Hebrews 5:1-6
Brethren: every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err, because he himself also is compassed with infirmity; and therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify Himself that He might be made a high priest; but He that said unto Him: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another place: Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
Haydock
Verse 1. Every high priest. He speaks first of the office of priests in general, before he speaks of Christ’s priesthood. A priest is chosen and preferred before other men, as qualified for the divine ministry, to offer up gifts, oblations, sacrifices, in order to obtain forgiveness for his own sins and those of the people, who, by the experience he has of his own infirmities, may compassionate others who offend through frailty or ignorance, every priest (excepting our Saviour Christ) being a sinner. Nor must he take upon himself rashly and inconsiderately, for temporal motives, this sacred ministry, formidable (says S. Gregory) even for the shoulders of Angels; he must consult God by prayer, follow the advice of his spiritual guides and pious parents; by these means to know whether he has a call from God to this ministry, as Aaron had. Wi. — The priest and pastor should never forget that he is a man and a sinner; that he is honoured with this divine ministry, to offer sacrifice both for his own sins and for the sins of the faithful; that prayer should be his delight, the altar his centre, and the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ his supreme felicity. “This sacrifice of the Eucharist,” says S. Austin, “has succeeded to all the ancient victims that were immolated of old, to signify the future sacrifice.” l. 10. c. xx. de Civit. Dei. As to the word mass, it was in use to signify this holy sacrifice of the altar above thirteen hundred years ago. See the second C. of Carthage, can. 3. S. Jerom upon the Prov. c. xi. S. Ambrose, l. 2. ep. 14. Missam facere cœpi; I began to say mass. It was introduced into this country with Christianity itself. See V. Bede’s history, c. xxvii. & b. 4. c. xiv.
Verse 4. See in 3 Kings xiii. 2 Paralip. xxvi. and 1 Kings xiii. the manifest punishments of the Almighty on laics that impiously and sacrilegiously attempted the ministry of priests. In the Christian dispensation, archbishop Cranmer, the very soul of the pretended reformation, dictatorially pronounces, “he that is appointed to be a bishop or priest, needeth no consecration:” words quoted by Dr. Stillingfleet from his own handwriting, in his Irenicum, p. 391, 2d ed. But the Catholic Church has given a very different decision, which is confirmed by the testimony of Scripture, apostolical tradition, and the unanimous consent of the Fathers. See Acts vi. 6. and xiii. 3. and xiv. 22. 1 Tim. iv. 14. &c. See in the history of Socrates, who lived in the fifth century, how the usurpation of Ischyras, in taking upon himself the name and office of a priest without receiving holy orders, was reprobated as a crime worthy of death. l. 1. c. xxvii. Ed. Val.
Verse 5. So also Christ, as man, did not glorify himself, by assuming this dignity of high priest, but had it conferred upon him by the divine decrees of his eternal Father, who said to him: Thou art my Son, and thou art a priest forever, &c. Wi.
Verse 6. Some may perhaps wonder why S. Paul does not dwell more in this epistle on the eucharistic sacrifice; but until the Hebrews understood the bloody sacrifice on the cross, they could not be supposed to understand the unbloody sacrifice of the altar. The holy Fathers observe, that the sacrifice of Melchisedech, (Gen. xiv. 18.) offered in bread and wine, prefigured the unbloody sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ at his last supper. See Clemens Alex. l. 4. Strom. c. viii. S. Cyp. l. 2. ep. 3. ad Cæul. Euseb. of Cæsar. l. 5. Dem. Evang. c. iii. S. Jerom ad Marcel. S. Aug. ep. 95. ad Inn. Pap. S. Amb. Epip. Chrys. &c. apud Bellarm. l. 1. de missa. c. vi. Hence it follows, that the holy Eucharist is truly and properly a sacrifice as well as a sacrament, as the paschal lamb or passover of the old law was both a sacrament and sacrifice. For either our Saviour offered sacrifice at his last supper under the forms of bread and wine, or he cannot be called a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech. For the different orders of priests are chiefly distinguished by their sacrifice; (see v. 1.) and if it be supposed that our Saviour only offered a bloody sacrifice, he would with more propiety have been called a priest according to the order of Aaron, and not of Melchisedech. See S. Aug. l. 16. de Civitat. Dei. c. xxii.