“God, as the Fathers say, worked the sacrum commercium, the sacred exchange: he took on what was ours, so that we might receive what was his and become similar to God.”[i] This lesson will use Pope Benedict’s letter at the Holy Chrism Mass in 2007 to unpack the meaning of in persona Christi.
What does in persona Christi mean? It is Latin for “in the person of Christ”. “The priest who acts ‘in persona Christi Capitis’ and in representation of the Lord, never acts in the name of someone who is absent, but in the very Person of the risen Christ, who makes himself present with his truly effective action. He really acts and does what the priest could not do: the consecration of the wine and the bread so that they will really be the presence of the Lord, [and] the absolution of sins.”[ii] The priest cannot consecrate the wine and bread or absolve sins alone, just as Peter and the Apostles could not catch a great number of fish alone. Christ works through the priest to perform these miracles.
STORY – Showing God
Russian writer Leo Tolstoi tells a story of a harsh sovereign who asked his priests and sages to show him God. The wise men were unable to satisfy his desire.
Then a shepherd, who was just coming in from the fields, volunteered to take on the task of the priests and sages. The shepherd showed the king that his eyes were not good enough to see God. Even though the king couldn’t see God, he asked to at least know what God does. "To be able to answer your question", the shepherd said to the king, "we must exchange our clothes".
Somewhat hesitant, but compelled by curiosity about the information he was expecting, the king consented; he gave the shepherd his royal robes and had himself dressed in the simple clothes of the poor man.
In that act, the king received the answer: "This is what God does". Indeed, the Son of God, true God from true God, shed his divine splendor: "he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men; and being found in human form he humbled himself..., even unto death on a cross" (cf. Phil 2:6ff.).
“In persona Christi: at the moment of priestly Ordination, the Church has also made this reality of ‘new clothes’ visible and comprehensible to us externally through being clothed in liturgical vestments. In this external gesture she wants to make the interior event visible to us, as well as our task which stems from it: putting on Christ; giving ourselves to him as he gave himself to us.”[iii]
When is a priest “in the person of Christ”? The priest does not always stand in persona Christi; it is only when the priest distributes the sacraments. . The highest place we see a priest in persona Christiis at the altar during Mass. Pope Paul VI wrote, “… acting in the person of Christ, the priest unites himself most intimately with the offering, and places on the altar his entire life, which bears the marks of the holocaust.”[iv] The documents of the Second Vatican Council expounded upon this idea, saying “Priests, although they do not possess the highest degree of the priesthood, and although they are dependent on the bishops in the exercise of their power, nevertheless they are united with the bishops in sacerdotal dignity. By the power of the sacrament of Orders, in the image of Christ the eternal high Priest, they are consecrated to preach the Gospel and shepherd the faithful and to celebrate divine worship, so that they are true priests of the New Testament…They exercise their sacred function especially in the Eucharistic worship or the celebration of the Mass by which acting in the person of Christ”.[v]
Why is it important for the priest to be in persona Christi at the sacrifice of mass? It shows that the priest, a mere mortal man, is not consecrating the sacrifice, but Christ Himself, who is taking claim of the sacrifice of the Mass. Pope Pius XII wrote, “The august sacrifice of the altar, then, is no mere empty commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, but a true and proper act of sacrifice, whereby the High Priest by an unbloody immolation offers Himself a most acceptable victim to the Eternal Father, as He did upon the cross. ‘It is one and the same victim; the same person now offers it by the ministry of His priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner of offering alone being different.’ The priest is the same, Jesus Christ, whose sacred Person His minister represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is made like to the High Priest and possesses the power of performing actions in virtue of Christ's very person.”[vi]
How is a priest able to be in persona Christi? A priest is only able to be in the person of Christ because of God’s love and grace beginning with Baptism and completion in Holy Orders. “Just as in Baptism an ‘exchange of clothing’ is given, an exchanged destination, a new existential communion with Christ, so also in priesthood there is an exchange: in the administration of the sacraments, the priest now acts and speaks ‘in persona Christi’. In the sacred mysteries, he does not represent himself and does not speak expressing himself, but speaks for the Other, for Christ. Thus, in the Sacraments, he dramatically renders visible what being a priest means in general; what we have expressed with our ‘Adsum — I am ready’, during our consecration to the priesthood: I am here so that you may make use of me. We put ourselves at the disposal of the One who ‘died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves...’ (II Cor. 5:15). Putting ourselves at Christ's disposal means that we allow ourselves to be attracted within his ‘for all’: in being with him we can truly be ‘for all’… And it is only because his love is greater than all my sins that I can represent him and witness to his light.”[vii]
How do we become “in the person of Christ”? While we do not have the same grace that a priest receives to literally be in persona, we are united in the person of Christ in a different way. A priest and bishop have a special role of being “in the person of Christ” through their ordination of Holy Orders. Because they are literally taking on Christ, it becomes clear that women cannot be priests—Jesus was a male and a female can’t become a man! It would be as if a male was trying to be “in the person of Mary” or if a male was trying to be in the person of a pregnant woman, both are impossible.
That being said, in our Baptism we wear a white gown to symbolize our marriage with Christ. We put on Christ at our Baptism. “With regard to what happens in Baptism, St. Paul explicitly uses the image of clothing: ‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ’ (Gal 3:27). This is what is fulfilled in Baptism: we put on Christ, he gives us his garments and these are not something external. It means that we enter into an existential communion with him, that his being and our being merge, penetrate one another. ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’, is how Paul himself describes the event of his Baptism in his Letter to the Galatians (2:20). Christ has put on our clothes: the pain and joy of being a man, hunger, thirst, weariness, our hopes and disappointments, our fear of death, all our apprehensions until death. And he has given to us his ‘garments’.”[viii]
Why does a priest put on vestments for Mass? The priest wears the vestments to make clear at the mass it is not just a person who stands in front of us, but a priest who is in the person of Christ. [Refer back to “Story – Showing God” from this lesson] “The fact that we are standing at the altar clad in liturgical vestments must make it clearly visible to those present that we are there "in the person of an Other". Just as in the course of time priestly vestments developed, they are a profound symbolic expression of what the priesthood means.”[ix]
Why does this Doctrine matter? It matters because it is easy to discredit the importance of the priesthood. We have to remember that priests are sinners just like us. However, we must also remember that priests, while standing at the altar are not like us; they are standing in the second person of the Holy Trinity. Without the priest acting in persona Christi we would not have the Eucharist. St. Francis of Assisi was asked one time on what are we suppose to do if we know a priest is sinful. Upon reflecting on this he said: “If I were to meet at the same time Saint Lawrence coming down from heaven and any poor little priest, I would first pay my respects to the priest and proceed to kiss his hands. I would say, ‘Ah, just a moment St. Lawrence because this person’s hands handle the Word of Life and possess something that is more than human.” Priests are called to draw us to Christ as Peter drew in his nets; Let us pray for our priests and see the awesome gift Christ has given us all by this power of in persona Christi.
[i] Benedict XVI, Chrism Mass, April, 5 2007
[ii] Benedict XVI, April 14, 2010
[iii] Benedict XVI, Chrism Mass, April, 5 2007
[iv] Paul VI, Sacredotal Caelibatus, Encyclical
[v] Lumen Gentium 28
[vi] Pius XII, Mediator Dei
[vii] Benedict XVI, Chrism Mass, April, 5 2007
[viii] ibid.
[ix] ibid.