Tertia Pars
Lecture 61: The Priesthood of Christ and Sacrificial Mediation

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Amen. God, our enlightenment, guardian angels, strengthen the lights of our minds, order and illumine our images, and arouse us to consider more correctly. St. Thomas Aquinas and John Docter. Pray for us. Help us to understand what you're written. Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Amen. I gave Father some things on love and friendship that we had in the Course, you know. I also threw in that little thing I gave a talk out at TAC one time, on the Contraryty of Knowledge and Love. It's kind of dealing with the distinction that Aristology is in the Sixth Book of Wisdom. And that is that there's a kind of Contraryty between truth and knowledge. Truth is primarily in the mind, and the good is primarily in things. And that's why the first act of the mind is to grasp something, right? Contain it in your mind, right? Why your heart is in the thing that you love, right? My heart's not in it. Your heart's in it. And there's kind of an interesting consequence of that with regard to faith and charity. Because the theological virtue of faith is in reason, right? Why the theological virtue of charity is in the will, huh? And so Thomas is saying that by faith, divine things are in us. And by charity, we are in divine things. That's kind of interesting, right? And I was thinking, you know, about heaven. In the Vedic vision, right, which is in the reason itself, huh? God will be very much in us. Even as that by which we understand as well as what we understand. But by charity, we'll be in God, huh? So that's kind of interesting, huh? But it kind of follows upon the difference that Aristalt pointed out between reason and the will. That's what I'm talking about in that particular talk there. The contrariety in quotes, right? Of knowledge and love, huh? I'm trying to manifest that a bit. I think that finally explains to me that whole controversy about will and, you know, spiritual life about will and the will. So it's like the same. It's good to have both God in you and for you to be in God, right? Amen. So we're up to the priesthood era of Christ, huh? I was reading Thomas there on the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John there where you have the multiplication of the loaves and so on, the fish, right? And the 5,000 men and so on. And Thomas is going into spiritual meetings that the church fathers see in this. And of course, I guess it's filth that says, you know, well, 200 denarii, right? Well, Thomas says, well, that refers spiritually to the insufficiency of the philosophical knowledge, huh? Now, how do you get 200 denarii, how does 200 represent philosophical knowledge, right? Well, he says, 100 represents perfection, right? And the 200, right, means knowledge by experience and contemplation, right? In the case of 200. Well, even that would not be enough to satisfy this people or buy the food for them, right? Okay? And then along comes the other apostle, I guess it's Andrew, I think it is. Well, this little boy here has got five loaves and two fish, right? And what's this among, you know, so many, right? Well, this represents the Old Testament, huh? So, the five loaves, the five books of Moses, the law, and the two fish, the prophets and the Psalms. Okay. The way Christ sometimes would advise scripture into those big parts, right? And so, that's kind of interesting. Yeah. But then, I don't know why Thomas mentions, but Augustine says these two fish are the, what? The kingship and the priesthood of Christ. I don't know why Augustine brings that in, right? But anyway, it's another example of how you just emphasize those, what? Sometimes just those two, I don't know why. Mm-hmm. It's like in that Psalm 109, right? Where the kingship and the priesthood of Christ are mentioned. And you don't speak of his teacher or prophetic role, right? And is there some reason why the priesthood and the kingship can be seen as complete in some way, right? But at other times, you emphasize you have to have king, priest, and prophet, teacher. Yeah. Well, here we get to the priesthood of Christ, so somebody says about this. Then we ought to consider about the priesthood of Christ, huh? And about this thing, six things are asked. Whether it belongs to Christ to be a, what? A priest. And I'm concerned about this, what a priest is, you know? Christ. My son Marcus, when he was a little boy, he thought that Father Mangaluzzo was Christ, right? Well, there's some truth to that. He's another Christ. Not exactly the thing here, huh? So if it doesn't belong to Christ to be a priest. And then about the, what? Host, huh? Of this priest, huh? Whether Christ is both priest and what? Host. Christ. And then, third, about the effect of this priesthood, huh? And in particular, whether the effect of his priesthood pertains to himself or only to, what? Others, huh? And then fifth, about the eternity of his, what? Priesthood, right? And whether he ought to be called a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And both of those last ones come up in that Psalm 109, right? You're a priest forever, according to the... What do you say that? Okay. To the first one goes forward thus. It seems that it does not belong to Christ to be a priest, huh? Now, how is he going to argue that? For a priest is something less than a, what? Angel. Whence, it is said in Zachary chapter 3, God showed to me a great priest standing before the angel of the Lord. So, it's like the priest is something less than an angel, huh? But Christ is greater than the angels, huh? According to that of the epistle to the Hebrews. He's made greater than the, what? Than the