Lent: The Journey of Christ the Priest
by Very Rev. Tony Gonoude, PP
All journeys must take a road, a direction. So it is for Christ. In Lent we will see the Anointed One (cf. Luke 4:18) go from the Temptations to the Altar of the Calvary. On this path, the Lord exemplifies the way in which to follow Him . To be priests, our road, our direction must be the path of the Servant King (cf. Isaiah 53). Our call must be informed by the steps of Christ the Priest through that journey of Lent; by the example of his cross and resurrection.
Our journey begins is the wilderness of the Temptations, the first stop in locations of great importance. The Mount of the Transfiguration and the great Hill of Calvary’s suffering to name but a few. From these locations, the life of our High Priest speaks of the Priestly Vocation.
Gospel Luke 4:4-13
The Temptation of Jesus
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Already the Lord has entered His saving mission as God, the High Priest. At His Baptism, He goes down in the dark river of this world and becomes one with us sinners. He takes on our faults to save us. His public ministry has begun (cf. Mark 1:5). Now, He finds Himself in the silent wilderness of the desert. Already, His light filled the world in the silence of the night of Bethlehem (cf. Luke 2:4). In this silence the Christ was born in poverty. His humility sees Him line up in the queue for baptism for the forgiveness of sins. This same humility will lead Him to the wilderness of the death of the desert where He will be faced with nothing but the Evil One’s temptations. Jesus enters into this battle for us. Priest and demon, good and evil. The Israelites wandered and suffered temptations and sometimes succumbed before reaching the Promised Land. Jesus, though, has a sure direction and has based Himself on the firm path of Divine Sonship, Anointing and Obedience.
The priest is called on this journey of the Lord. To the path of suffering and temptations. To stand with others in their weakness and to root himself firmly in the God who comes in the poverty of silence and simplicity. Every priest is called to be ‘Another Christ’ and to construct the way of the Lord in the new desert of today with all of its many challenges. Unlike the Lord, he is not perfect but the office he holds leads the way, because it is the office of Christ the Saviour.
The devil offers the Lord the answer to all hungering. How easy it would have been. The stone to bread. The miracle of Satan would have filled hunger but only that. Life and holiness, love and compassion would be replaced with individualism. Jesus stands to fill us with Truth (cf. John 18). Without God we cannot be saved. We are nourished with our own needs. The true miracle for us is the Bread of Truth given to us at in the hands of the priest at every Mass. “Man does not live on bread alone...” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). Every priest is a servant of the Truth. He is called to fill the people with the teachings of the Lord. The nourishment of every vocation is the miracle of Christ who comes from the words “My Body.” The priest is a witness to this true food. He is a voice for God in the hungers of this world. So much of humanity are starving; filled on that which passes. The Lord shows every vocation that true food comes in giving Him to others in every parish.
The same can be said for power. Remember at the Multiplication of the Loaves, the people wanted to make Jesus, theirking (cf. John 6:1-15). Jesus feeds with love. The Devil removes this with the false food of economic and technical progress. With this way people become objects and nations, his play things, resulting in the temption of God becoming unnecessary. What a lie! This bread is progress and position at all costs. God is the one we serve. With the Lord, we truly see the dignity of every person. Christ rejects power for service, to open the world to the majesty of God-with-us.
For every vocation the need is there to put God first in everything. Otherwise, the Priesthood becomes empty and about power. The priest who serves the Lord, sees him in others and will multiply many loaves of mercy, love, truth, holiness, prayer and example for the faithful.
Finally Jesus is tempted to sensationally throw Himself down to display his might. This high place is to see Him fall into the trap of showing that He is the greatest. He answers with the humble nature of the one who waited with sinners. We must not test God. The Devil offers a kingdom of lies, without truth, without humility. He offers a world of the self, the show and the ego. Jesus answers, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
Every priest is also called to this humble way of service; not show or putting oneself on the height. Every priest is to be an ambassador to the great truth of the Kingdom of God and to reject the false show of the Devil.
Gospel Luke 9:28-36
The Transfiguration of Jesus
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
On our way with the Eternal Priest through the Lenten path, we now stop off at a mountain that becomes a great window into which we can see the majesty of the God who will carry His cross to the Mount of Calvary.
With Lord are some of the greatest vocations of all. Let us look at them.
