Holy Thursday: The Chrism Mass: Meditation on the Entrance Antiphon

“Jesus Christ has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father. To him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.” – Entrance Antiphon for the Chrism Mass

Today is a most interesting day in the Church’s year, for Lent is in its final hours, yet the Church interrupts Her fasting in order to rejoice! We may say that three mysteries mark this day – the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, the reconciliation from sin, and the Holy Priesthood. The first will be commemorated especially tonight with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, beginning the Holy Triduum, and the adoration which will follow. The second is no longer commemorated, except in some liturgical vestiges. The third is what the Chrism Mass focuses on.

Unfortunately, in many dioceses practicality cannot allow for the celebration of the Chrism Mass on the morning of Holy Thursday, although it is the most appropriate time for it. This is on account of the close connection between the Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood, the two Sacraments instituted by our Lord this day. Without the Eucharist, there would be no Sacramental Priesthood, for the priest must have something to offer, and without the Priesthood, there could be no Eucharist, for It comes to us through the priest. Let us also recall in accord with the other mystery of this day - reconciliation from sin - the Priesthood is the means whereby we are absolved from our sins and restored to union with God.

However, although the Chrism Mass focuses especially on the Ministerial Priesthood brought about through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we may also meditate upon the priesthood all of the Baptized participate in, and which the Entrance Antiphon speaks of. We must remember, however, that although these two priesthoods are separate from each other, they relate to each other and depend upon each other in a most intimate way.

To emphasize this fact, let us first look at the Book of Exodus where it is written:

“Thus shall you [Moses] say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:3-6).”

St. Peter takes up these words and this idea in relation to the New Covenant in Christ, for he writes:

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).”

First, the entire people of Israel are referred to as a nation of priests by God, then St. Peter goes so far as to call all Christians a priesthood, and not only that, but a royal priesthood! This idea may at first seem puzzling to us, since there was the Levitical Priesthood in Israel, and we have the ministerial and sacramental Priesthood in Christianity, yet if we look at the entire context and contemplate these words their meaning will unfold to us.

When we look at both of these passages, they are contain a reminder to remember the wonderful works God has done for us. The Israelites, through their rituals and feasts, were called to remember God's deliverance of them from slavery in Egypt and the promise He made to Abraham to make of them a great nation. But they were not just to be a great nation, but His nation, "His own possession." They are His segullah, His personal private possession; Israel belongs to the Lord in a unique way. He is their God, and they are His people. The nations have been given other gods, who are not gods (Deuteronomy 4:19). As Moses says in Deuteronomy, "What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? (Deuteronomy 4:7)" God took special care of Israel, for they had to keep the faith so that they would be ready to welcome and proclaim the Messiah to the world!

Yet how far they strayed! They rejected the Lord their God and went after the gods of other nations. They attempted to belong to both the Lord God and the foreign gods, and in doing so, they broke the very basis of the Covenant God made with them in the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-3). We may say Israel rejected the treaty and alliance they had with God, thus, exempting God from His promise to prosper and protect them. But God, in His mercy continued to forgive them their sins and offer them chances for redemption. Jesus tells us how He sent prophets to them, and ultimately His own Beloved Son, Jesus Himself (Matthew 21:33-44). The nation of Israel, however, rejected them all through persecution, murder, and ultimately deicide, and for this God finally rejected them as His people, for they had become wretched in His eyes.

But God would not be without a people peculiarly His own, for Christ raised up a people to be God's special possession, just as St. John the Baptist preached, "Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able to raise up from these stones children to Abraham (Matthew 3:9)." Through Baptism into Christ's Death and Resurrection we have become adopted sons and daughters of God, and consequently, we have gone beyond the honor Israel possessed in being God's special people. For we are not only God's special possession, we are His family; a far greater gift has been bestowed upon us!

What does this mean, however, in relation to the Priesthood, especially when Moses and St. Peter referred to Israel and Christians, respectively, as a nation of priests? For this we must also look at the term, "holy nation," for these two terms, "kingdom of priests," or, "royal priesthood," and, "holy nation," occur together. The priest is one who is set aside, consecrated for a special purpose. This can be seen from one of the words from which it is derived. While the English uses the derivation of priest from presbyter, meaning "elder," Latin will refer to the priest also as a sacerdos, or, "one set aside."

The Latin Vulgate, in the passage from Peter and Exodus, uses the word sacerdos, which we may then interpret as, "a kingdom of people set aside." This meaning easily fits in with the idea of both Israel and Christians being God's segullah, His special possession, for they are both, in their proper times, a people set aside for Him. Israel was consecrated to God by the blood of bulls, which was sprinkled upon them by Moses, and by the favors the Lord showed them, both in Egypt and in the Promised Land. Christians, however, are far more blessed, for we have been sprinkled with the Blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:2)!

However, a priest is set aside for a special purpose, the chief of which is to intercede before God on behalf of the people, and to offer sacrifice. In this we may now see the differences between the Priesthood all the Faithful participate in by Baptism and the Sacramental Priesthood, conferred on those men called by God to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Church teaches us, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, men, who are ordained to the Priesthood, are given the power to offer the Sacrifice of Christ on the altar. Their purpose in so doing is summarized in the prayer, which priests commonly pray before Mass to direct their intention, the Ego volo:

"My purpose is to celebrate Mass and to make present the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the rite of the holy Roman Church to the praise of our all-powerful God and all His assembly in the glory of heaven, for my good and the good of all His pilgrim Church on earth, and for all who have asked me to pray for them in general and in particular, and for the good of the holy Roman Church."

Notice, within this prayer, that it is clear that the two chief purposes of the Priesthood, intercession on behalf of the people and offering sacrifice, go together. The Sacrifice is offered for the people and on their behalf. Their prayers are united with it, and it is for their salvation and the forgiveness of their sins. This offering and making present of the Sacrifice of Calvary in the Holy Mass is something only an ordained Priest can do.

Nevertheless, as all the Baptized participate in the priesthood of Christ, they are also called to go before God on behalf of the people and to offer sacrifice. The Priesthood of the ordained is one who ministers primarily to the sanctification of Christians, although they are of course called to minister to all peoples. The Priesthood of the Baptized, however, is called to make intercession for all the world, and to sanctify it by their daily lives. What the Faithful have received from their Priests, they are called to give to the world. We are called by our Lord to be, "the salt of the earth," and, "the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16)." Through the conduct of holy lives, we may sanctify the world, in a manner similar to how our Priests sanctify us. And we also pray for all peoples, that the Lord would show His mercy to them and guide them into all truth.

Additionally, as we so often note, we are called to offer sacrifice as well, and this sacrifice is nothing else than our very selves, united to the Sacrifice offered by the Priest in the Holy Mass. The sacrifice of our hearts, to be transformed and sanctified by God, is the offering He desires of us. Only by making this offering, can we even be fit instruments to intercede for and sanctify the world. We may say, then, in so offering ourselves, we also present the entire world with us, for in our offering of self, we bring all of our prayers and petitions to the altar of God. 

In these ways, then, we may see the great gift that has been bestowed upon us by our Lord Jesus Christ in making us, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." He has set us over the whole world, as His unique and special possession, to bring sanctification to it and to bring all peoples to His, and our, God and Father! But we also give great thanks for the gift of the Sacramental Priesthood, for it is only through our Bishops and Priests that we may receive the sanctity necessary to fulfill this work given us by Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest. The Bishop, and his Priests in union with him, act in the Person of Christ, and thus, Christ confers His holiness upon us. We may fittingly say, then, in the words of the Entrance Antiphon, "To him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen!"