Episode Transcript  

One

Shared Identity

Scripture teaches that God’s plan is to make us share in the divine nature. In other words, God allows us to participate in His own divine life so that we can cooperate in His saving work. This truth is seen with particular clarity in the priesthood. Jesus Christ is the one eternal High Priest, there is no other. In the sacrament of Holy Orders, Christ takes a baptized man into Himself and allows him to share in His one priesthood, so that Christ may continue His priestly work on earth, giving divine life to us through Baptism, Confession, and the Eucharist. This is a profound example of what the Church means by participation.

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. And at the end of the chapter, Jesus makes an incredibly strong statement. He says, “Whoever receives you, receives me.”

This is what happens in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Certain men who share in God’s being through Baptism are then given a share in His saving activity in Holy Orders. These are our bishops and priests.

Two

First-Person

Jesus says whoever receives you, receives me. In other words, Christ is present in His ordained ministers, the bishops and the priests. And it is He who acts through them. The theology of the priesthood says that the bishop and priests 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 the priest speaks using the first-person pronoun when administering the sacraments: “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. And when we accept the Eucharist, or Baptism, or Absolution from the hands of the priest, we are accepting these gifts from Christ.

Three

In the Sacraments, we meet Christ

The truth that the human Catholic priest participates in the one priesthood of Christ and that Christ has chosen to work through him is profound, but can also make it difficult because all we see is the human, not Christ. That can make it hard to go to confession for some people. But if you struggle with telling your sins to a priest, you are not alone. Even great saints like Faustyna wrestled with this. 

Faustyna shared her struggle with this to Jesus, and in response, Jesus said to her (Diary 1602), “Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul.” 

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 HJis 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. And 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. And 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. And 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 the Pope. And thank God that He has instituted and guaranteed this permanent link to His Son, which we call the Sacrament of Holy Orders

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