomorrow!
My thoughts are currently preoccupied with the upcoming ordinations fast approaching this Michaelmastide (actually, just prior, on St Matthew’s day) and the need to prepare particularly the deacons to be priested on this occasion. It happens to be a significant anniversary for me too, personally, and having just completed the first year of my episcopate last May, I have been somewhat distracted of late and in an almost paralysingly reflective mood.
Belmont Abbey
At the beginning of JulyI spent some time in quiet reflection at Belmont Abbey and just last week at Sarum College in the Cathedral Close at Salisbury. I was joined on both occasions and indeed was blessed to have the company of friends, also to realise acquaintances and establish new relationships. I was also blessed to be able to share in the daily round of Office and Mass with Benedictines, at Belmont Abbey obviously, also at the recently founded Howton Grove Priory (a Convent and the home of digitalnun) and in Salisbury with another recently established Priory, the new home of the monks formerly of Elmore Abbey. Additionally in Salisbury there was the added delight (though if somewhat soporific after a long day of walking, talking and reflecting) of Cathedral Evensong, sung by a most proficient choir (in place of the Cathedral’s own who were away), enabling me to drift and pray in the midst of music by Richard Ayleward, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Herbert Howellsand the master, Thomas Tallis (of whom David Starkey’s current series on the BBC provided an accurate and balanced portrayal).
Salisbury Cathedral
It was rather an auspicious time to have visited both houses of monks respectively, Belmont was just about to host the General Chapter of the English Benedictine Congregation and the Priory at Salisbury had just been visited by one of its more famous oblates, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby! It had also transpired that the Abbot of Belmont had trained in Rome with an episcopal colleague (my equivalent as Metropolitan in the USA) back in the 70’s. I was also able to celebrate American Independence Day with the newest member of the community at Howton Grove too, a postulant from America!
There were many highlights to my experiences during this time away, not least of course sharing in the faith journeys and experiences of those in whose company I was in, whether my particular companions for the duration or some of the people I met. Just like a pilgrimage, visiting holy places even on retreat always involves others, reminding us that we experience the spiritual life, just like the material life, not in isolation but in company with others. There were naturally times spent in solitary, important times for reflection and prayer, but at meal times, communal prayer times and in socialising there too the incarnational aspects of our relationship with God and each other were made plain and the Lord still seemed “to speak” to me. As is so often the case, there is “nothing new under the sun” and just as when we re-read a portion of Scripture and find hidden or deeper meaning, so too in the interaction with others discussing faith we can find different insights and perspectives on very similar experiences. Though we experience life very much subjectively and as individuals, yet often the scenarios and circumstances are not so unique.
It can be easy for anyone to feel that their particular experience of this life is completely unique, but one of the wonders of the Catholic Faith is the knowledge that numerous saints before have gone through something of whatever it is we think we are uniquely experiencing now. I have often found it a great comfort to know that somewhere a saint in light, one of the blessed who has gone before, knows something of what it is I am feeling. Particularly for me, those who also shared in the burden of the priestly office, and now after this “first year of our episcopate”, most especially those who were burdened as I am with the weight of the “summum sacerdotium” (fullness of the priesthood). I can honestly say, and I certainly don’t mean impiously, that I can still to this day feel the weight of the Book of the Gospels that rested upon my shoulders during the Rite of Consecration.
However, sharing in the faith stories of others and reflecting on my own, I was buoyed to recognise the presence of God in other’s lives and thus also in my own. True, my companions and I spoke much as if our conversations would put the very world “to rights” but even in our commiserating, there were definite signs of God’s presence and through our discourse we were able to awaken each other to His presence. Each conversation then resulted with a positive disposition to continue to strive and to hold one another in prayer to that end!
My time was spent with fellow Catholics – Roman and Anglican and despite some perceptible cultural differences, I was truly in the company of likeminded people. True, there was much variance perceptible between members even of the same denomination, reminding me that even among the people of God, our many and various individual perceptions and experiences can yet coalesce into a greater whole. This provided me with some comfort, for even though consecrated to one particular portion of the flock, I cannot help but feel my ministry as a contemporary Apostle is for the whole Church, for there is but “one Lord, one faith and one baptism” [Ephesians 4:5] and irrespective of our circumstances there is but “one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”.
