Dear Family of God,

What is Priesthood and how do you share the Priesthood of Jesus Christ?

Saint Peter teaches us from the Second Reading this weekend, that you, the laity, are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own…” You share this priesthood through Baptism and anointing of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Priests are set apart FROM sin, and are set apart FOR God, to pray and to offer sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the only way to the Father, said: “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” How do you offer sacrifice to God? By being Baptized, by being united to Christ, and by offering your daily works, sufferings, joys and pain, through, with, and in Jesus Christ, during the Mass.

That is why during Mass, the celebrant-priest say: “Pray brothers and sisters that MY sacrifice and YOURS may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father.” You are not present at Mass only to receive Christ, but to offer your own sacrifices in union with “The One Perfect Sacrifice” of Jesus Christ to the Father. When does this exactly happen? When the ordained priest says: “Through Him, with Him and in Him, O God, almighty Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.” Amen.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, teaches regarding the participation of lay people in Christ’s priestly office, it says: “The laity dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit—indeed even the hardship of life if patiently born—all these become spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the Body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives.” (CCC 901).

May we all imitate Our Lady, who offered her sufferings in union with her Son, standing under His Cross and now present in every Mass.

Yours in Christ through Mary Immaculate.

BACK TO LIST