EASTER

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

Taken from Our Savior and His Love for Us
by
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O. P.

THE Savior's sacerdotal prayer which we have just spoken of can be understood only in relation to the priesthood of Christ. We must first of all call to mind St. Paul's teaching on this point in the Epistle to the Hebrews, then what the Church says about it in its Councils, and finally what theology adds in order to help us to penetrate the meaning and the scope of this teaching which is so spiritually fruitful.

St. Paul's Testimony

The Epistle to the Hebrews shows us the full splendor of Christ's priesthood in the light of ideas expressed by St. Paul in the Epistles to the Romans, to the Corinthians, and to Timothy on Christ the Redeemer, the universal mediator, and the head of the Church, and on the necessity of believing in Christ in order to be saved: "For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave Himself a redemption for all." [1 Tim. 2:5 ff.]

The first part of the Epistle to the Hebrews sets out to show the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new alliance, over all the organs used by God in the Old Testament to manifest Himself to men. Jesus, as Son of God, is declared to be superior to all the priests of the Old Law, superior to all the prophets who announced Him, superior to Moses, superior even to the Angels who are only God's servants whereas Jesus is the Son of God by origin and by nature, the Creator and Master of all things. [Heb. 1:5; 13; 2:18; 4:12; 7:24.]

St. Paul says: "For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily [as the other priests] to offer sacrifices first for His Own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once in offering Himself." [Ibid. 7:26 ff.] He did this by offering Himself up not for His own sake but for all sinners, for all men.

To enlighten the recently converted Jews who were at times tempted to return to the rites of the Levitical priesthood, St. Paul showed them that, while the sacrifices of the Mosaic worship were many and varied and at times of great exterior magnificence, yet they remained of themselves without efficacy. These sacrifices, he explained, were but the figure of the great sacrifice to come which was to be accomplished not in exterior magnificence but in the perfect denudation of Golgotha.

In St. Paul's words, "Christ, being come a high priest of the good things to come . . . neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by His Own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen . . . [offered up to God] sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, Who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?" [Heb. 9: 11-14.] Such is the efficacy and the infinite value of Christ's sacrifice.

Finally, whereas the priests of the Old Law succeeded one another as death struck them one after the other, Christ "continueth forever, hath an everlasting priesthood; whereby He is able also to save forever them that come to God by Him; always living to make intercession for us." [Ibid. 7: 24 f.] It is Christ who remains the chief priest of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the commemoration of the Passion which will be offered up until the end of the world.

This lofty doctrine on Christ's priesthood has been clearly formulated by the Church at the Council of Trent: "Since the work of the Redemption could not be accomplished under the Old Testament, because of the weakness of the Levitical priesthood, it was necessary, according to the mercy of God the Father, that another priest . . . arise, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who could lead to salvation and perfection all who were to be sanctified. Our God and our Lord Himself was to offer Himself up once and for all to His Father on the altar of the Cross for our redemption . . . and at the Last Supper He left to His spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice which until the end of time will commemorate the bloody sacrifice of the Cross and apply its fruits to us." [Sess. XXII, chap. 1.]

Christ's Priesthood, the Most Perfect Conceivable

On the basis of St. Paul 's testimony, St. Augustine [De Trinitate, Bk. IV, chap. 14.] and theologians as a whole, especially St. Albert the Great [De Eucharistia, dist. S, chap. 3, ed. Borgnet, XXXVIII, 347.] and St. Thomas, [Summa theol., IlIa, q. 22, a. 1-41 q. 48, a. 31 q. 50, a. 4 ad 31 q. 83, a. 1 ad 3.] have demonstrated that Christ's priesthood is the most perfect that can be conceived. The reason they give is as simple as it is profound. It derives from St. Paul's own definition of the priesthood: "For every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins." [Heb. 5: 1.] As St. Thomas explains, [IlIa, q. 22, a.1.] the function of the priest is to be a mediator between God and men, to offer up to God the prayers of the people, particularly sacrifice, which is the most perfect act of the virtue of religion, and also to give to the people the things of God [sacerdos means sacra dans]: through preaching, the light of truth, and through the Sacraments, the grace necessary for the accomplishment of God's law.