There is Moses; the great prophet who is in the presence of God on the great mountain of the Commandments (cf. Exodus 33:12-18; Exodus 20:1-21). He will hold the staff of a prophet who leads His people for God (cf. Exodus 17:19). The covenant that God made with Him (cf. Exodus 31:18) will come to its fulfilment in Christ the Priest who is not only a prophet leading the people to the Promised Land but as He goes up this mountain, He shows us that the light of eternity is open in Him. Then there is Elijah. He impels the people to convert to God. He makes food from the famine of the poor widow (cf. I Kings 17:7-16). He is the one who sufferers rejection (cf. I Kings 19:1-18) and yet, turns to the Lord he serves. Both look to Jesus as the true end of their vocations. They see His true glory in the light of the cross and that this exodus on the hill of the crucifixion of God’s Son, will open heaven for us.
The prophets look to Christ. Every young man considering Priesthood is also called to climb the mountain of prayer with the Lord. To see that His cross saves us and that His light is our true guiding hope. The staff of Priesthood will lead souls to the true light and the mountain of prayer that a priest, called to holiness climbs every day, and through which will show the glory of the closeness with the Lord can give. From the hunger of no bread, the priest like Elijah will feed the poor widow of humanity with the Bread of Christ, the true food (cf. John 6:22-71).
We see three more with Jesus. Peter, James and John. They had closely followed the Lord. These three are overcome by the closeness of God. Jesus had revealed Himself to them on other occasions too. Often they are afraid and do not know what to do. Yet Peter speaks, “Master, it is good for us to be here.”
Perhaps you are reading this article and are afraid with the Lord’s nearness to you, as He asks you to climb the hill of your vocation. Take comfort in the closeness of the Christ who goes before you as the Eternal Priest of the Cross, of light, and who opens the way before your steps. God will say to you as He said to the three, “This is my Son, my chosen, listen to Him.” Jesus is “the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6), He will always lead you to true meaning and fulfilment.
Two More Points of Focus
First in the prayer to the Father, Christ shines with light. His garments dazzle. This light comes from within. He is the “light of the world” (John 8:12). He is light from light, With God there is no darkness. The garment of the Priesthood also is a dazzling reflection of this radiant brightness of the God who shines on the mountain. As the priest vests for Mass, he enters into this inner light and life of the Lord who gives his radiance for others. In prayer, the priest becomes a lamp for Christ, the great torch that shows us the light of heaven. When we say yes in our vocation, our light will grow stronger and stronger in the night of time. Upon ordination, we become a ray of Christ’s reflected glory. We allow His radiance to shine out to the sick, to sinners, to those we teach in His name and to those searching for hope.
Secondly, this event shows us that with His light there is also the nearness of the cross. Jesus in His beauty will always carry the wounds of love for us. St Paul will tell us that he carries the scars of the Lord (cf. Galatians 6:17).
This is the call of the priest too. Our ministry has many moments of joy, beauty, ecstasy but with this, there also comes the sufferings of others that we will bear in prayer, the needs of our parish or perhaps our own weakness or failings. In this way, Jesus understands our wounds. The closer we get to the marks on His crucified body and offer them for others, the greater His light will become in our vocation to serve Him.
Gospel Luke 23:33-47
The Crucifixion of Jesus
Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The Death of Jesus
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed His last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”
We saw the desert of the wilderness temptations, the mount of glory and now we come to the high place of the cross. Before that, a brief pause on our journey. We stop off at the Upper Room (cf. Matthew 26:17-19). A place that will lift up bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ (cf. Matthew 26:6; Mark 14:22; Luke 22; 19-20). A supper that sees Jesus, the Eternal Priest, give Himself into our hands and remove His robes of glory (cf. John 13; 1-15). The other places and events we have looked upon, point to this room. Here the shadow of the cross looms but also the display of Christ’s true Priesthood, where he sacrifices Himself to save us and to remain with us in His Sacred Presence. The night of the Last Supper points to the day of crucifixion. Both point to the sacrifice of the One who is God’s light from light, who rejects the lure of the Devil and who stands with us in our frailties.
Every priest is called to enter the Upper Room. To say the words of Jesus “My Body, My Blood.” To look to His cross and to lift up the people to Him. The priest is called to robe himself in the vestments of Christ’s glory so that he can be a hem of the holy garment of the Lord (cf. Luke 8:40-48) for the faithful. In clothing as Christ, he bends down to serve and wash the faithful in the purity of the Lord’s teaching.
