Are we ALL priests’

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anrmenchaca47

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So today I had the privilege of playing for a one day retreat for catechist andEucharistic ministers. A deacon friend of mine gave a very good talk on advent. However, he came to a certain part of the talk in which he was describing the OT tabernacle and luckily I bought a book by Sonja Corbett called “Fulfilled” and I was very familiar with what the deacon was talking about. However, he made a comment that didn’t feel right to me. And that was that we were ALL meant to be “priests and priestesses.” Now, I’m thinking to myself “perhaps domestic priest as in our household,” but Sensus Fidelium(maybe) tugged at my heart and not in a good way. I felt like something was wrong…anyway, spoke to him briefly and asked him if he meant “minesterial priests.” Well, he proceeded to explain to me that in Leviticus it says that we are ALL priests. Well so I ask him again “…but are we minesterial priest?” And he changes the subject and doesn’t answer my question. Maybe I’m misunderstanding but then again I wouldn’t feel this “wrongness”(i can’t put it any other way) in what he meant. Maybe someone here can perhaps give me an idea of what he could have probably meant . Thanks a bunch!!
 
We are all priests due to our baptisms, in the sense that we can offer up our sufferings to God. But not all of us are ordained priests: that is a separate Sacrament and can only be done for men.
 
we are sent into the world to tell the good news. we then are priest representing our father to those who do not know him. we minester to the poor ophans and widows we see to their needs
 
Peter says -
You are a chosen generation.
A royal Priesthood.
A Holy Nation.
A peculiar people -
That YOU should show forth the praises of Him
who has called you - out of darkness -
into i His marvelous light
Chapter 2 Verse 9
 
anrmenchaca47 said:
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The baptized in general are not clerical priests but only those with holy orders are.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
783 Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them.208
784 On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people’s unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people ‘a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.’ The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood."209
1584 In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis :23 …
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By our baptism, yest. But not all are ministerial priests.
 
Yes @anrmenchaca47 . we are all priests .

" Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the Eucharistic sacrifice, and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, in virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist. They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and by self-denial and active charity.

" Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with It. Thus both by reason of the offering and through Holy Communion all take part in this liturgical service, not indeed, all in the same way but each in that way which is proper to himself. Strengthened in Holy Communion by the Body of Christ, they then manifest in a concrete way that unity of the people of God which is suitably signified and wondrously brought about by this most august sacrament. " ( Lumen Gentium )
 
Peter is quoting Exodus: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. (Ex. 19:6, KJV)

The usual interpretation is this. God designated the people of Israel to be a nation of priests, meaning that just as, in the OT, a priest intercedes with God on behalf of his worshipers, so also the Israelites were to intercede between God and the other peoples of the world. Peter is telling his flock that, under the New Covenant, they are the new Israel and consequently have been entrusted with the same responsibility.
 
So my question here is this: a minesterial priesthood or domestic?(i.e.; household)
 
“Ministerial preisthood” describes the priesthood of the ordained. It is a phrase that does not apply to lay people.

But “the faithful… join in the offering of the Eucharist” as it says in Lumen Gentium that Rob2 quoted. That royal priesthood is also evident in our domestic life and in other areas od our life.
 
Now my next question is this. Was the deacon right in saying that we are ALL priest and priestess? Because I asked him to clarify whether minesterial or domestic. And this is where he stonewalls me twice.
 
anrmenchaca47 said:
Now my next question is this. Was the deacon right in saying that we are ALL priest and priestess? Because I asked him to clarify whether minesterial or domestic. And this is where he stonewalls me twice.
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It depends on which priesthood he was referring to. If it is the one given to us at baptism, then yes, he was correct. Which would make sense with what he said, since even if he believed women can be ordained, they still have to actually be ordained, just like how not all men are ordained priests. However, if he was referring to the ordained priesthood, he would be wrong.
 
Going back for a moment to your earlier question, about the word “priesthood” in 1 Peter 2:9, we ought to bear in mind two things: first, that this is a quotation from Exodus 19:6, and second, that in Old Testament times a priest was just a priest. The idea that there were two kinds of priests, “ministerial” and “common”, didn’t come until centuries later, with the Christian Church. So I think my first guess was probably the right one, when I said “Neither.” Is that the same answer your friend the deacon is giving you?
 
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I don’t know what you mean by ministerial priest. But to answer your question, yes, and also no.

From the standpoint of whether we offer an atoning sacrifice before God, the answer is No, there is only one priest who has ever done that, and that is Christ. Hebrews 10 tells us that the sacrifices offered by the priests of the Old Covenant were not expiatory in nature, but served as a reminder of sin, and that the blood of bulls and goats do not take away sin. In that sense, the priests of the Old Covenant never offered atonement, but were the pre-figure of the promises to come in Christ Jesus. As the author of Hebrews tells us:

“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.”

In other words, Christ’s sacrifice was efficacious for all time for those who are the elect of God, past, present and future. Even our priests today do not offer atonement for sin in the ministerial sense that I suspect you mean.

That being said, as Christians, we are all priests. Not in the sense of making sacrifice for atonement, but in the sense of proclaiming the gospel to the world. So starting with your priest, when you receive the sacrament he is not offering atonement, nor does he do so during absolution. He declares to you what Christ has already done, so that you might benefit from the promises delivered to you in your baptism. You in turn get to declare God’s grace to the world. As Peter says in his first epistle:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

So in the sense that you are called to make known to the world the grace of God that has been given to you, you are very much a priest.
 
A priest offers sacrifice (preaching the Gospel is the prophetic role, which we also are called to participate in). All the baptized, in union with Christ the high priest, are called to offer sacrifice.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

But only the ordained priests (bishops and presbyters) offer the Eucharistic sacrifice.
 
It sounds like conflating of the two types of priesthood.

Only the deacon knows for sure.

I wouldn’t obsess about this, you already spoke to him and he didn’t give you a satisfactory answer.

Have a peaceful Advent,
Deacon Christopher
 
anrmenchaca47 said:
Now my next question is this. Was the deacon right in saying that we are ALL priest and priestess? Because I asked him to clarify whether minesterial or domestic. And this is where he stonewalls me twice.
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If you will read the posts before this “next question” post, you will find the answers you seek in official documents.
 
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