Restoring Order to All That Is Holy: Devotion to The Sacred Heart and Holy Orders

In looking at the world today, it is easy to believe that things were always disordered.  This can be true even of the Church in which there can be division, confusion, and a longing for hope.   The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the answer to restoring peaceful hearts, zealous hearts, restoring order back to the Church.  To understand this, we will first go back to the origins of Holy Orders.   Then, we will see the unity and three-fold division of Holy Orders.   Finally, we will see how Jesus unites, fulfills, and makes new Holy Orders both objectively and subjectively.  

First, let us go to the origins of Holy Orders.  This goes back to Adam in the Garden in Creation.   Mankind was made to order all of creation to God.   Pope Saint John Paul II calls this Original Harmony in which nature (stewardship), man (friendship and marriage), and God (liturgy) were all united in God’s love subjectively.   However, this three-fold ordering had an objective purpose.    We see first that Adam and Eve were given dominion over “every living thing that moves upon the earth” and “everything that has the breath of life” (Gen. 1:28, 30).   There was a partnership there to restore the world through their love for one another and God.   But for this article involving Holy Orders we see that, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).   Adam was meant to oversee all that was going on in the Garden and unite it to God.   To do this, Adam had to be a man willing to make sacrifices by being obedient to truth and allowing God to decide what is good and evil.   We see this also in the second Genesis account, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die’” (Gen. 2:16-17).  Finally, we see that to fulfill this role of overseer and man of sacrifice, he would have to have a servant heart willing to offer up his own life for the good of his wife and the world to keep all things in harmony with God who walked with them (see Gen. 3:8).    Thus, we see in Adam someone who was called to oversee everything and bring it to God.   In Greek, one of the languages the Bible was written, the word for overseer is Episkopos, which is where we get the word the word for Bishop.   Then, we see a man who was called to make sacrifices at the command of God.  This is a priest.   Finally, we see Adam had to put himself at the service of God, Eve, and the world.   The word for servant in Greek is diakonoi which is where we derive deacon.   Thus, we see in Adam a three-fold Ordering towards God foreshadowing the Holy Orders of bishop, priest, and deacon. 

Now we must look at how they were separated. Ultimately, Satan starts at the top and worked his way down this hierarchy to divide Holy Orders within Adam.  He starts by attacking Adam in his episcopal role who was supposed to oversee the Garden with the love of God, identifying all that was not from Him.  He not only failed to identify that which was evil, but let it manipulate the rest of humanity, i.e. Eve. Once Adam lets evil into the Garden, he does not stand up to it; he does not sacrifice himself to protect humanity and the world. Thus, he fails in his priestly role.   Finally, Satan instills doubt into Adam through Eve.  In this, he refuses to serve both Eve and God and betrays his diaconal role.   So, God gave Adam restorative punishments for his three-fold failure of holy order.   Since he refused to oversee all that God entrusted to Him, Original Sin- the absence of that friendship with God which he was supposed to protect, entered the world.   Since he did not sacrifice himself to protect his wife and the garden, but instead sacrificed truth (God said don’t eat from the tree of good and knowledge) for passion; concupiscence enters the world.   Thirdly, since Adam directed his diokonia away from God instead of towards him, now he must serve with toil and labor so he can learn to “love” and serve until it hurts, i.e. without reservation for the glory of God and not self.  The three-fold punishments of Adam were corrective measures for lacking in Holy Orders. 