I am not making any claim to a “universal jurisdiction” here, but rather the knowledge that I was consecrated and set apart by God for His people, irrespective of jurisdiction. I thus can’t help but feel some responsibility, some concern for the spiritual welfare of other Christians irrespective of denomination. Clearly, the company I was with, despite our different circumstances, some appreciably difficult as well as different, yet our spiritual and doctrinal commonality in expression of the Faith proved under it all our unity. That I drew some comfort from, even if ironically it was proof that no matter which side of the fence, the grass is neither greener nor necessarily healthier!
I wrote at the beginning though that my thoughts have been primarily taken up with the upcoming ordinations, so more of that in part II…
A.M.D.G.
S. Petri ad Vincula Commemoratio: Ss. Martyrum Machabaeorum
Carissimi,
“… the Angel of the Lord…” How wonderful it is sometimes to discover whilst visiting foreign parts that the Angelus is still rung and how unifying the Catholic Faith is that we share! That despite being in a different place and often time-zone, that same Faith is expressed in ringing symbols uniting one with Christians throughout the ages who knew that sound, that symbol, that Faith which the Angelus bell proclaims?!
It’s all about “hallowing the day to day life” of our humanity as Christians with the mystery and significance of the Incarnation. It reminds us of the reconciliation of Creation with the Godhead through Jesus Christ that is not immediately obvious to and easily forgotten by us, disguised as it is by our fallen condition i.e. sin (particularly pride/vanity); but in these signs and symbols utilising blessed material objects and actions, it is presented and reminded to us. The sonority of the bells, whether harmonious or clapped(!) alert us to the central mystery of our Faith and its purpose. They call us to prayer, to reflection, to the remembrance of our citizenship of Heaven over our worldly existence.
They also proclaim Jesus Christ as King, however irksome or disconcerting their sonorous interruption to our day might be. They wake us up out of the mundane and recall to mind the consideration of Heaven! The three bells remind us of the Trinity; the nine bells remind us for each three groupings of each person of the Trinity; the final bells… nine is also superfluous to seven, reminding us of the infinite graces from God poured out towards us in the Incarnation.
The Angelus is rung traditionally at 6am, Noon and 6pm. The Angelus often begins morning Mass whether 6am or otherwise because it recalls the Incarnation we are about to behold in the mysteries of the Mass re the Blessed Sacrament to be confected. Also, in this way is the “third hour” commemorated and our minds drawn to reflect on the possibility of the “Second Coming” that we are “watchful” and “waiting” for The Lord when He comes… day or night. Noon of course is observed and generally 6pm at the beginning/end of Vespers. Thus three times during the day do we remember the “Golden Legend” i.e. the “Annunciation” of the “Incarnation” (“Golden Legend” because the illuminated manuscripts of the monks used gold to record/highlight the account of the Annunciation in the illuminated Gospel books); r
eminding us of the ‘humility in charity’ of the Triune Godhead who in the second Person of Jesus Christ in cooperation with the Holy Ghost at the Will of God the Father, humbled Himself to share in our humanity, that we might become one with Him and share in His Divinity.
The devotion employs the “Angelic greeting” (sometimes called the “Angelic Salutation”) which are the words of the Archangel Gabriel to Our Lady, “Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and is blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” This prayer is recited three times after each versicle and response, recalling the “Annunciation”, the “submission of Mary” to God’s will and the “Incarnation”.
Incidentally, church bells are also “baptised” and “chrismated” [with oil, “confirmed”, if you will] and traditionally named at their “baptism” like “Big Ben” at Westminster and “Big Peter” at Yorkminster! Of course, bells were not really Baptised (the sacrament is reserved for people), but the rite bore many similarities to the sacrament: the bells were exorcised, washed with holy water, anointed with the holy oil of the sick (outside) and chrism (inside). In some places, they even had a sort of godfather. The bishop prayed that ‘at their sound let all evil spirits be driven afar; let thunder and lightning, hail and storm be banished; let the power of Thy hand put down the evil powers of the air, causing them to tremble at the sound of these bells, and to flee at the sight of the holy cross engraved thereon’ – a rather beautiful sacramental!
