Dear Knananite,
The laity and clergy belong to the same society, but do not occupy the same rank. The laity are the members of this society who remain where they were placed by baptism, while the clergy, even if only tonsured, have been raised by ordination to a higher class, and placed in the sacred hierarchy.
“With all thy soul fear the Lord and reverence his priests.” (Ecc. 7:31.)
I believe that priests and bishops are whom He has called, trained, and laid His hands upon in ordination and sent forth to teach in His holy name. We must never forget, even for a moment, the priest is another Christ — may well determine where he spends eternity.
It is wrong to think of the laity as a democratic caucus and it is wrong to think of the Church as some kind of a celestial erector set. The layman’s object is to reinforce the authority of the priest because it is the priest’s authority that gives basis to the role in which the layman is involved in working out his own salvation.
“If Christ so speaks to His priests and ordains that they have “all power in heaven and on EARTH,” how is it that His priests are not allowed to function and fully exercise their priesthood? We try to prove Christian morality by the results of the voting poll, we have lost Christ completely! Right and wrong can never be decided by EMAILS! Nor is there any validity in the argument that the democratic spirit should prevail in the Church.
Under the present conditions in the Church, how can the laity respect a priest if all his actions are curtailed by laymen, which in no way is canonically sound? The role of the layman has been misunderstood by many of us and this ignorance has precipitated adverse conditions in the Church that have resulted in serious threats to the very life and existence of the community. We the vast majority of laity who call ourselves Christians but follow only those Christian teachings with which we happen to agree should rise above the base foolishness of this current misconception of his role in the Church. Christ’s desire for the layman is certainly far nobler and assuredly a higher calling than the one in which he is continually involved in bringing offense to the throne of God. The layman must continually work to perfect his faith, to make sure his salvation by performing good works in cooperation with the priest. Assuming his proper place in the Church and honoring Christ’s priests and their divinely constituted authority is necessary for the laity to have Christ address them with these words of reassurance at the final judgment: “Well done thou good and faithful servant. . . enter into the joy of Thy Lord.” (MATT. 25:21).
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Regards,
Vinod Kuriakose