Thus, God had to work throughout the Old Testament to restore Holy Orders back to the fullness of His grace.  He specifically targeted the sacrificial aspect of Holy Orders in the priesthood because “God is love” (1Jn. 4:8) and there is no love without sacrifice. Sacrifice leads downward to service as well as points up to being a good overseer since the person is worried about what God has entrusted to him rather than only his personal desires.  This was written in human nature, in their blood so to speak.  Therefore, God starts re-establishing the priesthood.  He starts with a Pater-Filial Priesthood which was passed down from father to son with Abel, Noah, and Abraham (see Heb. 11:4; Gen. 22 and 27).   Then we see a priesthood of bread and wine from Melchizedek (see Gen. 14:18).  Next, the tribes of Israel went into idolatry with the Golden Calf and so God gave the priesthood to the Levites who would offer sacrifices of (see Deut. 18:5).  Notice many of the tribes of Israel did not offer their service (diakonia) to God, but to please themselves and so turned to the Golden calf.  This led to sacrifice to the Golden Calf (priesthood), and ultimately to oversee the people of God falling into idolatry (bishop) and so a new priesthood was established, “And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, ‘Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord” (Ex. 32: 28-29).  God then set up a three-fold order of worship (liturgy) through this Levitical priesthood.  There would be Aaron, the high priest (overseer), then the sons of Aaron as the priest (presbyterate), and then other Levites who would help assist at the altar (diaconate).

Jesus, the New Adam, however, objectively restores this divided priesthood and also reunites Holy Orders.  As Romans tells us:

If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ… For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous (Rom. 5:17-19).

Jesus makes us righteous by objectively fulfilling the priesthood.   He receives His priesthood from the Father and makes a sacrifice to Him of His life (Lk. 23:46) thus fulfilling the Pater-Filial priesthood of Abraham.  He also makes an offering of bread and wine transforming them into his own body and blood fulfilling the priesthood of Melchizedek (1Cor. 11:27).   Then he offers in himself a sacrifice being the lamb of God (Jn. 1:21, 36) fulfilling the Levitical sacrifice although He was from the tribe of Judah.    Jesus restores the priesthood in Himself uniting all three types of priesthood objectively showing that Holy Orders is the path to peaceful hearts, zealous hearts amidst the Hierarchy. 

 He also subjectively restores Holy Orders by giving us an example through His Sacred Heart.  He tells us, “This is my command, love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12). Jesus then applies this commandment to each degree of Holy Orders.  He restores the episcopacy by showing us through His heart how to be a good overseer.   He states:

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me… And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.  For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father (Jn. 10:7-8, 10-14, 16-18).

Notice Jesus says a good shepherd/overseer knows his sheep and cares for them so does not abandon them when times are hard.   The Good Shephard does not take care of his sheep for money or fame but takes care of them so they may have life abundantly.  Thus, Jesus subjectively gives the keys to restoring the office of bishop/overseer.

Jesus also restores the presbyterate in giving us wisdom to follow His heart.  He says, the good shepherd must lay down his life for his sheep.  He also notes that he also makes this sacrifice in honor of His Heavenly Father. The Good priest must be willing to lay down His life first for God and secondly for his flock, keeping them in the right order.  If we gain a huge following but lose God in the process, we gain nothing.   We saw many Old Testament prophets preach against disordering their priesthood priorities in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel.  Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations, but instead the fell into idolatry because they did not prioritize their relationship with God.   This is the reason Jesus reminds us, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul?” (Mk 8:36).

Finally, Jesus gives us a glimpse into his heart in the restoration of the diaconate.  He tells us humility comes first as he came “to serve, not to be served” (Matt. 20:28).   Holy Orders means looking for ways to help others, not looking for ways to manipulate others into helping us.  This also means we must serve the right things.  Deacons fold their hands before proclaiming the Gospel to show those who have Holy Orders put themselves at the service of the Gospel.  They are not at the service of the world, popularity, money, etc., but only the Gospel, i.e., those things that will order people back towards God.   

In conclusion, we see that Jesus, the New Adam restores, fulfills, and reunites Holy Orders.  God gave Adam medicinal consequences due to not upholding the original Holy Orders.  We also see Holy Orders is restored and operating in a more perfect way in Jesus.   Jesus objectively reunites the priesthood of Adam, Abraham, Melchizedek, and the Levites in His Eucharistic Covenant while subjectively perfecting the episcopacy, priesthood, and diaconate by commanding us to carry out these offices with His love.   So, if we want to bring hope to the world,  have peaceful hearts, zealous hearts among the clergy, we must help those with Holy Orders to go to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.   In Him, all is made new, and we will once again restore all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10).