angels, right? As he is differently from them, he, what? He inherited a name, huh? He's the son of God in a way that they are not. Therefore, to Christ it does not belong to be a, what? Priest, huh? He's above the angels and the priest is below the angels, huh? Kind of an interesting argument. Moreover, those things which were in the Old Testament were figures of, what? Christ, huh? According to that of the Colossians, which are, what? Shadows of future things. The body, however, is Christ, huh? So, they are to Christ as the shabbos to the body, right? But Christ did not draw the origin of his flesh from the priests of the old law. For it is said in, by the apostle, Paul, right? In Hebrews 7. It is manifest that from Judah, huh? The Lord, our Lord is what? Rose, huh? In which tribe, huh? Moses spoke nothing about, what? The priests. They were, what? The Levites, I guess, huh? Therefore, it does not belong to Christ to be a, what? A priest, huh? In the wrong tribe, huh? Moreover, in the old law, which is a figure of Christ, the priest and the lawgiver are not the same. Whence the Lord said to Moses, the lawgiver, Uh, apply Aaron, right? Your brother, that he might be, what? Occupy, priesthood for me, right? But Christ is a giver of the new law, according to that of Jeremiah 31. I will give my laws in their hearts. Therefore, to Christ it does not belong to be a, what? A priest, huh? He's a lawgiver, not a priest. But against all this is what is said in Hebrew 4. We have a, what? High priest, I guess, huh? What to feature? who penetrates the heavens, Jesus, the son of what? God. I'll see what Thomas says to this now. I answer it should be said that the proper office of the priest is to be a mediator between God and what? The people. So, insofar as divine things, he passes on to the, what? People. When sacerdos, he's giving out the Isidore intimology, is said as it were, sacradans, giving, what? Divine things. According to that of Malachi chapter 2, they require the law from your, what? Mouth. When the mouth of that is of the priest. And then again, insofar as he offers the prayers of the people to, what? God. And for their sins, he, to some extent, satisfies God. I was reading there in the life of the Curia of Ars, right? I guess he first was more rigorous his independence, and then he knocked off a little bit from that, and he said, well, how can you do this? You know, God gives us a light penance. He said, well, I, uh, think up for the rest of the penance. I, yeah, I bear a part of their penance. Quite a man. Whence the Apostle says, Hebrews chapter 5, every priest is taken from among men, right? And he's constituted for men in those things which pertain to God, that he might offer gifts and sacrifices for, what? Sins, huh? But this, most of all, belongs to, what? Christ, huh? For through him, gifts are given to, what? Men, huh? According to that of the second epistle of Peter, chapter 1. Through whom, to it Christ, huh? He gave us, what? Very great and precious, what? Promises, huh? So that we might be made, what? Partakers of the very divine nature. And sometimes they get the definition of grace as a partaking of the divine nature, okay? And he also reconciled the human race to God according to that of the Colossians. In him, to it Christ, it was, what? Fitting or pleasing? All fullness to inhabit. And through him to reconcile, what? All things. What belongs to the priest belongs, most of all, to Christ, right? Once to Christ, most of all, it belongs to be a, what? Priest. That's pretty convincing, I think. Okay, but what about this? Angels, huh? To the first, therefore, it should be said that the hierarchical power belongs to the angels insofar as they themselves are the middle between God and, what? Men. As is clear through Dionysius in the book of the celestial hierarchy. Thus that the priest, thus that the priest also, insofar as he is the, what? Middle. Between God and the people has the name of an angel. According to that of Malachi chapter 2. The angel of the Lord of the, what? Armies. Yeah. But Christ was greater than the angels, not only according to his divine nature, but also according to his humanity, insofar as he had the fullness of grace and, what? Glory, right? Whence also, in a more excellent way, the hierarchical or priestly power, he had more so than the angels, huh? Thus that also the priests and the angels themselves were ministers of his, what? Priesthood. According to that of Matthew chapter 4, the angels approached him and administered to him. But according to his, what? Being able to suffer in his body, he was a little bit lessened from the angels. As the apostle says. That goes back to the, what? Psalm 8, I think it is. But the Hebrews is quoting there. And according to this, he was conformed to men on the path, right? Constituted in the, what? Priesthood, huh? That's it. The priest shall keep knowledge and they shall seek the law in his mouth because he is the angel. Yeah. It's kind of interesting there because I don't think an angel can perform the mass, right? And you can offer the mass, so. St. Francis de Sales said, do we have that in here? I read it someplace else. We had some young seminarians that were just renamed by Francis de Sales and they saw the seminarian kind of hesitated when he was going out the door of the church and when he was having a conversation with some invisible person. He said, well, what happened there? He says, well, I have to admit, I've had since my youth I've been able to see my daddy and angel. And I'm accustomed that he always goes before me, but ever since he ordained me, he says, I go first. There's a Syriac hymn that speaks to the priest that speaks about the priesthood rank is higher than