Last Sunday, Father Timothy Radcliffe gave a talk on the relationship between priests and the laity which I found personally inspiring. He brought this complex relationship of priest and laity back to basics: baptism.
In baptism we can find the seeds of how we, the laity, can participate in being church. We are given many graces in baptism besides salvation, chief among which are the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
Thus equipped, we can fully participate in Christ's threefold office of priest, prophet and king. The implications of this threefold office can be far-reaching only if we fully appreciate and accept the mantle we have inherited from Christ.
PRIEST
As Father Radcliffe pointed out Christ was a lay person who lived out his office of priesthood by representing God's love for us and ours for God. He was the "incarnate smile of God" and lived this responsibility of mediator beyond conventional ecclesiastical worship.
If we wish to worship as He did, we must go beyond the rituals of prayer and Eucharistic celebration to becoming ministers of His love in all our roles and relationships. To relate to others and call them "by the names that mothers call their children when they are not angry with them" (I absolutely love this description of a personal name).
When we connect with others in kindness or when we pray with an aching, despairing heart for those we love, we share in Christ's priesthood and we make His and the Father's love present in the world.
PROPHET
As prophets, we are called to witness by speaking God's powerful, creative and healing word which is at the centre of moral life. Out of chaos, God spoke and created the world. Likewise, we can speak God's word to bring life and order.
Father Radcliffe exhorted those whose lives are bound up with words such as teachers, writers, politicians and journalists to speak words that give life, sustain, encourage and empower. As Saint Paul said to the Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 29, speak words that "will give grace to those who hear".
So as Christians, we need to tell the truth without destroying people, "to be honest and not collude with prejudice". If we can do this, then we are living out our prophetic office as Jesus did his.
KING
"Being grown up means having a voice in your church, community or nation," said Father Radcliffe. We each have a responsibility to be a voice in the world that stops evil in its tracks with a voice that awakens hope and encourages peace.
Wherever we are placed in family, community and society, we can and must speak up or speak out to uphold our beliefs. As Father Radcliffe emphasized having a voice is more important than being democratic for democracy can tear organizations apart.
To exercise our voice of authority, one must first recognize authority as Christ did, He who accorded respect even to the blind and the lame. Formation is also important: to be founded and grounded not only in God's word and theology, but in the silence of prayer contemplative.
Implicit in formation is also an active interest and involvement in the world and how societies and their governments function, recognizing that we are all related in one common and universal humanity.
DIALOGUE & FRIENDSHIP
Cardinal John Henry Newman identified three forms of authority within the church:
* experience (personal devotion to God which we all have),
* reason (authority of theologians and experts), and
* government of the church (the hierarchy that keeps faithful to Tradition).
Among the three there must be balance where no one form of authority dominates, failing which superstition, an arid rationalism that puts out the fire of love, or ambition and tyranny would reign respectively.
While the Church must look at increasing ways to give the laity voice, which since Vatican II she has, we, the laity, by virtue of our baptism, must look at taking an active role in being part of Church and ultimately move together towards making an affirmative difference to the world we live in.
The relationship between priest and laity must begin first in friendship wherein lies the heart of Christian life: a friendship that flows from engaging in dialogue. Only by reaching out the hand of friendship can we not view the other as an opponent to be feared, bristling at the differences, but instead we can open our hearts and work towards understanding.
This idea of dialogue is one that extends outside the Church. With the way Father Radcliffe has defined the gift of baptism, it is clear that the way forward for all Christians is to embrace our humanity beyond the differences of race, religion and culture, not forgetting that Christ came to save all of humankind.
My challenge is to find a voice that speaks the creative, loving and healing Word while beating evil as Jesus did by "absolving and dissolving it" (great homily Father Romeo).
In baptism we can find the seeds of how we, the laity, can participate in being church. We are given many graces in baptism besides salvation, chief among which are the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
Thus equipped, we can fully participate in Christ's threefold office of priest, prophet and king. The implications of this threefold office can be far-reaching only if we fully appreciate and accept the mantle we have inherited from Christ.
PRIEST
As Father Radcliffe pointed out Christ was a lay person who lived out his office of priesthood by representing God's love for us and ours for God. He was the "incarnate smile of God" and lived this responsibility of mediator beyond conventional ecclesiastical worship.
If we wish to worship as He did, we must go beyond the rituals of prayer and Eucharistic celebration to becoming ministers of His love in all our roles and relationships. To relate to others and call them "by the names that mothers call their children when they are not angry with them" (I absolutely love this description of a personal name).
When we connect with others in kindness or when we pray with an aching, despairing heart for those we love, we share in Christ's priesthood and we make His and the Father's love present in the world.
PROPHET
As prophets, we are called to witness by speaking God's powerful, creative and healing word which is at the centre of moral life. Out of chaos, God spoke and created the world. Likewise, we can speak God's word to bring life and order.
Father Radcliffe exhorted those whose lives are bound up with words such as teachers, writers, politicians and journalists to speak words that give life, sustain, encourage and empower. As Saint Paul said to the Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 29, speak words that "will give grace to those who hear".
So as Christians, we need to tell the truth without destroying people, "to be honest and not collude with prejudice". If we can do this, then we are living out our prophetic office as Jesus did his.
KING
"Being grown up means having a voice in your church, community or nation," said Father Radcliffe. We each have a responsibility to be a voice in the world that stops evil in its tracks with a voice that awakens hope and encourages peace.
Wherever we are placed in family, community and society, we can and must speak up or speak out to uphold our beliefs. As Father Radcliffe emphasized having a voice is more important than being democratic for democracy can tear organizations apart.
To exercise our voice of authority, one must first recognize authority as Christ did, He who accorded respect even to the blind and the lame. Formation is also important: to be founded and grounded not only in God's word and theology, but in the silence of prayer contemplative.
Implicit in formation is also an active interest and involvement in the world and how societies and their governments function, recognizing that we are all related in one common and universal humanity.
DIALOGUE & FRIENDSHIP
Cardinal John Henry Newman identified three forms of authority within the church:
* experience (personal devotion to God which we all have),
* reason (authority of theologians and experts), and
* government of the church (the hierarchy that keeps faithful to Tradition).
Among the three there must be balance where no one form of authority dominates, failing which superstition, an arid rationalism that puts out the fire of love, or ambition and tyranny would reign respectively.
While the Church must look at increasing ways to give the laity voice, which since Vatican II she has, we, the laity, by virtue of our baptism, must look at taking an active role in being part of Church and ultimately move together towards making an affirmative difference to the world we live in.
The relationship between priest and laity must begin first in friendship wherein lies the heart of Christian life: a friendship that flows from engaging in dialogue. Only by reaching out the hand of friendship can we not view the other as an opponent to be feared, bristling at the differences, but instead we can open our hearts and work towards understanding.
This idea of dialogue is one that extends outside the Church. With the way Father Radcliffe has defined the gift of baptism, it is clear that the way forward for all Christians is to embrace our humanity beyond the differences of race, religion and culture, not forgetting that Christ came to save all of humankind.
My challenge is to find a voice that speaks the creative, loving and healing Word while beating evil as Jesus did by "absolving and dissolving it" (great homily Father Romeo).
No comments:
Post a Comment