Catholicism is all about realising the reconciliation of God’s Creation in Christ. Anything “blessed” is made “holy” to be used for His purpose, literally realising the reconciliation of all things in Christ, the “Second Adam”. So that, though it be manmade or natural, by blessing it is “made new” which is why Holy Water is usually used to bless things, signifying the graces and benefits of Baptism instituted and made efficacious through Jesus Christ, the Incarnation etc. so things are “baptised” by Holy Water like a kind of Baptism that we as persons receive. So that which was made “unholy” by sin is made “holy” by the invocation of the Christ… the “logos”…the “ruach”…the “Word”… etc
So it is devotional and an act of worship, recalling to our minds the Trinity and the Incarnation. It is instructional as it reminds us of the meaning of the Incarnation, that we like Mary should humble ourselves to the Will of God that the significance and purpose of the Incarnation may be realised in us (the divinisation of humanity). And it is prophetically practical, drawing us to remember that we should be “ready” always to greet The Lord whenever He should come.
“…God’s granny” is the affectionate colloquial term used by devotee’s of today’s saint, St Anne and follows a certain, perhaps over familial but logical consequence resulting from the decree of the Council of Ephesus in 431 of Mary as “Theotokos” i.e. the “Mother of God”. If Mary is “Mother of God” than the mother of Mary must be “God’s grandmother”!
According to the Protoevangelium of James (Christians whose tradition is only five hundred years old won’t be familiar with this work) generally attributed by scholarly consensus to the second century, the parents of Mary were Anna (anglicised to Anne) and Joachim. Though other members of Mary’s family are mentioned in the canonical Gospels, (e.g. her cousin, Elizabeth Lk 1:36, 39-40) the early date of the Protoevangelium of James and the fact that Mary was well known among the early Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 1:14), has generally lent some authenticity to this tradition concerning Mary’s parentage and childhood and the work was very nearly included in the later codified New Testament canon (mid-4th Century).
Though the idea of “God’s granny” may perhaps be a little too “cutesy” for some, and the concept of God having a grandmother too difficult for others to comprehend without the “Incarnationis Mysterium”, the tradition has helped many saints over the centuries develop a personal affinity to Our Lord through His earthly holy family. Afterall, we can relate to and more easily appreciate those things about which we are ourselves familiar, and the notion of family is certainly something the majority of us can relate to (sadly, even if our families themselves have been lacking in cohesiveness let alone holiness). Afterall, are we not by virtue of our baptisms, called “children of God” (John 1:11-13), “sharers in the Divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), “co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:14-17)?
All this refers to our “divinisation” which was the purpose of a) our existence and b) our salvation through Christ. For we are (humanity was) created by God to “know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him forever in the next” as our Penny Catechism once taught us. Though “made in the image and likeness of God” we lost our corporeal immortality which God had first intended for us when He made the world, through the disobedience of Adam and Eve and so sin, which is a “deliberative will” (θέλημα γνωμικόν) in opposition to the “natural will” (θέλημα φυσικόν) created by God, necessitates our salvation and affects our reconciliation with God. As St. Justin Martyr tells us “[Men] were made like God, free from suffering and death, provided that they kept His commandments, and were deemed deserving of the name of His sons, and yet they, becoming like Adam and Eve, work out death for themselves; let the interpretation of the Psalm be held just as you wish, yet thereby it is demonstrated that all men are deemed worthy of becoming “gods,” and of having power to become sons of the Highest.” [“the Psalm”, 82:1-7] But as the Penny Catechism says, “Our Saviour suffered to atone for our sins, and to purchase for us eternal life.” The manifestation of God’s love for us in Christ through His salvation on the Cross not only “restores” creation but “reconciles” us spiritually to God our Father, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are!” (1 John 3:1) and ultimately restores our corporeal immortality (i.e. “the resurrection of the body”) for the “life of the world to come” (the Creed) as the apostle Paul declares: “If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Cor. 15:13–18).
