5th Sunday of Easter

Every Christian, by their baptism, is anointed priest, prophet and king. Peter challenges us this weekend to that first anointing: "be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." There is the ordained priesthood by which priests in the Church offer to God the sacrifice of Christ and offer to God's people the sacraments, but there is also the priesthood of the baptized by which every Christian, in Jesus, is called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Every day we can offer these spiritual sacrifices, and at Mass we have the opportunity to collect them all from that past week - our thoughts, words, prayers, actions, and intentions...even our anxieties, worries, concerns, hopes, and dreams - and place them on that altar as our sacrifice to God in the power of our baptismal priesthood! And like He does with the bread and the wine, He can take what we offer to Him and transform those sacrifices into something even greater.