← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 212: In Persona Christi (2025)
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The Catechism unpacks—by way of comparison—the “two participations in the one priesthood of Christ”: the common priesthood of all the faithful and the ministerial (or hierarchical) priesthood of the bishops and priests. Fr. Mike hones in on the ministerial priesthood as a means for Jesus to minister to his Church. His ministers act on his behalf in persona Christi Capitis: in the person of Christ, the Head. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1546-1553.
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Father Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 212. We are reading paragraphs 1546 to 1553. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a Foundation of the Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com ciy and you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Because Today is day 212, reading paragraphs 1546 to 1553, we're continuing talking about this first of the Sacraments of Service. And we're going to highlight this Holy Orders. We're going to highlight the fact that not only, like I said yesterday, there are two participations in the one priesthood of Jesus, right? There's the kingdom priesthood, baptismal priesthood, the community of believers. There's also this ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests. And so we're going to talk about that distinction. But also there's a unique claim that's made about the ministerial priests and that they act in Persona christi capitis, which is in the. The person of Christ, the head, right? So we're gonna talk about what it is for the priest to be an icon of Christ in some ways, right? What it is for the priest to be a servant. And that's the whole point. The entire point of the priesthood is at the service of the Kingdom priesthood, right? So the whole meaning of the impetus, the drive, the goal of the ministerial priesthood is to help the baptismal priesthood. The whole goal of being a priest in the New Covenant is to be at the service of the lay people of the New Covenant or the Kingdom priests of the New Covenant. And so, yes, they're given an authority, they're given a power, but that power is meant to be placed at the service of others. And they act then in the name of the whole church. And so we're going to talk about that today. So all of these things about the priesthood that hopefully. Well, I was going to say, hopefully you didn't know before, only because it'd be new and fun and exciting. But maybe you do know already. In which case, this is an incredible opportunity to be reminded of the role of priests and the way in which they are called to serve and build up the body of Christ, and also the way in which you and I, as baptized people, are called to serve and build up the body of Christ. All that and more. Today, as we launch into Today, we call upon the name of our God and Father. We call upon Jesus Christ his Son. We call upon the Holy Spirit that's been poured out for us in the love of God. As we pray Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, in the power of your Holy Spirit, we present ourselves before you and we ask that you please bless this time. Bless this time that we just hear these words of the catechism. Bless this time that we come together in this virtual and somewhat divided and strange and new way. But bless this time that we can actually be united as church, that we can be united as followers of your Son Jesus, that we can be united by our common priesthood priesthood of all believers and be united by the ministerial priests who have served us. Lord God, I pray that you please bless those ministerial priests. Bless them in their weakness. Bless them in their need for you. Bless them in their need for forgiveness and their need for reconciliation. Bless them in their struggles. Bless every priest this day. Make them holy. Make them like you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As we said, it is day 212. We're reading paragraphs 1546 to 1553. Two participations in the one priesthood of Christ. Christ High Priest and unique Mediator has made of the Church a kingdom. Priests for his God and Father. The whole community of believers is as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's mission as priest, prophet and king. Through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation, the faithful are consecrated to be a holy priesthood. The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests and the common priesthood of all the faithful participate each in its own proper way in the one priesthood of Christ while being ordered one to another. They differ essentially. In what sense? While the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace, a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the spiritthe ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own sacrament, the sacrament of holy orders in the person of Christ, the head 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. As Pope Pius xii It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received is, is truly made like to the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself. Virtute Persona ipsius Christi. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, christ is the source of all priesthood. The priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ. Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the community of believers. In the beautiful expression of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is Tipos TOU patros. He is like the living image of God the Father. This presence of Christ in the minister is not to be understood, as if the latter were preserved from all human weaknesses. The spirit of domination, error, even sin. The power of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee all acts of the ministers in the same way. While this guarantee extends to the sacraments, so that even the minister's sin cannot impede the fruit of grace. In many other acts, the minister leaves human traces that are not always signs of fidelity to the gospel and consequently can harm the apostolic fruitfulness of the Church. This priesthood is ministerial. That office which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people is, in the strict sense of the term, a service. It is entirely related to Christ and to men. It depends entirely on Christ and on his unique priesthood. It has been instituted for the good of men and the communion of the Church. The sacrament of holy orders communicates a sacred power which is none other than that of Christ. The exercise of this authority must therefore be measured against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least and the servant of all. The Lord said clearly that concern for his flock was proof of love for him. In the name of the whole Church. The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ, head of the Church, before the assembly of the faithful, but also of acting in the name of the whole Church when presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice in the name of the whole Church does not mean that priests are the delegates of the community. The prayer and offering of the Church are inseparable from the prayer and offering of Christ, her head. It is always the case that Christ worships in and through his Church, the whole Church, the body of Christ prays and offers herself through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to God the Father, the whole Body, caput et membra, prays and offers itself. And therefore those who in the body are especially his ministers are, are called ministers not only of Christ, but also of the Church. It is because the ministerial priesthood represents Christ that it can represent the Church. Okay, there we have it, paragraphs 1546 to 1553. Wow. Okay, so going back, we had a little review in paragraphs 1546 and 1547. The review was about the importance and the vital necessity of these two participations in the one priesthood of Christ. We have the priesthood, the kingdom priesthood, I keep calling it, right, the baptismal priesthood, priesthood of the faithful, and also the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood. And I love this. I was just man. Okay, so how do the faithful exercise their priesthood, their baptismal priesthood, or as I say it, kingdom priesthood? Well, it says here very clearly, through their participation, each according to his own vocation in Christ's mission as priest, prophet and king. And so again we bring that out into the world. Whenever you suffer, you get to unite that with the sufferings of Jesus. Whenever you work, you get to unite that to the work of Jesus. Whenever you rejoice, you get to unite that to the joy of Jesus, as well as when you worship at the Mass, you get to unite that to the self offering of Jesus. And so that's so important. Now paragraph 1547 highlights the fact that this other participation in the priesthood of Jesus, right, the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood, that's the bishops and priests, is different essentially from that baptismal priesthood, different essentially from the kingdom priesthood. And the question asks in the middle of the paragraph, in what sense is that essentially different? And it says this, it says while the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace, right, you just continue to live a life of faith, hope and love according to the Holy Spirit. The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. And so because of that, the bishop and the priests, why do they exist? They exist as a means by which Christ continues to build up and lead his church. This is so important. Why does the ministerial priest exist? It exists again, for the glory of the Father, to serve and worship God and to build up the body of Christ on earth. It is, remember these sacraments. These two sacraments are sacraments of service. And so, yes, here's the priest who receives a new power, right? We talk about the person of Christ, the head. That's what that phrase in Persona Christi capitis. So the priest is an icon of Jesus. Yes, and that's important. And we add this quote from Pius XII, quote from St. Thomas Aquinas, quote from Ignatius of Antioch, that the bishop is like the living image of God the Father, just beautiful and incredible that God is present in the priest in a. In a unique way. The Christ has marked this priest in a unique way and has given that priest a certain power. Right? The priesthood has a certain power, and yet that power is meant to be ordered towards service. It's so important for us to understand this. There was a book that came out a number of years ago. It was called boys adrift by Dr. Sacks. And one of the themes of this book, one of the theories of this book is the way in which young men in our culture, in the west, in United States and Canada, this whole area we are right now is we're given this image of masculinity or this image of manhood that we have essentially two options. Seems like one is that of what he calls the slacker dude. And the slacker dude is just the guy who's like, whatever, no big deal, kind of just hanging out and everything's fine. And I'm just kind of like, just. Just chilling, right? Just kind of like, I'm not going to get riled up about anything. I'm not really going to stand for anything. I'm just like, I'm cool. We're cool. The other is the image of the bully or the brute, that person who gets their way all the time, the person who kind of barges into the room, the person who has, you might say, hyper masculine, that kind of idea, even though it's not hyper masculine, it's just a distorted version of masculinity. And he highlights this and says, what are the two flaws that either the slacker dude or the brute and bully fall into? And the flaw is that both are given this unique thing. They're both Given a unique strength, they're given a masculine strength. And the slacker dude just wastes that strength. Like, he doesn't use it, just kind of like whatever just drift through life. The bully or the brute uses that strength, but he uses it to dominate others. He uses it to serve himself. There is a third option that Dr. Sacks points out. That