Called to be a Royal Priesthood

Homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

On June 14, 1975, I returned to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to gather with my family and friends to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving following my ordination to the priesthood on the previous Saturday. The readings that we proclaim today on this Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time are the same readings that were proclaimed at that Mass of Thanksgiving. These readings, therefore, have a special place in my heart as I remember that occasion more than forty-eight years ago. 

The passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew which we read today ends with an exclamatory statement that became the central focus of that liturgy: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” This poetic formula was uttered by Jesus as he sent the twelve apostles, two by two, on their first missionary journey. Since I was newly ordained, that missionary theme really fit the occasion. Jesus had given the apostles some rather specific instructions. They were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, proclaiming as they went along that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They were to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons.

This particular scene is dramatized in a television series entitled “The Chosen.” While the Gospel does not include the apostles’ reaction to these instructions, the actors that portrayed the apostles in this television series were obviously very surprised by what Jesus had just told them. I don’t remember the exact words that they used, but I do remember that one of them said to Jesus, “We are your students; you are the one who cures the sick, raises the dead, cleanses lepers, and drives out demons.” Jesus acknowledged that fact but went on to tell them that he was granting them the authority to perform these miraculous cures while they were on this journey. He followed that statement by saying that eventually they would have that power when he was no longer with them. Jesus sent the apostles when he had encountered a crowd which had moved his heart to pity because the crowd was obviously full of troubled people who felt abandoned. They were sheep without a shepherd. The apostles were commissioned to be their shepherds. Here we are more than two thousand years later. We still refer to the men who pastor our parishes as shepherds.

The clerical situation in which we find ourselves sees the number of priests in our country plummeting so precipitously that the bishops have begun to merge parishes together simply because they do not have enough priests to go around. We find ourselves asking where the priests of our future will come from. Our bishops have also begun to recruit ordained ministers from foreign lands; countries where we had sent missionaries not so long ago are now returning the favor.

When God sealed a covenant with the Chosen People atop Mount Sinai, he stipulated that the men of the tribe of Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, would function as the priests of these people. Father Leslie Hoppe, a Franciscan theologian, points out that this professional class of priests was responsible for providing moral guidance and for offering sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem. However, the Roman occupation of Israel destroyed that temple in 70 A.D., leaving the children of Israel without the central place of worship in Judaism. The synagogue and their homes became the setting for Jewish worship, and rabbis provided moral guidance in place of the priests. To this day, there are no priests in the Jewish religion. However, the Jewish people fulfilled their collective responsibility as a “kingdom of priests” by keeping the covenant—by being a moral force in the world. The Jewish people succeeded in finding a way to live in a world without a temple and without priests.

The Second Vatican Council reminded us that we too are, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” Just as our Jewish ancestors were forced to reclaim their role as priests, the documents of the Second Vatican Council include teachings about “the priesthood of the laity.” These teachings remind us that at our baptism we were all anointed with the same oil that is used to anoint newly ordained priests and bishops through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Consequently, we all share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ and are all called to fulfill the commission given to the first apostles by Jesus. Like the rabbis of the Jewish faith, we are all called to make our homes a place of prayer and of moral guidance. Just as our parents taught us to pray and also gave us our first moral compass, we are to live in the world in such a way that the ministry of shepherding God’s people continues despite the seeming lack of vocations to Holy Orders. Just as religious communities have sought to extend their charisms by including associate members, baptized Catholics must take up some of the shepherding role that Jesus gave to all of us. We will always need priests to offer sacrifice on our altars. However, some of the administrative and pastoral roles can be filled with others who have been trained to be pastoral associates. Shortly after the Council, the role of deacon was reinstated in the Church. However, the number of ordained deacons in the Church is now at an all time low as fewer men answer that call to ministry.

We are all called to be missionary disciples of Jesus. In our various vocations, we are all called to be shepherds. We can do this in the same way our Jewish brothers and sisters did it, by living out our covenant relationship established by Jesus through his death and resurrection as we provide worshipping communities and moral guidance for our world.