A few weeks ago we celebrated the feast of Christ the King. Jesus was sent by the Father to establish the ‘Kingdom’ – a kingdom in which we, God’s subjects, are called to allow God to reign in our hearts by obedience to his law of love. The Church is not the same thing as the Kingdom. Jesus established the Church to be the principal (but not the only) means to bring about the establishment of his Kingdom.
The word ‘church’ means the assembly of God’s people. Vatican Council II (1962-1965) put great emphasis on the Church as the People of God and that is what we, you and I, are. We are a people assembled for a purpose. That purpose is to celebrate the Eucharist and to work together at the common task of bringing the Good News to everyone. As the People of God we are called to go out, preach and baptize, secure in the knowledge that, as Jesus said, ‘I will be with you till the end of time’.
Note that that task is not one just for bishops, priests and deacons but for the whole Church, all the people. You were given that task at your baptism. When you were baptised, that sacrament brought you into a living, life-giving relationship (communion) with the Blessed Trinity. You also became part of the Church, a family whose members are called to be in communion with each other. This communion is made possible because of the saving work of Jesus.
During your baptism you were anointed. In the Old Testament there are many references to priests, prophets and kings being anointed. Anointing shows that a person has been ‘set apart’ for a task. With your baptism you yourself were anointed as priest, prophet and king to follow in footsteps of Jesus, the Messiah, a word from Hebrew which means the anointed one.
What is the significance for each of us of being anointed priest, prophet and king? Well, priests are mediators between God and man. Prophets are sent to speak out for God, to call the people back to God. Kings are called to serve God’s people. So your being anointed in baptism shows that you have been set apart to share in the priestly, prophetic and kingly work of Christ. You, along with every other Christian, share in the priesthood of Christ through our common baptism. We all are called to be jointly involved in the prophetic work of Christ and to play our part in establishing his Kingdom.
You will often have heard mention of the ‘laity’. That word comes from the Greek laos meaning ‘The People of God’. The laity is a people set apart by baptism to fulfil the task of making the Kingdom a reality. Every baptized person, whether ordained or not, is part of the laos. We all are called to play our own unique role in the Church’s work of making real God’s Kingdom on earth.
Priests, as part of the laos, are ordained to the ministerial priesthood so that they can act as leaders in the Catholic community. They are thus enabled to bring about the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist, anoint the sick and reconcile sinners to God and to the Catholic community. They have the responsibility ‘to equip the saints for mission’.
At our baptism each of us became ‘temples of the Holy Spirit’. As such, we are called to open our minds and hearts to receive the special gifts and charisms the Spirit wishes to give each one of us. That is so that we can fulfil our unique responsibility with regard to the life and mission of the Christian community.
In 1989 Pope John Paul issued a document entitled Christifideles Laici which is all about the vocation and dignity of the lay faithful. In it he called on all to live the communion that exists between the members of the Blessed Trinity and to demonstrate and communicate that communion in our daily lives. To do that effectively, the lay faithful need help – formation and training. As the Pope says, ‘The formation of the lay faithful must be placed among the priorities of a diocese.’ They need spiritual formation, doctrinal formation and help to develop the gifts they need to bring the Gospel into their family relationships, their workplace and civic society. The priest, as a man of communion, is there to facilitate that. As the Pope says, the task of the priest is ‘to serve the faith, hope and charity of the laity...to uphold the dignity of the laity as children of God and to help them exercise their specific role in the overall context of the Church’s mission’.
The Blessed Trinity lives in us and abides in us. This living, life-giving presence of the Trinity within us makes us holy and strengthens us as we reach out to those in the world around us. That holiness is strengthened when we assemble at Mass together each Sunday to show our desire and our need of communion with God and with our fellow Catholics. There, at Mass, we experience the real presence of Jesus in not just one but three distinct ways. We experience his real presence:
To sum up, we all, as baptised Christians, are part of a family which is the Church. Each of us, clergy and laity, has a responsibility for respecting and fostering the different roles, charisms and ministries present within the community. And as the People of God, we are called to be in communion, in relationship, with each other, just as our role models, the three divine persons of the Blessed Trinity, are in an eternal loving relationship.
Deacon Philip
This feature is based on a talk given by Canon Frank O’Sullivan, to whom I would like to express my grateful thanks.