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The Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Jesus is the Lord of his Church and the teacher of all: after his ascension into heaven, he teaches, sanctifies, and governs Christians through the ministry of the apostles initially, and after the apostles’ deaths, through the ministry of their successors, the bishops.

In the second reading taken from 1 Peter 2:4-9, St. Peter emphasizes the common priesthood of the laity. In baptism, every Christian is made a priest through an intimate union with Jesus Christ. Yet, this requires us to ask the question, “What exactly is a priest?” Well, priests are priests insofar as they offer sacrifice, which is the unique activity of priests that distinguishes them.

All Christians are to offer everything their lives entail back to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit as a spiritual sacrifice. Every little work, every little suffering, every little problem in life may be offered to the Father in union with Jesus for the salvation of ourselves and others – for an increase in personal holiness. This continual priestly offering of our lives to God the Father culminates in the Mass when we unite ourselves with the sacrifice of Jesus. In fact, during the offertory when the bread and wine are carried to the sanctuary, we are to be silently offering ourselves spiritually in union with those gifts.

Our lay priestly role both needs and is supported by those ministerial priests who are ordained by the laying on of the hands. These men offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the person of Christ the Head and are assisted by the deacons. The first reading (Acts 6:1-7) tells of the appointment and ordination of the first seven deacons. “They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them.”

Today’s Gospel comes from John 14:1-12, wherein Jesus is shown to be the fullness of God’s revelation. Jesus proclaims: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” and “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” As our High Priest, Jesus offers himself as the perfect sacrifice acceptable to God the Father. It is only by way of Jesus that any human being will ever enter heaven and experience the eternal, divine life of God.

God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth: that is, of Christ Jesus. Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #74)

In the Old Testament, Israel had Aaron and his sons as its high priests, the Levites as ministerial priests, and yet all of Israel was called to be a royal priesthood. This threefold configuration prefigured the New Israel: the Catholic Church, which consists of (1) our High Priest, (2) the ministerial priesthood and (3) the common priesthood.