This twofold ascending and descending mediation is accomplished especially through sacrifice, the supreme sacred act. Ascending mediation is accomplished by the oblation of the sacrifice of a victim. Descending mediation is accomplished by giving to the faithful a part of the victim offered up, so that they may thus communicate with our Lord.

The external oblation and immolation of the victim must be a visible expression of the interior oblation of the priest, of his adoration, his supplication, the sentiments of his "contrite and humbled" [Ps. 50:19.] heart, as well as of his thanksgiving. Thus through the sacrifice, which is an exterior and public act of the virtue of religion, the adoration, the supplication, the reparation, and the thanksgiving of the entire people rise up to God. For the prayer of the people is united to that of the priest and to a certain extent is one with his.

What follows from this with regard to the perfection of the priesthood, and particularly the priesthood of Christ? As St. Augustine has shown, [Loc. cit.] it follows that the priesthood is all the more perfect in the measure that the priest, the mediator between God and men, is more united to God, more united through interior oblation and immolation to the victim offered up, and more united to the men for whom the victim is offered up.

It is clear, of course, that the more closely united to God the priest is, that is, the holier he is, the more perfect will be the sacrifice he offers up as the principal act of his priesthood. For the priest, in his role as mediator, must make up by his own sanctity for the imperfection of the adoration, the gratitude, the reparation, and the supplication of the people.

Likewise the more closely the priest and the victim are united, the more perfect will the sacrifice be. For the external oblation and immolation of the victim are but the symbol of the inward oblation and immolation of the priest who is accomplishing the greatest act of the virtue of religion. Also the more the victim is pure, precious, and entirely consumed in God's honor, the more perfect will be the sacrifice. That is why the holocaust was the most perfect sacrifice of the Old Law: the entire victim was consumed in God's honor, to signify that man must offer all of himself up to God.

Finally, the more the priest and the people are united, the more perfect is the sacrifice. For the priest must bring together all the adorations, petitions, reparations, and thanksgivings of the faithful in one elevation toward God, rising up as the soul of the whole people. Consequently the more people are thus united to the priest, the greater will be the homage, the worship of adoration given to God, and the more universal or widespread will be the effects of the sacrifice.

It is enough for us to consider the priesthood of our Savior in the light of these principles in order to see at once that no greater priesthood can be conceived.

Christ Jesus is a priest not as God but as man. For the mediator must be an intermediary between God and men, and in that capacity inferior to God. Yet no soul can be more closely united to God than the sacred soul of Christ. We have seen that His sanctity was innate, substantial, and uncreated. [Cf. chapter 10 supra.] If Jesus is not only absolutely free from any Original and personal sin and from any imperfection whatever; He is sanctity itself. He is the Word of God made flesh. His humanity is sanctified first of all by its personal union with the Word, by the Word Himself Who possesses it intimately and for all eternity. That is why Jesus' priestly actions, which proceed from His human intellect and will, had while He was here on earth an infinite value in terms of merit and reparation. This infinite value derived, of course, from the Divine personality of the Son of God. And even now it is the Word made flesh Who through His human soul makes "intercession for us." [Heb. 7:25.]

It is impossible to conceive of a priest more intimately and indissolubly united to God, or holier than Jesus. Moreover, our Lord, as head of the Church, has received the fullness of created grace which must overflow upon us, and a power of excellence to institute the Sacraments, to give them the power to produce and augment Divine life, and also to institute a priesthood that will be indefectible until the end of the world, a priesthood that is a participation in His own. [Cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 64, a. 4, and Supplement, q. 35, a. 2.]

"Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world" [John 1: 19.] by His perfect sacrifice. If sin continues, it is not because the virtue of this sacrifice is insufficient, as was that of the sacrifices of the Old Law, but because men often refuse to receive its fruits. We cannot conceive of a holier priest than Jesus.

