Are you scandalized, offended, frustrated, bitter, confused and angry that women cannot be Priests? Do you see the non-admission of women to the Holy Priesthood as an issue of equality which a patriarchal society and Church will hear nothing about?
Is the Priesthood a vocation or in other words a divine calling which has God as its origins, or do you see it merely as a job, a career or even as simply a functionary role that directs liturgical traffic?
If we answer that it is a divine calling then whether God calls men, women or children it is out of our hands to decide and we must humbly submit to the wisdom of the Eternal God who created the heavens and the earth. If in His wisdom He can maintain and uphold the Heavens and the earth then I am pretty confident that He can also wisely order the plan of salvation in a just and fitting way that speaks loudly of His unconditional love for every human being.
If on the other hand we answered that the Holy Priesthood is of human origin then we must not fail to see the uselessness of it in the plan of salvation for we do not save ourselves. If we could save ourselves then God the Almighty Father has played the most cruel joke on His Son by having Him endure such a brutal death thinking that He was necessary for salvation when in fact He would not be if we could save ourselves..
If the Priesthood is simply a functionary role that directs liturgical traffic then I could see and validate the fact that the non-admission of women to Holy Orders is an issue of inequality. At the same time I would make the following comment on salvation if the Priesthood were merely a functionary role as was mentioned. It would appear that there is no need for Christ to have a Priesthood which does not pass away because it doesn't really accomplish much other then show the Scribes and Pharisees, as well as the Roman soldiers how to descend Mount Calvary in a choreographed manner that highlights the ability of human beings to perfect their dress rehearsels in a musically dignified manner. If the Priesthood is merely funtionary then we have no real link to Christ the Priest who promised to be with us to the end of the age unless we consider the mental recalling of an action such as is done when someone recalls a phone # or when they recall a name so as to put it to a face. I would hardly call this kind of mental recalling a link to Christ the Priest. He did not promise to make things present to us to the end. He did, however, promise to make Himself present along with His saving grace. He required us to eat and drink His Sacred Body and Blood with the threat of eternal damnation if we didn't. What good is this to us twenty centuries later if we cannot receive His Body and Blood because it is limited by the confines of history. Some may say that it is the symbol quality of the bread and the wine that brings us into contact with His Body and Blood. To this I would argue immediately that if symbols have such power then Christ should have died symbolically because it is not really the reality that is important so much as the symbol of it. The nature of a symbol unless endowed with the ability to carry within itself the reality it symbolizes is of no more value then is a scatch and sniff sticker of a banana which when scratched may smell like a banana but is the furtherest thing from the reality of a banana. How can St. Paul tell us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling if it is not before our eyes to work out. If it is not perpetuated, we must intellectually lassoe it.
It is the Priesthood of Christ which links history together. All of history is linked together by the saving sacrifice of Christ on the cross which is perpetuated through all of history by the Priest. If we unravel the Priesthood we unravel time. Priesthood is the thread that unites all of time and space. What gives history its unifying principle is the Sacrifice of Christ the Priest which being eternal is perpetuated through human agents.
For one historical period to have any real relevance to another historical period there must be a unifying principle which transcends its initial historical manifestation and this principle is the eternal Priesthood of Christ.
If Priesthood is not an ontological reality then who are we fooling? For the Holy Sacrifice to be perpetuated so too must be the Priesthood which alone can offer the perfect sacrifice which atones for sins. If the Holy Sacrifice is our salvation then we need access to it don't we? Or is salvation a matter of theological gymnastics? The Priesthood of Christ alone can effect our salvation and since it is eternal all other priesthoods are obsolete. So if we are to benefit from His Priesthood it must be made present in our own day and age. The Priesthood is therefore necessary. It is the door by which we approach the Holy Sacrifice. The Priesthood is the link to Calvary, a link which is so real that no separation can be discerned in its power to save. The historical experience of the Sacrifice of Christ is no less powerful today then it was at that time. The only difference between the Holy Sacrifice then from what it is now is simply time and the Sacramental manifestation of it.
Priesthood is to every generation of time what the coil binding is to a notebook, namely its unity. Is a female Priesthood contrary to Christianity? Yes, why? Have you ever the theology that God has inscribed upon your body? That theology encloses your answer. This theology reminds us that God alone is the one who initiates the gift of salvation and that we must humbly receive this gift. This theology of 'initiating or giving' and 'receiving' is inscribed upon the human anatomy of male and female. It is the male who in the sexual act initiates the gift and it is the woman who receives the gift. Though God is neither male nor female in terms of a human anatomy, except for the taking on of a male anatomy in the mystery of the incarnation, He does possess masculine personality. This masculine personality can be possessed and no doubt it is in varying degrees by both men and women but when it comes to their physical anatomy the male anatomy expresses the theological truth of the masculine personality of God while the female anatomy expresses the theological truth of the feminine personality of all Creation which must depend upon God for every good gift and blessing. Because we know that God is the one who initiates the plan and gift of salvation then we must humbly receive it according to His design. Sexual difference and its inherent complementarity proclaim the Truth of the Eternal Covenant planned before time immemorial and sealed in the precious blood of Christ, which in the fullness of time God bought to light in the Divine Bridegroom, Jesus, who gave Himself up for His Bride.
God alone saves us. A male only Priesthood proclaims this eternal Truth: God initiates the plan of salvation Himself. He gives Himself to us (for salvation is nothing other then the gift of God Himself). We must receive (we cannot command the Giver, for giving is freedom incarnate).
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