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Sacrificial Nature of Priesthood
Homily given by Fr. John Woodcock on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee of Ordination, July 2006.
A time of Jubilee - what is it? It is a time of celebration and for the most part marks off either 25 or 50 years of someone's state in life or of some event. There are other years that merit attention, but for an individual person 25 or 50 years marks off the state of life of marriage, consecrated life and on this occasion, priesthood.
However, the focal point of the celebrations should be the priesthood rather than the person in whom the priesthood resides. Therefore let us consider what a priest really is.
A priest is one whose essential work is to offer sacrifice. If a priest were to do nothing else but offer sacrifices then his existence as a priest is justified. Of course, in the life of a priest there are many other things he does as well.
All priests are concerned with sacrifice - even the pagan priests. Perhaps we should not like their sacrifices especially when human beings were slaughtered to appease the gods. However, our consideration is about the priesthood which we bring to mind today.
For one thing it is the Priesthood of Christ. As Priest, Christ Our Lord offered Himself as a victim for the purpose of appeasing the outraged goodness of God, which goodness had been set aside by the disobedience of our first parents. Because of the equality of the Divine Nature of God the Father and God the Son, it was only Christ Who could approach the Father with the sacrifice of Himself to represent the appeasement of God through the Human Nature which made God the Son made Man one of us. It was necessary, then, for no other man could represent us since there is no equality of a created man with the Creator God.
What is a wonderful thing is that Christ Our Lord made His Apostles priests. They would do what Christ did and that is offer the same Sacrifice as He did. It would not be a new sacrifice, it would be the same Sacrifice that Christ offered on the Cross although there would be no further shedding of blood. This carrying on of the same Sacrifice is what is in the hands of every priest who has it conferred on him by bishops who are successors of the Apostles.
In addition, priests carry on with the work of extending the bishops' office of being those entrusted with the duty of teaching, guiding and sanctifying.
The great means by which people are made holy can be seen in the sacraments. It is the priest who is the one to attend the new birth of grace in the lives of so many people. It is the strengthening of that life of grace that is done by teaching and with Confirmation. It is the healing that may be necessary should there be sin weakening or even destroying the life of grace. There is the very food of the Body and Blood of Christ that nourishes the life of grace and in the case of those who are to depart from life in this world, there is the priest to bring another sacrament and so to farewell a child of God and give the hope of being welcomed by God the Father Who created that person, God the Son Who redeemed that person and God the Holy Spirit Who sanctified that person. Is it any wonder that a priest is called Father.
The priest is, indeed, endowed with much power, but it is to be used in love and in the spirit of service to God and to His people.
Love is the appreciation of good in another for the other's sake. This definition covers love in all its manifestations - eras, philia, agape, conjugal, filial, parental, platonic. When love is given in line with this definition then service must follow, for in serving we give ourselves not for what we gain personally but for the good of others.
For my own part, please pray for me that whatever remains to me of time among the people of God after being with them for fifty years will still be spent in loving them and serving them and in loving God and serving Him Who called me to exercise His Priesthood.
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