My Thoughts 08/06/2022

Tomorrow we celebrate The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest. In 2013,  this feast was inserted into the proper Calendar of England and the proper Calendar of Wales, with the rank of feast, on the Thursday after Pentecost.

It was celebrated for the first time in England and Wales in 2018. This feast was instituted to honour Jesus Christ, who serves humankind as High Priest, mediator of God’s saving graces.

It is also a day on which we celebrate the sacramental participation in Christ’s ministry by those ordained as bishops and priests in the Church for the service of God’s people. Jesus is considered the model for believers, and for the clergy in particular, with priests acting in persona Christi (“In the person of Christ”).

Please pray that priests would be more like Christ, the compassionate and trustworthy high priest (Hebrews 2:17), ever-living to intercede for humanity before The Father (Heb 7:25).

Let us not forget that all of us, through our Baptism and Confirmation, share in the priesthood of Christ. Through the Sacrament of Ordination, a priest has a greater sharing in Christ’s priesthood. And bishops have a greater sharing than priests do.

Here is the opening prayer for this feast:

O God, who for the glory of your majesty and the salvation of the human race, made your Only Begotten Son the Eternal High Priest, grant that, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, those whom he has chosen as ministers and stewards of his mysteries may be found faithful in carrying out the ministry they have received.