“PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS”

Session IV – “People of God”

Fr. Roberto M. Jorvina

It is so exciting to realize what God is doing in His Church. It is not just an emotional excitement, but something even far beyond that.  When we realize where we are and where we belong, we would have that security and that assurance.  The Word of God does not return void to Him. It accomplishes what He desires and achieves the purpose for which it was sent.

Today, we have a situation that is in the world today geographically.   There is a body of water in the world that all its tributaries feed into it.  All the rivers, all the streams, and everything basically connected to it flow into it.  There is nothing that flows out of it. Because of the phenomenon, the mineral content is so high that no living creature can ever exist long enough in that body of water.  It is called the Dead Sea. It is dead because we are to view it as an example of a life that takes in and takes in without giving.

We are supposedly a channel and an instrument. The priesthood of the believer is an opportunity for what Paul calls in his letter to the Corinthian Church, talking about the people of Macedonia, “the favour and joy of participation”.  The priesthood of the believer is giving back to the people this favor of participation so that we can experience the joy of receiving, realizing it is more blessed to give than to receive.

I challenge that the Spirit of God is speaking to us to make us understand and allow what we have received come as a revelation to us. This is something so vital in the Church that we can all realize the joy of participation, the favor of participation.

In Acts 27, Paul was on his way to Rome; and as they were traveling, they encountered a storm.  They go through a very treacherous time and in the middle of that incident, all the people were panicking.  Paul assures them and says in verse 23, “The angel of the Lord appeared to me, the God of whom I belong.” This is the truth that Paul held in his entire ministry – the realization that he belongs to God, that he is part of the people of God.