third option essentially, ultimately is the image of Jesus. Here's Jesus, who has all authority and power given to him. He is the King of kings, he's the Lord of Lords. There's no one who can take on Christ. And yet he doesn't use that strength, that power to dominate. And he also doesn't just waste it. He puts it at the service of those around him. And this is what it is to be ultimately to be a man. Now, that's not exclusive. I mean, women are given their own graces, their own special gifts. But in the context of this book, Boys Adrift, what it is to be a man is to place one's strength at the service of others. A good man, a true man, is a place not to waste one's strength and not to use it to dominate others or use it on one's, spend it on oneself, but to place one's strength at the service of others. Again, this is both male and female. Men are given a certain characteristics and women are given certain characteristics. All of those gifts, this is for all of us. All of the gifts that God has given us are meant to be placed at the service of those around us. So as we highlight the gifts that are poured upon a bishop or priests, those gifts are given for the service of the community. And he can just kind of sit back and kind of be a slacker priest, or he can be a brute, a bully, a priest who just serves himself. Neither of those, neither of those is the ideal. The ideal is always going to be Jesus. The ideal is always going to be, does this priest love like Christ? In fact, you know, paragraph 1550 and 1551 highlights this. It says, yes, even though Christ is present in the minister, that does not mean that he's preserved from all human weakness or the spirit of domination or error or sin. And the Holy Spirit power of the Holy Spirit doesn't guarantee that all acts of the priests or the bishops in the same way. And he says, while this guarantee extends to the sacraments, so that even the minister's sin cannot impede the fruit of grace, right? So even if the priest is in a state of mortal sin when he's offering Mass or he's giving you absolution that really is Jesus still there. It's not going to get in the way of it being the Mass. It's not going to get in the way of you being forgiven of all your sins. Many other acts of the minister leave human traces that are not always signs of fidelity to the gospel. And that is. That's absolutely true. I mean, anyone who's here who has been hurt in small or very, very large and painful ways by a priest or by a bishop, you know that that's true. I think that's one of the things that's so remarkable. One of the things that's so remarkable is that here we have these fathers that have been given to us, and at the same time, we have been given flawed fathers, that we recognize that, yeah, the priest is unique. The ministerial priesthood is completely unique. The amount of grace that they can bring into our lives, it's unfathomable. I think, what is it St John Vianney who said, if we knew the reality of the priesthood, we would die from joy. At the same time, the failings, the flaws, the sins of priests can hurt us more than maybe anything. I mean, isn't this true about our families as well? To experience the love of a father is incredible, but our fathers can also be the ones who hurt us the most. The father can be the one who builds up the family more than any other. I mean, moms in the family. So incredible, so amazing. And to have a strong and loving mother is such a gift. And a mom who is flawed and fallen is so painful. And yet at the same time, there's something that, I don't know, just even bears out in our lives. To have a father who is there and a father who loves a father who strengthens his children. He does it in a different way than moms. Not saying one's better than the other, but just we recognize there's something so good, but there's also something so, so devastating to families when the father isn't there, when the father uses his strength for himself or uses, makes bad decisions and hurts his children. And we recognize that the church is a family. It's the family of God. And we've been given fathers. And some of those fathers are amazing, amazing. And we've all known priests, we all know bishops who just. You just think, oh, gosh, I love bishop so and so, or Father whoever, you know, he was just such a gift to our parish, such a gift to our family, such a gift to me. Like, he was the one who was there for me. I saw Jesus in him more than anyone else. I mean, that happens to us so often. And yet at the same time, we can also say, yeah, and also here's Father whoever. Father so and so hurt me more than anyone's ever hurt me. And so we realize that the weight that's placed on priests, that they better live up to this. As I've said many, many times, Dr. Chris Thompson, he was one of my favorite professors I've ever had in my life, taught us in seminary. I remember he taught moral theology. And one day, I remember he said, gentlemen, for all of you who are going to go all the way here in the seminary, you're going to get ordained priests. When it comes to sin, when it comes to leading others to sin, when it comes to bringing sin into the lives of others, he says, I have one word for you, and that word is millstones, referencing how Jesus had said, if one of you leads any of these little ones to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were placed around his neck and he was cast into the sea. Because this is the seriousness. God has given his ministerial priests this sacred power. But with power, as Uncle Ben says, with great power comes great responsibility, and the priest must never abuse that power. In fact, paragraph 1551 says, the exercise of this authority or the exercise of this power must therefore be measured against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least of all and the servant of all. That is what every priest is called to do. That's what I'm called to do. And so I realize, man, I'm a mess, so I need your prayers. I'm not as good at spiritual Father as I want to be. I need your prayers. And so how about this? I'll pray for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.