Jordan Paul

For every priest is a mediator. But he is a mediator of a better testament, namely, of man to God, because by him we are made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4). He also offers our gifts to God; therefore, the Apostle says: the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). In the Old Testament temporal things were promised: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land (Isa 1:19); but here, heavenly things. Therefore, this one is better in regard to what it promises men.
—St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews ¶ 392

Friends,

I spent a chunk of last week at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Springfield, Illinois at a retreat and conference for the Order of Christ the Saviour. OCS is an order within the Episcopal Church and broader Anglican Communion and since December, I’ve been an aspirant with them.

At the retreat, the other members voted to advance me to postulancy, which kicks off a six-ish month process of discernment, reading, and discussion before I’ll—God willing—become a novice friar (not a priest or deacon!), be entitled to wear the habit, and participate fully in the ministry of the Order. In the handful of people that I had told about the Order while in aspirancy, a common question was “why?”

One of today’s readings is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews. In his commentary on Hebrews, St. Thomas Aquinas writes about why we call Jesus the high priest, why God instituted the New Covenant, and what all of this means for Christians and the rest of the world.

I won’t say it better than St. Thomas and I won’t try. But we are beneficiaries of the greatest gifts—the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and a life in Christ by which we are cleansed from our sins and are inheritors of eternal life.

Orders are not especially common in the Episcopal Church and when given the opportunity of further devoting my life to God and carrying out his ministry in the world, perhaps the better question is “why not?”

As I continue with discernment, I ask your prayers for myself and the brothers of the Order and assure you of our prayers for you.

In Christ,

—Jordan