Priest As Alter Christus/another Christ

[AveMariaPurissima]

Recently I made a post on Facebook encouraging people to pray for priests. :pray:  :priest:   So far so good.  Within that post, I described the priest as "another Christ."  (I had the term "alter Christus" in mind, but decided that it would be clearer to use the English translation.)  My aunt wrote to me to tell me that the phrase bothered her...I tried to explain, but I don't think I was successful. 

This is what I wrote in response to her initial question:

 

Hi Aunt [name]! :) Great question -- thanks for asking. I can definitely understand how that phrase could seem strange. It doesn't mean that we're "cloning" Christ or that any individual priest is perfect. What it does mean is that Jesus acts through the priest in a very real way. This video that I found might help you understand better...http://youtu.be/ZbcO_Fr1Vsw  I hope that helps -- if not, feel free to let me know and I'll try to clarify further. God bless!

And this is what she wrote back:

 

Well [Ave], I believe that a priest is an instrument of God he is not an other Christ, This sounds like we have many, many Christs in the world. There is Only One and thru a priest because of Ordination is able to offer the sacrifice of the Mass. Ordination gives him that right. He is only human and because he is human he has faults like any one else. I feel that if a non catholic read that they would be really confused on our religion .

 

I can see her confusion and why she might be uncomfortable with the terminology.  But I'm stuck as to how to clarify it further.  If anyone can help, I would very much appreciate it!!!!!  :please:

[John Ryan]

Christ as the Essential Man is like the Platonic Form. You do not have to worry about partitioning Him out or diluting Him. He is infinite and His essence is more than enough to fill up the bodily form of every priest who is alter Christus and in Persona Christi. The petty thinking of Christ as ordinary object, a something out there, leads to the confusion your aunt is having. 

[Fidei Defensor]

Simply put, Jesus becomes present through His instruments, which is what makes them "another Christ." It's the reason why we respond "any with your spirit" when the priest offers us peace, we are offering it back to Christ himself who is working through the Priest's spirit in a special way.

[CatholicCid]

It sounds like your aunt might simply have a mistaken semantic, or fearful others might misunderstand it. To say that a priest is an "alter Christus" is not to mean that the priest is literally a God-Man, as Jesus Christ was. Instead, through his ordination, he is acting in the person of Christ or, more appropriately, Christ acts through him. He is "an other Christ" in that, when he acts, that is Christ acting through him.*

 

There are not many, many Christs int he world; Instead, the priest is participating in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ.

 

*This is more so for the phrase "In persona Christi", or In the Person of Christ, though we generally use "Alter Christus" and "In persona Christi" interchangeably. "Alter Christus" means more so that the priest is configured to Christ and, like Christ, serves man. His whole life is given away in Jesus Christ. "In persona Christi" is more a liturgical use when Christ is literally acting through the priest.

 

Edited September 1, 2014 by CatholicCid

[LouisvilleFan]

I can see her confusion and why she might be uncomfortable with the terminology.  But I'm stuck as to how to clarify it further.  If anyone can help, I would very much appreciate it!!!!!  :please:

 

It sounds like your aunt is a product of her time (and still our time, for the most part) that responded to the overly clerical Church before the 1960s by swinging the pendulum too far the other way. If you're trying to change her mind on the matter, you'll only push her away (natural instinct). Besides, what your aunt says is true, and those of us who emphasize clericalism can easily forget that priests are very real sinners. Consider what she says as a good reminder of that fact. The beauty of being alter Christus is Christ works through sinful men in a very real and reliable way for the sake of the faithful -- not because the priest is anyone special in himself. And that translates to the whole Church: every Christian is also called to be an alter Christus through Baptism for the sake of our neighbors and the whole world -- not because a Christian is anyone special in their own right.

 

Something like that is how I would reply... you can agree with her and thank her for making a good point, and shift the focus where it belongs: on Christ and His mission.