I wonder if you could easily understand the first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. I couldn’t. I had to read a few times. You probably noticed this passage was discussing priesthood and comparing the priesthood of the Old Covenant with the one of Christ. The Letter explains the superiority, uniqueness, efficacy of Christ’s priesthood. Do these words still sound too complicated to you?

In the end, all this discussion boils down to the necessity of Christ’s priesthood. In other words, do we need Christ as the mediator between God and man? And we are also asking if his sacrifice for redemption is necessary for our salvation.

I have encountered many Catholics and other Christians who plainly said they could be saved without the sacraments and the Church. And they also said people of other religions or even atheists could be saved without Christ. Practically speaking, they were saying we don’t need religions for salvation. And more specifically, they think Christ or the Church is not necessary for salvation. But effectively, they were saying they could save themselves. If there were heaven for them, God in their heaven would be just a generous landlord who would provide all houses and lands for free at their requests. But not more than that. God as the Judge or the final judgment would be out of the question.

Unfortunately, my experiences are not unique. Christianity in our times faces this challenge within. Not only lay people but also clergy and theologians in the Church freely spread this idea of self-salvation without Christ, without the Church. For them, it is helpful for salvation to have Christ or the Church, at best. But Christ or the Church would not be necessary. The divine revelation of the Old Testament and the New Testament could promote salvation but would not be necessary. These Christians, ironically, seem to believe Christianity should be dissolved or changed into a service provider for religiously inclined individuals.

However, from time of old, humanity realized there was no salvation within itself alone. The reality of many religious pursuits from time immemorial shows that man had been waiting for a true mediator between him and God. Our ancestors of faith encountered God, who revealed himself and his plan for salvation through history. And when the eternal High Priest came on earth, many on earth gladly received him. The High Priest, Christ Jesus offered himself as the truly effective sacrifice for our redemption. He gave himself to his Church, and we became his mystical body through the sacraments. Only through Christ and his Church, man is saved.