By Nicholas Soellner
Connecting Liturgy and Life
Editor’s note: For 2026, the weekly “Connecting Faith and Life” column has been renamed “Connecting Liturgy and Life.” The column consists of reflections on Part Two of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), which focuses on the Liturgy and the Sacraments.
cf. CCC 1546-1561
I really think we don’t do enough to celebrate baptisms these days. The wide majority of Catholics in America are baptized as infants, even though there’s certainly been a resurgence in adult baptisms in recent years. So odds are, you don’t remember your baptism, which is unfortunate, considering the amazing things that happened to you that day. You were cleansed of all sin, adopted into the royal family of God, given the mission of a prophet, and anointed into a priesthood.
What, you don’t believe me? Just see what was reaffirmed at Vatican II: “Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are ‘consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light’” (Lumen Gentium 10). Jesus, through his own high priesthood has made his Church “a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Revelation 1:6). While there is truly only one priesthood of Christ, there are two ways of participating in this priesthood within the Church, the ministerial priesthood, given through Holy Orders, and the common priesthood, given through Baptism.
While the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace — a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the Spirit — the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians” (CCC 1547). The word for “unfolding,” written in the original Latin, incrementum, comes from the verb incrēscō, meaning “to grow” or “to increase.” When combined with the suffix “-mentum,” the word indicates that the growth is the result of action. This is the essential piece: our baptismal grace is not only meant to be a gift for us. Yes, we are cleansed from original sin and adopted as a son or daughter of God, but the purpose of this gift is to help bring about the salvation of souls and the building of the Kingdom of God. God has designed it so that the ordinary way this is accomplished is through the exercise of our common priesthood — living a life according to the Spirit through our own vocation.
Growing in faith, hope and charity (love) isn’t primarily so that we’re morally “good enough” people to get into heaven — it’s so that we adequately imitate Christ in the world and so that others who do not yet know Jesus will eventually come to follow him. “Come and see” is the invitation we should never tire of making to those whom God places before us. When we live our vocations as God intended, our very lives become a witness to the amazing power and love of God. This is true both for the laity and the clergy. Holy priests call forth the common priesthood of the faithful, bringing out the best in the lay people; building them up and leading them to a life of ever-greater intimacy with Jesus Christ. Lay people, in turn, go out into the world to bring about new disciples and transform civilizations. When Jesus says “the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed” (Matthew 13:31), do not be fooled by the seemingly harmless comparison: Jerusalem mustard plants are an invasive species! Just when you think you’ve gotten rid of one, two or three more return in its place. No doubt those who have persecuted the Church throughout history have had similar thoughts.
Every time we go to Mass, we should be reminded of our common priesthood through the words of the ministerial priest at the altar. Both worship God together as the “whole Church, the Body of Christ, prays and offers herself ‘through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit’ to God the Father (CCC 1553). “This is my body, given up for you” not only re-presents the event that brought about our salvation, but also unites us with the priesthood of Christ. Each sacrament of initiation — baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation — moves us more deeply into our common priesthood; a priesthood given to us in order for us to consecrate the world to God. The laity and the clergy need one another to accomplish their mission on Earth and, in fact, neither one is intelligible without the other. Only together can we unfold and share all of God’s gifts to the world.