“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own
people that you may declare the wonderful deeds of God who called you
out of darkness into marvelous light.” Those words are from the
First Letter of Peter – we heard them in the second reading - but they
draw on important passages from the Jewish scriptures – from Exodus and
Isaiah. They are words that speak about the vocation of God’s holy
people. So important are they that, when we were renovating the
Cathedral over 25 years ago, I was eager to have them carved into the
stone floor around our baptistery where they are to this day.
“Chosen
race…royal priesthood…holy nation…God’s own people.” The late, great
Jesuit preacher and theologian, Fr. Walter Burghardt, liked to call them
“four titles of honor” and they surely are that, and I would add that
they’re way ahead of – and far more important than other titles of honor
the Church is fond of using (like Your Holiness, Your Eminence, Your
Excellency – even Very Reverend!). In the Jewish scriptures they were
titles given to God’s chosen people, to remind them of who they were.
In the New Testament, they became titles for all the baptized. They
point out the unique dignity, the high calling of each and every member
of the Church. Let me say just a word about each of those ‘titles of
honor.’
First, Chosen
Race. We who have been baptized into Christ are chosen by God. There is
no chance here: only choice. And the choice is God’s, not ours. For
reasons we will never grasp, God has chosen us, called us into this
great community of the Church. God loves us passionately and
unconditionally, loves us as individuals, loves us as a community of
believers. We are called, we are chosen.
We are also a
royal priesthood. For Catholics, this truth can all too easily be
overlooked because when we think of ‘priest,’ we typically think of
people like me. But before anyone like me can be called ‘priest,’ all of
us are priests! That’s because all of us, in Baptism, were
anointed and made one with Jesus Christ who is really the only priest.
And the priestly sacrifice he offered on the cross becomes ours here at
Mass when we offer our lives, our pains and our joys, and the pains and
joys of the world - offer them to God along with Jesus, the priest. We
are indeed, “a royal priesthood!”
The third
title is a holy nation. This has, of course, nothing whatever to do with
nation in the political sense of the word. Here, nation means community.
We are a holy community. Holy, I know, can be an off-putting word
suggesting people like plaster statues, but holy we are. Even with all
our sins and failings as individuals and as a Church we are holy because
God’s Spirit lives and breathes in us. The great St. Augustine used to
begin his homilies by addressing the people as “Your holiness.” Maybe I
should start doing that!
The fourth title
is God’s own people. Another way of saying that is “God’s own
possession.” And we are that, my friends. We have been
purchased at a great price -- with the precious blood of Christ. We
belong to God, we are “God’s very own….”
Now I realize that those
exalted titles don’t always ring true for us, that we are often more
aware of our dark side than of our dignity. We believe, but we also
doubt; we hope, but sometimes we give up; we love, but not always. We
can be all too human but that doesn’t for a moment deny that we are
touched by divinity, infused with divinity. The early Church Fathers
were fond of saying that ”Christ became human so that humans might
become divine.” Think of that for a moment. It’s true!
And, of course, it
has profound implications for how we live our lives. Who we are should
be reflected in what we do. Notice I said we. Every one of us. By virtue
of our baptism, we are to preach the gospel, to live the gospel. St.
Francis of Assisi put it perfectly: “Preach the gospel always,” he said,
“using words when necessary!” Often, more important than the words
we speak are the lives we lead, the principles we live by, the positions
we espouse. These are the things that tell people who we are.
Let me offer an
example. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel we have been called
preach and to live is, to borrow words of Pope John Paul II, The Gospel
of Life, “the gospel that deeply values and honors each and every human
life without exception - beginning with God’s precious gift of life in
the womb and ending with God’s call at death - fostering, nurturing, and
supporting that life at every step along the way.”
And this is
how Pope Francis put it in his Apostolic Exhortation, “Gaudete and
Exsultate”: “Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm
and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is
always sacred. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those
already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the
vulnerable infirm and elderly…the victims of human trafficking, new
forms of slavery, and every form of rejection."
The Gospel of
Life. We are to preach this gospel in all its breadth and depth, using
our voice to advocate for it, and our vote to elect candidates who
demonstrate a commitment – not to only one - but to each and every one
of those issues that Pope Francis and Pope John Paul talk about so
passionately.
My friends, I’ve
offered but one example of what it means to live out our baptismal call.
There are many. As “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
God’s own people,” we’ve got our work cut out for us. We really do! And
where better to start than here at the Lord’s Table where Jesus who is
the Way, the Truth, and the Life becomes our very life!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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