In 1Samuel 4:1-11, God punished the priest Eli, and Israel with him, “because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.” God had sent word to Eli, “The fate of your two sons… shall be the sign to you—both shall die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart.” (See 1Samuel 2:34-5; 3:13.) 

When the Philistines attacked, “Israel was defeated, and they fled, everyone to his home… Of Israel thirty-thousand foot soldiers fell. The ark of God was captured; the two sons of Eli… died.” 

In modern terms, what God punished Israel for was “clericalism.” Because Eli was the priest and seen as so sacred that he was above other people, his sons were able to steal from the offerings people made, and even abuse women, and no one, including Eli, did anything about it. 

Because of the clericalism in today’s Church, both the laity and clergy, including bishops, refrained from calling the police when priests abused children. This caused enormous suffering to the victims. And the spiritual “Philistines” were able to use it to attack the Church in particular and religion in general. How many Christians, as a result, have given up the fight and “fled, everyone to his home”?  

When we look upon any class or category of Christians as “more sacred” than others, we have ceased to be aware of the true mystery of grace. By Baptism every one of us became a son or daughter of God himself through incorporation into Jesus, the “only Son of the Father.” Because we are “in Christ,” we share in his own divine life. We are divine. Every one of us. And no sacrament, position, or title in the Church makes anyone “more divine” than another. The mystery of our being is that we have “become Christ.” There simply is no dignity “higher” than that. “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,” varieties of functions in the Church, but only one body of Christ, in which all are equally members. It is essential that we keep ourselves aware of this. (See Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 795; 1Corinthians, chapter 12.) 

Mark 1:40-45 shows us two things about Jesus: First, he is able to heal and cleanse us—and the whole Church—of anything. He said to a leper, “Be made clean!” And “Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.” 

Second, he acknowledged, respected, and made use of the official role of the priests in his day. He told the healed leper, “Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded.” The positions and functions in the “institutional Church” were established by God himself. We don’t have to believe the ministers are holier than others in order to use them. 

Prayer Prompt: Remind yourself, when you show respect to anyone, that all are equal.

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #308, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.