“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15.)
Pope Saint Leo the Great comments on this verse from the Reading proclaimed at Mass today:
“By the saving cooperation of the indivisible divinity, whatever the Father, whatever the Son, whatever the Holy Spirit accomplishes in a particular way is the plan of our redemption. It is the order of our salvation. For if human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, had remained in the honor of their own nature and, undeceived by the devil’s lies, had not deviated from the law placed over them for their lusts, the Creator of the world would not have become a creature. The eternal would not have undergone temporality, and God the Son, equal to God the Father, would not have assumed the “form of a servant” and the “likeness of sinful flesh.”
Since, however, “through the devil’s envy death entered the world” and because captive humanity could only be freed in one way, namely, if that one would undertake our cause who, without the loss of his majesty, would become true man, and who alone had no contagion of sin, the mercy of the Trinity divided for itself the work of our restoration so that the Father was appeased, the Son was the appeaser, and the Holy Spirit enkindled the process. It was right that those to be saved should do something for themselves, and, when their hearts were turned to the Redeemer, that they should cut themselves off from the domination of the enemy. In regard to this, the apostle says, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”” (Sermon 77)
“It should also be noted that the attitude of compassion toward other sinners did not form part of the outlook of the priesthood of the Old Testament. Between Christ the mediator and the former priesthood, a double contrast is therefore, paradoxically, noticeable: the former priests are sinful men, but they are not taught compassion for sinners, whereas Christ, who is sinless, is full of mercy for his blameworthy brothers and sisters (cf. Rom. 5:8).” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 97.)
“It should also be noted that the attitude of compassion toward other sinners did not form part of the outlook of the priesthood of the Old Testament. Between Christ the mediator and the former priesthood, a double contrast is therefore, paradoxically, noticeable: the former priests are sinful men, but they are not taught compassion for sinners, whereas Christ, who is sinless, is full of mercy for his blameworthy brothers and sisters (cf. Rom. 5:8).” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 97.)
Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