Having gone out into the night at the end of the meal, we now see the day of the height of the cross. In Psalm 22 we read “All the ends of the earth shall […] turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before Him.” (Psalm 22:27). We come to this hill, drawn by our faith and the “yes” of our call to serve Him. We join the procession of the ages who go to Christ but also we pray that by answering our call we can allow others to look upon Him. “They will look on the one whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as for an only son.” (Zechariah 12:10).
With Him are the criminals. One who sees the Lord and the other who rejects Him. “Jesus remember me,” the accepting one asks. The suffering Christ promises paradise to him. This man, despite his sins, can see that this poor dying individual beside him reveals the mystery of God. Jesus is a name who saves, as St Joseph is told (cf. Matthew 1:21). The criminal wants to be with this Lord, not only in life but death too. He is drawn to Him.
Every priest will hear the words Jesus remember me. The priest is called to reveal paradise in the Sacraments to those who see Christ and are drawn to Him. The one who serves as Christ at the confessional and at the altar, repeats the words of the Lord “Father, Forgive.” He will act for the saving name of Jesus by being a minister of God’s mercy. Jesus remember me. He will hear these words in the needs of the sick, the poor, the young in need of direction and those who search for God. “Today you will be with me,” Jesus says. This being with God is the whole vocation of the priest and indeed, his mission to bring others into this closeness too. Christ is with us but the priest is a signpost to Him as His voice, hands, feet and minister in the now of history.
Many mock the Crucified One. They are blind to Him. The vocation to this nailed Lord is an uphill struggle in a world so often deaf to his promptings. Yet the priest never stops speaking of Him. Even when many do not see Christ, the thief does. Then he is saved. In the most unrecognisable, Jesus reveals His glory. Our vocation does not depend on this world’s approval but it does rely on the message of the saving Lord who in us, will show Himself in the smallest or most unlikely ways for others to come to Him. This is the beauty of the Priesthood. The High Priest with a cross for His altar comes through His ministers, despite any mocking or rejection.
Finally, there is the moment of death. The cross on the height has brought God to the lowest point. He cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mk 15:34; Psalm 22:1). All seems lost.
This is often the way of the priest too when he encounters tragedy, death, sadness, hunger, illness or those terribly hurt. All seems abandoned on a mountain of doom. In all of this, the presence of Christ, the Priest who suffers, can be heard. Jesus is there, reaching out in His abandonment. He hears the cries of those who come to His servants. This is the consolation of those called to serve in the most awful moments for their people. Calvary does not end for God’s Son. He continues in a Priesthood that saves and lifts the crosses of those who turn to Him. Jesus as He expires says, “It is accomplished” (John 19:30). As Eternal Priest, He has handed over Himself and all of us to God (cf. John 17:19). This is the greatest act of prayer and blessing ever known. Each priest is called to model their life on this mystery of the Lord’s cross too. They not only enter into the sufferings of their people but they lift them up to the Lord in prayer.
Now God lies silent. The world seems absent of His presence and His open arms, His wounded side, His nailed feet are consumed in stillness. God is dead. The tomb is His only height to achieve it seems. Yet His words before Calvary speak to our vocation. We do not serve a deceased person who last spoke on a distant hill that history has eroded. The Lord tells us, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). Even in the night of death, this Priest, the Anointed One, the Wounded One, the Holy One of God continues to be our Lord and saviour. His Blood that comes from His opened heart, will flow into every chalice down the ages in the hands of countless priests. His Body will come in bread, so that the world will be fed with His Sacred Presence. He is lifted up to raise us up too, all the way to God. Every priest who serves Him, raises up their arms to Him who never closes His arms from the day of the cross, until the end of time. His wounds, His silence in death, His hill of pain heals us. In dying, Christ the Priest has brought all of us to the highest point.
Priesthood is always a following of Jesus. It is a call to know Him and to bring Him to others. This Lent, may we be lifted up in prayer, as we stop off at the points of His journey. Jesus still calls young men to follow Him; Young men who have the courage to respond to truth. Be ministers of that truth and see Christ on this journey as your only way on the path of life.
Ordained in 2007, Fr Tony Gonoude is Parish Priest of Ballynacarrigy, Co. Westmeath and serves as Vocations Director for the Diocese of Meath.