men in the seraphim. It's referring to the office of the priest. It's kind of beautiful because it begins as the priesthood said to the Lord, exalt me, Lord, exalt me. And then the Lord says, neither Michael nor Gabriel nor his host are higher than this thing that I'm giving. And then it goes on to describe, instead, the priesthood's higher than I seraphim because through it, forgiveness of sin comes in the world. It lifts up people because it raises people up to answer. But that's in a different way, I guess, from what St. Thomas is. St. Thomas, I guess, is just more referring to the manhood of the priest here. Well, yes, I mean, referring to the priesthood called an angel because he's... That's the middle part. Just like by nature, an angel is between God and man. He's in between the nature, it's better. Then a man is a priest. He's also pointing out that the priest should be like an angel, right? And Christ especially, of course. Now, the second objection here. What about, why didn't Christ come from a Levite, right? Then a David's tribe. To the second, it should be said that as Damascene says in the third book, if in all things it was like, right, it would be the same and not a, what? Exemplar, right? Because, therefore, the priesthood of the old law was a figure of the priesthood of Christ, right? And therefore, something less than it, right? Christ did not wish to be, what? Born of the stock, yeah? Of the figurative priest, you call that. Then he might show not to be altogether the same priesthood, right? But to differ as the true from the figurative. What about Christ being, is he a lawgiver or is he a priest, right? Well, maybe he's both, right? To the third, therefore, it should be, and in the same way he's a king, right? To the third, it should be said that it has been said above, other men, in a particular way, a partial way, have certain graces, right? But Christ, as being the head of all, the head of the church, has the perfection of all graces. And therefore, as regards others, as it pertains to others, other is the lawgiver and other the priest, right? And other the, what? King. But all of these run together in Christ, as in the fountain of all graces, huh? Whence it is said in Isaiah 33, Dominus, our judge, right? Our lawgiver, our king, right? He comes and... What? Saves us, huh? So, I guess we have to say he's a priest then, right? Now, the second article. Was Christ, at the same time, priest and what? Victim. And what? Victim. Victim, okay. Host, yeah. It's like a victim, huh? Yeah. In English, it's the word host for the communion, right? Yeah. That is the victim in a sense, but we don't think of the word being victim, huh? I knew some of that. I thought the title of the word God of hosts actually was taken in that way, instead of army. The word of hosts. Yeah, it doesn't have as terrifying an image. Yeah. Okay. The second one goes forward thus. It seems that Christ was not, at the same time, priest and victim, huh? For it belongs to the priest to kill the, what? Yeah. Christ did not kill himself. Therefore, he was not, at the same time, priest and, what? Victim, huh? Moreover, the priesthood of Christ is more like the priesthood of the Jews that was instituted by God than the priesthood of Gentiles, right? By which the demons were, what? Wishipped. But in the old law, never was man offered in, what? Sacrifice, huh? Which is most of all reprehended in the sacrifice of the Gentiles, right? The Aztecs and so on. These terrible things you hear about. According to that of Psalm 105, they shed the blood, the innocent blood, of their own sons, right? And their own daughters, which they sacrificed to the statues, I guess. What? Idols. Idols, yeah. Of Cana. Therefore, in the priesthood of Christ, there ought not to be the man himself, Christ, the host, right? The victim. Moreover, every victim from this that is offered to God is sanctified to God. But the humanity of Christ from the very beginning was sanctified and joined to God, huh? Therefore, not suitably can it be said that Christ, according as he was man, was the victim, huh? But against all this is what the Apostle says in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 2. Christ loved us and handed over himself for us as an offering and a victim to God in the odor of sweetness, huh? That's pretty, pretty, pretty bad. Yeah. I answer, Thomas says, it should be said that as Augustine says in the 10th book on the city of God, every visible sacrifice is a sacramentum, that is a sacred sign of an invisible sacrifice. That's a very important thing that Augustine was talking about that we said about. There is, however, an invisible sacrifice by which man offers his own, what? Spirit to God. According to that of Psalm 50. That's the one that Jesus of Avila was so fond of, right? A sacrifice to God is a troubled, what? Spirit, a penitent spirit, I guess. And therefore, everything that is shown to God, in order that the spirit of man might be born into God, can be called a, what? Sacrifice, huh? Okay, now Thomas comes to a very interesting distinction here. Man needs sacrifice in account of three things, huh? Now, if you were told without the texture, what are those three things, even those of you who might offer sacrifice, right? You'd say, I'm exactly sure I can. Okay, we say, man needs sacrifice in account of three things. And one thing I kind of think about the Catholic Church is, you know, that we're probably the only one around who really still have a sacrifice, huh? Who else has one? I don't know. I mean, in Hover, you have a lot of sacrifice, I don't know. Sacrificing, too. Probably the demon worshippers, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's kind of