Jesus and the Biblical Roots of the Priesthood: Introduction
Conference: Jesus and the Biblical Roots of the Priesthood by Dr. John Bergsma
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
La Crosse, Wisconsin
7 November 2026
Introduction
IIt is a great joy for me to welcome you to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe on this First Saturday of November and, in a special way, to welcome Dr. John Bergsma, whose book, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, will guide our reflection this morning.[1] With him, we turn to the Word of God in order to understand ever more fully the Holy Priesthood as Our Lord Jesus Christ has given it to His Church for our eternal salvation.
The Council of Trent teaches:
Sacrifice and priesthood are by the ordinance of God so united that both have existed under every law. Since, therefore, in the New Testament the Catholic Church has received from the institution of Christ the holy, visible sacrifice of the Eucharist, it must also be acknowledged that there exists in the Church a new, visible, and external priesthood [can. 1] into which the old one was changed [cf. Heb 7:12].[2]
From the beginning, Almighty God has called man to offer Him fitting worship, and He has chosen certain men to offer sacrifice on behalf of His people. The priesthood has its origin in the divine plan for man and for his salvation, revealed from the beginning and recounted in the Sacred Scriptures.
Dr. Bergsma begins his consideration of the priesthood with the account of creation in the Book of Genesis. Almighty God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden “to till it and keep it.”[3] The Hebrew words employed in Sacred Scripture to describe the duties entrusted to Adam are later used for the service of the priests and Levites who minister before Almighty God and guard the sanctuary consecrated to Him.[4] Dr. Bergsma thus recognizes in Adam’s charge a priestly vocation, by which he was to serve Almighty God and safeguard what had been entrusted to his care. Adam failed in this vocation when he remained silent before the ancient serpent and did not guard the garden.[5] In fact, the other aspects of man’s communion with God – His participation in the Being of God – flow from his priestly vocation to sanctify himself and the world of which he is, by God’s plan, the steward. In the context of what was a predominantly rural part of the United States and being myself a son of farmers, I am led to recall that farming, until its industrialization, was seen as a sacred, a priestly service: the care of the plants and animals for the good of the family and of the neighbor. The farmer was understood to be the steward of God’s gifts for our food and clothing.
Almighty God continued to unfold His plan of salvation when He called Israel to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”[6] He sent Moses to Pharaoh with the command: “Let my people go, that they may serve me.”[7] He set apart the sons of Aaron and the tribe of Levi for the sacred service of His sanctuary.[8] Sacred Scripture also presents the mysterious figure of Melchizedek, King of Salem and “priest of God Most High,” who brought out bread and wine.[9] The Psalmist, speaking prophetically of the Messiah, declared: “You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.”[10]
The priestly figures of the Old Testament find their fulfillment in Our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son Incarnate, Eternal High Priest. The Letter to the Hebrews teaches that “every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”[11] On the night before His saving Passion and Death, Our Lord washed the feet of His Apostles, a gesture which recalls the ritual washing of the priests before their service in the sanctuary.[12] In His priestly prayer to God the Father, He declared: “For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.”[13]
Then, as Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Our Lord offered to God the Father, in an unbloody manner – under the species of bread and wine – , the same Sacrifice of His own Body and Blood which He was to offer in a bloody manner on Calvary, and He commanded the Apostles: “Do this in remembrance of me.”[14] The Council of Trent solemnly teaches that by these words Christ constituted the Apostles priests of the New Covenant and commanded them and their successors in the Holy Priesthood to offer His Body and Blood.[15] At the Last Supper, therefore, Our Lord instituted the Most Holy Eucharist and consecrated the Apostles as His first priests for the offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice at every time and in every place.
From the time of the Apostles, the Sacrament of Holy Orders has been handed down in the Church – in unbroken Apostolic Succession – through the laying on of hands and the prayer of consecration.[16] The Bishop receives the fullness of the Sacrament.[17] Through sacramental consecration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the priest is “signed with a special character” and “conformed to Christ the Priest in such a way” that he can “act in the person of Christ the Head.”[18] Thus configured to Christ, Head and Shepherd of His Mystical Body, the priest is called to give himself entirely to Christ, above all in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, his priestly identity finds its highest expression, and from it his pastoral charity draws its life and strength.
Christ the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.[19] The priest, sharing in the priestly Heart of Christ, is called to offer his own life in union with Christ for the salvation of the souls entrusted to his pastoral care. Christ, the new Adam, gave Himself up for His Bride, the Church, and His priests are called to share in His pure and self-sacrificing love.[20] Through their sacramental configuration to Christ, they exercise a true spiritual fatherhood, teaching the truths of the Catholic Faith, sanctifying the faithful through the Sacraments, and shepherding with pastoral charity the portion of Christ’s flock entrusted to their care.[21]
The ministerial priesthood is ordered to the service of the common priesthood of all the baptized who are called, in accord with their vocation in life and the particular gifts with which God endows each of them, to offer their whole lives to Almighty God in union with the Sacrifice of Christ. The ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful, each according to its proper nature, participate in the one priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.[22] Through the ministry of His priests and the faithful offering of their lives by all the baptized, Christ continues His work of sanctification in His Mystical Body, for the glory of Almighty God and the salvation of souls.
Let us entrust our conference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Eternal High Priest and Mother of Priests. On this First Saturday, may she obtain for us an ever greater love of the Holy Priesthood and of those whom Our Lord has called, and is calling, to act in His Person as Head and Shepherd of the flock at every time and in every place.
It is now my pleasure to give the floor to Dr. Bergsma.
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE
[1] John Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2021).
[2] “Council of Trent, Session 23, July 15, 1563, Doctrine and Canons on the Sacrament of Orders,” Heinrich Denzinger, Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, ed. Peter Hünermann for original bilingual edition, and Robert Fastiggi and Anne Englund Nash for the English edition, 43rd ed. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012), p. 422, no. 1764. [Hereafter, Denzinger.]
[3] Gn 2, 15.
[4] Cf. Num 3, 6-8; Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, pp. 6-7.
[5] Cf. Gn 3, 1-6; Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, pp. 19-20.
[6] Ex 19, 6.
[7] Ex 8, 1. Cf. Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, p. 39.
[8] Cf. Ex 28, 1; Num 3, 5-13.
[9] Gn 14, 18.
[10] Ps 110, 4. Cf. Heb 7, 1-17.
[11] Heb 5, 1.
[12] Cf. Jn 13, 1-15; Ex 30, 19-21; Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, p. 71.
[13] Jn 17, 19. Cf. Ex 28, 41; Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, pp. 73-74.
[14] Lk 22, 19. Cf. 1 Cor 11, 24-25.
[15] Cf. Denzinger, p. 417, no. 1740, and p. 410, no. 1752.
[16] Cf. Acts 6, 6; 1 Tim 4, 14; 2 Tim 1, 6; Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, pp. 93-94.
[17] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 21.
[18] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, 2.
[19] Cf. Jn 10, 11.
[20] Cf. 1 Cor 15, 45; Eph 5, 25.
[21] Cf. 1 Cor 4, 15; Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4-6; Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, p. 132.
[22] Cf. Lumen Gentium, 10; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1547.