First responders are role models and heroes.  When approaching national holidays, we sometimes pause to think of first responders in times of crisis or first responders in the revolution that gave birth to our country.  Here, I reflect upon the first responders of Christendom.  Made known in Gospel infancy narratives, they include Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, and her prenatal baby, John.  Their role in salvation history is foundational and impactful.  It has special meaning for priests.

We initially encounter the virgin of Nazareth as an adolescent visited by an angel who announced her unique role of bringing Christ into the world.  Though she didn’t understand it and questioned how such a thing could be, she accepted it, trusting that she would gain wisdom and insight along the way through her ascent to God’s will.  Her response to the angel is often called her fiat.  “Fiat” is a Latin word meaning “Let it be done.”  Though Mary did not know much about theological matters, she knew that she wanted to do the will of God.

In some ways, like Mary, priests are most blessed among human beings.  We don’t look like much, and we fail often, yet we are given a special role in undeservedly bringing Christ to others and learning from those with whom we visit and interact.  After the angel departed, Mary went in haste to visit her relative, Elizabeth, a wise elder, who, in a sense, was the first Christian theologian, for she clarified and mused over what was happening through the incarnation.  She theologized as the baby in her womb leaped for joy, and Mary magnified the Lord as her understanding of the divine mission-at-hand expanded.  Joseph was among the first Christian mystics as he received and pondered mysterious messages from spiritual beings.  His obedience, courage, and humility present us with perfect characteristics needed for trusting in unseen things divinely communicated.  Fortunately, priests are also given wise elders and sages like Elizabeth and Joseph to help our understanding of what it means to say, “Let it be done according to your word.”  My mentors included a simple parish priest in my hometown when I was a boy, a beloved monsignor in his final years of earthly life when I got ordained, and a kind bishop who ordained and sent me to pastor others; I was very blessed by their examples and guidance.  They were Elizabeth and Joseph for me.

Mary doesn’t say much in the Gospel accounts.  Her final words are spoken when her son began His ministry, as she instructed servant-waiters to “Do whatever he tells you to do.”  From there, she was silent but active, the first of disciples and one who steered others toward Him.  She remained with Him till the end, and later assembled the disciples as they renewed His ministry after He died, rose, and ascended to heaven.  There are numerous legends that she gathered them for Pentecost also, and even reassembled them for her own dormition and assumption into glory.  In a similar way, priests are to assemble, convene, shepherd, and activate modern-day disciples in our communities.  John the Baptist, similarly, has only a few lines in the Gospels and exits early from the story—but not without sounding his crucial news like a town crier.  His primal announcement came from the womb when he leaped for joy in Christ’s presence.  Later, he roared out from the desert and proclaimed from the Jordan river banks what has echoed through the ages: that the long-awaited Lamb of God is among us.  Finally, he shed his blood, giving up his life for what he believed.

In a sense, priests reflect the joyous baby, adult martyr, teenage girl, responsive man, and wise elder, and are directed to be tuned into those in our communities at every age and stage of existence who seek to do the will of God.  We are all priestly people who would do well to imitate role models, heroes, and first responders of Christian faith.