5/17/2021
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| Duccio, "Annunciation"(Fragment) |
Excursus on the Sacramental character of Order.
Does everything have to be juridical? Is it the priest’s personal ontological configuration that causes his ecclesiastical distinction. Or is it the mind of the lawgiver that causes ecclesiastical distinction?
The law certainly distinguishes between layman and cleric.
This may be related to whether there is a sacramental character of the diaconate. Deacons are clerics, ecclesiastics, churchmen. The question is debated (to my knowledge) whether their ordination into the diaconate causes in the man an ontological configuration.
Can a secular, diocesan priest consider himself a layman in all things save ontological configuration and church stuff?
There is one priest, Jesus Christ. Ministerial priesthood, baptismal priesthood, all priesthood is a participated priesthood in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. It is participated to a greater or lesser degree. Ministerial priesthood differs from the common priesthood in more than just degree. It also differs in essence. It’s still participated. But it’s a participation in the high priesthood of Christ the head of the Church. This headship, this standing at the front of the people has got to be where this essential difference resides, perhaps.
In what sense does the head differ from all other parts of the rest of the body? In this sense does the participation of those men in the ministerial priesthood differ from the participation of the rest of their brothers and sisters in the common priesthood.
In Mediator Dei, paragraph 20, Pius XII does number on this. Christ the priest. Worth a deeper dive, another time.
Image: Duccio, "Annunciation" (Fragment)