As various of the Church Fathers attest, the Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”: St. Irenaeus of Lyons “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” St. Athanasius of Alexandria “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” St. Clement of Alexandria “The Word of God became man, that thou mayest learn from man how man may become God.” St. Cyril of Alexandria says that humankind “are called ‘temples of God’ and indeed ‘gods’, and so we are.” St. Gregory of Nazianzus implores humankind to “become gods for (God’s) sake, since (God) became man for our sake.” St. Basil of Caesarea stated that “becoming a god is the highest goal of all.” and St. Thomas Aquinas “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”
So this title of affection for the “mother of the Mother of God”, reminds us that our Christian faith is “incarnational” i.e. focusing on Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, God made man, who humbled Himself to share in our humanity (Phil. 2:8). It reminds us that Jesus was human – as we are – and as a human He had a family – just as we do. The great claim of our Faith is that Jesus was not just a man but was also God and that we too may become like Him. One of the great differences between the Christian Faith and other religions is that God in Christ interacted deliberately in our existence, in our timeline; that God is not “remote” and “aloof” and “disdainful” of His creation but rather so loves what He created that He desires us to be one with Him (cf John 3:16) and became one of us. Jesus was a real person, situated in a particular time and place and social environment, as various independent and objective historical sources aside from the sacred writings of the Christians of the Apostolic era attest. The remembrance then of “God’s granny” reminds us of this incarnational truth about Jesus and that we too are indeed God’s children through His baptism, and thus have “received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)
As the “family” of God then, united as we are to Jesus through our baptism and to the saints who’ve gone before us in the “communion of saints”, let us “keep the feast” and honour another who, like us, was created to serve and love God and in so doing played her part in the history of the world’s salvation. For those of us with fond affection for our own grandmother’s, let us take inspiration in the knowledge of the love that Jesus must surely have had for His grandmother and in like fashion, and in obedience to His Divine Will, let us so honour our own grandparents as we do our parents and ultimately our Father in heaven. That we may each play our part in the salvation of the world, through loving discernment and respectful acquiescence of our own individual vocations to realise God’s desire for us to live in love and union with Him for eternity.
Why write? After some considerable thought and prayer, I have finally come to consider it appropriate to throw my own opinions about things into the general me-lee that is the “blogosphere” on the internet. I have over the years explored the possibility and this is not my first blog… I already edit two others but both have an agenda into which my own opinions are not necessarily nor immediately equitable. One of the blogs is primarily for my pastoral ministry and the other is a news site that should be just informative. This blog however, I intend to be the expression of my own personal opinions and to some extent a “personal” journal, a diary of sorts, recording events in my life as well as my ministry.
I can’t promise to be terribly faithful to this endeavour… part of the reason why I haven’t “blogged” in this way before is that I find time difficult to commit to entirely original writing! There are a “million and one” calls on my time, but I hope to justify time spent on this as an extension to some extent of my personal ministry, even my spirituality; I often advocate the writing of a journal for those I direct spiritually or formatively. I think certainly that some of my clergy and faithful will be interested, if only out of curiosity to read about what I’ve been up to or indeed, what I really think about some things!
I recall a letter of the Fifth century bishop of Ptolemaïs, Synesius of Cyrene (circa 409AD) to his brother;
“Consider the situation. All my days are divided between study and recreation. In my hours of work, above all when I am occupied with divine matters, I withdraw into myself. In my leisure hours I give myself up to my friends. For you know that when I look up from my books, I like to enter into every sort of sport. I do not share in the political turn of mind, either by nature nor in my pursuits. But the bishop should be a man above human weaknesses. He should be a stranger to every sort of diversion, even as God Himself. A thousand eyes are keeping watch on him to see that he justifies his mission. He is of little or no use unless he is proved and circumspect in character and unyielding towards any pleasure. In carrying out his holy office he should withdraw into himself, but give himself up to all men. He is a teacher of the law, and must utter that which is approved by law. In addition to all this, he has many calls upon him as all the rest of the world put together, for the affairs of all he alone must attend to, or incur the reproaches of all. Now, unless he has a great and noble soul, how can he sustain the weight of so many cares without his intellect being submerged? How can he keep the divine part unquenched within him when such varied duties claim him on every side?”
I confess that now in the “second year of our episcopate” I feel well the sentiments expressed by my colleague fifteen centuries ago! Though the world has advanced in so many ways and everyday life is vastly different from that my erstwhile brother in the episcopate experienced, even so, human nature is the same and I completely empathise with his expressed doubts about self-worth for such an office as bishop. I hope by my writing here that on occasion perhaps sharing such feelings will engender greater confidence, so conversely does the spiritual life appear to work? I also hope it may help occasionally to clear up the suppressio veri as well as the suggestio falsi that sometimes one feels encumbered by; it’s enough trying to be aware of one’s own faults without others judging too! Ah, “mysterium iniquitatis”! I pray so and beg you of your charity for your prayers that it may be so, for each other. Most especially on this feast of St James the Greater who’s mother asked a high favour of the Lord, but who yet became the first of the holy Apostles to be honoured by sharing in that “cup of our salvation” (cf Mtt 20: 20-23).
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