RBWords

     On the occasion of one's ordination to the priesthood, it is customary to have small "souvenir cards" printed to accompany the formal invitation or to place by a guestbook for attendees to take.  I was no exception to this custom.  I sent three scriptural quotations to a Jesuit friend of mine who is also an artist.  (He entered the Jesuits the year before I entered the Dominicans.)  He designed three cards around the quotes.  One of them was the quote from Isaiah from today's first scripture.  (Ok! The other two were Micah 6:8 and 2 Cor. 5:17-18].  To this day, the calling of Isaiah resonates with me.

     We the baptized are ALL called to ministry which the church traditionally refers to as the  "priesthood of the baptized."  We offer the Eucharist together with the ordained priest and participate in the preaching of the gospel by word and deed in daily life.  Some members of the Body of Christ are called to a specific role by an additional sacrament, the Sacrament of Orders.  Indeed, one of the big theological challenges facing the church in our time is the admission of women to the Sacrament of Orders.  They are definitely part of the priesthood of the baptized.  Now the church, after centuries, is considering the Permanent Diaconate for women.

     One of the questions I often hear from laity concerns the difference between a priest who belongs to a religious order and a priest who belongs to a diocese.  The best way I can respond is that when one enters a religious order as a "clerical candidate" (many religious orders have members who are not ordained) one does not enter with the expectation that one will become a pastor of a parish after a couple of years (at least nowadays!) as an associate.  A Dominican friar may be sent to do full time itinerant preaching or campus ministry or academic teaching or parish ministry, and may indeed do some of each of those during his lifetime.  A diocesan priest may do those, but it is more by way of exception. His role is primarily a parochial, sacramental one.   So, God's call admits of a variety of manifestations, especially among the variety of religious orders there are!!!  Our role is more "prophetically oriented" and less parochial even if we staff parishes.

     Like Isaiah, we should come to this role in fear and trembling at our own unworthiness, but also accept God's invitation: "Whom shall I send?  Who will be my messenger?"  "Here I am!  Send me!"   AMEN