In addition, Christ's priesthood cannot be more perfect by reason of the union of the priest and the victim, and of the dignity of the latter. Jesus could not offer to His Father for us any victim but Himself. The boy Isaac, a figure of Christ, had consented to let himself be offered up as a sacrifice. Jesus offered Himself up when He was Crucified. As He said: "Therefore doth the Father love Me: because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it away from Me: but I lay it down of Myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of My Father." [Ibid. 10:17 ff.]

We have become so accustomed to this idea that we cannot picture to ourselves our Lord immolating merely a lamb distinct from Himself, or a dove. He Himself is the victim.

This purest of victims is of infinite value, for it is the body of the Word of God, which, torn and nailed to the Cross, sheds all its blood. The union of priest and victim cannot be more perfect, since Jesus is a victim to the depths of His soul, plunged in sorrow and in universal abandonment: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" It is complete immolation, a perfect holocaust in reparation for the pride of life, the concupiscence of the flesh, and that of the eyes. Priest and victim cannot be more perfectly united than in our Lord, immolated for us.

Finally, the union of priest and faithful cannot be closer. Jesus is the head of the Mystical Body of which we are the members. The fruits of the sacrifice of the Cross, the life of grace, pour down incessantly from Him to us. At the same time, through Him, our prayers rise up to God united to His at the moment of the Mass which perpetuates in substance the sacrifice of the Cross.

It is particularly at Mass, at the moment of the Consecration and Communion, that the words of St. Paul are verified: "Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Savior of His body." [Eph. 5:23.] "Now you are the body of Christ, and members of member." [1 Cor. 12:27.] "That . . . we may in all things grow up in Him Who is the head, even Christ." [Eph. 4:15.] Our Savior is, therefore, the priest of the entire human race, for He "died for all," [2 Cor. 5:15.] for the men of all times and places. And all men can become progressively incorporated in Him through the succession of human generations, and remain members of His mystical body for all eternity.

Thus Christ has made satisfaction and merited for all men. He continues to pray for us; and His humanity, as an instrument ever united to His Divinity, communicates to us all the graces we receive. The vital influx of grace thus passes continually from Him to us. [Cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 62, a. 5. 2.]

We are unable to conceive of a more perfect priesthood, of a priest more closely united to God, more united to the most pure victim that is offered up every day on the altar, and lastly more united to the body of the Christian faithful which is ever renewing itself until the end of time and whose living members are to remain incorporated to Him forever. Our Savior is a priest for all eternity. His adoration and His thanksgiving will never cease, and the glory of the elect will be the consummation of His sacrifice. [Cf. Ibid. q. 22, a.5.]

What Formally Constitutes Christ's Priesthood

What is there in Christ which corresponds to the priestly character which is indelibly stamped on the souls of His ministers? Some theologians, among them the Carmelites of Salamanca, [Cursus theologicus, de incarnatione, disp. 31, dub. 1, §4, no. 16.] have thought that Christ's priesthood is formally constituted by habitual created grace [through which He is the head of the Mystical Body], so far as this grace presupposes personal union to the Word. Thus Christ would be a priest by the very grace which constitutes Him head of the Church and through which He exerts direct influence upon us.

Other theologians in increasing numbers, including several Thomists, [Cf. Gonet, O.P., Clypeus thom. theol., de incarnatione, disp. 22, a. 3. Hugon, O.P., De Verbo incarnato, 2nd ed., pp. 628 ff.] think-----and, it seems, on solid grounds-----that what formally constitutes the priesthood of Jesus Christ is the substantial grace of union with the Word by reason of which He is holy, as well as a sanctifier and mediator able to offer up a sacrifice of infinite value.

The latter approach is being increasingly accepted by theologians at the present time, and was in a way approved by Pope Pius XI in an allocution given on December 28, 1925. [Pope Pius XI, Civilita Cattolica, 1926, p. 182.] It derives from the doctrine which has prevailed on the substantial and uncreated as well as innate sanctity of Jesus. [cf. John of St. Thomas, De incarn., d. 8, a. 1; Gonet, De in. carnatione, disp. 11.]

