Yesterday we celebrated an unveiling. A public revelation that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed Jesus the Messiah, Jesus Christ, “the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king” (Catechism of the Catholic Church §783).
Right at the start of the Christmas season, we explored what it means and why it matters that each of us who is baptized in Christ is truly a prophet. But it doesn’t stop there. Each of us participates in all three offices of Christ–priest, prophet, and king. You are a priest.
We often spend so much time talking or answering questions about what those called to the ministerial [ordained] priesthood do, that we can overlook what claims and responsibilities our baptismal priesthood places on each of us.
First and foremost, just as ordination to the ministerial priesthood places an indelible [permanent] spiritual mark, so too does baptism. Each believer’s consecration in baptism is an indelible consecration for service to God through worship, and the witness to the world of holy lives and charity (CCC §1273).
Consecration sets us apart, makes each of us a distinctly holy, sacred person–holy because of God’s grace, not our own perfection or accomplishments. Being incorporated into the priesthood of all believers in Christ means that we are to be oriented toward God. Turned toward God in how we think, how we view the world, how we act, and more.
Living into our baptismal priesthood also requires that we consider the nature of the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The Catechism explains, “everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the “one mediator between God and men” (§1544). If Jesus Christ is the one mediator, then why are we empowered, through the Holy Spirit, to participate in his priesthood? What is our mission as priests today, since the ultimate, redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ has already been accomplished once for all? (CCC §1545)
Paul, in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, provides great insight into the necessity of our worship and service as priests in Jesus Christ. He explains that God, “who has reconciled us to himself through Christ,” has “given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18). God has “entrust[ed] to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us” (2 Cor. 5:19-20).
In our worship, as a “royal priesthood” we participate in offering a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God (1 Peter 2:9). Through our words and deeds in the world, we bring the message of God’s reconciliation, truly as ambassadors. Not supplanting Jesus Christ’s ultimate role as the unique mediator, but ministering as a shared participation in Jesus’ priesthood, through the Holy Spirit.
As I reflect on my own life as a Christian, I can say with humility that I certainly don’t always approach my worship with as much reverence or significance as I should if I was fully living into my vocation as part of the priesthood of all believers. Likewise, I can get caught up in the practical justifications for service, rather than gratefully acknowledging that it’s because of my participation in Christ’s priesthood that I am truly an ambassador, participating in the ministry of reconciliation, of restoring our fallen world.
As we continue to celebrate and contemplate the Baptism of our Lord, Jesus Christ, let us ask the question: Do I genuinely participate in the priesthood of all believers? And ask the Holy Spirit to guide us more deeply into this glorious mystery and honor this coming year.
Copyright 2015, Colleen Vermeulen
Colleen Vermeulen
Colleen Reiss Vermeulen, M.Div., M.N.A., blogs, ministers in parish life and lay/deacon formation, and serves as a U.S. Army Reserve officer. She and her husband, Luke, have been married since 2011 and live in Ypsilanti, MI with their two young sons.
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