The Priestly Treadmill was Not Meant to Be Plugged in Forever (Thank God!)

(Lev 16.31-32) It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 And the priest who is anointed and be consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments.

This is the famous Day of Atonement passage. In Leviticus 16 God communicates to the Nation of Israel how they would have their sin dealt with. This annual event was to deal with their uncleanness due to their sin. Embedded in the pronouncement of cleansing (Lev.16.30) is this reminder of repetition.

In verse 29 the people were reminded that this day is to be circled in permanent ink on their calendars. “…it shall be a statute forever…” And here again, “forever…”

Furthermore, there is a plan for priestly succession. This is going to be an ongoing statute.

Every year on the 10th day of the 7th month they are going to need another priest to offer sacrifices for himself, take multiple baths, change his clothes, offer 2 more goats, get a runner to take the goat in the wilderness, throw blood on the curtain, throw blood on the mercy seat, burn up incense, burn up everything extra, and on and on it goes. Do it again, every year.

And, remember, there are not any cleaning crews that would have come into the Tabernacle. There is not a late night team to come in after the festivities die down to clean the blood up off of the floor or the stains from the mercy seat. No, year after year these priests would track in more blood from more goats to offer for the sins of more people.

Every year this blood would serve as a testimony of God’s unflinching holiness and man’s unfading sinfulness. Because God is holy and people are sinful, there is a long term plan set up to deal with sin. The treadmill of priestly succession is turned on in Leviticus 16.

There is work to do because God is holy and people are sinners. And so it starts.

But this priestly treadmill was not intended to be plugged in forever. It looks forward for completion. It looks forward for rest. The bloody repetition cries out for rest. It cries out for satisfaction through perfection.

O’ how valuable is the beloved Christ, the High Priest who does not die! The High Priest who offers one sacrifice! The High Priest who is in every way holy! Yes this priest would be so valuable to the priests who ran on their sacerdotal treadmill until they died and were replaced by another.

Marvel at Jesus and his perfect sacrifice, holiness and the fact that he lives forever!

(Heb 7.25-28) 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost1 athose who draw near to God through him, since he always lives cto make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, aholy, innocent, unstained, bseparated from sinners, and cexalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, afirst for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this bonce for all when he offered up himself.28 For the law appoints men ain their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made bperfect forever.

Jesus, High Priest

We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.

Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.

Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.

Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.

Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests

This icon shows Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.

The gold pelican over His heart represents self-sacrifice.

The border contains an altar and grapevines, representing the Mass, and icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.

Melchizedek: king of righteousness (left icon) was priest and king of Jerusalem. He blessed Abraham and has been considered an ideal priest-king.

St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.

Lord, have mercy – Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy – Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy – Lord, have mercy
Christ hear us – Christ hear us
Christ, graciously hear us – Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of heaven, *Have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,

Jesus, Priest and Victim, *Have mercy on us
Jesus, Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek,
Jesus, Priest Whom God sent to preach the Gospel to the poor,
Jesus, Priest Who at the Last Supper instituted the form of the eternal sacrifice,
Jesus, Priest Who lives forever to intercede for us,
Jesus, High Priest Whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power,
Jesus, High Priest chosen from among men,
Jesus, made High Priest for men,
Jesus, High Priest of our confession of faith,
Jesus, High Priest of greater glory than Moses,
Jesus, High Priest of the true tabernacle,
Jesus, High Priest of the good things to come,
Jesus, High Priest, holy, innocent and undefiled,
Jesus, High Priest faithful and merciful,
Jesus, High Priest inflamed with zeal for God and souls,
Jesus, High Priest, perfect forever,
Jesus, High Priest, Who by Your own Blood entered the heavens,
Jesus, High Priest, Who opened us a new way for us,
Jesus, High Priest, Who loved us and washed us from our sins in Your Blood,
Jesus, High Priest, Who offered Yourself to God as an oblation and sacrificial Victim,
Jesus, sacrificial Victim of God and men,
Jesus, holy and immaculate sacrificial Victim,
Jesus, pleasing sacrificial Victim,
Jesus, peace-making sacrificial Victim,
Jesus, sacrifice of propitiation and praise,
Jesus, sacrificial Victim of reconciliation and peace,
Jesus, sacrificial Victim in whom we have confidence and access to God,
Jesus, sacrificial Victim living forever and ever,

Be merciful, spare us, Jesus.
Be merciful, graciously hear us, Jesus.

From rashly entering the clergy, * deliver us, Jesus
From the sin of sacrilege,
From the spirit of incontinence,
From sordid pursuits,
From every lapse into simony,
From the unworthy administration of the Church’s treasures,
From the love of the world and its vanities,
From the unworthy celebration of Your Mysteries,
Through Your eternal priesthood,
Through the holy anointing whereby You were constituted a priest by God the Father,
Through Your priestly spirit,
Through that ministry whereby You glorified Your Father on earth,
Through the bloody immolation of Yourself made once and for all upon the Cross,
Through that same sacrifice daily renewed upon the altar,
Through that divine power which You exercise invisibly in Your priests,

That You would deign to maintain the whole priestly order in holy religion, * We beseech You, hear us
That You would deign to provide Your people with pastors after Your own heart,
That You would deign to fill them with the spirit of Your priesthood,
That the lips of Your priests might preserve true knowledge,
That You would deign to send faithful workers into Your harvest,
That You would deign to multiply the faithful dispensers of Your Mysteries,
That You would deign to grant them perseverance in the service of Your will,
That You would deign to give them gentleness in their ministry, resourcefulness in their actions, and constancy in prayer,
That through them You would deign to promote the veneration of the Blessed Sacrament everywhere,
That You would deign to receive into Your joy those who have served You well,

Lamb of God, Who take away the sin of the world, spare us, 0 Lord
Lamb of God, Who take away the sin of the world, graciously hear us, 0 Lord
Lamb of God, Who take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us, 0 Lord

Jesus, Our Priest, hear us
Jesus, Our Priest, graciously hear us

Let us pray:
O God, Sanctifier and Guardian of your Church, raise up in her through Your Spirit suitable and faithful dispensers of the holy Mysteries, so that by their ministry and example, the Christian people may be guided under Your protection in the path of salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, Who, while the disciples were worshiping and fasting, ordered Saul and Barnabas to be set apart for the work to which You had called them, be present now to Your Church in prayer, and You, who know the hearts of all, indicate those whom You have chosen for ministry. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(This prayer was prayed in Latin by Pope John Paul II as a seminarian in Cracow, and often in later life as well.)

Eccl. approval for English translation: – Adam Cardinal Maida

Archbishop of Detroit. Rescript of November 21, 2008

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.

Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.

Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.

Amen.

She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.

(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)

Hebrews 9:21-28 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 10:8-25 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"

then he adds,

"I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Here are qualifications of office of overseer and deacon. Nowhere are priests mentioned.

There were none mentioned in the establishment of the NT church in the book or Acts. There aren't any referred to in any of the Epistles.

Peter makes no mention of them in his writings.

1 Timothy 3 1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Titus 1:5-9 5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Catholic priests as the priesthood stands, would not qualify for the position of either overseer or deacon in the NT church as per Paul's instructions.

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