interesting, huh, that something is essential to man, that man needs, huh? For three reasons, he needs sacrifice, right? That's what the rest of the Protestant said. That's why Protestants misunderstand our devotion to blessed mother and saints, because they think what we give to them is what they give to God. Well, they're right, but they don't give God's sacrifice, which we do. So what we give to the saints is all they give to God. Meaning, they don't give him what he owes. What they owe him is more. So they're right in a certain way, except they don't realize that they're the ones who are missing out on the real deal. They don't have what's owed to God, which is sacrifice. We don't give sacrifice to God. So, what are these three things? In one way, through what? For the remission of sin, right? By which we are turned away from God, right? And therefore, the Apostle says in Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews is very important, I guess, for the priesthood of Christ, huh? And therefore, the Apostle says in Hebrews 5, that it belongs or pertains to the priest that he offer gifts and sacrifices for, what? Sins, huh? It's interesting that Thomas gives this as the first, what? Reason, right? Because if you say, does man need to pray? And I'd say, well, yes. What would you give as the first reason for praying? Sins? I mean, to get rid of your sins? Yeah. If your brother has something, he can. Yeah. I'd say, I can hear our father begin with asking for the good things, right? And then the ones for the bad things, like sins, yeah. Oh, okay. So, it doesn't necessarily begin with that, you know? But here, when you talk about sacrifice, it seems to begin there, right? Mm-hmm. Secondly, that man in the state of grace might be, what? Preserved, huh? Always adhering to God, huh? In whom his peace and salvation consists. Whence also in the old law there was, what? Immolated. And a hostia pacifica. Peace offering. Peace offering, yeah. For the salvation of those offering it, as has had Leviticus 3. That's a very subtle thing, didn't he? You have this distinction he's going to make here among sacrifices. A pacifique. Pacifique. That's what they call it. And if you read the real Dewey Bible, they call those pacifiques. Well, there are other sacrifices that were especially for sins, though. Well, this is going to, you're going to mention the holocaust here. There's a third thing here. Okay? Third, for this, that the spirit of man might be perfectly, fully united to God, which most of all will be in our glory. Whence in the old law there was offered a holocaust, right? As it were, the hole burnt up. As it said, Leviticus, huh? That's kind of interesting, but the holocaust is seen as what? You know, you're entirely to God, right? That's why you consume the whole thing, right? It's kind of interesting, huh? What does the animals use for the sin there? It was driven out. It's usually like a scapegoat. Coat, yeah. Yeah, scapegoat. He mentioned that in too. Yeah. He doesn't mention there, he talks about the first one about sin, but there was some animal directly for sin, right? And it's pacific, as you say. Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't mention there, he doesn't mention there, he doesn't mention there. kind of interesting i mean you got to stop and think about those three things i mean if the sacrifice of the mass is kind of reenactment of christ's death and the cross doesn't that come to mind first oh i died on the cross for our sins that comes to mind first right that kind of shows the order which thomas has enumerated these things right but you you think of of the communion itself which is kind of a result of the sacrifice right as being uh the thing that would conserve you right in the life of grace right and would lead to your final union right it's very they build a very in the community that's episode of sex we've come there we see community for freedom of sins that and that connection mm-hmm i was like that i like that one of our hymns we say um something about since since i've eaten your sacred flesh don't let the fire consume me but like raise up my body and when i say that's the medicine of mortality now these things come to us through the humanity of christ right for first our sins are deleted right according to that of romans chapter four he was handed over on account of our sins our yeah secondly we receive what yeah the grace saving us right through him according to that of hebrews 5 9 he was made for all that were obeying him i guess right uh the cause of eternal salvation third through him we obtain the perfection of glory according to that of hebrews 10 we have confidence or faith or hope through his blood in the entry of the what from the saints to wit in celestial what glory let's tap a moment here for a moment you see a connection here uh between these three things and the our father well yes and then corresponding to these three but in the verse order right so so the last petitions you know forgive us our trespasses and these not to temptation it's against sin which is the first thing here and then you go to um there will be done give us this day our daily bread and this is more being conserved in the or preserved in the good and then hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come this is the part about glory right it's kind of interesting that it kind of corresponds between the prayer you could see it the last of the first of this course from the senate in a certain opposite way to forgive us our trespasses lead us not in temptation we can conserve us preserve us in sin but deliver us from evil which would be the opposite of permanent union with god kind of separation kind of almost of course not paying us