The Portal - Australia edition April 2014 | Page 6

THE P RTAL April 2014 Page 6 The A - Z of the Catholic Faith by Fr Stephen Wang O is for… Ordination All Christians are called to live the baptismal priesthood: to offer their lives in prayer and service to God in union with Jesus the High Priest. The ministerial priest, through the sacrament of ordination, shares in the priesthood of Christ in a special way. His very being is transfigured, so that he can represent Christ the Good Shepherd for us, Christ as the Head of the Church. He stands before the Church and ministers to us as Christ ‘in person’. When he teaches with the authority of the Church then Christ teaches; when he forgives sins in the sacrament of Penance then Christ forgives; when he offers the Sacrifice of the Mass then Christ offers that Sacrifice; when he loves and supports and cares for his people then Christ is present with his people. Because of the wishes of Jesus himself, confirmed by the tradition of the Church throughout the centuries, the ministerial priesthood is reserved for men. In the Western Church the priesthood is also reserved, ordinarily, for single men who are willing to make a lifelong commitment to celibacy, for in this way they can give their whole hearts and minds to the service of the Lord and to the love of his people. Original Sin God’s plan was for all people to live in friendship and love with him and with all human beings. This is the meaning of holiness. Sin is whatever damages this friendship. It is a conscious decision to turn away from God or from our neighbour. It is the implicit rejection of God’s goodness and love that takes place whenever we disobey his commandments. It is the selfishness and isolation that arises whenever we fail to trust him as our loving Father. The Book of Genesis describes how our First Parents refused to trust God and turned away from him in disobedience. Since then, all human beings have been born into a fallen state of ‘original sin’, even though we are not personally responsible for it. Our relationships with God and one another are damaged (but not destroyed). Our human nature is wounded (but not totally corrupted): we are subject to ignorance, suffering and death; and there is an inclination within us to sin and selfishness. In ordinary language: things are not as they were meant to be; and many people even without faith have a sense of the fallenness of the human condition. Human solidarity, which is such a blessing, also means that we all share in the moral and spiritual ‘wound’ inherited from our First Parents. The full tragedy of sin is only understood in the light of Christ’s Passion, where we see the Incarnate God, the Innocent One, rejected and murdered as a consequence of our sinfulness. At the same time, by loving us even unto death, Jesus reveals the Divine mercy, forgiveness and healing that are the only remedy for sin. Our Father The disciples said to Jesus, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’. In response, he taught them the Our Father, the Lord’s Prayer. There are two versions in the New Testament, one shorter (Luke 11), one longer (Matthew 6). The longer version is more commonly used: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.” Tertullian said this prayer is a ‘summary of the whole Gospel’. Augustine called it ‘the perfect prayer’. It expresses our fundamental identity as Christians: God is our loving Father; we are his adopted sons and daughters; we adore and glorify him; and we turn to him with childlike trust for all our needs and intercessions. It is a communal prayer (‘Our