Indeed it it the substantial grace of union to the Word that first of all sanctifies the humanity of our Savior. This grace does not merely give Him an accidental sanctity as does the grace which in us-----and in the greatest Saints including Mary-----proceeds from habitual created grace, an accident of our nature, a Divine graft upon our souls. Personal union with the Word gives to Jesus' humanity a substantial and uncreated sanctity [Jesus' humanity also exists through the uncreated existence of the Word (cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 17, a .2.)] which is the source of the infinite value of His human meritorious and propitiatory acts. This uncreated sanctity subsists in Heaven, now that the hour of merit and of painful expiation has passed.

In His formal role as universal priest and mediator, Jesus must offer up not a sacrifice of limited value such as those of the Old Law, but a sacrifice of infinite value. The priestly acts of His sacred soul must have a theandric value. And a priest capable of offering up a sacrifice of such value must be more than "the head of humanity." Adam, in his innocent state, was the head of humanity [caput naturae elevatae]. Yet he was not able, as priest and mediator, to offer up a sacrifice of infinite value.

Therefore what formally constitutes Christ's priesthood seems to be the grace of substantial union to the Word which makes of Him the Lord's Anointed One. [Ps. 44:8.] This grace of union which is uncreated, for it is the Word Himself Who completes and possesses the humanity of our Savior, [Cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 6, a. 6: "The grace of union is the personal being that is given gratis from above to the human nature in the person of the Word."] implies a unique priestly vocation and is the source of the habitual created grace by which Christ, the head of the Church, has immediate influence upon its members or communicates supernatural life to them. All these gifts are necessary to His priesthood, but the first-mentioned is its formal constituent.

This is what St. Thomas seems to think of the matter. [St. Thomas IIIa, q. 22, a. 2 ad 3.] In discussing Jesus as priest and victim, he says that His humanity was sanctified by the grace of union. The same is true when he speaks of the predestination of Jesus not only to glory, as in the predestination of the Saints, but of His predestination to natural Divine sonship, which is infinitely superior to adopted Divine sonship. [Ibid. q. 24, a.1 f.] Lastly, according to St. Thomas, Jesus as man is the mediator between God and all men through the grace of the hypostatic union. [Ibid. q. 26, a.2; q. 58, a. 3.] For, by reason of this hypostatic union, He touches the two extremes to be reunited and reconciled: God and humanity. [Theologians have at times placed too much emphasis on the distinction between Jesus as God and as man, without always giving enough consideration to what is fitting to Him as God-man, or what is fitting to His humanity by reason of the Divine personality of the Word. Jesus, as God and not as man, created all things. As man and not as God, He suffered and was sorrowful even unto death. As God-man, He has loved us with a theandric love which, though it is a human act, has infinite value by reason of the Divine personality from which it proceeds. St. Thomas has made these distinctions very clearly, in particular in IIIa, q. 58, a. 3, in explaining that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father: first, as God; secondly, as God-man, secundum gratiam unionis; thirdly, as man, by reason of the fullness of created grace.]

This is what Bossuet tells us in his Elevations sur les mysteres [13th week, 1st and 6th elevations], in which he expounds the priesthood of Jesus Christ: "O Christ! O Messiah, Who art awaited and given under this sacred name which signifies the Anointed of the Lord! Teach me, in the excellence of Thy unction, the origin and foundations of Christianity . . . It is a matter of explaining the unction which makes Thee Christ." "Come, Jesus, eternal Son of God . . . Thou dost receive the powers of the priesthood from Him alone Who has said to Thee: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." [Ps. 2:7.] For this Divine priesthood, one must be born only of God, and Thou hast Thy vocation "according to the power of an indissoluble life.' [Heb. 7:16.] . . . The law of this priesthood is eternal and inviolable. Thou art alone: yet Thou hast left after Thee priests who are only Thy vicars who can offer up no other victim than the one Thou hast Thyself offered up on the Cross and that Thou offerest eternally at the right hand of Thy Father."

Thus Jesus is priest by reason of the Incarnation. His priesthood is substantial as is His sanctity, and it is from His priesthood that derives the priestly character of His ministers, impressed indelibly in their souls. And in these priestly souls He will raise up vocations until the end of time.

E-MAIL

HOME----------CHRIST THE KING-----------GALLERIES