Holy Orders

One

Shared Identity

In Chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus sends His Twelve Apostles out to do what He’s been doing, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. At the end of the chapter, Jesus makes an incredibly strong statement. He says, “Whoever receives you, receives me.”

Now the apostles represent the bishops who would succeed them but in Chapter 10 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus also sends out a group of seventy disciples, who are often seen as representing his ordained priests. At the end of this chapter, Jesus again makes a very strong statement, similar to the one in Matthew. He says, “Whoever hears you hears Me, and whoever rejects you rejects Me.”

This is what happens in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, certain men are given a share in Christ’s power and are given a share in Christ’s divinity. These are our priests and our bishops.

Two

First-Person

Jesus says whoever receives you, receives me. Whoever hears you, hears me. Whoever rejects you, rejects me. In other words, Christ is present in his ordained ministers, the priests, and the bishops. It is He who acts through them.

The theology of the priesthood says that the priest and bishop act in persona Christi, in the Person of Christ, when they are exercising their ministry. They don’t exercise it in their own names or by their own power. They exercise it in Christ’s name, by Christ’s power.

Notice how, once a priest is ordained, he’ll start using the first-person pronoun when administering the sacraments. He says, “I absolve you from your sins. This is my body. This is my blood. I baptize you. Do this is memory of me.”

He’s talking in persona Christi, because it’s Christ’s identity and power that is in him, in his office, that is working these miracles of grace and salvation.

When we accept the Eucharist, or Baptism, or Absolution from the hands of the priest, we accept these gifts from Christ.

Three

Why can’t a woman be a priest? 

A sacrament is a sign that affects what it signifies. For example, Baptism must be with water. Baptism signifies cleansing. Baptism affects cleansing of the soul. Baptism “makes” the cleansing happen. If you use the wrong sign in Baptism, say motor oil, then nothing will happen The physical sign must signify what happens. The sign must correspond to what the sacrament does. 

The sacrament of Holy Orders makes Christ the Bridegroom present to His Bride, the Church. What sign represents a Bridegroom? A man. A Man is the only sign proper to the priesthood.

The importance of the sign becomes really clear in celebration of the Eucharist. John Paul II expressed this well by saying, “The Eucharist is … the sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride.” In the Mass, Christ is giving Himself to His Bride through His Body so that she may conceive the new life of the Spirit within her. If the Eucharist were performed by a woman the symbolism would be bride to bride.

Four

Shared Identity / Not Shared Impeccability

Now notice that although Jesus gave His priests a share in His power and His identity, He did not give them a share in His sinlessness. They were to be His representatives but there was no guarantee that they would always live up to His example. He gave Judas, His betrayer, a share in his priesthood. He gave Peter, who disowned Him, a share in his priesthood. He gave the other apostles and disciples, who fled from Him, a share in His priesthood. And He gave John, the beloved disciple, the pure and faithful saint, a share in his priesthood.

Throughout the Church’s history, some of the priests will be traitors to God and the faithful. Some of the priests will be cowards. And some of the priests will be saints. But as St. Thomas Aquinas says, water can flow through a lead pipe just as surely as it flows through a golden pipe. The power, the grace, and truth that have come down to us through the sacrament of holy orders, that power and grace and truth have come down to us just as surely whether or not the Church’s ordained leaders have been wicked or mediocre or saintly. Because it isn’t their power or grace or truth, it’s Christ’s power and grace and truth, acting through them. That power and grace and truth have been guaranteed by the Lord Himself.

Five

Our Attitude

So what should our attitude as faithful members of the Church be towards the hierarchy?

Very simple. We should recognize that, though the members of the hierarchy are not sinless, when they are united together in proclaiming and interpreting the Gospel, they are speaking with the voice of Christ. “Whoever hears you, hears me.” And when they give us the sacraments over which the Church is the steward, we are receiving these gifts from Christ Himself. “Whoever receives you, receives me.”

So our default attitude towards the clergy must be one of radical gratitude. Whatever their personal imperfections, or even serious defects, remember this: If there were not men who assumed the office of priest and bishop and pope, then the pipeline which carries the truth of the Gospel down to our own day would be broken. We would no longer be able to hear Christ’s voice. If there were not men who assumed the office of priest and bishop and pope, then the pipeline that carries the grace of the Sacraments down to our own day would be broken, and we would no longer be able to receive Christ in the flesh.

So thank God for our priests and bishops and pope. And thank God that he has instituted and guaranteed this permanent link to His Son, which we call the Sacrament of Holy Orders.