remember how there's i would kind of explain differently though the the reverse order right i've spoken before about the the psalms being in reverse order of the our father you know thomas in the beginning of the commentary on the psalms here if you had a chance to look at that you know he speaks about um people who divide the psalms different ways and but following the rule of two or three right uh thomas adopts the uh rule of augustine right and with the correct number of the psalms right the 50th psalm that we referred to earlier that uh is a psalm asking for forgiveness of sins right and then the 100th psalm is a psalm of good deeds right and then the last 50 and it is symbolized by the last psalm the 50th psalm is one of resting in god praising and and so on and uh so why in reverse order right now well thomas you know i've seen thomas take the text of scripture where it says sometimes do good and avoid evil and then turn away from your sins and approach god and thomas says well it's one order it doesn't say one order is correct and it's incorrect but the one order is the order of what intention so to speak and the other is the order of carrying this out right but since the psalms are kind of a prolonged carrying out of what's in the our father right makes some sense to have that order right and of course they also make it correspond to the three orders of what charity right or the three orders of spiritual life where the the first stage is where you're primarily trying to get your sins up and then the second stage where you're trying to uh progress in the virtues right then the third stage where you're resting in god now in anticipation of our final goal right now but i would explain that in terms of the distinction thomas mix between uh the order of intention the order of execution right now but here it's a little different i don't think that that's the reason for it but it's interesting to see that the order here is is is is the is the uh reverse for a different reason maybe but i think if you think of the mass at least as being the reenactment of the death on the cross what comes to mind first of all is always why did he die on the cross it's for our what sins that's that comes to mind first you know so now at the end of the body the article here and therefore christ insofar as he was what man was not only priest but also the perfect what victim at the same time being a victim for sin and a victim for what peace it's enough about that in the master about peace right and then what a holocaust right it gives the same order of these three the first objection was saying well christ didn't kill himself right the first therefore it should be said that christ did not kill himself but he voluntarily exposed himself to what death according to that isaiah chapter 53 he was offered because he willed so right and therefore he is said to what have offered himself right that's what you say about the same she might be like cold or somebody offering his life in place of somebody else's life right he offer himself right that's interesting when they asked him when he stepped online they said who are you he didn't say his name he said a priest now um in the old testament we don't offer human sacrifice but the barbarians do that right to secondly it should be said that the killing of the man christ can be compared to a two-fold will right in one way to the will of those what killing him right and in this way it did not have the notion of being a what host right and the killers of christ are not said to have offered a what victim to god right but to have gravely sinned. Even the guys who are going to assassinate Julius Caesar there in the play, right? Let's carve him as districts of the gods, right? A little bit of offering love to the gods for the safety of Rome, right? And a likeness of this, what, sin is found in the impious sacrifices of the Gentiles, right, huh? By which they offered men to the, what, idols, yeah. In another way, one can consider the killing of Christ in comparison to the will of the one undergoing this, right? Who voluntarily offered himself to this undergoing, right? Suffering. And on this side, from this direction, it has a notion of a, what, victim, in which it has not come together with the sacrifices of the Gentiles. It doesn't answer the third objection, but maybe it answers the names of this. Yeah. In my text, it has, at the bottom of the page, it has, the Piana edition adds, but who added it? But that's another text, you know. Third reply? Reply to the third objection, you see. There are three objections that is not... It's probably implied. Usually they'll put it if it's answered by another one. Yeah. It's not like in this one they put in parentheses the reply to the third objection is wanting in the original manuscripts, but it may be gathered from the above. And then in a little footnote, they put some additions, however, give the following reply. Yeah, who did that as it said? Yeah, I have to find, you know what I'm saying? And he'll put notes as it says. Yeah. He said, to the third, I'll read you what it says again. To the third it should be said that the sanctity of the humanity of Christ from the beginning of his incarnation, right, does not impede that human nature itself, when it was offered in the Passion of God, was sanctified in a new, what, way. that it was a victim, actually, then what's shown. He acquired an actual, what, sanctification as victim, then from the old charity and grace of the Union, sanctifying him absolutely. Now the third article here. Now the third article here. Now the third article here. Now the third article here. Now the third article here. Now the third article here. Now the third article here.