Referring to the baptized as “new born babes,” the apostle Peter writes: “Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ . . . you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pt 2:4-5, 9).
A new aspect to the grace and dignity coming from Baptism is here introduced: the lay faithful participate, for their part, in the threefold mission of Christ as Priest, Prophet and King. This aspect has never been forgotten in the living tradition of the Church, as exemplified in the explanation that St. Augustine offers for Psalm 26: “David was anointed king. In those days only a king and a priest were anointed. These two persons prefigured the one and only priest and king who was to come, Christ (the name Christ means “anointed”). Not only has our head been anointed but we, his body, have also been anointed . . . therefore anointing comes to all Christians, even though in Old Testament times it belonged only to two persons. Clearly we are the Body of Christ because we are all “anointed” and in him are “christs,” that is, “anointed ones,” as well as Christ himself, “The Anointed One.” In a certain way, then, it thus happens that with head and body the whole Christ is formed.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Counci, at the beginning of my pastoral ministry, my aim was to emphasize forcefully the priestly, prophetic and kingly dignity of the entire People of God in the following words: “He who was born of the Virgin Mary, the carpenter’s Son – as he was thought to be – Son of the living God (confessed by Peter), has come to make us ‘a kingdom of priests’ The Second Vatican Council has reminded us of the mystery of this power and of the fact that the mission of Christ -Priest, Prophet-Teacher, King – continues in the Church. Everyone, the whole People of God, shares in this threefold mission”. – from Christfideles Laici (1988)
