"You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people; that you may declare his virtues, who bath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" ( 1 Pet. 2, 9). You are a chosen generation, for the Saint of saints has elected you to the holy office of the priesthood. To you particularly He addresses these words: "But according to him that bath called you, who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy; because it is written: 'You shall be holy, for I am holy"' ( 1 Pet. 1, 15-16). You are clothed and adorned with a kingly priesthood. You are priests and kings as Jesus Christ Himself is the Supreme Priest and King.
You are a purchased people in a very special significance. It is true that Our Blessed Redeemer purchased all mankind at the price of His Blood and that Almighty God gave Him to all nations. Nevertheless Jesus acquired you in a particular manner and so His Heavenly Father manifests a unique love for you. After the Blessed Virgin Mary you represent our Divine Saviour's most glorious conquest. You are the most precious of all gifts that the Eternal Father has bestowed upon His Only Son. You are the first and most excellent fruit of His work, the worthiest price of His blood, His principal portion. You embody His most noble heritage from which are derived fruits for the glory of God more acceptable than from all His other possessions.
The Son of God chose you, not only that you yourselves might serve and love Him, but also that you might make Him loved and served by others. He selected you that you might announce to the world the virtues, that is, the perfections and excellence, the mysteries and marvels of Him who "bath called you out of darkness," from the darkness of sin and hell, "into His marvellous light." Jesus Christ, speaking of Himself, says, "I am the light of the world" (John 8, 12). He says also of priests, "You are the light of the world" (Matt. 5, 14), and "to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God" (Mark 4, 11) and to make it known to other men. To you has been opened the treasury of wisdom and grace that you may be dispensers of these gifts.
You are persons elevated by the infinite goodness of God to the highest dignity of heaven and earth, second only to the divine motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You are the noblest personages in God's house. You are clothed with genuine nobility for, as Christians and certainly much more as priests, you may be called in the words of St. Paul "the offspring of God" (Act. 17, 29). You are children of God, His first-born sons. You are of the royal blood of Jesus, a part of His genealogy; you are His brethren and members in a degree much higher than any other Christians. You are clothed with the royal priesthood, and your priesthood is one with His. Since there is but one priesthood, unum est sacerdotium, centered in Christ and extended to all other priests, so there is but one priest, Jesus Christ. All other priests are one with Him, united to Him according to His own prayer: "The glory which thou has given me, I have given to them: that they may be olle as we also are one: I i n them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one . . ." (John 17, 22-23).
You are governors, judges, princes and kings of the empire of the supreme Monarch of the World. You are governors, not tenebrarum harum (Eph. 6, 12), that is, of this world, which is darkness and nothingness, but of faithful souls purchased with the Precious Blood of Christ, one drop of which is worth more than a thousand worlds.
You are judges, not of bodies but of souls, not of earthly but of heavenly things. Your judgments are not transitory; they endure forever. They are written, not on paper nor on parchment with ink, but in eternity with the adorable Blood of the Son of God. Thus the most eminent persons in the land recognize you as judges of their souls, divinely appointed by Providence. Humbly they kneel before you and accept your judgment as the very judgment of God Himself.
You are princes of God. Your principality is not terrestrial; it is immortal and imperishable. You are kings of His empire, the Church. It is to you that He says: Ego dispono vobis sicut disposuit mihi Pater meus regnum. "And I dispose to you. as My Father bath disposed to me, a kingdom" (Luke 22, 29). Your royalty is not temporal but eternal, a participation in the royalty of Jesus Christ. Since Christ is Priest and King, so, too, you are priests and kings. Since you share one priesthood, so, too, you participate in one kingship with Him. Since the Eternal Father has given His Divine Son a name
and a power above every name and every power (Phil. 2, 9), so He has given you, His priests, a name and a power incomparably greater than all names and all Powers in this world and in the world to Come.
Did God say to any of the angels: "Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech?" (Ps. 109, 4). Did He ever pronounce to the Arcitangels, the Principalities or the Powers what His Son said to you: "Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven?" (Matt. 16, 19). To which of the Cherubim or Seraphim did He ever give the power to forgive sin, to bestow grace, to close hell and open the gates of heaven, to bring God into the hearts of men in the Blessed Sacrament? To whom in the universe did He grant the power of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, to immolate Him and give His Body and Soul to the faithful? To which of the heavenly spirits did God ever speak the words He says to every priest, "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you?" (John 20, 21). In other words, I send you for the same purpose for which My Heavenly Father sent Me, to preach the gospel, to dispense grace, to administer the sacraments, to destroy the tyranny of Satan, to dispel the darkness of sin and to spread the divine light of grace throughout the world. I send you to establish the reign of God and to exercise on earth the very functions which I exercised, to continue My work of redemption, to lead the same life that I led and to practise the same virtues that I practised. Thus, it is clear that you are not only the visible angels of the God of Armies; you are far greater than angels in power and authority. Hence, you must live a life more perfect in purity and sanctity than that of the, angels."