The great gifts of the Sacred Priesthood and the Holy Eucharist

Holy Thursday John 13: 1-15

Tonight we begin the solemn celebration of the Triduum- the greatest Feasts of our faith. We recall tonight two great sacraments, which our Lord instituted just before He would suffer and be crucified: the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the Holy Eucharist.

The two Sacraments are linked so very closely to the Passion and death of Christ. It was at the last supper that Jesus instituted these two Sacraments- He first gave his body and blood and then ordained his apostles to do the same- “do this in memory of me.” It was the next day that in His Passion He poured out all of His precious blood for our salvation.

The priesthood is first and foremost a deeper conformity to Christ- to act In Persona Christi Capitus- in the person of Christ the head. Conformity first means to offer the supreme sacrifice- the sacrifice of the Mass. It is the priesthood that makes the life saving passion and death available to us; it is the priesthood that makes the fruit of Jesus life saving passion and death available to, and that Fruit is His own sacred Body and Blood which becomes our sacred Feast, the source of not only our eternal life, but the source of Love Itself.

Our faith infallibly tells us that Jesus ordained his twelve apostles at the Last Supper. He literally laid His hands on their head and gave them the capacity to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to offer Jesus’ own self same sacrifice in which He offered himself to the Father for our sake and for our salvation. From the first twelve priests, the line of priests has remained unbroken from that time through ordination and the laying on of the hands.

At the priest’s ordination, his hands are anointed with Sacred Chrism showing that they are set aside now for God’s work, the work of offering the Holy Sacrifice. He then receives the chalice and paten from the people of God to offer that sacrifice in the Name and Person of Christ, to the Father on the people’s behalf.

When the priest offers the sacrifice of the Mass, it is Christ who says the words of consecration through the priest- it is Christ who gives himself, offers himself anew, through the priest, in a perfect act of adoration to the Father- “he loved his own in the world and he love them to the end.”

The priest Himself is call to follow Christ in his humble service- first and foremost by offering the Holy Sacrifice for the people. Offering the Holy Mass, the priest most perfectly follows the words of Jesus, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as have done for you, you should also do.” In offering the Holy Mass, the priest too is to offer himself along with Christ for the sake of the People of God.

This is the primary meaning of what Jesus meant when He said what I have done you must do for one another. The priest must offer His life not only in imitation of Christ, but with Christ, in Christ and through Christ, for the life of the world. He does this at the Holy Mass which makes truly present Christ once and for all sacrifice on Calvary; the priest is to allow Jesus who comes at the priest’s own bidding, the priest is to allow Jesus to lift up him up to his cross and resurrection as an offering, as an immolated victim who offers himself, to Father for the sake of the people of God.

And so, the Eucharist is the great mystery that relies on the priesthood- without the priesthood there would be no Eucharist, no direct link to the first Holy Thursday. And with the Eucharist there would be no source of grace for us and for our world; there would be no hope.
And so without the priesthood there would be no salvation, no way for each one of us to offer ourselves to the Father with Jesus, in Jesus and through Jesus.
The Eucharist, which becomes available to us through the Sacred Priesthood is where the all of the people of God find their Spiritual nourishment. At the Holy Mass, we recall the great gift that Jesus gives us, the gift of his own body and blood; we do more than just recall, we experience them in reality, pour out anew for us in the here and now.

This past Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday and Jesus triumph procession into Jerusalem. And we heard shouted what is known as the Benedictus, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” But this is not a coming which happened just in the past…It happens now as well. Just as the Lord entered the holy City that day on a donkey, so too the Church sees him now coming again and again in the humble form of bread and wine.

And so, this Benedictus which speaks primarily about Christ, also speaks about the one who is configured to Christ in a unique way, and who through Christ comes anew in this temple. This is why, for centuries the priest would sign himself as the those words were shouted out anew at the Mass in the Sanctus, The Holy, Holy, Holy, Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini, Hosanna in Excelsis…those words referring to the person of the Priest who is operating in the Person of the Head, Jesus Christ.

At the Holy Mass, through the gift of the sacred Priesthood, the Church does indeed greet the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as the one who is coming now, the one who has come from God and who enters into our midst. At the same time, the Church greets him as the One who continues to come, the one who leads us toward His coming. Each of the faithful are called to come to Him with faith, hope and love, as He comes to us in the Holy Eucharist. To are called to give themselves to Christ along with His Priest, and allow Jesus through our Communion with Him, to take us with him in His ascent to the Cross and Resurrection, so that can share already in the Love of the Father, and become one with him.
By becoming one with Jesus, they are thus empowered to take Jesus out into the world around them, so that it is not they who live but Jesus who now lives in them. They still, live but in such a way that those who come into contact with them, see Christ, experience Christ and begin themselves to be transformed by Christ’s love, so they too can become one with the Father now and for all eternity.
This is the mystery that we celebrate this evening. Through the intercession of the Mary, the mother of all priest may we experience these mysteries in a new way, may we fall in love with the great gifts of the Sacred Priesthood and the give that it bring to us, the Holy Eucharist-Jesus Himself. May we allow ourselves to be transformed into loving images of the Son for all the world to see.