Easter(n) Promises: The Threefold Office of Christ

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Photo:www.st-takla.org

A couple of weeks ago, I started to read some of the homilies by Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture. I have thoroughly enjoyed his vision and understanding of the importance of culture and communication for the mission of the Church, specially pertaining to the new evangelization. He sees culture as something that unites people as well as an encounter with the Word of God which leads to communion, solidarity and dialogue.

In his writings and tweets (@CardRavasi_en), he often refers to our mission as coming from our baptismal promises – our Easter promises. He states that we must integrate our Christian identity into all of life. That identity has authenticity in Christ. We are baptized into Christ, and through baptism we enter into his threefold office: We are called to share in his priestly, prophetic and kingly office (CCC 897).

Remembering a Prophet and Leader: Fr. Jim Webb, S.J. (1944–2012)

By Edmund Lo and Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Some have understood prophets as those who hear the voice of God in the cry of his people. It can be said that this description also fits the late Fr. Jim Webb, S. J.

Fr. Webb—henceforth, Jim—was the former Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in English Canada who recently died of cancer. He was a man who was deeply in touch with God's poor. He learned very early in his Jesuit life that in order to authentically live out the vow of poverty, there is a need to live with the Jesus who is present in the poor and humble of our world. In a sense, Jim heard the cry of the poor and he longed to become a companion of the poor Jesus. He found this motivation in the second week of the Spiritual Exercises, in which the key grace is to follow Jesus Christ as closely and concretely as possible.

His personal identification with the poor and humiliated Jesus led him to seek the poor in our world—be it at West Avenue in Toronto, in Jamaica or in other places—in order to develop deep and life-giving friendships with them. He sought authentic friendships with the members of the mystical body of Christ. He was aware that his ministry with the poor was a kind of sacrament: it was both a sign of and a means to become closer to the poor and humble Christ. Indeed, as we become closer to the poor, we become closer to Jesus.