Friday of the
Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 15:14-21; Luke 16:1-8)
When Grant Desme gave up the very real possibility of playing
major league baseball to study for the priesthood, many probably thought he was
following a “higher calling.” Priesthood
has traditionally been considered a way to serve God in a noble way. Even in St. Paul’s time this was true as he intimates
in today’s reading from his Letter to the Romans.
Paul writes that in preaching the gospel he is performing
a “priestly service.” He doesn’t mean
that he is acting like an ordained priest in the contemporary sense. Rather he intends that in enabling others recognize
the Lordship of Jesus, he serves like an Old Testament priest. The fact that Paul mentions it at the
culmination of his letter indicates that he too considers this work a “higher
calling.”
The same calling "higher calling" is given to all of us. In responding to the challenge of the New
Evangelization, we help others can find their way to Christ. This priestly ministry is not foreign or out
of character to laypersons. Rather as
baptized members of Christ’s body, we too share in his priestly office.
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