Priest as intercessor for the people
Chrism Mass
Brothers, in a few days we will commemorate the Last Supper. The Lord said, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15).
Jesus was looking forward to the time when he would meet in intimacy with his chosen disciples, for the last time.
This Last Supper would provide the opportunity for offering them some final words of instruction and encouragement. In the context of the ritual of the Jewish Passover Meal he would introduce the Liturgy of the New Covenant, the New Covenant in his blood.
When Jesus said, following the words of institution, “Do this in memory of me”, he established his disciples as priests who were to sacramentally perpetuate his sacrifice and offer to the New People of God his own Body and Blood.
Our commemoration of the Last Supper in a few days’ time is replete with profound meaning and special significance for us as priests.
In the conclusion of his final discourse to his disciples, recorded by St John over several chapters, Jesus lifts his heart in prayer to his Father.
This prayer, known as the “High Priestly Prayer of Christ”, intercedes for his disciples and then for those who through them would come to believe in him.
Holding his disciples in his heart he says to his Father, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours” (Jn 17:9).
This is a most consoling thought for us now. We, ordained to priestly ministry, are close to Jesus’ heart. We are his in a special way and he intercedes for us with his Father.
Speaking of his disciples, but also now of us, Jesus prays, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth” (Jn 17:15-19).
Brothers, in this moment let us hear these words from the heart of Jesus as words expressing his deep love for us and his desire to protect and sustain us, especially that we may be consecrated in truth.
Jesus as High Priest is a theme taken up in the Letter to the Hebrews. In describing him as High Priest, the letter speaks of Christ as one who intercedes for us before the throne of God (see Heb 7:25).
Jesus, Hebrews teaches, “entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Heb 9:24).
The Letter to the Hebrews emphasises the role of the priest as one who exercises a role of mediation between God and humanity. In this role of mediation, the priest has the important task of being an intercessor for the people.
Brothers, we exercise this ministry of intercession at every Mass we offer. We unite our prayers to those of Christ the High Priest. The Eucharistic Prayer always includes prayers of intercession.
In the Third Eucharistic Prayer, for instance, we pray: “May he [Jesus] make of us an eternal offering to you so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect”.
We pray through Jesus that the faithful gathered for this Mass, in offering themselves to God, may be granted eternal life. We hold the people before God interceding for them.
A vital role in our ministry as priests is to be intercessors before God for the people.
Thus, the Church requires pastors of parishes to offer Mass pro populo – Mass for the people – each Sunday (Canon 534.1).
On other days, it is customary for people to request that a Mass be offered for a specific intention, for which people may offer a stipend to the priest.
However, on the Lord’s Day, the priest offers the Mass for all the people and their intentions.
Our daily celebration of the Divine Office is also intended not just as personal prayer but as an act of praise and intercession on behalf of the whole church.
We pray the Prayer of the Church on behalf of the whole People of God. This is our priestly duty.
And, I am sure, that we have often come before the Lord interceding for individuals within our parishes whose needs have been made known to us.
So often the people have turned to us and have asked us to pray for them. They understand that this is what we do.
We, as priests, are intercessors before God for the people. This is a most sacred task entrusted to us, and unites us profoundly with Jesus our High Priest.
Last year at this Chrism Mass I invited you to join me in acts of prayer and penance on Fridays during a Holy Year for Priests which was to commence on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
I proposed this as a way in which we, as priests, could give expression to the call to “lay down our lives for the sheep”, imitating Christ the Good Shepherd.
As I have sought to fulfil this I have found that my prayer has more and more been drawn to invoking the mercy of God upon the Church here in Tasmania and I have prayed for you, my brothers, often individually by name.
This year, while encouraging our continuing participation in acts of penance on Fridays, I invite you to be more intentionally engaged in intercession for the people, in union with Christ our High Priest.
We take to heart the teaching of the Letter to the Hebrews which, while describing the role of the priests of Israel of old, find resonance in our own priestly hearts: “Every high priest is taken from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb 5:1).
Brothers, in a few moments we will renew our priestly promises in which we express our intention to be “faithful stewards of the mysteries of God”.
Let us intend in the year ahead to devote our prayer with more purpose to fervent intercession for the spiritual and temporal needs of the people entrusted to our pastoral care.