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THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
By Bishop Sarhad Yawsip Jammo
The Character of Priesthood:
Priestly Ordination is
an elevation of the faithful, by the power of the
Holy Spirit,
to a permanent existential status, making him a
dedicated Minister of the Lord, a qualified close
collaborator with the Bishop: in humanitarian acts
of mercy, in the work of forgiveness of sins, in
teaching the doctrine of the Kingdom of God, in the
ministry of sacraments, and most of all in the
celebration of the Eucharist.
A Character with Three Dimensions:
a)
An ontological dependency of the priest
in his relation to Christ
the eternal High Priest, expressed as faithfulness
to his call and mandate.
b)
An ecclesiological dependency of the priest
in regard to the Church,
expressed as canonical observance of the communion
within the ecclesial hierarchy.
c)
A committed dedication
in the ministry of the People of God,
particularly on the parochial and pastoral level,
expressed in humanitarian acts of mercy, in the
teaching of the Doctrine of Faith, in the
administration of the Sacraments, and in the
performance of a leading role in liturgical acts of
piety and community devotions.
The Liturgical Core of Priesthood:
Jesus ordered his disciples:
“Do this in remembrance of me”
(1 Cor. 11:24 & 25), providing his faithful,
everywhere under the sun, with those who are
qualified to become his ministers, granted to be
participants in his priesthood, and mandated to
celebrate his eternal Sacrifice for his people.
Within the Ecclesial Communion:
The Priesthood is an order
intrinsically connected with the ecclesial communion
as established by the Lord, both in regards to being
a legitimate member in the priestly order, and in
regards to being a receiver from the canonical
authority of the liturgical ritual. Indeed, the
performance by the celebrant of the Eucharistic
celebration is
an act performed as handed on according to the
tradition of the Church,
as ordered by the Lord. Paul said it emphatically:
"For I received from the Lord what I also handed on
to you..."(1 Cor. 11:23 ), thus the celebrant must
always be aware that he performs an official act of
the Church according to a ceremonial canonically
recognized by the competent authority.
The Priesthood as Mediation:
The Letter to the Hebrews gives us the classic
formulation of the essence of priesthood: "Every
High Priest is taken from among men and made their
representative before God, to offer gifts and
sacrifices for sin. ...' (Heb. 5:1) "But when
Christ came as high priest
of the good things that have come to be, passing
through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not
made by hands, that is not belonging to this
creation, he entered once for all into the
sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal
redemption..." (Heb. 9:11-12),
"For this reason he is mediator of a new
covenant...”
(Heb 9:15). Therefore, the Christian priest,
fulfilling the command of Jesus the High Priest of
the new covenant, celebrates the Eucharist as
mediator, between the people and the heavenly
throne. Consequently, the liturgical function of
mediation is expressed also in ceremonial positions
and movements of the celebrant, when offering the
divine Eucharistic sacrifice, and that the building
of the sanctuary is made suitable accordingly.
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I didn’t know how lucky I really am until today. I
was driving down Chase while the windsh
ield
wiper was sheeting the water off. I was listening to
Father Andy’s compilation of Mass hymns and singing
at the top of my lungs. I needed the extra practice
since the new lectors have to outshine somebody, so
hopefully they step it up and sing as loud as I can.
After all, the louder you sing, the more confident
you sound. That’s what a lector or qaroya is,
someone who shouts while reading aloud. The stole
isn’t meant to dignify any status. The sacred sash
signifies a role. Their new job is to be present on
the altar vocally, not just physically. I’m not
saying I’m lucky to be a lector. I’m saying I’m
lucky to live on the part of the Earth where I am
not afraid to practice singing my praise to the
Lord.
While we get to signify our faith around the
Christmas season, our brothers and sisters in Iraq
are praying for protection from harm. If we were to
light up our houses like we do every Christmas
season in Iraq, we’re blatantly
setting ourselves up for attack. While we proudly
hang a Rosary on our car’s rearview mirror, wear our
shiny crosses, get ink tattooed into our skin to
display the dedication of our faith, others are
hiding, losing their churches, and getting attacked
for believing the mere existence of the birth of the
One we will be celebrating.
The recent flood of refugees isn’t a coincidence.
They are running away and we need to be welcoming.
We need to open our homes to those whose families
are gone. Be thankful that we can be around our
loved ones who are protected and have the means to
help others. This is a season for giving not just
receiving. All of those who have a voice and are
able to proudly stand up and sing praises for the
Lord who has given us everything: we need to proudly
celebrate this season, not just for the
commemoration of Jesus Christ’s birth, but also on
behalf of those who can’t.
Most
of us love to hear what’s going on in the community.
We want to know who had a child, who are prospering
in their businesses, or who are getting married.
But, we also want to know who are getting
divorced. Gossip is the act of talking about other
people. Whether what we say is true or just a rumor,
we are still gossiping. In a small community, as
ours is, gossip is almost inevitable; everyone knows
each other and news about our lives are more easily
spread. However, when we spread rumors or personal
information about people, we are deliberately
shaming their name; because of us, their reputation
is stained. There are a few reasons why we love to
spread rumors and/or personal information we hear
about others in our community. Sometimes we feel
happy about sharing negative aspects in peoples’
lives to make our lives seem better than theirs. Or
if we talk about the sins of one person, we try to
justify our sins if they seem less than theirs. Or
maybe we’re just sinister enough to take pleasure in
hearing about others’ troubles enjoy telling people.
What’s worse still is that we accept these rumors,
or this “common knowledge” of others as truth
without a second thought. “The modern world will
accept no dogmas upon any authority; but it will
accept any dogmas on no authority. Say that a thing
is so, according to the Pope or the Bible, and it
will be dismissed as a superstition without
examination. But preface your remark merely with
“they say” or “don’t you know that?” or try (and
fail) to remember the name of some professor
mentioned in some newspaper; and the keen
rationalism of the modern mind will accept every
word you say” (G.K. Chesterton). We are too quick to
disregard what a priest or clergyman will tell us,
(and often times throw it back in their face and
call them hypocrites, or say something else negative
about them in order to trick ourselves into
excuses) but we hear rumors and take them to be
true. There is a story about a priest who dealt with
someone’s sin of gossip in an interesting, but
effective way. A parishioner went to his priest to
confess that he had gossiped. The priest wanted to
show the parishioner how lethal his sin was; he told
the parishioner to take a knife and a pillow with
him to the top of a mountain. When the man got to
the top, he was to cut the pillow and let all the
feathers fly, and then return to the priest. The
parishioner did as he was told, and returned to the
priest. The priest told the man to go back to the
top of the mountain, and pick up every single
feather that flew out of the pillow. This story is a
perfect representation of how quickly and far our
gossip can go; after we cut that pillow, it’s
impossible to get all the feathers back.
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