"Me, a Priest?"

Photo by Patnac

Yes, me - and you too!  Today is the last day of the Church's year, the Feast of Christ the King, and one of the messages in today's readings is how we share not only Jesus' kingship, but His priesthood!

"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. " (Rev.1:6)

Every baptized man and woman share in the priesthood of Christ, offering all of our words and actions in this world to the Father.  St. Paul wrote of this to the Christians in Rome:

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Rom.12:1)

The ordained priesthood  supports us in this by making Christ's priesthood sacramentally present - feeding us His Flesh and Blood in the Eucharist, absolving our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, communicating the grace of Confirmation and a deeper participation in the Gifts of the Spirit, anointing us to impart strength and healing in the Anointing of the Sick.  Or as St. Paul wrote:

[Jesus] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.  

You my friend share the priesthood of Jesus Christ.  So suit up and start offering your day to the Lord!